What else could go wrong? Thanksgiving weekend

“Thursday (11/22): Plan was to leave Wednesday after work. SnowDude had to work late, so by the time we left, it was 12:30 am Thursday. We drove till we were both too tired to drive (4am?) and found a nice flat parking space somewhere near Fossil Falls. The truck was rocking around all night/morning long. No, we weren’t doing that! It was windy, and to top it off, we were in the middle of a dust storm with no visibility. It wasn’t til we drove away, we realized of all the places we could have parked, we chose that spot. We laughed about it as we headed for Mammoth to snowboard.

We arrived at Mammoth (dark clouds hovering over the mountain) and drove up to the main lodge. Funny, the long line of vehicles coming down, for 4 miles. Due to high winds, the lifts automatically shut down. It was pretty windy, so we were ok with that. So we drove to Laurel Lakes road (high clearance vehicles only), up 1100’ in 1.2 miles, and found a nice flat spot to hang out for a few hours (til the Mammoth Grill and Bar opened for Happy Hour). Around 4pm, we got ready to head back to Mammoth …. and the truck wouldn’t start! Got to use my Century Charger 850 for the first time! A GREAT investment! It would have been a drag to hike out 5+ miles to the Highway 395 or Mammoth (don’t know which was closer) and try to get AAA up that road.. We laughed again about the start of this long weekend! We enjoyed the Happy Hour, and the Turkey dinner after. But …. the wine and altitude didn’t mix that first night, so when I stood up I got a little lightheaded and my stomach didn’t feel good. We drove to Valentine Lake trailhead (the restroom was open there, just in case) and parked there for the night.

Friday (11/23): Slept in. Started hiking at 10:45am, starting at the Sherwin Lakes Trailhead (7800’). The trail switchbacked through trees, then leveled out. Snow was about 2-4” here. We passed Sherwin Lake, switchbacked again, snow was about 4-6” here. The trail leveled out again, passed the Sherwin Creek trail turnoff, and the snow on the uphill got to 6-10 inches. We arrived at a frozen pond, and put the snowshoes on here. Snow got up to 2 feet on the last set of switchbacks. Valentine Lake (9700’/6 mi) was partially frozen, with fish swimming under the ice. A beautiful alpine lake in a bowl surrounded by snow covered peaks. Clouds were coming in, so we left. We kept the snowshoes on til the Sherwin Creek turnoff. It was so much easier going down with snowshoes, than the postholing on the way up. We made it back to the truck by 5:00pm. We hiked 12 miles, 1900’ el gain/loss, in 6 hrs 15 min.

Happy hour (1 glass of wine) and appetizers (dinner) at the Grill & Bar, then headed for showers at Mammoth Mountain Inn. We were talking and I was driving. We were on a right curve, when the truck slid to the left, which I corrected, but then fishtailed to the right and went into 2 complete spins, and ended up in and facing the oncoming lane. Luckily, there was only one SUV behind us, which pulled over right after (probably didn’t want to be near us). SnowDude saw the car accident he was in 18 yrs ago flash before his eyes. We couldn’t believe we slid/spun like that without hitting anything! The only injury (amazingly!) was a broken fingernail. I always put the truck in 4wd going up this hill, but I just forgot this time. After showers, we drove back to Laurel lakes Road and parked for the night, drinking wine out of our nalgene bottles. Raining, and really windy all night.

Saturday (11/24): We could see dark clouds over Mammoth Mountain from where we parked. The snow that fell on us (at 8,174’) was wet, and it was really windy. We drove to the Main Lodge anyway. The lifts were stopped again. People were talking about 110mph winds on the mountain. Again, we drove away. We drove around the June Lake Loop, hoping to get a hike in, but it was raining and windy there too. We drove down the Owens River Road, and after the truck slid to the edge of one section of road that was snowy, muddy, and therefore very slippery (and dropped straight down from the edge!), we decided to park and chill. After a few hours (our tire tracks were covered with snow), we left again for Happy Hour and dinner at the Matterhorn Restaurant. Since the snow wasn’t letting up, we decided to park for the night at a spot in the trees just outside of town. If it dumped, we would we could get out. It DUMPED!

Sunday (11/25): Got up early and headed for the mountain! Got parking right up front. Drank our mochas and waited for the lifts to open. First delay: Snowboard racks were frozen. Used hand warmers to heat up the locks and got them open ½ hr later. Second delay: My back rear tire was reallllly low. These tires are a lot bigger than the other vehicles I’ve owned in the past. I have a hard time playing girl, so I was glad SnowDude was there to do it. So we changed the tire, another ½ hour gone by. Third delay: As we’re getting in line, the snowboards stuck to the snow. Ice had formed on the bottom of the boards from being on top of the truck for 3 days and nights. So we turned the truck heater on and blasted the bottom of the boards til it melted. So much for getting there early!

