California/Nevada 2018 - 2019 Mammoth Mountain

[Woodsrider427]

Any “unofficial” guides to Mammoth out there?

I would be interested in this as well if there is one. We will be at Mammoth the 27th-31st. We will be at Squaw the 3 days before that.

 

[Tytlynz64]

I would be interested in this as well if there is one. We will be at Mammoth the 27th-31st. We will be at Squaw the 3 days before that.

The best I could find was powderhounds but not very detailed

 

[Viking9]

You don’t need a guide for Mammoth,,,,,,trust me.
Mammoth in my opinion is the best drive up and park resort west of the Mississippi.
Everything is right in front of you and it is basically impossible to get into something over your head.
Go to Main Lodge and get a locker by chair six, it goes right over the terrain park.
There’s a restroom and boot heaters right there also.
Unload your stuff and enter at the very left of the building,one of you needs to park and pick the shuttle up to get back, ( you will wait 5 minutes max, don’t worry about being the first ones up it doesn’t matter )go up a flight of stairs and stay to the left and you will see the lockers and doors to get you on the slopes.

 

[dbostedo]

^^^
If it's a weekend, main lodge area can be a pretty chaotic. I liked parking early at the Mill Cafe lot, just a few steps off the snow, and starting at Stump Alley. Very convenient, but you have to be OK booting up at the car. One morning we went early enough to get a nice breakfast at Mill Cafe before the lifts started.

 

[MountainMonster]

I am thinking about taking a lesson next week. Me old, slow, crotchety and dumb. Self taught. Anyone recommend an instructor at mammoth or June?

Ask for Bobby out of main lodge

 

[Tytlynz64]

Ask for Bobby out of main lodge

Than you. Will be staying in condos near main lodge so that should work.

 

[Woodsrider427]

You don’t need a guide for Mammoth,,,,,,trust me.
Mammoth in my opinion is the best drive up and park resort west of the Mississippi.
Everything is right in front of you and it is basically impossible to get into something over your head.
Go to Main Lodge and get a locker by chair six, it goes right over the terrain park.
There’s a restroom and boot heaters right there also.
Unload your stuff and enter at the very left of the building,one of you needs to park and pick the shuttle up to get back, ( you will wait 5 minutes max, don’t worry about being the first ones up it doesn’t matter )go up a flight of stairs and stay to the left and you will see the lockers and doors to get you on the slopes.

Thanks for this. We are staying near the Eagle Lodge. I figured I would start my days off each morning there or is it worth it to get over to the Main Lodge? It looks like quite a few chair rides to get over to that side.

 

[Viking9]

You can’t get any farther from Main Lodge than Eagle Lodge, thanks for ruining my first guided tour of Mammoth by that”” Man About Town “” Viking9,,,,Oh Well.
Eagle Lodge is more of a tent city than a Lodge but you’ll be fine, just take chair 9 and head for upper dry creek get on 5 and the mountain will open up.
On the next day day go to chair 14 and have the grilled cheese and Tomato Bisque,you can thank me later !!

 

[river-z]

Thanks for this. We are staying near the Eagle Lodge. I figured I would start my days off each morning there or is it worth it to get over to the Main Lodge? It looks like quite a few chair rides to get over to that side.

Like Viking9 said you can get all the way across the mountain if you head west off the top of chair 9

Personally I think some of the best terrain on a normal day is under chair 5 and 3. You can ride those up and get a good look at the ungroomed terrain beneath them, and then decide whether to ski it or take the groomer to the the side (or in the case of chair 3, the backside).

Chairs 1 and 2 are especially good for groomers
Chairs 9 and 23 are especially good for steep, ungroomed terrain
You should definitely take the gondola to the top and try Cornice Bowl (or if you're not ready take Road Runner down) (or something double black if you like steeps)

 

[Woodsrider427]

You can’t get any farther from Main Lodge than Eagle Lodge, thanks for ruining my first guided tour of Mammoth by that”” Man About Town “” Viking9,,,,Oh Well.
Eagle Lodge is more of a tent city than a Lodge but you’ll be fine, just take chair 9 and head for upper dry creek get on 5 and the mountain will open up.
On the next day day go to chair 14 and have the grilled cheese and Tomato Bisque,you can thank me later !!

Sorry, didn't mean to ruin your tour!! We will have a car so can go anywhere really to start the day. For us, working our way across the mountain is part of the adventure. And thanks for the food tip, always nice to know where the good stuff is.

 

[Woodsrider427]

Like Viking9 said you can get all the way across the mountain if you head west off the top of chair 9

Personally I think some of the best terrain on a normal day is under chair 5 and 3. You can ride those up and get a good look at the ungroomed terrain beneath them, and then decide whether to ski it or take the groomer to the the side (or in the case of chair 3, the backside).

Chairs 1 and 2 are especially good for groomers
Chairs 9 and 23 are especially good for steep, ungroomed terrain
You should definitely take the gondola to the top and try Cornice Bowl (or if you're not ready take Road Runner down) (or something double black if you like steeps)

Thanks for the tips. I just spent 5 minutes trying to find all those numbered chairs on the map. Man that place is big!! I am getting excited now, thanks for the help.

 

[Sunnysloper]

Looks like lots of good advice here. Sorry for initially misunderstanding what was meant by unofficial guide.

