Storms Allow Mammoth Mountain to Open Thu. - 3 weeks early!

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As y'all know, we're not into publishing rumor here. We wait until we get the facts confirmed as best we can. However, we have it on very good authority, i.e. veiled confirmation of what we've heard from within the resort itself, that a second western ski area will open this week -- one much further west than Loveland, the only resort currently open (if you discount Palmer Snowfield at Timberline, that is). We're awaiting the details here at FTO, and will publish them in the Ski News section once we have it officially confirmed (or denied).

Edit 11pm EDT: Now that the news is confirmed, I've renamed the subject of this topic.
 
here is
 

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hamdog":1uelqwfl said:
my guess is Mammoth..........
Click to expand...

Give that man a cigar! I just had it confirmed, they're opening Thursday on all natural snow. We'll have details for you in a news story later tonight.
 
Here's the story, kids:

Storms Allow Mammoth Mountain to Open This Thursday

This story also marks the debut of First Tracks!! Online Weather Forecaster Scott Braaten. Scott, referred to by his friends as "Dopper 2000," has agreed to provide a regular weather column here at FTO this season. Scott, based in Burlington, Vermont, has also expressed a desire to provide frequent updates during major eastern winter storms, even though his regular column will discuss trends nationwide.
 
Since Intrawest invested in Mammoth they beefed up snowmaking and have opened on a scheduled date of the first or second Friday in November for the past several years. With Dave McCoy now 89 years old and less invoved in daily operations each year, I am of course monitoring the early/late season decisions closely to see if Intrawest will change them.

On the late side, as I have posted to FTO, I have been quite encouraged. They are going past Memorial Day even when they have no chance of making it to July 4th. Furthermore they go to the considerable expense of building that superpipe at the base of Climax for just the last 3 weeks of operation when the Unbound Park is losing its snow.

On the early side, we haven't until now had a season under Intrawest where they could beat that first or second Friday in November by much with natural snow. Two years ago there was pretty good dump at Halloween, but Mammoth was due to open a week later anyway, which they did with more terrain than normal including Cornice Bowl.

So I am further encouraged by Intrawest following Dave McCoy's philosophy of looking at what's coming out of the sky and not just adhering to a fixed schedule.

An intelligently run ski corporation should look at the unique characteristics of each area they own, and tailor the operations accordingly. Intrawest seems to understand this while ASC does not, as evidenced by Killington.
 
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