theSheetNews.com

(Photo: David Huebner)

The Dead Winter Carpenters played an inspired show for a packed house at the Mono Inn on Wednesday night. The fine dining was moved upstairs and the downstairs floor turned into a speakeasy. Local Eastern Sierra residents of all stripes were in attendance. They debuted a new song featuring Jenni Charles, their fiddler on Djimbe.

The Mammoth and Mono Lake Ranger Districts of Inyo National Forest and the north zone for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) – Bishop Field Office are planning to implement several prescribed fire projects for habitat improvement and hazardous fuels reduction in the upcoming fall and winter months. Smoke may be visible at times from Highways 395, 158, 167, 120 and 203 as well as from the communities of  Mono City, Lee Vining, June Lake, Mammoth Lakes and Crowley Lake.

Prescribed fire projects are expected to begin in mid-October with understory burning at several locations, including east of U.S. 395 at Deadman Summit, south of Hwy 120 near Big Sand Flat, and in the vicinity of Pilot Spring. Following the first fall snow storms, slash pile burning will be conducted, and is expected to continue into December or possibly January. Pile burning is planned on national forest lands in the Mono City area, in the Down Canyon area of June Lake, west of 395 near Wilson Butte, east of Deadman Summit near the CalTrans Crestview Station, around the Crestview Rest Stop on 395, east near Lookout Mountain, north of Smokey Bear Flat, and along Hwy 203 east of Mammoth Lakes. Shrubland burning may occur in late winter to the west of Mono Craters Scenic Overlook.

Prescribed burn operations will be conducted when weather and fuel conditions are within prescription to safely accomplish the project objectives. For more information, contact Sue Farley, Interagency Vegetation Management Planner at 760.924.5535.

Story and Photo By David Huebner

By now you’ve probably at least seen their name advertised around town, and perhaps you caught their set at Mammoth Rocks, but in case you haven’t, the Dead Winter Carpenters are a very accomplished up-and-coming band that has been touring heavily for a couple of years now, playing festivals and venues around the country and even opening up for some big names like Sam Bush. On Wednesday, Oct. 10 we’ll be graced with another appearance by DWC in the Eastern Sierra at the Historic Mono Inn just north of Lee Vining, right along the shore of Mono Lake, a venue that is both intimate and spacious, with picture perfect views of the lake.

You might be scratching your head thinking, “Now is that the same place as the Ansel Adams gallery? I thought that closed down or something.” And you are right, it was closed for three years, but has now been open again for the past two years, and is being operated by new folks Jim O’Meally and Mario Aguilar, who not only have a penchant for creating delicious food and offering great wine and beer, but for hosting live music events with bands that are passing through the Eastern Sierra.

The Dead Winter Carpenters know how to jam. I’ve seen them perform a few times, and every time has built upon the energy from the time before. While they channel the influence of bluegrass music, that hardly defines their sound which is much more rock’n roll / jam band than bluegrass. They are all very skilled musicians, and good songwriters, and just good people. You can find their music online at http://deadwintercarpenters.com and listen for yourself. The combination of this quality of music with good food and shoreline views of Mono Lake is not to be missed. There is ample parking and camping is available. Local Mammoth jam band Old Coyote Moon (http://oldcoyotemoon.com) which, in the effort of full disclosure, I am a part of, opens the show with a full band including didgeridoo and cello.

Majority of June Lake stands together

A large portion of the June Lake community, some would even say the majority, is standing behind the groundwork done so far to prepare for the upcoming winter without June Mountain.

“Three or four people’s egos were bruised last week, and it’s unfortunate that one person sits on the Board,” stated Mono County Tourism and Film Commission Chair Jimmy Little at Tuesday’s Commission meeting. “But to challenge the enthusiasm of the rest of this group is unfair.”

Little was referring to statements made by Mono County Supervisor Vikki Bauer (see last week’s cover story, “Hostile Takeover”) regarding the planning process June Lake has been going through to determine the best use of the $100,000 given to the community by the County.

“The vast majority is focused and moving forward in a positive direction,” said Double Eagle owner and June Lake Revitalization Committee member Connie Black. “We’re not going to agree on every point, but we are moving forward.”

