Archive - 2012 - News Article
November 16th
By
George Shirk - Times News Editor
Mammoth Mountain, for six decades a ski racing nucleus, made another bigâand fastâcommitment to world class ski racing this week.
The home mountain of Ski Cross X Games Gold Medalist John Teller introduced Monday what it called âthe nationâs premier Ski Cross junior program.â
âMammoth is super excited to be essentially on the forefront [of ski cross] on the American side,â said the ski hillâs 36-year-old performance director, Pete Korfiatis, back in Mammoth after seven years coaching the U.S. Menâs Ski Team.
Not all roads are created equal when it comes to winter snow removal priorities and as the first big winter storm of the season bearing down on the Eastern Sierra, itâs worth remembering why.
Both Mono County and the Town of Mammoth Lakes do their own snow removal and over the decades, both have developed a system that classifies snow removal priorities. The system is designed, first and foremost, to make sure critical roads, such as main roads and emergency services, such as police, fire and hospitals, are always accessible in a storm.
A series of three winter storms are expected to hit the Eastern Sierra this week, beginning early Thursday evening and extending into Monday, according to the National Weather Service.
The snow is to come in three pulses, one Thursday night into Friday, one Friday evening into Saturday, and the last, Saturday evening into Monday.
âIt will be a wet pattern, that we have high confidence in,â said Edan Lindaman, a forecaster with the Reno office of the weather service.
But itâs too soon to know one critical factâwhere the storm will hit the Pacific Coast.
By
George Shirk - Times News Editor
The owner of Mammoth Outdoor Sports is set to produce a new event next month in the parking lot of the Sierra Center Mall, but town officials said it fell short of a slam-dunk.
The peeps at Mammoth Tourism aren’t just sitting around, you know. Expect some big news soon from John Urdi’s team regarding air packages. Mum’s the word for now, but we’d be keeping our eyes peeled for some pretty great bundling options. …
November 15th
By
George Shirk - Times News Editor
Mammoth Mountain on Thursday opened another section of trails and lifts, while busy employees scrambled to open runs and lifts out of Canyon and Eagle lodges by Thanksgiving.
Ski area spokesperson Joani Lynch said a Thanksgiving Day push was steamrolling, in advance of an expected weekend of snowfall that could drop about two feet of heavy snow above 9,000 feet, perhaps more above mid-mountain.
November 14th
Snow entered the upcoming weekend forecasts for Mammoth and the Eastern Sierra, athough snowfall amounts remain a bit on the vague side.
By the time the weekend is finished, new snow could be measured in feet, not inches.
November 13th
The Mammoth Lakes Town Council has moved its special meeting from Wednesday, Nov. 14 to tonight, Nov. 13, according to Town Clerk Jaimie Gray.
The reason is because of schedule conflicts by some members of the council.
Last week, the council called a special meeting so it could discuss further its proposed "restructuring" methods to help pay the first wave of $2 million-a-year annual payments to Mammoth Lakes Land Acquisition. The town earlier this year accepted a settlement of a $29.5 million, 23-year breach of contract lawsuit as a result of a case that began more than a decade ago.
November 9th
Congrats to Elizabeth Tenney, who sure can pack a punch in 95 words. She won a 95-word essay contest sponsored by the Reno Gazette-Journal. …
By
George Shirk - Times News Editor
Rusty Gregory says he knows what one of Mammothâs problem is, and that it is he himself.
In a carefully crafted speech in front of the Town Council on Wednesday night, the CEO of Mammoth Mountain Ski Area made good on his promise, made early in the week, to step into the murky, tempestuous waters of town politics.
He also promised to throw the weight of the Eastern Sierraâs biggest economic engineâthe ski areaâinto the townâs effort to survive its daunting, short-term financial obstacles, creating in the end a solid growth cycle.
By
George Shirk - Times News Editor
The snow fell, the wind blew, the temperatures dropped and the chairlifts ran.
Mammoth Mountain opened its new ski season yesterday (Thursday) with modest enthusiasm on the wind-blown ski hill and with cautious enthusiasm in the executive suites at Main Lodge.
âThe most important thing,â said CEO Rusty Gregory, when asked about the new season, âis snow. Itâs snow and the return of enthusiasm on the part of our Southern California marketplace to visit it because of it.
It is a cold November morning.
It is 3 a.m., 29 minutes after a 6.0 earthquake hit the Mammoth Lakes area hard and sharp.
Unlike many buildings, Mammoth Hospital is standing, but the lights are out and the power is out.
Somewhere outside the building, a fire burns, filling the air with smoke.
People panic, and screams are heard from all over.
By
George Shirk - Times News Editor
After more than a month of hearing testimony, issuing surveys and taking soundings from the townâs department heads, the Town Council on Wednesday began deliberating which cuts will be put in place on Dec. 5.
Though the deliberations are in an early stageâthe council announced a special, unscheduled meeting for Nov. 14 to do more workâMayor Matthew Lehman seems to have made up his mind.
At the top of his list is to stick by the proposed cuts to the Police Department, and to use Measure R funds for a period of two years to keep the Whitmore Pool open.
If there was ever an example of how much of a difference an election can make, head over to the Eastern Sierra Unified School District and talk to Mollie Nugent, the districtâs chief financial officer.
âItâs allowed us to keep $191,000 that we would otherwise be deficit spending,â she said. âIt means we donât have to take things way from the students, the teachers at mid-year. It means we have options.â
âItâs a windfall,â said Superintendent Don Clark.
Imagine your 85-year-old father living at home alone, but monitored 24 hours a day with sensitive devices that let his doctor or caretakerâor youâknow in real time if heâs fallen or had a heart attack.
Imagine a prisoner in the Mono County Jail who falls sick with strep throat and needs to be transported to Mammoth for treatment, requiring a sheriffâs escort, paramedics, securityâeverything paid for by taxpayers.