I’d add chair 22 and Panorama Gondola 2 to the good steeps lifts and chairs 4 (Rollercoaster Express) and 12 to the good groomer lifts.

The chair number, chair name thing can be a little confusing. At Mammoth the original fixed grip lifts all had numbers. When a fixed grip lift is replaced with high speed quad (or six) it gets a name with “express” at the end of it, like Broadway Express. Broadway Express replaced chair 1 but is still called as chair 1 because its more or less in the same place as the fixed grip chair 1 it replaced. The nice thing about this is you know right away which lifts are high speed, the un-nice thing is that both names and numbers are often used to identify the same express lift.

As far as I know the chairs were numbered as they were put in with chair 1 being first chair 2 second etc. Some chair numbers are missing because some quads replaced more than one fixed grip lift and some quad’s numbers don’t run where the original chair.


Other potentially “unofficial” thoughts:

The lift lines are usually shorter the higher up the the hill the lift is. Fresh snow days are an exception.

Make your way toward the base of the lift you started from well before closing time. It’s possible to end up not being able to ski back there after closing. You’ll have to get on a bus to get back to where you started.

Ride the Panorama Gondola to the top even if you don’t want to ski there. There’s a nice visitors center and a very popular trail sign to take pictures in front just outside of the gondola building on top.

It’s often good fun to traverse around and explore “non-run” or “in between the lifts” areas. For me these include; the Hemlock zone (short hike to “expert” terrain), between Arribas and Santiago (chair 14), between St. Anton and New Critters, between Terry’s and Andy’s Double Gold, lines from chairs 3 and 2 that end up on Dry Creek or Easy Rider (usually “expert” lines, some on the trail map), between Wall Street and Lost in the Woods, between Gold Hill and Ricochet, and essentially all of the rest of the chair 9 area. These areas are all named (sometimes with more than one) and you won’t be alone, but it often feels some what remote and adventurous to explore them.


AND it looks like Canyon and Eagle Lodges will extend their seasons by a week and close on April 28th!

 

[Fofo]

Really good information in this thread! I'll try to contribute with a couple of things:

If you are looking for parking at the Canyon Lodge on a busy day, don't be tempted by the parking spots just outside of the parking area. Those are for the apartments and your car will be towed if you park there.

Mammoth Mountain was formed by volcanic eruptions, and you can see a fumarole (a vent that emits steam and volcanic gases) above McCoy Station, in the Christmas Bowl area. Sadly, three ski patrollers died in this area 13 years ago when cordoning it off after a storm.

If you like beer, you can't go wrong with Mammoth Brewing Company. But you can also try Black Doubt Brewing Company, I really like their beers, and even if the view from the taproom is not as nice as the one in the Mammoth Brewing, the beer and good vibe makes up for it.

 

[Woodsrider427]

Thanks for the additional information everyone, it definitely helps.

 

[VickiK]

This sounds an intriguing new place to try in Mammoth, I haven't been there yet myself though: http://devilscreekdistillery.com/products/

 

[river-z]

Nice article in the LA Times today about the snow situation in Mammoth.
It's adds some history and terrain-weather dynamics that I didn't know about.

https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-mammoth-snow-20190322-story.html

 

[Philpug]

Mammoth is deceptive...with arguably the best windbuff snow in the world, err in the narrower side with skis.

 

[Viking9]

We are up here now and had a bad day today, stormy and no visibility,fell over because of a verdigo feeling and hit my head pretty good.
Next run my stomach felt like I had sea sickness then broke out in a sweat on the middle of the mountain still feeling really dizzy.pretty sure I’m not the only one this has happened to.
Tomorrow with the few inches of snow and wind we had today and an untouched upper mountain, will be unbelievable and a ton of sun.
The wind buff Phil speaks of wii be on BRILLIANT DISPLAY for the next few days !!

 

[Tytlynz64]

Great day today. Wid buff up top and creamy 5 to 8 at mid mountain. Started off cold and light but 30+ degree temps and unrelenting sun softened it up to soup at the base area. Had a blast with some new ski buddies and had great runs in Dry Creek, sanctuary, Solitude and China bowl. Will explore more tomorrow before the wind picks up. Looks like snow coming in heavy Tuesday through thursday. Thanks for the info.

 

[Fofo]

This sounds an intriguing new place to try in Mammoth, I haven't been there yet myself though: http://devilscreekdistillery.com/products/

That definitely sounds intriguing! One cool place for amazing cocktails and nice views of the mountains is Mammoth Tavern. Unfortunately it gets packed, but if you don't mind eating at the bar you can get faster service.

We are up here now and had a bad day today, stormy and no visibility,fell over because of a verdigo feeling and hit my head pretty good.
Next run my stomach felt like I had sea sickness then broke out in a sweat on the middle of the mountain still feeling really dizzy.pretty sure I’m not the only one this has happened to.

Oh no! I hope that you are feeling better now. The worst one for me is when the wind picks up and a thin layer of snow dust is blowing right over the snow. Absolutely disorienting! It's like, there's the ground. But it's moving, and there's more ground underneath! Argh!

I fell yesterday, first runs of the day, still finding powder, I cut across some trees and there must have been a bump under the powder or something that caught me unaware, and down I went. But it was powder, so it was kinda enjoyable. I would have done more of that if I had not been that self conscious about other people looking at me and thinking "what's going on? Should we send the ski patrol so that they take him down to the magic carpet area?"