This is Mammoth Mountain, the busiest
ski resort in California
and along with Vail Co.
One of the two busiest in the
country over a million people a year
ski at mammoth. It's not too hard
to see why there are about 80 runs.
The slopes are beautifully groomed and
the scenery is not too shabby either.
This is the top of Mammoth Mountain
elevation 11,000 and 53 feet straight down.
A lot of it. It looks like from here
a very cheerful ski patrolman just
stopped by and said it's very lucky.
We chose to come up here today
because the wind isn't very strong.
He said some days it would
blow us off the Cliff.
I think he said that but my ears
froze up as he was talking.
I'm going to stop talking now
before my jaw freezes too.
This kind of weather is not fit for
Southern California boys like me,
but skiers don't even seem to notice it.
They're too busy getting ready for
the long trip down, except not all
of them are looking forward to it.
I can make it down here in one piece
though my friend the other day went
down here and fell all the way down.
Friend, I guess he's OK,
but I hope I'm not like that.
But mostly these people,
on top of the mountain are avid
skiers and just can't wait to hit
the slopes for a variety of reasons.
It's a sport that you
always find something new.
There's always new things.
Here's the snow conditions.
Will change,
you find new jumps you find.
There's always a challenge.
The creative aspect and enjoy challenging
myself and seeing myself improve,
and I think that's my friends.
And we got outdoors a lot of reasons
because it's fun.
It's staring and it's crazy.
Skiing is not cheap,
but unless you own your own equipment
which will set you back a few bucks,
you have to rent your skis,
boots and poles that cost $9
a day at the Mammoth Lodge.
Then you have to buy your
lift tickets to get you up
the mountain $14.00 a day.
And heaven knows how much
people spend on ski clothes.
There are no real rules in ski clothes,
except they're supposed to be warm.
Of course, some people don't
even think that's important.
Cowboy hats seemed to be very
much in vogue this year and
mostly ski clothes are colorful.
I mean, nobody wants to wear white
clothes on a white slope, right?
Well, there's always somebody
that wants to be different.
Mammoth gets a little crowded.
We were there mid week and it
wasn't exactly deserted on weekends
and even on Mondays and Fridays.
The lift lines tend to look a little bit
like the lines at the opening of Star Trek.
One great advantage to skiing is
that it can be a family affair.
If Pop knows how to ski,
that's about all that's necessary.
Well,
actually pop has to be able to ski
and support the little one at the same time.
You find all kinds of different
levels of expertise up here.
You get the real Hotshots,
the people that ski like this.
And on the other side of the coin,
you get people who maybe don't
do a heck of a lot of skiing,
and they look something like this.
And even good skiers sometimes get
confused and wind up going down
the hill on their faces or their
rear ends instead of on their skis.
But that's the challenge.
Having fun and staying in
one piece at the same time.
Tomorrow we'll spend a
little time with a genuine.
All America ski Bum who
is still in one piece.
Hal Clement Neuzeit Mammoth Mountain.
Mammoth Lakes is a nice little town of
about 8000 people and let's face it,
most of them are here to ski.
Whether they work at the ski lodge
or in town. There major goal is
to find time to hit the slopes,
says one large employee told me you
work here to ski, not to make money.
Greg Dressen is from Ontario,
CA where he was a retail clerk
making about $10.00 an hour.
Now he's in charge of the grocery
department at the pioneer market in Mammoth
Lakes and he makes about $5 an hour.
His schedule was not exactly made in heaven.
He works 4:00 PM to midnight.
Most of the time,
but one day a week he comes in at 10:00 PM,
works till 7:00 in the morning,
then comes back at 5:00 PM.
Greg says he came to mammoth because
the city was getting too hectic
for him and he wanted to ski.
Would you call yourself a ski bum?
You had to extend.
I think you'd have to call me that, yeah?
I don't know how wide of
range ski bone would go,
but I think I fit into that category.
Seems that most of the people we
talked to up here say it would
be much more challenging to find
someone who isn't a ski bum and
to find someone who is right.
A lot of people up here are so
interested in it is what the whole
town consists of it between the
summer months in the winter months.
People change and soon as snow
hits the ground the town just
fills up and you've got thousands
of skiers and you've got a lot of
people here who just come up and
live here for the winter to ski.
Greg Skis five days a week and says one of
his goals is to become a really good skier.
