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Mammoth Receives Opening Weekend Gift
Riding on natural snow sure beats riding on man-made, and this weekend, Mammoth opened
its lifts to a mixture that started with mostly manufactured stuff and was quickly covered
by thirteen inches of the real thing.
The Central California mountain fired up the Broadway Express (Chair 1) on Friday, November 6,
under mostly sunny skies. To most snowboarders' surprise, the halfpipe was already open and in
good shape. The early season warm-up sessions started promptly with pros like the local Anderson
brothers, Ron Chiodi, and Ross Powers hanging about, getting in some early season traning. Word
had it the pipe would be closed for U.S. Snowboard Team training only, but luckily that wasn't
the case.
By Saturday, the weather took a turn for the better when snow began to fall. With overcast
skies and gusty winds, conditions resembled mid-winter more than early November. Several rails
were set up just below the pipe to many snowboarders' fancy.
The Sunday session was definitely an early morning poacher's delight with almost a foot
of fresh on the runs, and deeper snow drifts piled up in gullies around the resort. The crowd
was light due to the inclement weather, which left that much more snow to those who were there.
With the early storm and continued cold weather in the forecast, Mammoth will definitely open
more terrain in the next week, and the top might be ready soon.
MESSAGES:
Did you make it to Mammoth for opening weekend? Tell us about it.
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