Nov. 8, 2007 is just days away! Be here when Mammoth Mountain cranks up the chairlifts at 8:30am next Thursday. Join us on the Main Lodge sundeck Saturday, Nov. 10 with live music by 34Below and Champagne Toast starting at 11am.

Making news this season, Chair 9’s ride time gets cut in half; 15 acres of beginner terrain are added to the Unbound parks; and Top of the Sierra Cafe serves hot lattes and cold beer to skiers and snowboarders at 11,053 feet.

Photo: Mammoth Mountain

Cloud Nine Express
Chair 9, a double chairlift originally installed in 1969, will upgrade to a high-speed six-pack. It may be ready to ride as soon as the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, conditions permitting. Chair 9 has the most vertical rise of any Mammoth Chair, taking skiers up 1,700 feet in elevation when they ride it. “It’s its own ski resort out there, it’s own little world,” says Roscoe Cummins of Mammoth’s lift operations department. Why the change? “Upgrading this lift is not being done to increase traffic on the terrain under the chairlift,” says Mammoth CEO Rusty Gregory. “It’s about moving skiers around the mountain as evenly as possible to ease the pressure at base chairlifts. I believe a majority of people who ride the new Chair 9 will ride it to transfer to other parts of the resort.” Learn more.

Unbound Terrain Parks
The expansion and relocation of the Canyon Lodge Family Fun Park, now the Wonderland Park, triples the amount of beginner terrain. Look for entry-level box tops that sit on the snow, short rail slides, banked turns, “roller” jumps and the 375-foot-long Mini Halfpipe. Ride it starting Thanksgiving weekend, conditions permitting.
For the first time at Mammoth skiers and snowboarders will be able to ride features designed by their favorite outerwear companies. The all-new Signature Features in Main and South Park will be conceptualized by designers from Quiksilver, Vans and Dragon Optical and built by the Unbound.

Top of the Sierra Interpretive Center & Cafe
At the Top of the Sierra Station, where the upper Panorama Gondola empties bucket after bucket of steeps-seeking skiers, it’s as much about the outside that surrounds you as being indoors. Now everyone, beginners and experts alike, have a reason to hang around the top a little bit. The Cafe, which opened in the summer, serves melty panini sandwiches, chili, and fresh salads. And have no fear - you don’t have to ski down Climax (the gondola takes downhill riders).

For more info, visit www.mammothmountain.com