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Every year I try to take one week long trip snowboarding. Last year I spent a week up in Whistler B.C. This year I went to Mammoth for a week. I have a season pass there so it was more economical and I could drive instead of fly there. I live in San Diego, Mammoth, California is 400 miles away in the Easter Sierra mountains.
So the trip started on Saturday the 21st and ended on Saturday the 28th.
There were 7 guys total going, we were staying at 4 bedroom 3 bath condo, two story, huge living room, huge dining room, nice kitchen, balcony, wood burning stove in the living room, plenty of space for all, 7 bed total. Place was a steal at $2100 for the week.
There are 7 of us headed up with all of our gear.. snowboards, skis, etc. So we take three cars. I roll up in my friends acura CL, another guy takes a Passat and 3 people total in it, the other guy a Civic. None of the cars are exactly all weather material, but we all have chains ready because the forecast is calling for a ton of snow.
The ride up there was cool for 2 of the 3 cards, we went anywhere between 75mph and 100+mph on the way up, and one guy got a ticket! They only wrote 75 on the ticket though instead of the 90+ he was doing at the time. I bought some new music for the ride including RHCP greatest hits which was a good way to pass the time. Stopped off on the ride up and did a tour of a Japanese Internment camp, that was interesting.
We stop at an Indian casino about half an hour away from our final destination, I blow $140 there on blackjack.. I know, dumb.
We get to the condo at about 5pm, check in, get settled. It is snowing as we get in, but not too heavy. We get 6" that evening.
We make a run to the grocery store, get supplied, get booze, and we're ready. That night, like every night, we played a lot of poker.
A few of us want to go out to dinner at a sushi place in town that is surprisingly good for being at 8000' feet elevation. We head out in my buddies acura.. just three of us. Its snowing and we stupidly do not put the chains on since its a quick trip and its a bitch to get chains on. He ends up sliding into a truck and doing $6000 damage to his car. Its fucked because we need another vehicle now to get back home, all of us and our gear wont fit in the two remaining cars. The guy who's car got wrecked is bummed and wants to leave, but he ends up staying. We driving him 2 hours to Carson City Nevada to pick up a rental car. His car is towed to Bishop, CA to be fixed. It will take 2-3 weeks.
The next morning, Sunday, we hit the slopes. Its also my 27th birthday. Its snowing heavy all day, we get 10" total and the conditions on the mountain were so-so. Great powder but I was soaked to the bone, wind was mild.
That night we go out to the village and get dinner and drinks, my buddies covered all mine, that was nice.
The next morning we get up and its not snowing. I'm hung over as well so I hit the mountain in the afternoon, not bad conditions, not the best due to a little wind, but not bad at all.
Evening activities typically included a lot of poker and drinking. We watched some movies and TV as well, one night we all watched Unforgiven, great Eastwood movie.
Tuesday it snowed 6 inches, but Wednesday was the whopper, we got 38" in one day!!
Most of us stayed off the mountain that day but headed to the store to get more food and to a place for lunch, driving was NUTS.. the powder was 2-3 feed deep everywhere and they couldn't clear the roads fast enough. On the way back we got stuck and spent 20 minutes digging one of the cars out.
The next day we all hit the mountain but there is so much powder you get stuck sometimes. It also snowed 11" that day.
A few of the guys come down with a cold by this point in the trip, but everyone still makes it to the mountain to take advantage of the powder.
I boarded 4 of the 6 possible days, I usually do 5 but I was hungover bad two mornings and just couldn't do it.. plus the day it snowed over 3 feet most of the mountain wasn't open.
Most people are leaving Satuday morning at 8am, 3 of us decide to leave at 1am and just not sleep.. this is mainly because guys were getting sick and just wanted to go. I leave in the passat at 1am and 100 miles out of town the car starts shaking and we lose power. its 3am now in the middle of nowhere.. we call road side assistance, they say they can't do a thing at that time of night so far away.. we still drive home and find out when we get back that two spark plugs went out.. coils probably cracked because the car was buried in snow for 2 days. We still made it home in 7 hours despite the fact that we couldn't drive faster then 60mph the whole way.
