MAMMOTH, Calif. — A month without snow turned Mammoth Mountain into a literal death trap — even for experienced skiers like Robert Carroll, the fourth person to die at the California winter hotspot in three months, experts told The California Post.
The 40-year-old California native was killed last Thursday after attempting Dropout Chute 2, a double black diamond trail that plunges about 1,200 vertical feet and ranks among the steepest in California.
The run sports pitfalls and rocks even in the best conditions, but the mountain had not seen fresh snow in more than a month, making the surface icy hard-pack and exposing more of the jagged crags Carroll careened into after losing his skis.
“I’ve done Dropout 2, but never in these conditions. We haven’t gotten snow in a month. The snow gets harder-packed. It’s harder to turn. The rocks get shown more,” Mel Solorio, who works at a local ski shop, told The Post earlier this week.
Mammoth has since gotten a dump of fresh powder — 24 inches over the past three days, according to the resort’s snow report.
But the conditions last week proved fatal for Carroll — a world-traveling adventurist who had been to Mammoth many times before.
A Reddit poster who said they witnessed the fatal fall said Carroll attempted a jump off the rocks, struck another outcropping, and lost his skis, sliding headfirst down the slope before slamming his head on a rock.
The witness described Carroll leaving a visible blood trail as a companion screamed for help. It’s unclear whether he was wearing a helmet.
“He landed on his back and fell quite a distance, hit a rock that was in the area, and then slid quite a distance more down from there,” Sgt. Daniel Hansen told The Post Thursday. “It’s a pretty significant slope. Once your skis come off on a steep slope like that, there’s really no way to control yourself.
“It’s a very, very tragic accident. My heart goes out to the family and all of his friends and this ski and snowboard community as a whole. It’s sad.”
When it came to skiing, Carroll was no slouch: He was a passionate outdoors buff who loved high-stakes adventure, be it scaling rock faces or flying down expert ski slopes, his pal told The Post.
“He has traveled all over the world. He has climbed El Capitan in Yosemite, has taken multiple rafting trips down the Colorado through the Grand Canyon but most of all he loved being with his friends and being part of their daily lives,” Matt Weil said.
“Rob was an important and larger-than-life presence to anyone he came in contact with and he will forever be in our hearts.”
But Dropout 2 is a merciless run, even for the best skiers on the best of days, said Matt Finigan, a local ski rental shop owner and 40-year veteran of Mammoth Mountain.
“You’ve gotta be a great skier, and you’ve gotta be on your A game to be up in that terrain, especially in those conditions.”
Finigan doesn’t believe the weather alone killed Carroll. He emphasized that even fresh powder presents its own perils: Skiers on Mammoth Mountain find themselves buried in avalanches or trapped in tree wells.
“When it hasn’t snowed for a while, the top of the mountain gets slick. It’s wind-scoured. It can be challenging with irregular snow consistencies. There are gullies and spines that define the runs, and you can slide into the rocks.”
“I’ve seen one incident where a large boulder tumbled down behind the skier. People were shouting at him from the lift, but he was completely oblivious to what was happening behind him. … It’s serious terrain up there.”
Three other recent deaths include a skier caught in an avalanche on Cornice Bowl in January, and another who lost control on Devil’s Slide last month — all taking on Mammoth Mountain’s 3,100 vertical feet of steep, heart-pounding terrain. Another skier was found unconscious in deep snow on Christmas Day off Hully Gully trail and died at the hospital.
In another terrifying incident, a 12-year-old girl dangled from a ski lift on Jan. 31 before plunging toward the snow. She was not injured.
Finigan believes a growing culture of recklessness is pushing more skiers to push beyond their limits — with tragic results.
“In my 40 years of skiing out here, skiers have gotten more reckless and are getting in way over their heads,” he said.
Finigan didn’t know what sort of equipment Carroll was using, but he said the equipment industry isn’t making the sport any safer.
As someone who sells and rents skis, he said he sees companies trying to push customers to shell out for the latest, expensive skis, regardless of whether they’re suitable for the conditions.
For example, wider, beginner-friendly skis are easier to sell, which has led companies to push them to any and all skiers, even those attempting technical slopes like Dropout 2, which favors narrower blades in icy conditions, Finigan claimed.
“My belief is the industry is doing a disservice to skiers by putting them in equipment that is inappropriate to the conditions,” he said.
One local skier, who prefers to go simply by Jay and works at Footloose Sports in Mammoth Lakes, has braved Dropout 2 many times.
“It’s an expert slope. It’s steep. And unfortunately, there’s rocks nearby. If you fall at the wrong spot, it could be bad,” he said.
“Always ask around if you’re going down a slope. Check with ski patrol. See if other people are riding it,” he warned.
That said, the recent deaths aren’t terribly shocking for him and other locals around Mammoth Mountain, he said.
“Skiing is a dangerous sport,” Jay said. “People injure themselves on beginner runs. Even die on beginner runs. You just don’t always hear about it. You just need to be careful.”
Additional reporting by David Thompson