The California Ski Community Is Mourning the Sudden Loss of a Mammoth Mountain Legend
The California skiing community lost one of its most recognizable figures this week when Bernie Rosow, a longtime snowcat operator and grooming supervisor at Mammoth Mountain, died suddenly during a backcountry hike near Mammoth Lakes. He was 44.
Rosow was hiking up Bloody Mountain with friends on Thursday morning when he collapsed around 9:30 a.m. A friend who was with him, Christian Pondella, said it happened without warning. One moment he was having a normal conversation, and the next he complained of pain between his shoulders, sat down and stopped responding. A search and rescue helicopter arrived on scene but could not revive him.
Born in Vermont, Rosow fell in love with skiing before he could read, starting on the slopes at age two. He moved to Mammoth at 18, lived in a tent in the woods while looking for work and found his calling as a snowcat operator. He held the position for more than 25 years, eventually becoming the resort’s grooming supervisor.
He told Ski Magazine last year that the only powder day he missed in two decades was the day his son Alexander was born. He famously watched his friends doing backflips on the webcam from the hospital in Los Angeles.
Rosow had built a passionate following on social media, with more than 41,000 followers on Instagram, 101,000 on TikTok and 12,000 on YouTube, where he shared his runs, grooming work and love for the mountain.
