Archive
February 4th, 2011
By
George Shirk - Mammoth Times Senior Writer
Itâs early in the game, but itâs likely that Mammoth will host a 10-day running camp this summer.
And if it goes ahead, it wonât be like any other running camp anywhere.
âI want it to be more than just going to a fat farm, said Visit Mammothâs John Urdi.
âThey should be coming here and enjoying the hiking we have, the cycling, maybe even fishing.
âMaybe on one of the days the runners would go into Yosemite and maybe do some running in the Valley.
âThereâs lots of possibilities.â
The tentative â very tentative â name for the camp is a âFit-cation,â he said.
By
George Shirk - Mammoth Times Senior Writer
Mammothâs athletes took to the Colorado mountains and the Texas marathon courses last weekend, and the results can be summarized in two words.
âCrushed it,â said Mammoth Recreation Manager Stuart Brown.
Johnny Teller (ski cross) and Kaya Turski (ski slopestyle) took gold medals at the Winter X-Games in Aspen, while Tyler Flanagan took home a bronze in snowboard slopestyle.
Meanwhile, in Houston, the Mammoth Track Clubâs Jen Rhines won the U.S. Half Marathon Championships, establishing her personal best.
On the menâs side, Patrick Smyth of the Mammoth Track Club placed third.
February 3rd
A Crowley Lake local, Jeff Wheeler, died from a self-inflicted gun shot wound last Thursday, according to the The Mono County Sheriffâs Department.
On Thursday, Jan. 27, at approximately 8:20 am, a Mono County Sheriffâs Deputy was dispatched to 325 Sierra Springs Drive for a welfare check. Jeff Wheeler, 40, was found deceased in his bed from a self-inflicted gun-shot wound to the head.
Further death details are under investigation.
Source: Mono County Sheriff's Department
February 2nd
By
Wendilyn Grasseschi â Mammoth Times Staff Writer
Local climber and June Lake resident Doug Nidever is in a Reno hospital after suffering a stroke and possible heart attack last week, according to a climbing partner, Bruce Bartlett.
Bartlett said Nidever, also known as "Flanders" by his climbing community, was awake and responsive, but is in serious condition. Nidever can speak, but still is battling blood clots and other complications.
Bartlett was headed to Reno to visit Nidever, with another climbing partner.
February 1st
Mammoth's highly used Shady Rest area has a long history of sometimes conflicting uses, especially in the winter when snowmobilers and skiers, dog walkers and snowshoers vie for the trail system. Although the conflicts have died down somewhat over the years, due mostly to hard work by both user groups in educating their members, the need for a final solution for winter use in the area, still remains.
That opportunity might be available finally.
January 31st
The Mammoth Track Club just keeps clicking along.
Jennifer Rhines won the the U.S. half-marathon championship Saturday in Houston, finishing with a personal-best 1 hour, 11 minutes, 14 seconds.
"You always have to be happy when you run a PR [personal record]," Rhines said. "You never know when you're going to have ups and downs. I'm just going to enjoy this today."
Meanwhile, Patrick Smyth, also representing the Mammoth Track Club, finished third in the menâs division, behind former Mammoth Track Club member Ryan Hall.
Mammoth skier John Teller only needed an inch or two to win a gold medal in Ski Cross at the X-Games Sunday in Aspen, but he had the speed and he had the inch.
Teller, who has two World Cup podium finishes, including a gold medal in St. Johann, Austria on January 7, narrowly edged out Chris Del Bosco, who led the majority of the race.
January 29th
By
Leslie Willoughby - Mammoth Times Staff Writer
TransworldWorld SNOWboarding loves John Jackson.
One of the leading voices in the sport gave the Crowley Lake resident its Rider of the Year award, along with the Menâs Video Part of the Year.
It was the second straight year the magazine gave him the two awards, making him a downright celebrity, if he wasnât already.
The awards were announced last Friday at the 2011 TransWorld SNOWboarding Poll Award show in Denver.
In another era, Jackson might have wanted to call home to tell the news to his mom, Shirley, and track down brother Eric, too.
January 28th
By
George Shirk - Mammoth Times Senior Writer
Town Manager Rob Clark rode into town on the wings of prosperity, when Mammoth was on the rise and could do no wrong.
Six years later, he rides into Ojai, under the shadow of the recession, when Mammoth is on the fade and canât seem to shake out of it.
From Clarkâs point of view, there were significant victories in his years here, and also defeats.
âI think getting our air service going in the middle of the recession was rewarding, and Iâm proud of the staff. They have kept thing going in spite of these different things.
By
George Shirk - Mammoth Times Senior Writer
Mammoth Nordic, which since 2002 has groomed its way into the winter experience here, has now announced it is grooming its way back out.
Its leader, Brian Knox, released the news last Friday, writing in an e-mail,
âRegrettably, our clubâs passion, funding, equipment and manpower over the last three years has not created a compelling enough case for community Nordic recreation in the eyes of town government.â
Knoxâs announcement immediately sent the townâs recreation department into a scramble.
Short clips about what's happening in our mountain aerie.
Itâs always a high adrenaline day when the Race Department runs a Village Championships Super G race. And so it was this Tuesday. The snow was hard and fast, and Jimmy Morning was going for it when he caught an edge on Terryâs Run, tumbled and fell, bounced and was knocked out cold. After a night in the hospital, he was released, with orders not to ski for two weeks. Concussion. Nothing broken. ...
By
George Shirk - Mammoth Times Senior Writer
We knew we had a problem.
We just didnât know how far Mammoth has to go in building trust between the Hispanic population and the Mammoth Lakes Police Department.
Letâs just say itâs a very long way.
In a presentation Tuesday in front of the Mammoth Lakes Police-Community Hispanic Advisory Committee, Village Lodge manager Luis Villanueva came back with some disturbing news.
By
Wendilyn Grasseschi - Mammoth Times Staff Writer
âAs hard as it comes.â
Thatâs what the man in charge of Digital 395 said about the rush to get the massive project completed by its July 2013 deadline.
Not an easy feat â laying 583 miles of spun glass high speed optical cable from Barstow to Reno.
âIf we donât get it done by July 1, 2013, the money goes away,â said Michael Ort, CEO of Praxis Associates and the original mind behind the $101 million Digital 395 project that is right now under way out your back door.
By
Wendilyn Grasseschi - Mammoth Times Staff Writer
As the federal government eyeballs even the military as a place to cut costs, some locals wondered if cuts might hit the Bridgeport area Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center.
Probably not, said Rian Gamble, community outreach for the center.
âWe are training Marines at full capacity, with some 16,000 to 17,000 a year coming through, doing everything from mountain medicine training to high altitude training, and more,â he said.
By
Wendilyn Grasseschi - Mammoth Times Staff Writer
A decision on whether and where snowmobiles can cross the Pacific Crest Trail near Sonora Pass might not be made this year, according to Mike Crawley, Bridgeport District Ranger for the Humboldt Toiyabe National Forest.
The decision, part of a winter recreation plan that aims to increase the economic diversity for northern Mono County, was due out by Crawley early this year.