Patti Heinrich, also a member of the June Lake Revitalization Committee added that she was angry that “a handful of individuals was not attending the planning meetings and were then making inaccurate statements.

“The community is coming together more than ever and we’ve got good ideas going here,” Heinrich added.

Jeff Simpson of the Mono County Economic Development Department added that a recent email survey sent out by the County had garnered 208 responses (out of 225 emails sent) and helped to gauge the community’s feelings on the ideas currently on the table.

“It wasn’t scientific, we were just looking for feedback,” Simpson explained.

Last week, Bauer stated during her Board report that the June Lake community was having a tough time determining what to do with the last $30,000 of the $100,000. She gave the impression that the community wasn’t able to agree on how to spend the funds. Bauer, who had been a June Lake Chamber member, stepped down from her Chamber position after a meeting two weeks ago when the Chamber was asked if it would like to act as the pass through vehicle for the $30,000.

Bauer claimed it was a hostile takeover where members who did not often show up for meetings arrived in force to outvote the core members of the Chamber.

Current Chamber President Ralph Lockhart said this week that he completely disagrees with Bauer’s comments about how the process has gone, claiming it has been completely “synergistic.” He added that the request to the Chamber to act as the pass through has been withdrawn and the Chamber will not be responsible for anything.

A local entity, however, will still be needed to help distribute the money earmarked for events, according to Mono County Economic Development Manager Alicia Vennos. But, Economic Development Director Dan Lyster added that the County would not just be handing over the money for the entity to spend willy nilly.

“The entity will be given a scope of what is to be done with the money,” Lyster said. The Tourism and Film Commission will still be overseeing the dollars.

Lyster told The Sheet that the local entity is necessary to expedite the planning and payment processes.

“A lot of subcontractors [musicians, artists, vendors, etc.] will be necessary in the events category,” Lyster said. “It would take a lot of time for the County to develop contracts with each subcontractor because of liability and other details.”

He added, however, that if a local entity could not be found to fill the check-cutting shoes, the County would take it on.

Transit and white lights

In her report last week, Bauer said that transit had been taken off the table for a potential use of part of the $100,000. At Tuesday’s Commission meeting, however, a large portion of the discussion revolved around transit and approximately $20,000 had been earmarked in the budget for that purpose. The community is just nailing down the particulars of how often to run transit to and from Mammoth, where pickup spots should be, whether or not to charge a fare, etc.

Bauer had also criticized the idea of stringing lights on the buildings throughout the June Lake village, claiming, “Little white lights are not going to fix things.”

However, at Tuesday’s meeting, the group discussed that the illumination was more than just a decoration.

“The whole thing is a package,” Little said. “It’s the whole experience. It’s not about getting people here the first time, but about getting them to come back. We have to distinguish this place from other mountain towns. It’s not just about busing and marketing, it’s about making memories.”

Vennos agreed and added that this type of charm and experience is what she was hoping to market.

“We need to develop that experience, that atmosphere and sense of place,” Vennos said. “We need to wow people when they get here.”

She used the street entertainment in Whistler, B.C. as an example.

“People don’t go to Whistler for the street entertainment, but they love it when they get there. It completes the experience.”

The community is looking at the entire picture and stretching the $100,000 as far as it can, from attracting visitors to keeping them.

“These efforts need to continue even if the Mountain reopens,” Little said. “If you do nothing, you get nothing.”

Following Bauer’s Board report last week, fellow Board members requested an update on the process, and Supervisor Hap Hazard suggested the Board consider taking some of the money back. The Tourism and Film Commission, with the support of the June Lake community, will go before the Board this coming Tuesday to provide that update and reassure the supervisors that the entire $100,000 is needed and is being used responsibly.

The June Lake community continues to hash out its plan for the upcoming winter season, but is caught in the two steps forward, one step back dance that can make any process difficult.

At this point, the June Lake Revitalization Committee has established subcommittees and chairs, requested and been allocated $100,000 from Mono County, held meetings with Rusty Gregory and the Forest Service, and established a procedure for budget approvals.

In conjunction with the Mono County Economic Development Department and the Tourism Commission, the community has developed a form that will be filled out whenever an event or activity is planned. The form will be reviewed by the June Lake Revitalization Steering Committee, then by the Economic Development Department and will finally end up on the Tourism Commission’s desk for prioritization and approval.

