In California ski town, fast-food restaurant resembles snow cave
A striking image captured in Mammoth Lakes shows a Carl's Jr. restaurant remaining open despite resembling a snow cave.
The recent series of winter storms, delivered via atmospheric rivers, inundated California mountain towns with historic or near-historic snowfall totals.
And as the digging out continues, businesses are doing their best to cope with the inconvenience, and the accompanying image is perhaps the perfect illustration.
The image, showing the drive-through window at the Carl’s Jr. in the Eastern Sierra town of Mammoth Lakes, was captured Wednesday evening by the Mammoth Times.
The illuminated menu and a plowed and steeply-walled avenue for vehicle access are all that’s visible.
It’s worth noting that Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, farther up the road, has received 381 inches of snow so far this season. That’s 31.75 feet!
In town, towering snow walls line roads that have been plowed repeatedly.
As for the Carl’s Jr. image, Mammoth Times followers played along in the comments section:
–“I’ll have a large Blizzard, please!”
–“There’s a vent for the fryer up there somewhere.”
–”Wadayamean the slushy machine is broken?!?”
–”Can you supersize that in case I don’t make it out?”
One follower tagged one of her friends and commented, “Glad I don’t live there anymore.”
At 9:15 a.m. Thursday, the temperature at the ski area was 18 degrees with clearing skies and high winds. Lower lifts were open but some mid- and upper-mountain lifts remained on wind and visibility hold.
–Image courtesy of the Mammoth Times