The Snow Didn’t Pack a Punch

Last years ski seasons led to record breaking snowfall on the mountains closest to Palos Verdes: Big Bear Mountain, Mammoth Mountain, and Heavenly Mountain.

According to the Mammoth snow report, it snowed over 510 inches of snow last year at Mammoth California.

Currently there is over 60 inches of total snowfall in pale comparison with last year.

There was already over 300 inches of fresh powder.

However, due to the lack of snow, Mammoth Mountain has been hard at work making their own snow.

Using mist machines, the tiny water particles generated are quickly turned frozen by the cold outside air temperature.

This process allows Mammoth to cover up parts of the mountain that are lacking in snow.

This may seem like a quick fix to the lack of snow, but it isn’t always a reliable solution.

As stated before, the outside temperature must be cold enough to make snow. Mist machines usually cause extremely icy conditions.

This makes it harder for beginner snowboarders and skiiers to control themselves in the snow.

On such hard surfaces it is necessary to dig in deeper in the ice to stay on the correct path.

Unfortunately due to seasonally high temperatures, there have been only a few golden moments when Mammoth could have made snow using misters.

Due to the lack of snowfall and man made snow, the mountain is left to a small selection for runs and even have many exposed rocks and brush.

These obstacles not only risk the safety of a falling snowboarder or skiier, but it also can damage expensive supplies.

With a few trails left open, skiers and snowboarders find themselves crowded with many other people on to the same runs; people aren’t able to spread out like they usually do.

The absent snow coverage and shortage of runs has led to an obscene number of injuries.

According to the Mammoth ski patrol report, there have been more accidents during the Christmas to new years span than all of last year.

Senior Felicia Liu, a snowboarder, said “I ski at Mountain High and the snow this year is really bad compared to last year. Right now the conditions are pretty dangerous because it is rocky and there is a lot of brush.”

Chloe Lendi a sophomore at PVHS said “The [mammoth] mountain shouldn’t even being allowing so many people on the mountain because the dense crowds add to the risk of accidents after knowing there are several rock and brush obstacles.”

The most important job on the mountain is safety.

However, maintaining safe conditions can be difficult when the officials at Mammoth Mountain do not put restrictions on the number of people skiing or snowboarding on the mountain.

Restrictions should be mandatory, especially when the conditions are poor and there is a huge influx of tourists. The numbers speak for themselves.

More people have gotten hurt in two weeks than all of last year.

This is a staggering statistic that questions whether or not Mammoth is as committed to safety as they say they are.