1981-82 was record season for Mammoth skier visits at the time, and still only 5% short of the all time record in 2005-06. Mammoth built the 2 key expert chair lifts 22 and 23 that summer. It took a few minutes to hike up to Wipe Out and Drop Out then (similar to Paranoid now). I had never skied from Lincoln Mt. (chair 22, Avalanche Chutes) as it was a 20+ minute hike. But the real reason that summer's construction was cause for celebration is that mid-season gondola lines to reach Mammoth's expert runs were routinely 30-45 minutes in 1982 and prior seasons.

As a weekend skier I had skied 26,100 vertical on April 1, 1979 and 27,100 vertical on April 12, 1980. During earlier months of the season I had never exceeded 22,000 due to the gondola and other lift lines. Crowds gradually decrease in spring, and particularly after Canyon Lodge closes in late April. So the weekend of May 1-2 presented an opportunity to ski more than usual at Mammoth, especially runs from the upper gondola.

1981-82 was the highest snowfall season at Mammoth since I had first skied there in 1978. As in current big seasons, chairs 5 and 9 were running as well as the usual core lifts out of the Main Lodge. The weekend had good spring conditions all over the upper mountain and on the salted groomers out of the Main Lodge. So I was able to ski a then record 8 runs from the upper gondola and a new record of 31,600 vertical.

I was worn out enough from Saturday that I skied on 18,400 on Sunday, still just shy of my two day record from 1979. But I returned to Mammoth 3 weeks later and pushed my two day record up to 50,600.

I also skied Mammoth June 19-20 of 1982, latest I had ever skied then, including my first pond skim. This pond formed naturally on hot days in a flat area to the left of chair 3 where the subsurface on the still 10-foot deep base remained solidly frozen. This will not happen in the future because this area was regraded in 1991 to drain into Mammoth's new snowmaking reservoir next to the gondola mid-station. The reservoir refills naturally each summer with the runoff from the Chair 3 area.

I have a few June 1982 Mammoth pics. I'm the little speck on the left side in Hangman's narrowest part. Note how wide it still is on June 20 of a 500-inch snow year.

Coming into Saddle Bowl after Hangman's:

At noon I attempted my first pond skim, captured here in mid-wipeout.

You can see at the top of the pic that chair 23 is is not there yet.

Here I am after retrieving my equipment (snow skis sink) and crawling out the slushy edge of the pond.

With the low humidity and no shirt I warmed up quickly and headed back up Chair 3. This time I remembered that you lean BACK on water skis and successfully skimmed the pond. Unfortunately there was no more film in the camera.

Despite 1PM closing time, I skied 19,800 on June 19 though only 13,700 on Sunday with the pond skim. Climax had the best upper mountain snow. Fascination had ideal smooth corn snow after the racers were done. Ever since then, I've learned to hit groomed runs for the best late season corn on tuns roped off for racers when they are finished.