Friday was perfection from most skiers' viewpoints. Clear with no wind at all until 3PM. Deep 7-8 foot coverage with packed powder surface on all exposures, even sunbaked Chair 25. The only regret might have been missing the 9 inches fresh on Thursday, though the few leftovers indicated that the powder had been heavy.

Saturday was more typical Mammoth: overcast with gusty winds, but not strong enough to close anything until 3:15PM. The surface actually improved with the light and dry blown-in snow. The entire face of 5 was effortless cruising in these conditions. Chair 22 was another delight with the snow remaining dry on all exposures in the weak January sun.

A storm was expected Sunday afternoon, and with reported morning "strong" winds on the ski report I did not expect the top to open. After the previous outstanding 2 days we decided to come home early rather than fight the weather.

Crowd problems at Mammoth are truly a thing of the past. On the final Saturday of Christmas break, my low intermediate snowboarding 12-year-old retired exhausted to the car at 2:15PM after a record 23,200 vertical feet on the most popular lower mountain lifts. Meanwhile my expert skiing 17-year-old ran numerous laps on the upper gondola and racked up 31,400. I skied a somewhat leisurely 25,100 with a nagging cold. Mammoth is now one of the LEAST crowded major resorts in North America.