Hi Beakers,
Oldguy, I was in Mammoth this weekend. The video is a good representation of how much snow has fallen. We arrived on on Thursday afternoon from Orange County. Chains were put on the Jeep (2WD) just out of town proper. The snow started in the evening , but the roads were not completely cleared and the temps were 25 or less all weekend. It didn’t stop until early Sunday morning. The parking lots and walkways at our condo were being cleared ever 2 to 3 hours. We dug out our vehicles, and cleared the snow off of them at least 3 o 4 times.
The snow was very different from the usual “Sierra Cement”, which is a very wet heavy snow. This weekend’s snow was so dry I couldn’t even make a snow ball. Even though there is a lot of snow it will not bring as much runoff to fill the reservoirs as some might think.
The trip home on Sunday morning was another adventure. We woke up to blue sky’s and sunshine, had a good breakfast, packed up and headed out, or so we thought. We got to the road that takes us out to the main highway, 395, and traffic stopped. After an hour or so in line, we finally had our CHP escort service in place. It was a slow slog down Sherwin grade into Bishop. Chains finally off. There were a lot of Caltrans crews still plowing the highway. The drive south was magnificent. The entire ranges of mountains on both sides of the valley were white. Parts of the valley’s were too.
The people who are clearing the roads and parking lots are amazing. It’s hard work and there are always obstacles. Thanks so much for sharing the video. Also, Mammoth Mountain has live webcams all over the mountain so you can get a an idea of the snow and wind.
