This trip began to unravel once we arrived at the Reno Airport. Actually, we had very turbulent flights and were just happy to land at the Reno Airport. Several suit cases did not make the flight so we spent some time sorting that out. You will not believe it – the luggage beat us to the hotel in Mammoth.
It all began once our charter bus company picked us up. Her first words were “I have a bad back and cannot lift anything.” She then proceeded to sit in the coach while we threw bags in the lower compartment. Soon we realized that it wasn’t going so well – bags came on and off at a ferocious rate. Needless to say, some things were put in the coach as well. Fifteen minutes later, we arrived at Walmart for our 45 minute grocery stop. Now the challenge was – where do we put the many bags of stuff including bottles of beer and wine, etc.? The bags ended up in the overhead bins and under seats or even on your lap. We had a 3 ½ hour bus ride to look forward to. Once settled in our seats and ready to head to Mammoth, the driver announced a detour because of extreme winds that would add an additional two hours to the journey. Then she said that we may not be able to get to our destination –“what do you want me to do?” As trip director, I had to make the decision. Great! Find a place in Reno and take our chances on next day travel or move on and hope the road is opened over the next three hours. Since we just purchased hundreds of perishables, I decided to hope for the best as the driver said usually the winds die down in the evenings. So off we went! Bishop, 30 miles from our destination became our home for the night. Lodging 43 people was a bit of a challenge. After several stops with not many vacancies, we were told of a Red Roof Inn and Travel Lodge directly across from each other that are used to boarding bus loads. We could fit our group between both places for the night. At this point, everyone was tired so we booked and stayed. Morning came and news was no better. With the possibility of another night in Bishop, we began the search for Uber, shuttles, small vans and locals to take us to our destination (The roads were open for smaller vehicles just not large buses or tractor trailers). Some people managed to hire locals and departed. Just then, the roads were opened and we could depart. We scrambled as fast as possible to move on. Just a note, we did not remove the larger bags from the bus so we slept in our clothes and the hotels provided tooth brushes. The thought of removing and replacing all the bags was just too difficult (although some luggage was needed for medicines and had to be removed). Nothing is ever easy!
Several people who booked airfares into Mammoth separately from the group to avoid the long bus ride never made the trip. They were told that it would be three days before they could get a flight, so they opted to go home. That was the worst thing that could have happened, and I am sorry they had to miss this very eventful experience.
Our journey from there was fine and we found ourselves at a nice, convenient location in time for some to ski the afternoon. Good new powder was found, but we had missed our scheduled mountain tour that was postponed until Sunday morning as Saturday is super busy in Mammoth. The winds and snow began at a ferocious rate. The roads and roofs were already at capacity so we watched in amazement as the snow movers blew snow to heights never before seen. Travel around the resort was a challenge for those wanting to see the area or find activities to fill their time. Sixty mile an hour winds with snow blowing weren’t the best for the outdoor pool and hot tubs. We are a hearty group and some managed to trek to the only hot tub with hot water after an adventurous day on the slopes. Congratulations to those brave souls. Never in my many years of ski group trips have I ever seen so much snow and felt so much wind before. You would think that no one would venture out. But as I said, we are a hearty group and since lift tickets were nonrefundable, there was no choice but to go. There were many adventures to be had and stories to be told and remembered forever.
Needless to say, we had a group “happy hour” scheduled. Once we arrived at the designated place, I found they had booked another group in our place. Well, since we did not prepay and the other group did, we were shown the door. Everyone managed to find a good place to eat so all was well.
Monday was a beautiful “bluebird” day and everyone that could ski took to the slopes and had a fantastic day. Thank God! We thought the worst was over. Unfortunately, another storm came though and the winds picked up again to 60 or more miles per hour and snow came down in feet, not inches. Our die hard skiers loved the new, fresh powder on every run even if they could not see two feet ahead of themselves.
Since I wasn’t skiing, Marge and I tried our best to amuse ourselves. There is a beautiful area known as Tamarack a short shuttle ride away; but due to breakdowns and unreliable shuttles, we tried unsuccessfully for two days in a row to get there to snowshoe. Our beautiful bluebird day was lost to one of those breakdowns and we never had another chance as the weather did not cooperate for the rest of the trip.
So after the farewell party held in my condo, we went to bed with the howling wind and heavy snow accumulation predicted. We had only our prayers for an earlier departure to work in our favor. Snow was coming at an even faster pace and we were becoming more doubtful that there would be a departure at all. Some folks didn’t trust that we would be able to get out so they found a shuttle and left a day early. As it turned out, the storm ended and we were looking at another beautiful “bluebird day.” But then the driver called to say we would be delayed for avalanche control. Oh well—what could we do?
It was a short delay and after another interesting luggage loading experience, we were on our way. Things were looking up as the scenery was outstanding and delighted us all. Believe it or not, our luck was changing. We stopped at another Walmart (I think they are taking over the world as I speak.) and found they were promoting their new on-line grocery service. They offered us delicious grilled cheese sandwiches and vegetables and snacks for free. They didn’t seem to mind that we were just travelling through. I guess since Walmarts are everywhere on this planet, they figured they would get that lunch back in the near future.
Well, what a week to remember! Guess what, our flights went well with few bumps and great views of the mountains. Happy days! After all that, I believe, that everyone had a good time regardless of problems and weather conditions. Ski people are real people and find the best in all conditions.