Mammoth's Big Snow Heats Up the Holidays

We talk in inches a lot around the holidays.

Like, how many inches a Christmas tree might be, and whether it fits in the den (without pushing against the ceiling). How many inches our nieces and nephews have grown, and whether the pajamas we bought them will properly fit.

And, of course, the inches we talk about when it comes to our waists, and all of the treats we're really, really enjoying, #noguilt-style.

But worth mentioning on the inch-focused front? How many inches of snow have fallen on various California peaks as one of the ski season's biggest weeks arrives.

Mammoth Mountain saw five frosty inches accumulate just ahead of Christmas, with a total of 15-17 inches from the most recent storm.

If that's good news because you'll be heading up the 395 between Christmas and New Year's, or through Jan. 5, the Sunday that rounds out the holiday vacation period for many revelers, then be further cheered, for there are plenty off-the-slope pursuits to pursue while making merry in Mammoth.

A New Year's Eve Alpen-Glow Snowshoe Tour is one treat, a Dec. 31 trek that will take place in the final hours of the afternoon (and not a midnight, brrr).

Woolly's Saturday Parade is on for Dec. 28, so let the kids know that the area's most major mammoth has several activities in store in The Village, from face painting to free cocoa.

And NYE Canyon Lodge? The "glitzy slopeside celebration" will have DJs to dance to (there's a family New Year's Eve party, with fireworks, happening at The Village Plaza.

As for the weather that's just ahead?

More snow showers are to come between Christmas and New Year's, plus a few possible bluebird days, too. Call it a festive forecast, one that we can measure not in potential inches but potential fun.