MMSA insists it will forge ahead

By Angela Evans

“There are many rumors out there” Mammoth Mountain Ski Area’s executive management team admitted in a post-holiday email to mountain staff.

Fortunately, the management team insists they aren’t true.

According to the Winter Operation Update distributed by MMSA on January 7th, all Mammoth Mountain base lodges, Tamarack Cross Country Ski Center and June Mountain will remain open with 4 lifts operating at June and 15 at Mammoth.

Instead of closing as rumored, “access to Canyon and Eagle Lodge and the surrounding terrain will remain a snowmaking priority,” according to a guest letter sent out by MMSA on January 4th.

In response to rumors that June was trimming its operations, General Manager Carl Williams said,  “We are operating everything we can. Like always, we have to match expenses and revenues. As of now, we have no plans for layoffs.”

Mammoth Mountain announced “there will be specific requests for extra employee assistance during the Grand Prix” taking place January 16-19. However, the executive management team also said, “Like pre-holiday, we will adjust as we always do to the appropriate levels of demand.”

There’s hope for this season yet. Reporting for opensnow.com in Tahoe, Snow forecaster Bryan Allegretto looked at historical snowfalls to find good news. “All of these seasons with a slow start ended below average, but if history means anything it says on average we will pick up another 230 inches this season. The worst on record would bring another 130 inches.” Even without much snow MMSA is open from top to bottom and claims the most open terrain in California.

Supervisor Byng Hunt reported at Tuesday’s Mono County Board of Supervisors meeting that MMSA’s financial projection is down 17% from last year. But he also remained hopeful— “people are still skiing and they are still operating.” After pausing, Hunt concluded, “continue to pray for snow.”