Mammoth, May 29-31, 2010

[rsmith]

It's not that surprising at all.

1) Quite simply, there just aren't as many skiers as you think there are in the Wasatch Front.
2) The "SLC combined statistical area" figure of 1.7M runs from Provo to Ogden - the SLC metro/suburban area (aka the salt lake valley) is only about 1M. Many folks outside the valley, particularly Ogden, won't make the trip to LCC. Once Snowbasin closes, they're done. Same with a large percentage of the folks on the Wasatch Back (Park City, Heber, Coalville, etc.).
3) A */huge/* percentage of the skiing base stops skiing in early April and pursues other activities. A lot of locals don't like spring conditions.
4) A surprisingly large number of self identified "skiers" ski less than 10 days a season.

I collided with Tony's recent post - I'm mainly rehashing things he just said...

I think Marc is correct on all points. I've virtually given up trying to get my old high school friends in SLC to ski with me when I visit Utah - either they find skiing too expensive, they're too lazy, or they have 5 kids to take care of (or a combination of the above). The dominant culture is just not focused on high-end, active sports. I often question my friends' sanity living somewhere where it can snow 8 months out of the year without taking advantage of the best lift-served skiing on the planet, but to each his own...

I would also be careful what you wish for. Dick Bass is running a business - he's not going to run lifts just to keep locals happy if it bites too much into profits. Mammoth has 1.3M skier visits to justify running daily until the snow runs out - I don't think you would want the same skier #'s at Snowbird (~500K visits, I believe). Plus, you guys are always a quick drive and a hike away from earned turns...

Mammoth also has very cheap 1-hour flights from LAX - people don't have to drive 4-6 hours. However, driving is always cheaper - the dollar equation of 4 or 5 young, hardcore skiers packing into a car for a 4 hour drive is much cheaper than combined air tix - and those type of skiers are probably the core of Mammoth's #'s.

I do agree that Snowbird and all Utah resorts are missing out on a marketing more heavily in California. Some well-placed billboards on I-80, I-50, I-395, etc. stating 'you could have been skiing right now in Utah powder instead of sitting in chain-controlled traffic' would go a long ways...

 

[Mike Bernstein]

I do agree that Snowbird and all Utah resorts are missing out on a marketing more heavily in California. Some well-placed billboards on I-80, I-50, I-395, etc. stating 'you could have been skiing right now in Utah powder instead of sitting in chain-controlled traffic' would go a long ways...

Some real good insight and discussion in this thread. I will say in response to this snippet above that Utah does market heavily to SoCal. This was my first winter in LA and, while I didn't see billboards like you suggest (actually, a very good idea for people on 14/395), I saw commercial after commercial touting Utah skiing in general. Park City in particular was quite aggressive. IIRC, they were advertising during most NFL games. They're definitely going after the SoCal market, but I think the dynamics of the late Spring skiing market are such that it wouldn't make much sense, as Tony alluded, to try and entice SoCal skiers to eschew Mammoth in favor of Snowbird. Mid-winter is a different story altogether.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Park City in particular was quite aggressive. IIRC, they were advertising during most NFL games.

They were carpet-bombing the NYC-region TV market too.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Mid-winter is a different story altogether.

Absolutely. Snow preservation, at least in LCC, is similar then, and the new snow days for which Utah is justly famous can be a PITA at Mammoth with lift closures and wind effect. Plus in winter it's Mammoth/June vs. a choice among 10 areas in Utah.

 

[socal]

Quick video from Friday the 28th (watch it in 720p). I got a new camera (Panasonic DMC-ZS7), loving the huge 11x zoom and HD video. You can hear them blasting up top around the 7-8 second mark. Don't think a lot of the new snow bonded that well because we watched them bomb and get stuff to move all morning, even a few cool little avalanches that ran over some rocks and looked like a waterfall. Pretty cool to see.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkETPTbMJ9k[/youtube]

 

[Staley]

That's a nice video camera! Conditions don't look too bad either.

 

[Bobby Danger]

nice conditions - how long into the day did it last ? it is a water fall it's just not liquid going over the rock... i've seen that here before to in pipe line bowl - it comes down from above the brick wall into pipe line bowl that's probably an eighty foot drop ( i believe that's center chute ) off the twins .

 

[socal]

nice conditions - how long into the day did it last ?

That video was shot around 11:30am, we'd been on the mountain for about 3 hrs up till then. Conditions were really pretty good till 2pm when we called it a day. It was a cold day, I think the high was <30 and it was pretty windy which kept the snow from getting too heavy. Honestly, couldn't have been any better. Also, didn't hurt that it was Friday vs. Saturday (everyone seemed to have arrived on Friday night sometime).

 

[Tony Crocker]

Friday had to have been cold all day. New snow was still winter conditions, though chopped up by the lucky people like SoCal, most of Saturday morning.

 

[Ryno]

nothing cold about this past weekend. high 70's in town. lap after lap on 23 and the gondola. sweetness.

 

[Tony Crocker]

nothing cold about this past weekend. high 70's in town. lap after lap on 23 and the gondola. sweetness.

Nice to hear they ran gondola 2 in the warm weather. =D> :clap: I thought gondola 2 was closed for annual maintenance until June 19. Mammoth Forum groomer skiers said the snow down below got heavy fast in those temperatures. So I'm sure the top was the place to be.