The group is still nailing down what June Lake entity will be responsible for cutting the checks, but it has been narrowed down to either the Chamber of Commerce or the Historical Society. The question was expected to go before the Chamber next week.

Also next week, the Revitalization Committee meets on Sept. 12 and another meeting has been scheduled with the Economic Development and Tourism for Sept. 14.

Now for the backtrack:

At Tuesday’s Citizens Advisory Committee meeting, new safety concerns and emergency response protocol related to the June Mountain closure were raised.

“How do we handle people getting hurt,” asked CAC member Jerry Allendorf in reference to those who will hike up the face of June Mountain this year regardless of the closure and the delayed avalanche controls that are expected.

“It will happen,” said Mono County Sheriff Rick Scholl. “We deal with these issues throughout the County and we will just have to ramp up the response that’s appropriate to the situation.”

“If people get hurt on the Mountain it will not be a quick response,” added Undersheriff Ralph Obenberger. “We won’t go in unless it’s safe for us too. Skiers and boarders up on June Mountain will be low on the Sheriff’s priority list.”

It was suggested that Mammoth Mountain and the Forest Service still be expected to take some responsibility for safety on June Mountain. However, how and to what extent is currently being argued between the two entities.

MMSA’s plan for non-operation has yet to be submitted to the Forest Service and the Forest Service has yet to send a letter of non-compliance to MMSA, according to Mono County Supervisor Vikki Bauer.

“The Forest Service gets a percentage of every sale at Mammoth Mountain, which is about $2 million every year,” said CAC Chair BZ Miller of one potential reason for the delay. “You don’t want to bite the hand that feeds you.”

Mammoth District Ranger Jon Regelbrugge has stated at previous meetings that the Forest Service believes the letter of non-compliance will be challenged by MMSA once sent, so it wants to make sure all the T’s are crossed and I’s dotted so it will have a strong argument in an appeal.

In other words, District 3 Supervisor Elect Tim Alpers told The Sheet, “It’s easier to not send the letter than to deal with possible litigation.”

Another issue along the lines of safety: cell service. There is a transceiver on June Mountain that needs to be kept clear in order to keep phones working.

It wouldn’t be a matter of getting up to the transceiver, but of getting up to it a lot, the group agreed. Once buried in snow, the device would be difficult to dig out.

“We’re going to have to accept that we are just going to be taking care of ourselves at some point,” Bauer concluded.

Rusty’s response to requests

Alpers and Mono County Supervisor Larry Johnston met with Gregory approximately two weeks ago to discuss several requests from the June Lake community and the Board of Supervisors.

According to Johnston, Gregory was not in favor of providing a shuttle bus between Mammoth and June Lake.

“He said the purpose of the closure was to save money so he doesn’t want to spend money on a shuttle bus,” Johnston explained last week. He may, however, be willing to run an employee van that would take June Lake residents who work at Mammoth, to their jobs. Any extra seats in the van would be available to anyone else trying to get to Mammoth. Gregory apparently suggested a 15-passenger van since he is expecting about 8-9 employees to be traveling from June.

Gregory also said he would offer lift ticket discounts for skiers and riders who do take any shuttle bus provided to get to Mammoth, according to Johnston. Gregory was also amenable to offering discounted MMSA lift tickets in June Lake lodging packages as well as integrating June Lake into the 800.Mammoth system and using MMSA’s databases. The June Lake community will need to work with Howard Pickett and the Marketing Department, Johnston said.

Gregory was not in favor of designating the Chair 5 area for snow play due to the liability MMSA might incur from this, and he was not in favor of funding a snowcat operator for June Lake. It was suggested that perhaps Mammoth Nordic could help in this area, but upon further review, it was determined that the non-profit would not be available to help with its Nordini as the machine is maxed out with the work the group does in Mammoth.

“The group [JL Revitalization] has found that if they do anything to the snow, they’re liable,” commented Bauer.

Gregory was agreeable to clearing the June Mountain parking lot for events on a case-by-case basis, Johnston concluded.

Potential Buyers

The community is still interested in finding someone willing to buy June Mountain from MMSA CEO Rusty Gregory and MMSA. One option may be working with the Mountain Riders Alliance, a group that works to bring ski resorts back to the mountain and the skiing, and away from the big, flashy mountain scene.

