Mammoth has opened! Looking forward to another kick ass season! We got some mank fresh and started the season on the skid. Check the vid and get the lowdown on the season right here.

Today's Shot from Mammy's Main Lodge Cam!

Mammy has gotten a total of 15 inches  in the first major storm. This has got me Jonesen for another La Nina year. Word in the village is that the Big Woolly will get pounded again this season. Could we see 1000 inches? Probably not outside the Northwest (Baker anyone?) but this shredder is fixin’ for a long and fluffy winter.

Here’s the hard beta for all you tech heads, grabbed from mammoth.patrol.com

–Chambo “Keeping You in the Snow”

Sesame_24HrSnowGraph

It’s no secret that ski areas from BC, WA, OR, CA, and CO stayed open

Chambo Celebrates the Nation's Birthday. You should too.

until the fourth this year. What surprised me was the two inches of fresh we got at Mammoth. Daves also had a little windload and a nice ridge to play on.

This is what happens when hundreds of people believe there IS a snowball's chance in July.

The following vid documents the fresh, albeit spongy, lines we rode on June 30. Then its off to the4th of July mountain-madness. Also of interest was the several-hundred person snowball fight as the mountain shuttered for another year. Check out the homage to the movie 300.

Here’s to the epic season. Snowflakes have been replaced by tears.

–Chambo

The gnar thing about living in California is the endless possibilities for gravity sports. It is not uncommon to ski and surf, downhill bike and climb, or paddle and kite in the same day.

Mammoth squeezed out yet another storm and powder was for the taking. After a quick hike up to Avvy 2, we were rewarded by a powder chute out of the 80 MPH winds. With Chair 10 shut down after our exit, we had the mountain to ourselves.

After a little shred fest, we hit the road for King’s Canyon for the paddling. We met my friend Mike Riggs who is teaching me to guide. Here’s a little vid. Hope you agree, Cali’s a great place to be!

DPS Introduces the Most Progressive Ski to Date–Think Surfboard

Dude. You gotta try these convex, tapered, and fully rockered pow skis. It’s like turning the lights on. Like meeting God. Like surfing a 3000 foot wave! Brah.

Those old rocker boards you’re on make you look the total Gape.

Yeah, you heard me. Don’t get your onsie in a bunch. Careful. That Ski Tote almost hit me. Those can really hurt.

What’s that? Your K2 Pontoons work just fine? Kids need to learn how to ride pow the right way, on a proper rocker and a skinny 130 mm in the waist?

Oh… You prefer the limitations of a flat rocker. But this convex shape works better in a three dimensional fluid–just like a surfboard.

Can they make turns in an icy entrance? Yeah, with the Cleat Technology, they can totally handle the gnar entrance and exits of the chutes. You want a pow ski or what?

No. You don’t need five feet of pow to ride em. There will probably be a park model someday, but the way you are  squawking, you probably won’t need that.

Yup. 150 mm in the waist.

Oh hell no. I shouldn’t just start snowboarding. I mean, I do board every now an again but… Boarders are going to do the convex thing too…just like they followed with rocker.

What? No. No. No, this isn’t cheating. See? That’s why you are… officially now…  a KOOK. Progression does that to you.

Just try it once. Here. Try mine.

So I had all but given up on another powder day. Mammoth had seen what would have been the last major storm event on the 8th and 9th and Southern California was hot. So Cal resorts were closing for business with dirt patches showing everywhere. Then, BAM, out of nowhere another storm hit Mammoth.

Just before the storm, the mountain employees at Baldy were really letting loose. With no customers and melting conditions, we just made a party of things on the hill. It started with employee races, the Patrolman’s Cup. Next came the impromptu BBQ. Pretty soon we were sliding and jumping off anything in site. We threw down a long piece of lumber and a silly rail jam ensued next to the ski/board school. I even strapped on a snowboard (for the first time this season). Look for me in the green tall tee.

Then Kim and I headed to Mammoth. Our plan was to get some quality park sessions. But La Nina surprised us once again with some sweet pow. Thursday opened to four inches of fresh and still snowing. Chair 10 was the only legitimate chair running at first chair, so we rode the face and took another lap. Patrol met us at the top and told us they were closing, so we did the only thing a proper pow hound would do–hiked Lincoln’s for the Avvy Chutes.

The winds were gusting to about 80 miles an hour on the hike, but we knew the chutes would be protected. Our efforts were rewarded with untracked pow lines on April 21. Not too bad considering we were riding on dirt at Baldy just days before!

Enjoy this vid: