Mammoth

Only 300 miles from Los Angeles, Mammoth delivers an impressive experience for a mountain within such a short driving distance of one of the U.S.’s warmest cities. This California mountain reaches the highest elevation of any West Coast resort—11,053 feet—and sees slightly colder temperatures than Tahoe mountains a few hours north. The resort can offer an awesome experience on the right day thanks to its massive footprint and monster powder, but those considering a trip here should heed a few shortcomings before committing.

Mammoth’s footprint looks a bit shorter than you may expect, but once you get on the slopes, you’ll find quite stunning terrain. The resort’s tremendously wide footprint provides for several distinct mountain areas, allowing visitors to spread out and feel isolated. Across the resort, terrain varies between traditional below-treeline slopes, glade terrain, and high-alpine bowls. Rock formations make for striking landscapes across the footprint. Terrain faces an array of different angles, so unique conditions can persist across various resort areas.

It’s a good thing Mammoth offers such a variety of terrain angles, as its weather patterns make for somewhat variable snow conditions. On the plus side, accumulation—while wet and heavy—tends to be more consistent than other West Coast resorts thanks to the higher elevation. In addition, extensive snowmaking and snow harvesting operations keep critical areas resilient through the entire season. However, fickle storm cycles mean the resort may go days without snow before receiving several feet in a single storm. Varying winter temperatures mean the mountain can get warm and then freeze over, making that next snowstorm all the more necessary. The resort’s heavily exposed terrain brings serious wind in upper-mountain areas, causing icy, windswept conditions in places. Luckily, when it gets warm enough, the snow softens up and can be good for days even without a new storm. While they seldom offer the best quality powder, Mammoth’s early spring months often provide the resort’s most consistent experience.

Speaking of spring, Mammoth boasts one of the best late-season experiences in North America. The resort’s generous accumulation and high elevation make for exceptional snow preservation. Seasons regularly last until Memorial Day, and in the best years, can go as late as early August. Terrain surrounding the Main Lodge typically stays open the longest, but options for all ability levels generally remain.

While Mammoth offers an array of terrain, beginner options are limited. The true green classification is essentially reserved for bunny hill areas; a handful of “green-black” trails designated for low-intermediates exist across the resort, but they’re mainly limited to lower-mountain slopes. Luckily, novices who do choose to visit Mammoth can skip the full-price ticket and just buy a pass valid only on the beginner chairs.

Visitors will need to reach intermediate proficiency to really appreciate the mountain. Mammoth offers an array of distinctive groomed cruisers, several of which offer striking views of the surrounding footprint. Blue-black trails designated for advanced-intermediate visitors are a bit steeper than typical blues, but they offer the best panoramic cruiser views at the resort. However, a few blue and blue-black trails may remain ungroomed for large portions of the season and develop moguls. A few single-black groomers exist as well.

To truly get the most out of your Mammoth experience, you’ll want to be an advanced or expert visitor. In addition to a range of steep, technical mogul runs, this resort boasts some of the most aggressive terrain in the region. Much of the credit goes to the resort’s rock-riddled footprint; rocks line the tops of chutes, resulting in exceptionally sketchy entries and making for distinctive couloirs. Certain places such as Paranoid Flats and Dragon’s Tail boast truly extreme lines that require mandatory air or free falls; however, these areas are out of the way to access and need a substantial snowpack to fill in. None of Mammoth’s advanced or expert trails are particularly long, so the mountain isn’t really a place to take serious endurance laps.

Mammoth’s other claim to fame is its top-tier terrain park footprint. No matter where you go on the mountain, there always seems to be a freestyle setup. Mammoth’s nine terrain parks include boxes, rails, jumps, and a number of unique specialty features. The mountain boasts some of the largest freestyle features in the country, which has driven several pro athletes to set up shop here.

While Mammoth boasts a wide variety of terrain, poorly designed signage makes it difficult to find the right trail for your ability level. On-mountain signs are busy, and it can take a few seconds to decode them. Each trail sign carries a green, blue, or black color that generally corresponds to an ability level, but the logic isn’t intuitive enough to click as fast as it should. Pink signs, which correspond to facility and lift directions, compound the issue; difficulty markings on the right-hand side make these placards look like actual trail markers. The “green-black” and “blue-black” trail icons are hard to contrast from the regular green-circle and black-diamond designations, and without a close look, it’s easy to miss that these designations even exist.

Besides the signs, getting around Mammoth can be irritating. On the plus side, very few flat areas exist, so visitors won’t have to do much traversing or catwalking. Additionally, it’s possible to get between mountain areas fairly quickly from the top of the resort; lifts such as Cloud Nine and the Panorama Gondola provide access to trails that directly lead to faraway mountain areas. However, these trail routes are advanced-only. Beginners and intermediates will need to stick to lower mountain chairs to get between resort areas, and depending on the on-mountain destination, this can involve multiple lifts. Many of these lift routes lack feasible alternatives, resulting in annoying chokepoints. And even though upper resort areas provide easier access between mountain sections, these routes aren’t clearly mapped on the trail map, so some visitors may just never find out about them. Upper mountain lifts close at 3:30, so towards the end of the day, lower mountain lifts can get crowded as everyone tries to get back to the base they started from. Long lines also tend to build up just about everywhere during the busiest holiday periods, although the presence of multiple lift options at key base areas helps.

Getting around Mammoth can also be difficult under low-visibility conditions. The resort can get quite foggy during storm cycles, and some high-alpine areas aren’t sufficiently marked to clearly designate trail boundaries during these times.

Luckily, it doesn’t take much work to stop in for a break at Mammoth. Major junctions and base areas offer an array of food and indoor/outdoor lodge options, and most offer decent capacity. But during peak times, it can be difficult to find seating anywhere, except perhaps the back side. Mammoth’s summit boasts a café with stunning views of the surrounding scenery, although seating is limited.

Mammoth’s lift infrastructure generally impresses. Most major resort areas enjoy high-speed lift service, and the top-to-bottom Panorama Gondola provides quick access across much of the resort’s vertical drop. However, some places such as the back side and many expert-focused areas maintain slow, fixed-grip lift service. Snowboarders will appreciate the strap-in benches at the top of most lifts.

Lodging

Anchored by the town of Mammoth Lakes, Mammoth offers an array of lodging options within close resort proximity. Some hotels and condos are ski-in/ski-out, while others exist within walking distance of Mammoth’s village gondola. Numerous lodging options in town live within a short driving distance to the mountain. However, the town of Mammoth Lakes is generally very pricey, and its remote location means there aren’t any other lodging options within half an hour of the resort. For cheap lodging, the town’s shared-room Moderne Hostel may be your best bet.

Apres-ski

Mammoth enjoys a party-heavy California aprés vibe that carries both on and off the mountain. The village and main base often feature live afternoon music and can be great places to wind down. Bars such as Austria Hof and Roberto’s offer solid food and happy hour specials. The town of Mammoth Lakes hosts an array of bars ranging from casual to lively; these can be great to bar-hop between. A few club-like venues in town host late-night DJs, live bands, or events such as karaoke.

Verdict

So Mammoth does have a few issues, but it’s about as well-rounded as a resort on the U.S. West Coast can get. Variable winter conditions won’t make Mammoth the best area to book a months-in-advance vacation to—and the wide footprint can be a pain to get around—but few other areas in North America can match the resort’s expansive terrain, top-tier freestyle setup, and spring experience. Ticket prices can be steep—especially on weekends and holidays—but those driving from Southern California will have a tough time finding anything else even remotely comparable.