When we arrived Thursday night, they were just getting ready to close highway 203. We had to put on chains and we were in one of the last groups escorted up the mountain. We didn't arrive in Mammoth until 11pm, and by then the snow was falling so thick it was very hard to see. It took us another half an hour to find the condo where we were staying. Here is a photo of the trek from the parking lot to the condo... not easy finding it in the dark and falling snow.
Friday we skied. We went to the smaller of the lodges, Canyon lodge. Since the kids were just beginners, we didn't want to have to fight the crowds at the Main lodge. As we were in line to rent our skis, we heard that the road to the Main lodge was closed. Everyone was heading either to Eagle lodge or Canyon lodge. Since it was Friday, the crowds weren't that bad. The kids were dead tired with only half a day skiing. It was windy and cold on the mountain. That really took it out of them too. They slept really good that night.
Saturday, we headed to the snow mobile area, the weather was beautiful! BUT another storm was supposed to hit about noon. Chris rode with Jim and Cheryl rode with me. We all took turns driving. In the second picture, you can see the storm starting to come in.
It snowed all afternoon, and it snowed all evening. We went out for ice cream... why? Well, because we had a coupon! Ben and Jerry's two sundaes for the price on one! LOL!
It snowed all night and all Sunday morning... and here is what we woke up to. That picture of my daughter was taken in the same place as the photo of the way to the condo that I posted above.
The pass was closed and was not expected to open again until 7pm Sunday night. My hubby had to go to work on Monday or he wouldn't get paid for the vacation day that he took Friday, and the kids had the first day of the new semester. We tried leaving at 10am, and again at noon. When we tried again at 1:30pm, we saw that they were escorting groups through, so we jumped in line. It rained most of the way home. We got home about 8:30pm.
So that's our Mammoth adventure. It was cold and windy and a lot of FUN!!!
WOW!!!! What a beautiful trip!!! LOVE the snow! Now you have snow pictures to scrap! Thanks for sharing those with us!!!
ReplyDeleteOH MY GOSH JONI! that is SOME SNOW! It sounds like you had a GREAT time!! LOVE the photos you got! Cant wait to see the layouts!!!!
ReplyDeleteWOW!! What an awesome vacation! It sounds like your entire family had a fabulous time! Bet it was even worth sitting in all that traffic, too!!
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