Mammoth Skiers Shrug Off Quakes

The kind of skier snapping into bindings here on the first morning of the new year has a very discrete list of worries on his mind:

The snow cover. The ski boot that feels like a vise. Those new parabolic skis. Hot wax.

What the people who have saved and planned to get to the bumps and jumps don’t want to worry about during their precious mountain vacations are earthquakes.

And a volcano underfoot? Don’t even start.

Which explains this ski town’s current dilemma. Since Wednesday, when a 4.8-magnitude volcanic earthquake shook Mammoth, followed by 14 more with magnitudes of 3.0 or greater through 5 p.m. Thursday, the shakers have been the talk of the chairlifts, the lift lines and the warming huts.

The quakes have rocked condos, swung gondolas and brought ice crashing down on cars, and so it wouldn’t be out of line to expect that some tourists might turn around and go home.

But although town officials approach the subject as gingerly as novice skiers sidestepping down a steep mogul field, they may as well stop explaining and get back on the slopes. Few of the snow fanatics who drove here from Los Angeles and beyond are going anywhere but up--the mountain, that is.

“It just makes your vacation more interesting,” said David Zion, 28, a North Carolina native who woke up in his condo at 4:21 a.m. Thursday to a 3.8 quake--his first.

“If you’re gonna go, how would you rather go? In a freeway accident on the I-5 or chased down Mammoth by a wall of lava? No contest. Let’s hit the mountain!”

Skiers and snowboarders are a risk-taking lot, even when the ground is still. The best of them hurtle down double black diamond runs whooping, often laughing it off when they end up sliding down on their stomachs with a face full of snow.

Newcomers to the sport are perhaps even more brave as a group, daring (as adults who should know better) to bind themselves to odd-shaped objects and venture up and down mountains while their friends stay at home watching football.

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Add to that the fact that Mammoth overwhelmingly draws Californians blase after lifetimes of earthquakes, and it’s easy to understand why the ski lodges here are packed, the cafeteria lines on the mountain are crowded with people eagerly gobbling greasy hamburgers, and the bars are filled with revelers more interested in properly shaken martinis than in the shaking earth.

“It’s just like back home in Burbank, no big deal,” said Kelly Cecil, 25, clapping her mittened hands to warm them before getting on a lift.

“You know, it would be different if we were going to the Caribbean and they had hurricanes. But earthquakes? I can handle it. I definitely would not be able to handle staying home.”

U.S. Geological Survey monitor David P. Hill said geologists expect the magma now about four miles under the Mammoth Lakes region to erupt through the surface someday, and maybe someday soon.

It is the magma’s expansion that geologists believe causes the earthquakes in the region, typically several hundred a day. Since noon Wednesday, about 1,000 mostly minor quakes have rumbled, primarily near the Mammoth airport, a few miles southeast of town.

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“It has the potential of evolving towards an eruption, which is why we’re tracking it so carefully,” Hill said. “But we’re monitoring it so closely we hope to avoid surprises.”

The quakes of the past few days have brought a few surprises already.

Andrea Stephens, 27, of Manhattan Beach was relaxing in her condo Wednesday morning with a group of friends when the biggest quake of the recent swarm hit. Inside, she and her buddies high-fived and enjoyed the brief ride. But outside, the quake loosened a pile of ice from the roof of the condo and sent it pounding down onto the Dodge Caravan that Stephens had borrowed from her employer for the trip.

The ice crushed the roof of the minivan and shattered its windshield, Stephens said.

“When I saw it, I just laughed,” she said. “It was like, OK, I just have bad karma with cars. I thought, maybe my mom was right when she told me not to come.”

But Stephens said she didn’t doubt herself for long. The next day she was back on skis, catching a few more runs.

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Town officials say they have been getting more calls than usual in recent months from people wondering if they should make the trip to Mammoth.

“People call and they say, ‘Is it safe to come up? Is it OK?’ Once we tell them what the [Geological Survey] says, they’re usually fine. They go, ‘Oh, all right, how’s the snow?’ ” said Dana Hartshorn, marketing coordinator for the Mammoth Lakes Visitors Bureau.

“We tell them, hey, when and if they tell us there’s a danger we’re all outta here. We’re not gonna live in paranoia, but when it’s time to go, it’s time to go. We’re not stupid.”

For those with the mountains in their blood, it is easy to drown out geologic data with information of more immediate concern: seven feet of snow on the mountain; clouds gathering overhead and the possibility of more white stuff overnight. And for those who insist on worrying, there are always the prices to kvetch about: Lift tickets at $47 a day; condos going for $295 a night; hardly any vacancies at any price.

“Listen, you hear the news, what could happen is always something in the back of your mind,” said Nick DiCarlo, 52, visiting from Upland with his wife and two children for the 14th year in a row.

“You can’t live your life based on what might happen. But this is an important trip for the whole family. We don’t want to give it up based on some vague fear.”