The group helps resorts get away from the corporate scenario and turns running the resort into a co-op organization with a board that makes decisions. The group is expected to come talk with the community in October.

Ski Area’s Williams says June Mountain decision is final

June Mountain Ski Area General Manager Carl Williams told the full house of concerned citizens who attended the Keep June Mountain Open Coalition (KJMOC) meeting in June Lake on Wednesday evening that despite their best efforts, “June Mountain will not operate this season.”

And to make it perfectly clear, he repeated it twice.

The news appeared to stun Double Eagle Resort Owner Connie Black, who moderated the meeting. Prior to Williams’ statement, she had said, “If we don’t continue [pressing forward] and get June Mountain open this year, the odds of getting it open in future years are slim.”

Black and fellow KJMOC members had just spent the previous 20 minutes talking about the number of meetings they’d had and who they’d contacted.

At a July 10 meeting, Black said Mammoth Mountain CEO Rusty Gregory had outlined three things he needed [to even consider opening June]: for the County to approve a $100,000 commercial air service subsidy, entitlements on the zoning of the Rodeo Grounds property, and assurance that June Lake’s vision and development strategy would support a ski area. (In short: put a lot more heads on a lot more beds.) 

“I heard we had time,” said Black.

Williams, who attended the July 10 meeting, replied, “We said two weeks. It’s been two weeks. Time’s up.”

Fellow KJMOC member Patti Heinrich said if the Mountain wouldn’t open, then she wouldn’t support an air service subsidy or any modifications to the June Lake Area Plan. Her statement met with applause from those inside the packed June Lake Community Center.

Then the odds of opening anytime in the future become less and less, said Williams.

As Williams said, he’s already let go 17 full-time employees and the only two people he has left have spent the past 45-60 days putting things to bed, as opposed to readying equipment for next season. “The decision to not operate is a financial one, and conditions haven’t changed within the last 45 days.” Inspection and routine maintenance of lifts to get them ready for the season costs approximately $300,000 according to Connie Black (via the July 10 meeting with Gregory and Williams).

“We need a ton of snow, and Mammoth Mountain needs to make a shit-pile of money [for June to even have the possibility of opening in 2013-2014],” Williams added.

So where does that leave June Lake and Mono County?

A lot poorer.

June Lake resident Chris Edwards said he will immediately apply for a Prop. 8 property tax reduction of at least 50%, and figured everyone in June Lake would do the same.

Double Eagle Resort Owner Ralph Lockhart said the Double Eagle remitted $45,000 to the County in transient occupancy tax from December 2010 through March 2011. “We wouldn’t pay 20% of that if June Mountain closed this year.”

While Inyo National Forest Supervisor Ed Armenta said he cares about the community and is “deeply concerned,” he also warned that permit holders have rights, certainly the right to appeal if a permit is revoked, and that whatever process occurs will take time.

Mammoth Lakes District Ranger Jon Regelbrugge also noted that Mammoth Mountain owns the improvements on its leased property. It’s not as simple as asking MMSA to leave and bringing in a new operator.

The ever-popular Forest Service did not escape its share of derision, however. Regelbrugge noted that there is just one attorney at the Department of Agriculture who is responsible for legal matters at 18 National Forests. The guy is based in San Francisco and has just happened to be out of the office on vacation for the past two weeks. It’s this attorney who can issue a letter of non-compliance, “the only hammer we have [to force MMSA] to get off the stick,” said one disgruntled member of the audience.

Regelbrugge responded defensively. “We don’t have a trump card that could force Mammoth Mountain’s hand in a week.”

The assembled crowd did achieve one small victory. After a night of haranguing about what it would cost to buy June Mountain, Carl Williams did say it had an asset value of $14 million. However, he also said the Mountain is not for sale and that even if it was, any buyer would take one look at the books and run the other direction.

Mono Tourism meeting notes

Prior to many questions regarding JMSA’s future getting answered Wednesday, ideas and speculation ran rampant during a meeting of the Mono County Tourism Commission the previous day. Lockhart said the Keep June Mountain Open Coalition had called for an emergency meeting of the Mono Board of Supervisors on July 31 to present a package of potential ideas to put before Gregory regarding how to potentially open JMSA for the winter season.