After watching him take a couple of runs,
I would say he has achieved that goal.
I must get the impression of
when you're here at the market.
You're sort of marking time before
you get back out on the slaves.
Actually, it's kind of.
This is what's getting me
through till the next day so
I can get back down the slope
most. Ski bums become good skiers,
some of them also become slightly crazy.
Witness these gentlemen who think it's
a lot of fun to endanger their bodies on
this little spot of Mammoth
Mountain. Known as her jump.
No one was hurt while we were watching,
but you get the feeling an orthopedic
surgeon could make a very good living.
Just treating the people who
go off of her jump. Tomorrow.
We'll wrap up our series and I
will give Mammoth Mountain a try.
You want to see me go off her jump?
You got to be kidding. Hal
Clement News 8 somewhere on the
safe part of Mammoth Mountain.
On the third day it snowed.
Pointed it snowed, everybody talked
about how cold and miserable it was and
went right on getting ready to ski.
Some of the locals might have stayed inside,
but the tourists were not
about to waste a day of skiing.
Driving to the slopes that day was kind
of tricky because chains were required.
If you're driving to mammoth, which is
about an 8 hour drive from San Diego,
you should take along a set of tire chains.
You should also take along somebody
who knows how to put them on the tires.
The side of the road was littered
with confused southern Californians
who had never taken their chains
out of the box before.
Once at the Lodge,
it's time to get outfitted first.
The ski boots, now the Staffs very nice.
They want to make sure the
boots are comfortable,
which is ridiculous unless you're used
to them ski boots feel as if someone
has strapped cement blocks to your feet.
So with boots weighing you down you
waddle to the ski rental window.
Pick up your skis and poles and
wait to get your bindings adjusted.
They're very careful to get the
bindings just right,
so they give when you fall,
but not until then.
They do this because they care about you.
They also do this so they don't
get sued if you fall and break your
leg in 14 places.
OK, boots on skis,
adjusted time to hit the slopes.
But why of all days?
Do I pick the day when the
temperature is low?
The wind is high and the snow is swirling.
This might be OK for NANOOK,
but not a guy from San Diego who hasn't
strapped down a ski in five years.
Still,
the bad weather doesn't seem to be
stopping the other crazy tourists,
so on go the skis.
It does not take long to get cold,
especially if you have forgotten a cap.
This comes under the heading
of fun, you understand.
There are three ways to get up the slopes.
A gondola, a chairlift
or a T bar like this one.
T bars can be a little tricky.
The impulse is to sit down on them.
If you do that, you wind up on your back.
The trick is to let the
bar pull you up the hill.
I've always had the theory that you have
to be a fairly good skier to get hurt.
Not true.
There are more accidents.
It turns out on the lower slopes where
the beginners and the intermediates hang
out and there are always reminders that
it doesn't take much to ruin your trip.
One good idea is to only tackle hills.
You know you can handle.
Some of the experts slopes here.
They put the hot dogs go have names
like hangmans, paranoids, varmints,
nest. You get
the general idea.
Frankly I prefer slopes
with names like this one Sesame Street
catch you later.
Living in Southern California, it's easy
to forget that snow can hurt the cold.
Plus, the wind makes the snowflakes feel
as if somebody is shooting rock salt at
your face with a double barreled shotgun.
After a while, I think I would have
killed for a ski mask like this one.
It may be cold skiing in weather like this,
but it's beautiful to really and the
fresh powder is a good surface to ski on.
But finally it gets to the point
where you're convinced your face is
frostbitten and you can't see your
friends 20 feet in front of you.
And there comes a time,
especially on a day like this one,
when you want to get inside and
enjoy some of the creature comforts.
The French, call it our praski.
I call it getting warm.
Singing the song now.
The Lodge at Mammoth does
not have an apres ski area,
but there are any number of
restaurants and bars that will be
more than happy to accommodate you.
They'll even throw in some entertainment.
This is very much a part of the
whole skiing lifestyle hanging out
after the day's skiing is done.
And amazingly, we did not see
one person resting a broken leg.
Must have been a good day.
After a rough day on the slopes,
of course you have to sit around and
roaring fire with a couple of good
friends and a nice hot beverage,
and reminisce about all the dynamite
runs you had that afternoon.
You know this sports reporting
is a dirty business,
but somebody's gotta do it.
Al Clement News 8 Mammoth Mountain.
Period period