The mammoth outside of Main Lodge is looking pretty buried… Photo: Mammoth Mountain
It’s official. Thanks to modern forecasting, there was very little question it was going to happen, but now that it did we can call the 2022-2023 season the snowiest winter on record for Mammoth Mountain. The previous all-time snowfall record, during the 2010-2011 season was 668.5 inches. On March 20, after 16-20 inches fell in a 24-hour period, the total was 634″ (52.83 feet!); well within striking distance, but in need of one good storm to push the resort over the finish line.
During the past couple of weeks of near-constant snowfall, the resort tracker had been inching closer to that magic number – then this most recent storm, which blew the resort past its previous record with room to spare. The season total is now currently at 702 inches, Mammoth Mountain’s first 700-inch-plus season ever.
Damn. Photo: Christian Pondella//Mammoth Mountain
The mountain, and town of Mammoth Lakes got a lot more snow than forecasted, leaving residents and resort workers to do what they’ve been doing all winter – shovel, plow, and worry about the integrity of their roofs. “Last night they were calling for about 16 inches, we ended up with closer to 30 inches [when we] woke up this morning,” wrote Mammoth Mountain Life, a YouTube channel run by a snowplow driver based in Mammoth. “Everything was snowed in… The snow is fairly heavy so we definitely need to keep the weight off (roofs) on a daily basis… Everybody’s hanging in there and spirits are still fairly high.”
Speaking of high spirits, locals scored on the mountain today despite some delayed lift openings. The Upper Panorama Gondola opened around 1:00 p.m. Fingers crossed there’s freshies left for the rest of us this weekend. Believe it or not, the forecast says there could be more on the way early next week.
