Yep. It felt just as good as we expected it to. This past Thursday, November 10, Mammoth's lifts started turning and champagne bottles were popped to cheers another season of shred.

The first turns of the season at Mammoth Mountain may have put every other opening day to shame. Fresh snow, sunny skies, fun park laps, drunken dances on the sun deck, and gondola rides were all in effect. The 2011-12 winter year at Mammoth is finally here and we were there to celebrate. Four chairs were running along with the gondola and the open runs were covered with a nice layer of freshies from a storm earlier in the week. Mother Nature was apparently feeling extra generous because Friday was graced with another storm, providing plenty of powder turns for the early risers and was quickly followed by a double dose of bluebird days. Prime time opening weekend conditions, wouldn't you agree?

The mountain was raided by pros including Eddie Wall, Peter Line, Eric and John Jackson, Danny Kass, Louie Vito, Kimmy Fasani, Elena Hight, Greg Bretz, Tim Humphreys, The Frends Crew and Shayne Pospisil to name just a few. You could throw a snowball in any direction and it most likely would land on a pro rider's face.

The Village was the destination for the night life, with all types of industry folk taking over Hyde Lounge's dance floor each evening. The Peddie Files, Good Look, Was Here, TB20, and Standing Sideways all were shown to the crowds over the course of the weekend as well. Partying, snowboard videos, and dance floors? No wonder the masses flooded up to the mountains.

Saturday night was the rager at Canyon Lodge with the typical live concert, accessed by the Canyon Gondola. The Black Lips and Ra Ra Riot made the trip to Mammoth this year to perform in front of the rowdy crowd of snow addicts. The night ended and everyone slowly (and drunkenly) meandered back to their respective places of rest to hopefully catch some Z's before the last day of opening weekend. Sunday was definitely the emptier day on the hill but those that made the effort to ride before the trek back home scored a sweet and sunny park day.

All resorts surrounding the Southern California area are now up and raring to go so we think it's acceptable to claim that winter is here in the flesh. Thanks to Mammoth for hosting a fabulous opening weekend...again.