“This was a slide that happened in 1974 that ran all the way from Dave’s to Scotty’s.
These shots were taken from the top of three, and the guy who took them ( I forget who it was) had to run for it after the last one (Ron Mallet believes he is the photographer)
as the snow from Climax came up over the top of three. The mountain was a mess for a long time afterwards; places like Dry Creek were done for the season ”  – Charlie Couch.

The discussion that follows is from the MMSP Facebook page –

Bob Wood – I recall firing that shot with the .75mm on gun mount 2. Thought I’d killed my brother Bruce digging out the top of Chair 3 for an awful moment.

Bruce Wood – That day is still a vivid memory. I recall you placing several shots around the left side of the cornice. Someone radioed you and asked if you were finished, not having triggered an avalanche. You said to wait while you placed one more shot. The result was phenomenal: Have you ever seen a glass vase with fracture lines all over it? With the impact of your last round, the glass-fracture effect spread left-to-right across the face of the upper mountain. Then all at once, the whole area collapsed and picked up speed. Me and several others were on the top of chair 3 and watched as a huge volume of snow ended its downward course, and then began climbing up the backside of 3. We all made like track stars and lit out bodies’ afterburners. Thankfully, the ascending snow made it half-way up the backside of 3 before stopping. Whew! Thanks a lot for the near coronary, Bob. We were close to having a prodding line set up to search for our bods.

Bob Wood – At that time we didn’t fire the guns unless we could see the targets, so there was a big snow buildup, about 12′, during a long storm. I think it went for two weeks. Later on facilities were built in potential runout zones so we set up the guns for blind firing, using bolts set in a bar over the barrel. Just place the barrel against the bottom of the bolt and you had your aiming point. So we fired the guns no matter what the weather. Some very uncomfortable missions. No more big buildups.

Kurt Pearson – I watched that go, leaving a 10′ fracture. The run out was un-skiable, leaving chunks as big as cars. Although, I did watch Jean-Claude Kelly ski through it like it was no big deal.

Clain Burnham “Swooper” doing a little back side sign patrol in 74′.

Chair 15 – Yan – double  1200/skiers per hour.  Top Elev: 8734ft.  Bottom Elev: 8025ft.  Length – 5610ft.  Vertical – 1100ft.  Ride time – 11:12. (Chair 15 had 2 unloading areas – 1 at the bridge and the other at top of Milk Run.)

1974 – 1975  Season Snow Pack Total: 378.5″

Gary Reitman is promoted to Mammoth Mountain Ski Patrol Director.

The Ray Critton Ski Patrolman of the Year Award – Jim Jacober (1973 – 1994) Photo by Allan MacDonald

 Photo Credit to Tom Highberger

The Great Wall

“Throughout the 1960’s, to descend off the back of Chair 3 skiers had to schuss down a steep narrow passage where “pile-ups” of innocent intermediates tended to occur. In 1973, McCoy’s crews widened the ramp by building “The Great Wall” with piles of rock gabions. In 1975, after moisture had de-stabilized the structure, the men made a second attempt by setting 24ft towers and weaving used Chair 5 cable and steel web fencing between them.” – from Tracks of Passion by Robin Morning.