Turkey day traffic jam
Locals and visitors alike fought traffic and crowds over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, with some residents saying the gridlock was due to Mammoth Mountain’s decision not to open Canyon Lodge—but MMSA said there was simply not enough snow to open safely.
“Mother nature made that decision for us,” said Mark Brownlie, COO of MMSA. Brownlie said that the ski area had attempted to groom the runs at Canyon in anticipation of a big storm just before the holiday, but the snow did not add much to the base.
“The majority of our latest snowfall was really cold and not the traditional Mammoth ‘glopper’ that lays down that wet base that we know and love here,” Brownlie said.
“So we were in the water bars or on the rocks when we tried to see if we could ski [Canyon].”
Rumors among disgruntled locals and employees ranged from the Mountain simply not wanting to pay to open Canyon to mishandled international employee Visas that left the hill too short-staffed to open. However, said Brownlie, MMSA does not rely on international employees to staff lifts or cafeterias, and, regardless, does not expect employees on Visas to arrive until the Christmas holiday.
Slow traffic stretched from Main Lodge to beyond the intersection of Main St. and Minaret Rd. Employees were late to work and causing trouble for emergency services.
“One specific call, it took 25 minutes for EMS to get up to Main Lodge,” said Police Chief Al Davis at Wednesday’s Town Council Meeting, also noting that at one point he considered shutting down uptown traffic to the Mountain. “Friday was pretty contentious when it came to traffic,” he said, noting that Saturday seemed to flow better. “I don’t think anyone planned for the 30-some-thousand people showing.”
According to Mayor Michael Raimondo when he spoke at Town Council, MMSA hosted 33,000 skiers from Thursday to Sunday. He called it the “best Thanksgiving in 10 years.”
Another group of skiers—nordic pass holders for Tamarack Resort (also owned by MMSA)—were confused by Tamarack’s recent decision to cease grooming of the first mile of Lake Mary Road’s cross-country ski trail. Pass holders, who had previously been able to access tracked and groomed snow from the end of the paved road, were redirected to the Tamarack Cross Country Ski Center, which has limited parking. Many said they had not been informed of the change and that the new arrangement would be inconvenient for them. Tamarack General Manager Rob Moyer told The Sheet in an e-mail that “a small number of our season pass holders have expressed concerns. We have limited parking and we will be forced to manage parking for the resort guests.”
Moyer said that the change was spurred by hikers, snowshoers and dog walkers damaging the groomed trail in the first mile and “by not grooming this small segment of our trail system it is our hope to buffer our trail system from these activities and focus on a superior experience for our skiers.”
Some residents and visitors were frustrated with the first busy weekend of the holiday season in Mammoth, many local business owners called instead for gratitude. Andrea Walker, owner of Stellar Brew, asked rhetorically if Mammoth should hope for less tourists in town. “Too many people wanted to come ski our awesome mountain,” she said of the traffic.
MMSA’s Brownlie concurred. He said he talked to visitors in line waiting for shuttles back into town after a day of skiing and they were ecstatic. “I was blown away by how positive everyone was,” he said. “I didn’t have one person say anything negative to me in that line.”
The projected opening date of Canyon Lodge is Dec. 16, said Brownlie, and added that snowmakers will be concentrating on the eastern side of the Mountain now that coverage is secured elsewhere. The Mountain is gearing up for another busy weekend, he said, adding that an upcoming storm is gaining momentum.
“After the seasons that we’ve been through—the past four years have been a complete beating for everyone,” he said. “Our employees have been so upbeat and positive now that it’s busy.”
