My son Adam is on UC San Diego's ski team, and a couple of his friends took off for Mammoth last Thursday night. One of them called him by cell phone from the mountain shortly after the top opened around noon Friday. Much of the steep terrain on chair 23 was open, and the snow was reported as "heavy and occasionally crusty." This should be viewed as good news, because we want a thick base of Sierra Cement to establish a base for hopefully the whole season. With the upcoming storm predicted by Scott Bratten that is quite likely.