So all in all, it was a fun trip, but it had its share of disasters. I ended up coming home with $150 in cash (I had planned to spend all the cash I brought) which was a good bonus.
Next trip is a 4 day boarding trip to Utah in April!
So the trip started on Saturday the 21st and ended on Saturday the 28th.
There were 7 guys total going, we were staying at 4 bedroom 3 bath condo, two story, huge living room, huge dining room, nice kitchen, balcony, wood burning stove in the living room, plenty of space for all, 7 bed total. Place was a steal at $2100 for the week.
There are 7 of us headed up with all of our gear.. snowboards, skis, etc. So we take three cars. I roll up in my friends acura CL, another guy takes a Passat and 3 people total in it, the other guy a Civic. None of the cars are exactly all weather material, but we all have chains ready because the forecast is calling for a ton of snow.
The ride up there was cool for 2 of the 3 cards, we went anywhere between 75mph and 100+mph on the way up, and one guy got a ticket! They only wrote 75 on the ticket though instead of the 90+ he was doing at the time. I bought some new music for the ride including RHCP greatest hits which was a good way to pass the time. Stopped off on the ride up and did a tour of a Japanese Internment camp, that was interesting.
We stop at an Indian casino about half an hour away from our final destination, I blow $140 there on blackjack.. I know, dumb.
We get to the condo at about 5pm, check in, get settled. It is snowing as we get in, but not too heavy. We get 6" that evening.
We make a run to the grocery store, get supplied, get booze, and we're ready. That night, like every night, we played a lot of poker.
A few of us want to go out to dinner at a sushi place in town that is surprisingly good for being at 8000' feet elevation. We head out in my buddies acura.. just three of us. Its snowing and we stupidly do not put the chains on since its a quick trip and its a bitch to get chains on. He ends up sliding into a truck and doing $6000 damage to his car. Its fucked because we need another vehicle now to get back home, all of us and our gear wont fit in the two remaining cars. The guy who's car got wrecked is bummed and wants to leave, but he ends up staying. We driving him 2 hours to Carson City Nevada to pick up a rental car. His car is towed to Bishop, CA to be fixed. It will take 2-3 weeks.
The next morning, Sunday, we hit the slopes. Its also my 27th birthday. Its snowing heavy all day, we get 10" total and the conditions on the mountain were so-so. Great powder but I was soaked to the bone, wind was mild.
That night we go out to the village and get dinner and drinks, my buddies covered all mine, that was nice.
The next morning we get up and its not snowing. I'm hung over as well so I hit the mountain in the afternoon, not bad conditions, not the best due to a little wind, but not bad at all.
Evening activities typically included a lot of poker and drinking. We watched some movies and TV as well, one night we all watched Unforgiven, great Eastwood movie.
Tuesday it snowed 6 inches, but Wednesday was the whopper, we got 38" in one day!!
Most of us stayed off the mountain that day but headed to the store to get more food and to a place for lunch, driving was NUTS.. the powder was 2-3 feed deep everywhere and they couldn't clear the roads fast enough. On the way back we got stuck and spent 20 minutes digging one of the cars out.
The next day we all hit the mountain but there is so much powder you get stuck sometimes. It also snowed 11" that day.
A few of the guys come down with a cold by this point in the trip, but everyone still makes it to the mountain to take advantage of the powder.
I boarded 4 of the 6 possible days, I usually do 5 but I was hungover bad two mornings and just couldn't do it.. plus the day it snowed over 3 feet most of the mountain wasn't open.
Most people are leaving Satuday morning at 8am, 3 of us decide to leave at 1am and just not sleep.. this is mainly because guys were getting sick and just wanted to go. I leave in the passat at 1am and 100 miles out of town the car starts shaking and we lose power. its 3am now in the middle of nowhere.. we call road side assistance, they say they can't do a thing at that time of night so far away.. we still drive home and find out when we get back that two spark plugs went out.. coils probably cracked because the car was buried in snow for 2 days. We still made it home in 7 hours despite the fact that we couldn't drive faster then 60mph the whole way.
So all in all, it was a fun trip, but it had its share of disasters. I ended up coming home with $150 in cash (I had planned to spend all the cash I brought) which was a good bonus.
Next trip is a 4 day boarding trip to Utah in April!
