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Mammoth Ski
Trip
It's All Downhill from Here on President's Day!
The PubClub Ski
Patrol does double-black diamond partying.
The live band –
with guest singer – made Apres really rock in '07.
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Mammoth
PubClubbing Nightlife Guide
The PubClub party moves north for three
days to the slopes of Mammoth Mountain, CA, when the ol' calendar on
the wall says it is President's Day weekend. To anyone in Southern California
with a zest for life, making this trip is as automatic as an SUV's transmission.
The sweeties from
San Diego stir the party pot.
In some ways, President's Day weekend is like the Rodney Dangerfield
of US three-day holidays. It doesn't get much respect. It's not in the
summer, there are no backyard barbecues and trips to the lake are out
of the question because of the winter season.
But laid-back Southern Californians worry not at all – they
simply head to Mammoth!
The California Ski Resort, located in the Sierra Nevada range,
reaches its peak during this annual gathering. Singles from Los Angeles,
Orange County and San Diego come together like merging trail runs. It
is on this weekend that Mammoth truly lives up to its name.
 Groups
from a few to 20 or more make the journey. Typically, PubClub travels
in a pack closer to the latter. We go hard, too, and rare is the day
we make first tracks.
Last tracks at the bars is more like it.
The first ski stop for the PubClub Ski Patrol is McCoy Station,
a mid-range bar/restaurant on the mountain. The place makes a pretty
powerful bloody mary, ideal for pounding the powder in the afternoon.
Eventually, we all wind up at The Yodler, the ageless alpine
ski apres summit.
For years, the Yodler has been the best drinking destination in Mammoth,
day or night. The new Village and expanded Canyon Lodge may try, but
neither can quite wrestle away the liveliest crowd on Mammoth –
certainly by day. If one were to take a poll of where the hardcore partiers
like to plant their poles, the Yodler would win hands down. The tables
are full of people playing drinking games, downing shots – oh,
the shots! – and sharing good times with old and new friends.
It's Mammoth top best mingling spot, operating something like Mykonos'
Paradise Beach where it's party and meet by day and meet
up at night.. Be sure and ring the bell by the fireplace to be the most
popular person in the bar!
The only downer continues to be getting down the hill back to town
and the Village because for some reason the shuttle ends at 5:30. No
one makes this on Sunday, which is when things really start to go downhill.
Fortunately, the Mammoth Mountain Inn has a bus that runs past midnight,
and it can be used to rescue stranded "Yodler-ers."
The Yodler is definitely the party highlight but people tear it up
in the other bars, as well. (And of course there is the pre- and post-partying
in the condos.) The bars in the Village, like the Auld Dubliner
pub – new and improved from the previous Dublin's/Fever combo –
become as crowded as Sump Alley Express, and old standby Whiskey
Creek rolls with cover bands like the Rolling Clones.
Basically, the weekend is like this: Wake up, make it to the slopes,
meet at McCoys, continue skiing, hit the Yodler by 3:30 then go out
at night. Repeat.
Is this President's Day or Groundhog Day?
President's
Day Mammoth '07 Photos
Day and night, it was a party for Team PubClub at Mammoth President's
Day '07.
Could we possibly have walked into better
weather than what was presented in '07? Clear blue skies merged with
warm temperatures that reached above 50 on Saturday. A late lunch basking
in the warm sun with cold drinks at the outdoor patio of Steep's bar
at McCoy's Station made making it back to the mountain extremely difficult.
Sunday greeted us with near blizzard conditions. Huge snowflakes fell
all day, creating a paradise for some and an invitation to spend the
day in the bars for others. And the latter resulted in the pleasant
discovery of excellent – and potent – bloody mary's at the
Auld Dubliner. They may be $9 but they are in tall pint glasses and
pack quite the punch.
Later, in the Main Lodge's Tusks bar, the high-speed and high-drama
finish to the Daytona 500 – watching the last hour or so has become
a PubClub Mammoth tradition – had then place cheering and yelling
in combined excitement. The surf band even pounded out Pipeline as the
last laps pounded away at the high-baned oval. There was a buzz from
the booze as well as the atmosphere. Then it was onto the Yodler and
out onto the town, another President's Day weekend worthy of a victory
lap celebration.
President's
Day Mammoth Photo Gallery
From the top of
Mammoth on our way to the Chair 13 bar.
Doing it on the
dance floor deep into the Mammoth night.
Girls love to be
on the dance floor.
The PubClubettes
soak in the sun by the slopes.
Getting a lift in
the lift line.
Inside and out,t
he party never stops for the PubClubbers.
Party Pose: A break
in the apres action to mug for PubClub.
Gaby and the girls.
Our friend "Hound
Dog" with his lovely lady, the "Watch Dog."
Post party - on the way home from the last bar on the last night.
Mammoth
'06 Party Photo Gallery
 Next
stop on the Party Gondola: Mammoth Bars
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