People that started early were leaving after an hour or two because it was “really windy”, the lifts kept stopping, or it wasn’t worth it. After all we went through we were going to get a few runs in. We finally got in line at 10:50am! It took 10 minutes to get on the lift (high speed quad), and after the first run, the crowd disappeared! Sure it was windy, but with helmets, goggles, face mask & capilene layers, the 15 deg temps didn’t bother us at all. The rest of the afternoon was awesome! We only rode one lift, but every run was different. Light, fluffy, fresh, untracked powder runs through the trees! (We like to ride off the beaten path). The last two runs I was missing turns, and came close to hitting trees. SnowDude slid and hit a snow-covered boulder (ouch!). We quit at 3:25pm. We only got 4 hours in, but will count this as Day 1 since we rode hard and the only rest we got was on the ride up. With everything that happened this weekend, we still had a great time! With each incident, we just had to laugh…..”what else can go wrong?”

Snowfall for Mammoth:
Wed: 10 inches
Thurs: 8 inches
Fri: 1 inch (the day we hiked)
Sat: 18 inches

Total: 37 inches!!!!”

“http://home.socal.rr.com/snownymph/
Go to "Hiking and Backpacking"
Click on "View slide show"
Set to 3 sec (or whatever you like)
Some photos still in camera.”

“Now that's persistence! At some point you gotta throw up your hands and camp out at the Bar-and Grill, or maybe make a run for another mocha.

Nah, I wouldn't sit still either. Something to be said about tempting fate though.”

“I liked the fact you didn`t give up too and you turned what you got into a pretty good time.

Thanks for sharing!”

“14"-20" of snow here in the Salt Lake Valley and 52" in the mountains. I've been plowing for the last two days.”

“you know... you might not agree... but the trips where EVERYTHING went wrong.. are the ones I smile about.. and remember the best.”

“Yup Towndoggie, You got it in one.
I once spent 36 hours on a train in India. They took our Air/con carriage away and we has to spend it cooped up in a tiny carriage. No food, very little water and a plane to catch. I hated it, now I cant wait to go back and do it again!”

“exactly!!... if our lives went so smooth all the time.. life wuld be sooo b-o-r-i-n-g!”

“Is it just me, or does that sound like a terrific weekend? Are you sure everything went wrong? I would gladly trade an everything-went-smoothly-boring week for that everything-went-wrong weekend any day!”

“skullcap: you and me sound so much alike!.. I read thru all that.. and was thinking.. wow.. some GREAT memories there.. and stories that would be told over and over.”

“Ahhh yes...reminds me of the time some guy fell in creek and lost his boot 3 miles into a 45 mile hike...

Now that was a good weekend!”

“I, too, thought that the weekend sounded like a blast. Of course, I wasn't standing out in the cold changing a tire, or trying to defrost the snowboard rack, but the rest was a beautiful snow caper. I love the trip reports you post, Snow Nymph!”

“Have you ever noticed that some of the best campfire stories are about the everything-went-wrong trips?”

“Great story, Snow Nymph! What really struck me was how much worse it could have been. You had a battery charger, hand warmers, arrived early enough to thaw our boards and you had a spare tire! You can tell you guys are out there a lot because you have a healthy respect for things going wrong (which is what usually happens).”

“*smiles*

don't worry, skullcap.. I am sure there are some more calamity-bptrips out there in the future.”

“We WERE laughing about all of this! Even though we spent two days of doing nothing, we still had a great time. With all that happened, we knew things "could have been worse". (like the truck we saw being towed from a ditch in the road, the van that was smashed to the middle of the middle row of seats with a pillow hanging out, the people who missed out on a great day of riding on Sunday.......) These were all lessons learned . . . for next time.”

“Nice story!
What is a Century Charger 850?”

“Its a battery charger. It does the same thing as jumper cables, but you don't need another vehicle to start it.

2 yrs ago SnowDude and I did a 10 day shuttle trip. I went up a few days early, so I took the Charger. When we hooked up, we left his truck at the exit trailhead, and we drove to the start. When we got out (8 mi/6000' el loss) his battery was dead....and the charger was in my truck. So even though we got out early on that trip, me and the other guy hiked out another 6 mi/1600' el loss to the highway, hitched a ride to his van, then he took me to my truck at the trailhead. It was a really late night by the time we got back. (Lesson learned on that trip: Keep one in each truck).”

“Hey, that thread title threw me off! Great report SN, and looking forward to the pics.”