Mammoth Mountain’s McCoy Station (9,630 ft) after resort officials announced Mammoth would not open on Saturday. Photo: Mammoth Mountain
Mammoth Mountain is joining a growing list of North American ski resorts that had announced opening days, but have been foiled by Mother Nature. Tahoe’s Mt. Rose is often one of the first resorts to open in California each year, but those plans have been put on hold for at least a week now. Utah’s Solitude Mountain got festive with its delay and asked the Grinch to help them announce the news. Solitude is now targeting Wednesday, November 19 as an opening date. On Thursday, a social media announcement revealed that Mammoth Mountain is postponing opening day for the second time in as many days. And it’s doing so in the middle of a flurry.
“This storm is not producing as much snow as we had hoped,” said Vice President of Mountain Operations, Steve McCabe. “As a result we’re gonna have to push back our opening day. We’re gonna go to a day-by-day model, and our teams are working hard to get this mountain up and running so we can go skiing with you.”
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A message from Mammoth Mountain elaborated slightly on that day-by-day plan.
“Colder temperatures and snowfall are in the forecast in the coming days. We will be assessing conditions daily and our teams are committed to opening as soon as conditions allow,” they said. “We will provide 24-hour notice once Mother Nature gives us the green light.”
The irony of the news coming in a video with snow clearly falling wasn’t lost on social media followers, but stills from the resort’s webcams prove just how far the storm needs to come before those first turns can happen. McCoy Station, which sits about 1,500 feet below the summit, looked like a mud pit Thursday afternoon. The Main Lodge (at 8,909 feet) and The Village (8,100 feet) looked just as bare several hours later even under the dark of night.
Mammoth Mountain’s Main Lodge lift cam (8,909 feet) at 7 p.m. Thursday.
For reference, midweek forecasts had predicted snow levels would be around 6,000 feet by Thursday evening. That was going to set the table for a busy evening into Friday, waking up to as much as 13 inches of fresh snow. Instead, Mammoth Mountain reported less than six inches of new snow on Friday morning. Another look at different cams around the mountain proved just how short the storm had come compared to its forecasts. McCoy Station was finally starting to get snow, but Eagle Lodge, at just under 8,000 feet, was still bare on Friday morning.
Mother Nature calls her own shots.
A side-by-side comparison of McCoy Station (9,630 feet) and Eagle Lodge (7,953 feet) just before 9 a.m. on Friday morning. Snow levels were expected to be at 6,000 feet by Thursday evening. Photo: Mammoth Mountain
