Another Mammoth day of skiing

Ahhhh! Another fine day spent whooping down the deserted snowy slopes of Mammoth Mountain! 

We've had a splendid day sliding around on the planks and once again, we've had the mountain and the chairlifts to ourselves. 

It was a bright and clear start to the day, but around midday, some high cirrus clouds started to form, then later an amazing rainbow halo appeared around the sun!

There's not really much else to report except that we skiied every run that was open and a few that barely were. There were a few other folk about, but it felt like we had the mountain to ourselves.

The high clouds continued to build and a cold wind had picked up by late afternoon, which was whipping ice crystals around on the top slopes. 

After getting the last lift up the mountain, we skiied back to the lodge and returned our kit. There's not really a central hub to Mammoth. It's all very spread out and there didn't seem to be any evidence of any après ski life. We stopped off for coffee and cake at a little cafe, before heading out of town and north towards Lake Tahoe. After only half an hours drive, we came across Lake Mono. The shore was covered in salt (which looked like ice!). We went to investigate and found that it is twice as salty as the sea. Many rivers drain into the lake, but the lake has no outflow, so the salt and other minerals are trapped there. It was a surreal landscape. 

A short distance later, we pulled into our accommodation for the night - one of our best yet?! A funky little log cabin in some tiny mining outpost. All mod cons included! The perfect kind of place for two tired skiers.