With so much now taken off the table, exactly what the supervisors will discuss at that meeting remains to be seen. Gregory has been invited to that meeting, but why he would attend now is also a mystery.

Tourism Chair Jimmy Little said he thinks that a statement reportedly made by Gregory about June not have a clear vision represents something of a disconnect between Gregory and the community. Rebranding and chairlift upgrades are ideas Lockhart thinks Gregory will resist until he sees more detail on how June Lake will build on its lodging and development markets.

Gregory, according to Lockhart, called selling and subleasing JMSA “stupid ideas.”

“It was like extortion,” current District 4 Supervisor Tim Hansen said of the earlier June Lake CAC meeting with Gregory. Hansen said he found Gregory’s responses “offensive,” and railed against Mammoth Lakes’ “doubling down” on air service. He also called attempts to link air service and June Mountain’s predicament essentially “extorting and further trying to shame the County into putting in more money.”

Mono Economic Development Manager Alicia Vennos defended air service, pointing out that visitors flying in tend to stay longer and that research show the money spent tends to be higher.

“The County has a huge role to play here [in June Lake],” Little charged. “If tourism goes away, money to provide resources for other things goes away.”

“Does this community want a ski area, does it benefit the community and if so what are we willing to do to keep it?” Lockhart summed up.

Book now … Winter Air Service to Mammoth Yosemite Airport flies off into the friendly skies on Sunday, April 15. (Photo: Geisel)

Racers at the 2011 Mammoth Winter Biathlon set their sights on their targets. (Photo: Jimmy Barnes)

The fifth annual Mammoth Winter Biathlon returns this season on March 23-25, bringing much-needed excitement to an otherwise humdrum winter. A combination of intense exertion and calm poise, the event offers a racing opportunity unlike any other.

Mammoth Biathlon founder Dr. Mike Karch explained the unique nature of the sport: “The appeal is the combination of two sports which exist at opposite sides of the athletic spectrum. Shooting requires a Zen-like quiet mental focus. Cross-country skiing requires an all-out cardiac threshold effort. It is an incredibly intense and difficult sport.” Dr. Karch equated the biathlon to playing golf, but sprinting between the holes.

The Biathlon race begins with 20 racers skiing one lap and shooting five shots. For each missed shot the racer takes a 150-meter penalty lap. This means that should a racer miss 10 shots, they will ski almost an extra mile in penalty laps. The final race lap brings racers to the finish line.

The appeal of the Mammoth Winter Biathlon has spread rapidly since the event’s inception. The Biathlon, which is now the largest in Northern America, nearly doubled its participants from its second to third year, rising from 98 to 168, while last year saw a record 220 racers.

What’s more, Dr. Karch reported that of those 220 racers, 40 were “elite” athletes, or professional racers from World Cup to Olympic teams, and 111 were “tourists,” or visitors from outside of the area between Lone Pine and Walker. These numbers suggest that the Biathlon is quickly turning Mammoth Lakes into a high altitude training destination for a sport with a growing following in the U.S., and that the event generates much needed tourist revenue during the typically slow months of March and April.

When asked if he could have anticipated the success of his event, Dr. Karch laughed. “I had no idea it would grow like this,” he said. “It’s just taken off. This year we’re getting people from as far north as Washington state, and as far east as Vermont. It’s just amazing.”

Dr. Karch initially founded the Biathlon race out of a desire to provide local kids with an opportunity to learn about and participate in the sport. “I traveled to a lot of Nordic World Cups as the U.S. Nordic Combined Physician,” he said, “and to see the amount of enthusiasm that Europeans have for the sport was inspiring.” Dr. Karch hoped to kindle the same enthusiasm in kids and adults alike, and so far, the event is doing just that.

To accommodate the growing demands of racers and spectators, the Biathlon course has moved to a new location this year at Red’s Lake, below Chair 13 and 14 at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area. The previous location near Horseshoe Lake offered two challenges: a long transport (almost 3 miles) for spectators to the course, and “incredible wind,” Dr. Karch said. “We keep moving [the event] to test different sites,” he explained. This year, Red’s Lake will offer easier transport for spectators, who have only to hop on a ski lift and ride down to the course, as well as greater wind protection.

