MLR BOARD MEMBER SPOTLIGHT - CRAIG ALBRIGHT
Mammoth Lakes Recreation has had the pleasure of Craig Albright serving on its Board since 2018, and as its Board President since 2019. This month, we asked Craig to share his story of “a semester off of college” in Mammoth Lakes with us.
My name is Craig Albright and I am the Board Chair and President of Mammoth Lakes Recreation. I am now a 43-year resident of Mammoth Lakes after coming here for my “semester off of college”. Like many before and after me, that turned to a year off, to a couple years off, to meeting my wife, starting an unlikely career at Mammoth Mountain as a Ski Instructor, then a mortgage and a couple of kids, and now Vice President of Skier Services. Blink, and I am looking forward to winding down my career with Mammoth Mountain in the coming years and joining the ranks of active retirees of the Eastside!
Though this was never “a plan”, each piece of my life puzzle fell into place at the right time. From that first “semester off”, I had this almost spooky sense that Mammoth was “my place” and that my life would unfold here in this remarkable location, on the edge of the Sierra Nevada and the Great Basin.
Growing up in the suburbs of Los Angeles in the 60’s and 70’s was idyllic. I was the oldest of four boys, and our family worked together in our family’s restaurant and catering business. We played countless youth sports, and had wild undeveloped land to explore all around our home. When I was 13, I was somehow bitten by the surfing bug…which is amazing since I was a mediocre (at best) swimmer, largely afraid of the ocean and the surfing learning curve was very slow for me. What seemed to keep drawing me back to the water was how beautiful, unpredictable, and unforgiving the ocean and surfing was. Once I finally became reasonably competent in the ocean (and it took a while!) I couldn’t imagine a time in my life that I wouldn’t be in the water five days a week...the pull of the ocean was strong. Ironically, it was my high school surfing buddies who first took me to Big Bear to go skiing. Rest assured, I was not any better at skiing my first day than I was at surfing, but that same magic of awe inspiring outdoor beauty, and recreating in and with nature hooked me similarly, but with one big difference, mountain culture vs surf culture.
Growing up surfing in the 70’s was always an aggressive, testosterone fueled vibe in the lineup. You didn’t say hi to strangers, lest you say hi to the alpha male of that particular break and get punched for being friendly. The culture in the mountains was so different. It was the era of double chairs and if you were skiing by yourself, every time you got to the bottom of a lift you yelled “Single!” and someone else would reply “Single!” and you would pair up and ride the lift together, chat about your favorite run of the day, what other resorts you had skied at, and where the best place to après was. I found it so fun to meet new people every run and slowly grow out of my socially awkward teens into the adult world. It wasn’t very long into the first “semester off” that I realized my five days a week in the ocean plan, was going to need to be updated to at least five days a week just being outside, recreating in nature.
During these four decades in Mammoth, I have been blessed to participate in most forms of outdoor recreation. Obviously, I still love to ski, snowboard and telemark at the ski area and Nordic skate and classic at Tamarack. But when asked what type of winter recreation would win if I could only do one, the winner would be backcountry skiing. First, because it has no “work” element to it, but more so it is the slow and thoughtful nature of traveling over snow that is so captivating. You have time to savor all that the outdoors has for our soul and spirit during the hours/days that make a great ski tour. During summer, I have a similar long and passionate affair with rock climbing. I have never been a great climber, climbing very hard grades, but boy do enjoy everything about moving over rock. Like backcountry skiing, you have time to savor sun, sky, wind, and rock during a day of climbing. I have filled in around the two pillars of my outdoor recreation of skiing and climbing with countless time backpacking, mountain biking, road cycling, peak bagging and the ficklest of Eastside outdoor recreational pursuits, ice skating on our local lakes.
Mary and I have been blessed to have raised our daughters (Heather 31, Becca 28) doing all these activities together as an outdoor, mountain family. We have built a store house of great family adventures (yes, some were solidly in the Type 2 fun category!) that we look back on fondly and look forward to with our granddaughter (Gloria, 10 months). I can’t think of many higher things to aspire to than being an outdoor family. All the adventures we have experienced have brought us close together and taught us so much, and for this we are so grateful.
With daughters done with college and married and starting their own families, I have had a window the last few years to try to give back to the outdoor community that has blessed me and my family so much. I have been on the MLR Board of Directors since 2018 and enjoy working with my fellow board members, and our outstanding staff person, the army of one, Kim Anaclerio! This team is so passionate about our mission to enhance outdoor recreation, arts, culture, and mobility in this awesome mountain community. Sure, there are plenty of challenges, not unlike all the outdoor sports we participate in, but each challenge seems to have a reward waiting on the other side. Be it a new recreation or arts facility funded and opened, a fun cultural event to sponsor and enjoy, a new trail built to play on, or a lake basin cleaned up and to be proud of. I look forward to others joining us in this mission, and there are so many ways - whether as a donor, a trail sponsor, a volunteer, or a participant - each role contributes to making our mountain community stronger and better for both local and visitor alike.
See you out there!
Craig
About Mammoth Lakes Recreation
Formed in 2014, Mammoth Lakes Recreation’s mission is to deliver cutting edge sustainable recreation, mobility, and arts & culture opportunities and infrastructure for the benefit of the community and natural environment of Mammoth Lakes. For more information, go to www.mammothlakesrecreation.org.