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Driving on ice

The scary part about driving in snow is that it always feels like your going to slide off the road and slam into a tree or another car no matter how much they salt the roads, i suppose that makes it sort of fun too. And installing snow chains is no picnic... The forecast during my recent Mammoth trip were clear skies on Friday and Saturday and a dusting of snow overnight (in Mammoth terms dusting means an accumulation of 4-5 inches). My friend Rose who was driving her late father's 2003 Land Cruiser 4X4 was too cheap to purchase snow chains. Granted the forecast was favorable, her compulsive nature still begged to differ "don't i need it anyway?"... I purchased my snow chains over 5 years ago and i'm yet to take it out of its case, i assured her. I recommended her to buy the cheapest snow-chains she could find (size need not matter because again it'll never be put to use) but when the Autozone clerk asked what size tires, of course she had no idea lol. Well to appease her, even with the knowledge that it was going to snow Saturday night, i kept my snow-chains at home. On Sunday morning with about 4 1/2 inches of fresh snow on the ground i expected her to have an anxiety attack but perhaps her guy Dustin had something to do with it because she remained cool under the icy conditions haha...

The drive up on Friday was uneventful but was quite scenic thanks to the clear skies. Saturdays ski-day was more of the same, perfectly clear skies and absolutely no wind. For some reason Jerome who is on his first time snowboarding, boarded the chair lift all by himself, of course the task of accompanying the terrified beginner on his first run was given to Marco who i'm sure ungrudgingly gave Jerome a dose of the same bitter pill he was forced to swallow last year haha. Below is the carcass-like frame of Jerome after his first run on the bunny slope, befittingly called Sesame Street (and oh that's my old Snowboard he's using).

It took several hours of rest before Jerome was able to take another run at the fabled Sesame Street terrain, double white diamond as he calls it bwuahahaha (leave it to Jerome to coin new snowboarding terms lol). Overall the trip was yet another classic and memorable one. Jerome and his entertainingly hilarious first run was certainly the highlight for me. The perfect conditions allowed most of us (the veteran snowboarders) to venture most of the front-side of Mammoth and almost all of the back-side where it may not be as long as the front runs but certainly more fun and definitely more challenging with the untrimmed snow and deep narrow runs. Thanks to Kaylor we also somehow accidentally found our way to a downhill ski race-trail complete with the track flags, it was a fast trail because it was steep, packed and trimmed... and yes we were haulin' ass. My new board is an absolute dream, light (carbon fiber baby) flexible and shifty...We were also able to find a venue for the much anticipated rematch between the now Great Manny Paquaio and the legendary Eric Morales at Sherwin's Bar tucked away from town off Old Mammoth Road.

I have some pictures up in my Gallery so feel free to stop by...

Posted by: Marc Gabay
Monday, January 23, 2006