Gus' Pasture Basin is up and running

Thanks to FoESAC Board Member and MMSA Patroller Scott Quirsfeld, the Gus' Pasture beacon park behind Main Lodge at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area is now up and running. The facility is located just uphill and slightly east of the Main Lodge and can be accessed by skiers at the area, as well as by hiking uphill from the parking area just outside the lodge. If you have questions or problems with the facility, stop in and chat with Ski Patrol at Main Lodge.

The new Ortovox is a vast improvement over the past years' installments and will be easier to use and maintain. There are five beacons buried in the cordoned off area which can be turned on at any combination the user would like through the control box stored in the black pelican case on the main pole at the top of the area. There will be instructions posted in the box in the coming weeks.

We ask that you not dig up the beacons, only search and probe for them. Though they are wireless, repeated digging up will disturb the area for other users and should only be done when maintenance is required.

In the coming weeks, we will be setting up a volunteer maintenance crew and a schedule for required maintenance dates. The batteries in the transmitting units need to be changed every 10 days or so, and we'll be looking for help from the community in doing this. Stay tuned if you're interested.

In the meantime, please check out the facility, test your skills and post your comments, issues, and feedback to this forum so that everyone can see. Please remember to sign in when using the facility, so that we can keep track of how many people use it each season. This helps us justify the service.

The second Ortovox unit for the Mammoth Visitor's Center is on order and should be here sometime in January. As soon as we have it setup, we'll post something here.

Happy searching!