Wooly Mammoth...here I come!

I got the skiing itch during March so I kicked off planning a trip with Sheryl who gathered a few companions. So, with five folks in hand I searched online for a condo for $50 each - I recommend Homeaway and VRBO (vacation rentals by owners.)

Our place was compact and bijou and didn't quite sleep five, but we made do. And Sheryl's Mexican food made us feel like we were still in LA :) The slopes were a 10 minute walk up the hill...quite a shock to the system. The chest tightens and the breathes get shallow as the legs get tired. And that was before we even hit the slopes! But as the landlord said, "it's a good work out..."

Not cheap I rented my boots, skis and poles for two days and it came to $65, but add the two-day ski lift pass and it totaled $223. Gulp. You have to get your money's worth when you come and 1/2 day skiing (aka cheaper) only starts at 12.30pm.

Skiing at Mammoth Mountain, CA 2009 from stevio on Vimeo.

Road trip The drive up the CA-14 takes you past some spectacular scenery that makes you feel like you're exploring. We past two small towns, Lone Pine and Independence which were both swarming with police pests. I saw the Red Rock State Park and from the freeway I think you pass some of those red rocks.

Mammoth, ain't big enough for Stevio ;-)

The first day at Mammoth was amazingly bright! The second day was a blizzard (see the video clip below!) The whole weekend had great snow, especially up top.

On this beautifully sunny and warm Saturday it was like being in LA. We all headed, at a leisurely pace much to Paul's annoyance, towards the Main Lodge. Lumme and I disappeared to grab our beginner lift tickets ($35 vs. $78) and rental equipment. I um'd and ah'd, but decided I should try snowboarding again first before I was too lazy ;-) I was a little apprehensive after the last distastrous attempt at Mountain High with Noelle where I got so exhausted I was ill for days?!

I grabbed myself a three-hour lesson till lunchtime. That was very productive and I learnt how to turn from heel- to toe-edge and back. What does that mean? It means I can have a better repertoire on the slopes. For the rest of the afternoon I practiced those moves with Lumme. She stubbornly refused to try them ;-)

Check these crazy sledge dogs that are on the mountain if you fancy a romantic, but bumpy ride up and down Main Lodge.



That night, Suzanne and Joe were headed to the local club. I was gungho, but then my sensible side grabbed me by the nuts: there are gonna be loads of dudes there, it’ll be cramped and I’ll get bored, really bored hanging out with college kids who’ll puke in the bathroom over my $200 New Balance Butterfly sneakers!? Hahah. I wasn’t far off, by all accounts. But I forgot to mention the possibility of a ruckus. Yea, that comes with the testosterone, booze and not enough women, I guess! Well, I'm glad I slept early.

Oh, here's that blizzard. This is the ride on the second day on Eagle Lodge's Chair 25 lift. It was cold, but not as cold as Park City or Whistler. But mate, it's so beautiful it's worth it.

Mammoth...Traffic's gonna blow!

On Friday I met at Lumme’s house in Brentwood where Paul C met us to drive the 6 hours to Mammoth, via Mojave. She was a PhD candidate at UCLA in mathematics and and I guessed she was from Finland. Nope, she was from Estonia, next door, but I was close ;-)

“Let’s leave by 6pm”, Paul said, “traffic’s going to blow!” You see, Paul is a surfer and a volleyball player who lives on the beach. He is Ecudorian, works as a film editor and talks in affirmative “beach speak”, dude! We headed off in his Nissan Armada which comfortably carried the three of us and our winter gear up the 405, 5, 14, 395 freeways. In the car I asked Paul: “When something ‘stinks’ we know it’s bad, but when something ‘sucks’ or ‘blows’ what does that mean?!” “Good question...”, Paul said. Lumme was silent. “I mean, is it a sexual swear word thing…to suck or to blow?”, I continued.



We stopped off at Denny’s in Mojave. We were nearly halfway there. The food was consistently Denny’s. When Tina and I went skiing in Park City during Sundance Film Festival (1999) we loved our Denny’s that was under our Best Western motel. Their skillets of home fries, sausage and cheese hit the spot on a cold, winter’s day, just before skiing. May be not the healthiest start to the day, but crazy tasty!

Paul looked around at all the white families in Denny’s and said we were the most diverse group in the place. Understatement! I mean, I couldn’t get over the fact that we’d only known each other a few hours, were from different backgrounds and were voluntarily going to share our long weekend together. But we were getting on fine!

It was near midnight when we arrive safely in Mammoth. Paul had stayed the condo last week, but that was the only constant. This weekend, we were all new to each other. Inside I met Joe, the financial advisor from Seattle and Suzanne from LA whom I’d had a couple of chats with. She was blonde, tallish and pretty in a Claire Waller kinda way. In fact, exactly like Claire Waller. For those of you who don’t remember her, Claire was the singer/pianist girl who Jason met and made part of the band I named Fat o’ The Land, along with Nick. We had some minor success on a Sickle Cell charity recording with fellow Bristolians, Tricky, Massive Attack,

So, this was my Big Brother experience: five strangers, a condo and Mammoth Mountain. All brought together through Facebook. (As it happened Joe and Suzanne actually met in Whistler earlier in the ski season, but you get the jist.)

Mammoth skiing courtesy of Facebook?!

I sent out a note to my network asking if anyone wanted to go skiing. In reply, this week I got a call from Ryan. I was excited 'cause he said there was a group going skiing in Mammoth this President’s Day weekend. Cool! Especially, as Ryan's a pro who organized a couple of trips to Mammoth when we were at USC.

But this trip was different...In fact, Ryan couldn't make it, but wanted to introduce me to the group of people who were planning on going in case I wanted to join then. The intriguingly odd thing about this group was the fact that no one knew each other. No one! The only connection was that they were all members of Facebook’s winter sports group. At the time it didn't seem such an odd prospect...but with hindsight I can see why it's a bit freaky!

Suzanne was the organizer and a law student and USC alum. She was my contact and “she likes English accents”, Ryan offered up. So, after I juggled a few things I agreed that I'd join these strangers to go skiing. I wanted to leave on Friday so I could ride up with Paul and Lummee.

This could've been an episode of MTV's Real World or a Mammoth Big Brother!