Mammoth trip log - LONG FRIDAY: Woke up with the sinking feeling that neither my boots or my bag will arrive in time. I give my signed offer/documents to my mom so she can fedex them. Check the door everytime I hear something, hoping my boots have come. I do find a really nice gore-tex jacket in my dad's closet, so that was cool. Eventually get mad, throw a rock, and drive over to Steve's place so we don't screw everyone by being late. Forget to withdraw money, I have to make do with ~$17 for the whole trip.

During the long drive down to LA we listen to some mp3 CDs and just talk. I make the mistake of putting too many mozart songs onto the CD, we get really sick of classic music. Ran into a patch of heavy fog that freaked me out. Well prolly freaked Steve out more, since he was nervous about me usually braking late. But hey, the IS has awesome brakes! I decide that we should meet up at my lil bro's place so I can borrow his boots. Then he can take care of my car over the weekend. Bad move in hindsight since his boots didn't fit me, and he drove my car to some parties (glitter all over the backseat!), hehe. Ambar picks us up and miraculously everything fits in his car. Now here comes the SIX hour drive to Mammoth. I sleep most of the way. The cabin turns out to be really nice, better than the one at Big Bear.

SATURDAY: Mammoth is amazing, huge mountains with pristine runs. Relatively uncrowded compared to the masses at Big Bear. Lots of snowbunnies too :) First we hang out at the bunny slopes as the beginners try to get their bearings. Eventually I realize that scrunching my feet into small boots isn't worth it, and rent a pair of boots. These rental boots are terrible - inner liner doesn't have laces to tighten them, my feet aren't locked down and shift a lot during heel/toe edge. I also need to oil up my bindings and retighten them for future trips. So at first I was tentative and trying to get used to my board/crappy rental boots. For the trip I blame a large % of my falls on the boots, :) Eventually I get comfortable and reach higher speeds w/ my carving. The Custom does ride really nice.

SUNDAY: Probably the best day of snowboarding yet for me. I made a conscious effort to really attack the mountain, regardless of my bad boots. I did have a few spills but nothing I couldn't bounce back from. Basically me, Daniel, Hakam, and Ambar decided to go off in our little group so we could get as many runs in as possible. Selfish yes, but tons of fun. We even did rails for the first time, as everyone got peer pressured into doing it when Hakam successfully landed one. The first time I tried it, attempted to do a jump at the end and paid for it by wiping out. Second time I was able to land and slow to a stop. I'm still very leery of doing regular jumps (I do too much speed-checking) but at least I did a rail! Daniel landed a really nice jump, I was in awe.

So the morning consisted of attempting jumps and rails. After a nice lunch (the cashier undercharged me $1.50!), our group heads higher up the mountain. Mammoth has these incredibly long and steep runs that are semi-challenging and quite exhilarating. So cool to get from point A to point B way down the mountain in a matter of seconds. We made numerous runs in the afternoon. My technique is improved but if I had my boots I would be that much more confident in carving at high speeds. Regardless it was a ton of fun. Except for the time when Daniel, following closely behind me, freaks me out (i hear his board cutting into the snow REALLY CLOSE to me).

At the end we split up since I have to return my boots and they can just go straight to the car. The mountain closes at 4pm and it's just me and the mountain. My right thigh cramps up and I'm forced to take a short rest. Lying in the snow with no one else in sight - very surreal moment. Then I hop back up and reach the main lodge in a matter of minutes.

Mammoth is expensive but everyone should experience it.

SUNDAY NIGHT/MONDAY: Long ride back to LA. Stay at Daniel's nice condo for the night. Loaf around. Watch TV. Eat hotpockets. 5-hour drive back to Palo Alto. Try out my new boots which are really comfy. Northwave makes some nice boots. Hopefully I'll get a chance to break them in soon.

PICS: courtesy of Hakam who organized the whole trip!



  ¶ 10:26 AM