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All of these warnings are appropriate. I learned to fly, in a 172, at
Truckee, and my second solo cross country was to Mammoth. It was a glorious, clear spring day and I had no trouble. Ive also flown 172s down the Owens Valley in the summer. Its safe enough in clear weather, as long as youre loaded lightly enough to handle the density altitude and know enough to stick to the ridge-lift side of the trench. Winter flying is something else. One of my friends died flying this route in his Bonanza. Piston airplanes are not equipped to handle ice, day or night. Id fly my 250hp Comanche into Mammoth in the winter only during daylight hours in clear, dry weather, and with winds aloft under 30 knots. And Id postpone my return until conditions are benign. In the real world, a piston-engine airplane is useful to a skier only if you can take Fridays and Mondays off from work, and preferably Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, too. Fly *only* when the weather is fine. Storm days are for skiing. Another note: Crosswind and a snow-packed runway are not a happy combination. The Mammoth runway bakes dry after several sunny hours, but an early-morning landing after a storm passage could put your airplane into the snowbank. Think about that before you accept a terminal forecast as fully VFR. Seth N8100R |
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