Karch also noted that the course itself is changing. It will now be composed of a repeating “fast loop” of 1.5 km, with several built-in hills to give between 15-20 feet of elevation gain. Also, unlike past years, most of the course this year will be visible to spectators. “We’re moving toward a very tight, arena-like format,” he said. “It’ll be more spectator friendly, and as a racer, it should feel faster. It’ll be more fun to ski and to watch.”

Racers this year will include a range of participants from Junior National to World Cup team members, the National Guard, Wounded Warriors, disabled athletes from Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra, and thus far, kids from age 8 to adults of 78.

The ATSN/Pursuit Channel, which aired a 20-minute documentary on the event last year, will be on hand again to capture the fun.

Nick Proell, one of two athletes 16-17 years old representing the U.S. at the 2012 Inaugural Youth Winter Olympic Games in the Biathlon, explained why he plans on coming to the Mammoth Biathlon this year: “The Mammoth race is definitely offering much more coverage [via the ATSN/Pursuit Channel] and a lot more racers than an average

Biathlon race in the U.S.,” he said. “I wanted to come because of the coverage and because of the opportunity to meet new athletes interested in such a great sport.”

Although less snow this winter means less of a local economy, and therefore less disposable income for potential local participants, Dr. Karch remained hopeful that this year’s race would continue to place the Mammoth Biathlon at number one in North America. “Last year at this time we had 100 [racers] signed up,” he said, “and we ended up with 220. This year we have about 110 registered. We’ll see what happens this week.”

Registration for the Biathlon closes at midnight on March 20.

While last year’s race was nearly canceled due to a dump of 10 feet of snow five days before the event, this year the issue, if any, would be lack of snow. But Karch said the dry winter shouldn’t negatively affect the course. “We have at least 8 inches of snow up there now, and more expected this week. That’s enough to run the event well.”

Helping to run that event are some 200 volunteers, led by Volunteer Coordinator Kami Boyer, who has been working for a month to ensure that the Biathlon will run as smoothly as possible. The event will also be supported by last year’s Title Sponsor, Ford Motor Co., plus many other sponsors at different levels. In addition, Dr. Karch noted the generosity of major sponsors Charlie and Maxine Comfort, Jon Bourne, and Doug Eberts.

Intended to inspire a younger generation to pursue the sport of biathlon racing, half of the proceeds from the Mammoth Winter Biathlon will go to the Junior Nordic Racing program. The other half will go toward next year’s Biathlon, which Dr. Karch hopes will one day have a permanent venue. One thing is for certain: the event, and the sport, isn’t going away any time soon. “Once people try it, it’s almost addicting,” Dr. Karch said. “You can never perfect it.”

The Saturday, March 24 race will be a 3k for Juniors 8-19 years old, Wounded Warriors and Beginner Adults. Sunday, March 25 offers a 4.5k race to Masters and Seniors, as well as a 7.5k race for “Elite” athletes. All races begin at 10 a.m. Laser Gun Marksmanship Clinics will be offered on Friday at noon, 2 p.m., 4 p.m., and 6 p.m.

To register for the Biathlon, go to Active.com.

To volunteer, contact Kami Boyer at kamiboyer@npgcable.com.

Emma Orill leads the Baby Sugarplums, which featured Ellie Crall, Joceyln Flamson, Khamyla Gastelum, Rosa Gastelum, Kaihla Halferty, Ellie Hicks, Siena Ledesma, Ana Orduro, Ashylnn Parsons and Lucy Perry. (Photos: Lunch)

Le Centre Dance Studio’s Winter Recital on Wednesday, based upon the music of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, was a smashing success. Both performances, held at Edison Theatre, sold out.

Shelly Gribben, Khylie Small and Claire Voepel performing The Russian Dance.

 

 

 

 

Spanish Chocolate was performed by Fiona Godoy, Emma Orill, Khylie Small and Katie Wilson.

The Hip Hop number to the Nutcracker Suite (above) featured Belle Dolan Carleton, Jordyn Harper, Dakota Lucero, Melanie German, Cassidy Moyer, Emma Orill, Natassia Kenney, Kayleigh McGregor, Khylie Small and Katie Wilson.

The 2011/12 season at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area is officially on. (Photo: Vane)