Ski Ya Later!
Snowman Steve Taylor talks “organic marketing”
If you see Steve Taylor, the Mammoth Snowman, out on the hill, you’ll recognize him by his trademark plaid beanie. If you’re lucky, you might even get a “woo hoo!” out of him.
In a town built on a carefully crafted image of bluebird powder days, picturesque corduroy ski runs, and poster-perfect people recreating in the outdoors, Taylor’s take on Mammoth is refreshing—he’s clearly stoked on the mountain lifestyle, but he doesn’t pretend it’s all backflips into Hangman’s.
Taylor has gained a following of admirers grateful for his honest, authentic representation of conditions at Mammoth Mountain and its surroundings. He’s a tell-it-like-it-is kind of guy, and his fans appreciate that.
“Hey, if you’re a skier or snowboarder, would you like some basically readable weather and information on what’s really going on the hill?” Taylor asks rhetorically. “And everybody’s like, ‘Absolutely!’”
Taylor is realistic when he posts about the conditions at Mammoth (“be ready for a big weekend crowd”), but he lives by the philosophy that there is always an upside. “On any given day during the season, you’ll be able to find some really good snow to ski on,” he told Chris Stanella in 2012. “On many mountains, that’s not the case. I’m out there 120 to 150 days a year, and I always find some good snow.”
His enthusiasm is palpable in his social media posts and the videos he features on his website—all done in a homegrown, low-fi style.
Taylor’s website, www.mammothsnowman.com is far from the polished image one finds on Mammoth Lakes Tourism’s [MLT] website, for instance. It can be a little grating for a grammar stickler, there are a few missing apostrophes and misplaced possessives, but that’s not really what Taylor’s fans are there for.
“People really just want to know what’s really happening,” says Taylor, “and when they go to [Mammoth] Mountain’s site, half the time when you click ‘information,’ its just a general thing.”
