Archive - News Article
January 6th, 2012
It might just be the first time in history that itâs been possible to patch asphalt cracks in the middle of January.
Normally a job for the short summer months, roadwork in Mono County comes to a screeching halt every winter.
Except this one
.
Not only is there no snow, itâs been in the 50s and 60s during the dayâwarm enough to set finicky tar asphalt patches.
The funky and cracked road to the Mammoth Yosemite Airport will be getting a facelift in the next week or so, despite a bit of tug-o-war between the county supervisors Tuesday.
By
Wendilyn Grasseschi/Times Staff Writer
The crabs are gone. All of Mammoth mourns.
Merchants, hoteliers, restaurants and the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area all scrambled this week in the face of a steep dive in visitor occupancy.
In its weekly occupancy projection, Mammoth Tourism said the town is expected to fill to just 38 percent this weekend and 21 percent for the midweek.
Last year at this time, with an overabundance of snow and Mammoth the talk of the ski world, the town filled to 65 percent on the weekend and 35 percent in the midweek.
Many hotels and condo complexes are offering deep discounts, particularly at midweek.
Good news from Skip Harvey, owner of the Base Camp CafĂ© and town councilman, who says two cancerous tumors in his throat have âshrunk 50 percent.â He says he is taking one FDA-approved drug and another âhighly experimentalâ drug to control the cancer. âŠ
By
George Shirk/Times News Editor
Mammoth Mountain sailed through the holidays just fine, according to ski area CEO Rusty Gregory.
In a carefully-worded memorandum to employees, dated Jan. 1, Gregory said this holiday period the ski area âcompleted its most successful and New Year holiday period in my 34 years on the mountain.â
Um, well, sort of.
Gregory said in an interview this week that the ski areaâs âsuccessâ is in context with other dry holiday periods in the ski areaâs historyânot an all-inclusive, year-by-year breakdown.
December 30th, 2011
By
George Shirk - Times News Editor
He is 17 years old.
But Nick Entin of Palos Verdes isnât just another high school skier, though thereâs nothing in his outward appearance to suggest otherwise.
And then he whips out his iPhone. On it is his imaginative, 99-cent iPhone application, called Emergency Beacon. With one push of a button he can connect with first responders in case of an emergency.
By
George Shirk - Times News Editor
Itâs a tiny little place in a remote part of the country.
Yet Mammoth has all the ingredients for a rich stew of colliding agenciesâfederal, state, county and local, plus extreme weather.
We have colliding interest groups. We have people who are passionate.
We have top-notch scientists working our water, woods and mountains. They take their findings back to their universities. Their colleagues marvel at the work they do here.
We have sport, too. Lots of sport.
We run, we ski, we ride, we backpack. We compete in Motocross. We ride road bikes.
Resident Bob Sollima, who was former winter caretaker at Reds Meadow and has been in Mammoth for oh, 126 years, says donât sweat the snow scene up here. âWeâve seen it all before ⊠no problem,â he said. âIn the winter of 1990-91 we were backpacking in and out of Fish Creek Hot Springs near Iva Belle Camp into February. On March 1, it started to snow and we got 15 feet in the month of Marchânot a lot, but enough to call it âThe March Miracleâ by alla the locals. Then there was the winter of 1976-77 where we waited and waited and waited. The snow never came.
December 19th
By
George Shirk - Times News Editor
The âNight of Lightsâ last Saturday turned into a night of fights.
Unruly concert-goers drove members of the headline band off the stage by throwing objects at them, then drove them off again when the band, the Naked and Famous, tried to resume the show.
The concert was on the snow at Canyon Lodge. While attendance numbers were not immediately available, it was believed by veteran âLightsâ observers to be among the largest crowds ever for the annual event.
Long time local and manager of the St. Moritz condominiums, Tom Greenstein, died Thursday for an as yet unknown reason.
Although there is very little official information available about Greenstein's death as of this time, the Mono County Sheriffs Department did release the following report Monday morning:
"In the afternoon of Thursday, Dec. 15, at approximately 4:15 p.m., Mono County Sheriffâs Department dispatch received a call regarding an unresponsive male in the Mammoth Lakes area.
December 16th
By
George Shirk - Times News Editor
Just in the St. Nick of time, the Mammoth-Yosemite Airport opened its passenger annex Thursday.
The tent-like structure, similar to the Eagle Lodge structure, is officially a âtemporaryâ building, but then so was Eagle Lodge, and itâs still there.
It was built by Sprung Structures, the Utah company that provided the buildings at Eagle Lodge. It is a tension membrane structure. The building itself has become known as, simply, âThe Sprung Structure.â
Therein lies a problem.
By
Wendilyn Grasseschi - Times Staff Writer
Itâs a Monday afternoon in early December and school just got out.
On the big, warm, green-curtained multi-purpose room stage at Mammoth Elementary School, about a dozen third through fifth graders, boys and girls, Caucasian and Hispanic, are gathered together, just like they have been for many Mondays previously.
The stage vibrates with the pranks and laughter of 14 high-energy students, but teacher Dee Di Gioia has done this before, and more than once.
The ubiquitous Woolly showed up at the Sprung Structure opening at the airport the other day. âHey, here comes Whatâs-His-Nameâ enthused Top Cop Dan Watson. âŠ
Speaking of the Chief, doesnât everybody know that his son-in-law is a mascot for the NHLâs Los Angeles Kings? âŠ
Big day for Andy Selters fans this coming Wednesday. The photographer/author will be at the Booky Joint to sign books and calendars. The book is âWays to the Sky,â the mountaineering history book that the Wall Street Journal said is one of the five best adventure books of all time. âŠ
December 14th
At approximately 9:00 p.m. last night, the Inyo County Sheriffâs Office received a call of a non-responsive (possibly deceased) male on Winuba Lane in Bishop. Sheriffâs deputies and Symons ambulance were dispatched to the scene and the victim was transported to Northern Inyo Hospital where he was pronounced deceased.
The victim has been identified as Daniel Barlow, 45, Bishop. An autopsy will be scheduled to determine the cause of death.
December 9th
By
Wendilyn Grasseschi - Times Staff Writer
San Francisco has come to Mammoth.
Fresh crab right off the street corner, live or cooked to order, delivered fresh from the Bay Area.
They are here now at the corner of Main Street and Laurel Mountain Road, several hundred of them in big saltwater vats, swirled together claw to claw in the bubbling water.
And they will be there all winter for your eating pleasure.
At least thatâs the plan.
