Mammoth Offering Discount Tickets Benefiting LA Fire Victims

Featured Image: Courtesy of Mammoth Mountain

This MLK weekend, Mammoth Mountain, California, is offering discounted lift tickets to Ikon Base Pass holders who would otherwise be blacked out. Tickets will be $99 with the proceeds going directly to the California Fire Foundation to benefit both civilian and firefighter victims of the recent LA fires.

On January 7, dry conditions and ferocious winds of up to 100 mph led to the eruption of the Palisades Fire, which quickly grew as crews struggled to control the blaze. Several hours after the start of the Palisades Fire, the Eaton Fire ignited to the northeast at the foothills of the Angeles National Forest and quickly spread into the populous area of Altadena.

As of Friday, January 17, Cal Fire reports that the Palisades Fire has consumed 23,713 acres and is just 31% contained, while the Eaton Fire has burned 14,117 acres but is 65% contained. With winds beginning to subside, firefighters are optimistic that they will be able to make serious progress on containment in both areas.

While Los Angeles County and Mammoth Mountain are over 300 miles apart, LA residents make up a large part of Mammoth skiers, commuting on weekends into the Sierra Nevada mountains. “Proceeds from these tickets will go to the California Fire Foundation, supporting a community we proudly consider our extended family as they recover and rebuild,” Mammoth said in the official press release.

This isn’t the only initiative led by Mammoth and Alterra Mountain Company, owner of the Ikon Pass. “To make an even bigger impact,” the resort announced, “Mammoth Mountain and Alterra Mountain Company will each match funds raised through this program, up to $100,000 each, for a combined total of $200,000.”

This money will be directly funneled to the California Fire Foundation, a non-profit organization that, “provides critical support to surviving families of fallen firefighters, firefighters, and the communities they serve. Your… donation will help us provide aid to victims of wildfires or other natural disaster through our Wildfire & Disaster Relief programs.”

Our hearts go out to everyone affected by this horrendous tragedy. Just three days after these fires began, NASA officially announced that 2024 was officially the hottest year on record, surpassing the previous record set just one year earlier in 2023. While conversations around a changing climate and humanity’s role in such an event can often be riddled with debatable opinions on all sides, we can all agree that an uptick in higher temperatures leads to a strain on both human lives and the economy. Twenty-seven people have been killed in the LA Fires, and Goldman Sacks estimates that the cost to rebuild for insurers will be $30 billion, with uninsured costs reaching $40 billion.

Skiing is both a source of joy and income for many of us, an oasis that provides controlled chaos away from the rest of life’s turmoil. But skiing is not separate from the world; it’s as attached and reliant on external factors as any industry or passion. The LA Fires are a stark reminder that in a changing world, we need to be constantly searching for preemptive solutions in order to preserve the livelihood and passion we depend on.