California/Nevada Mammoth Intel Needed

[TonyPlush]

Hi all,

I'm planning a 6-8 person guy's trip to Mammoth the first week of March 2020. A few questions have come up that I'm hoping some trusty Pugskiers can help me out with:

1. If given your choice of a ski in/out location, where would you prefer? I'm seeing options at the base of Panorama Gondola, Eagle Lodge, and Canyon Lodge.

2. If the goal is to minimize white kuckle driving/chain requirements, is it better to fly into San Francisco, Sacramento, San Jose, Reno, or Las Vegas?

3. Once in Mammoth Lakes, what are my public transit options? We'll probably have a rental car, but we might want to ditch it for trips to the bars, breweries, and distilleries. Initially I thought I could achieve this by booking a place at the top of the Village Gondola and then taking the Gondola into the village, but Mammoth's online chat says the Village Gondola closes at 5:00 PM.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

I snowboarded Mammoth for 9 years before moving out of Cali. I lived in California for 15 years and visit every other year or so.

1. If given your choice of a ski in/out location, where would you prefer? I'm seeing options at the base of Panorama Gondola, Eagle Lodge, and Canyon Lodge. - I always liked staying right on main street because there's a shuttle to take you everywhere you want to go, the mountain or anywhere in town as it runs up and down the main roads. I like the mammoth mountain inn but driving up to it can be white knuckle. It's very quiet up there if I recall and you can see the cats at night doing their thing which is cool. The Yodeler is right there which is nice but it's been a couple years since I've been there so not sure if there are any changes. We've also stayed at Canyon Lodge which was nice too. Canyon is very easy to get to with minimal road concers so that's a bonus.

2. If the goal is to minimize white kuckle driving/chain requirements, is it better to fly into San Francisco, Sacramento, San Jose, Reno, or Las Vegas? The Tioga pass will be closed in March so I believe that makes flying into northern California a bad idea and a very long ride as you have to go around. Drive down from Reno is easy but can be very ugly if weather is bad. Never flown into vegas to go to mammoth but the drive is actually shorter form LA and it's a stupid easy drive. You can also fly into Ontario airport in southern california and this is about the same driving time as flying into LA. You can most of the time get to the town of mammoth without any issue, dump the car wherever you are staying and not get in it again til you are ready to leave. You can also fly into Mammoth but I've never done that so I don't know how it works with shuttles to the town of mammoth, etc. I love Mammoth, a lot...............

3. Once in Mammoth Lakes, what are my public transit options? We'll probably have a rental car, but we might want to ditch it for trips to the bars, breweries, and distilleries. Initially I thought I could achieve this by booking a place at the top of the Village Gondola and then taking the Gondola into the village, but Mammoth's online chat says the Village Gondola closes at 5:00 PM. There's a town shuttle that runs all over town with shuttle stops everywhere so you just drive to mammoth, park your car and don't have to see it again til you are ready to leave.

I'm no longer a local so I'm sure the locals will chime in on any changes, updates or things I may have missed.

 

[ADKmel]

We flew into Reno rented big SUV, we stayed over night in Reno, 1st day, skied Alpine Meadows in a blizzard then drove down to Mammoth that same day.
4WD/AWD is needed or Chains. it wasn't snowing much after out of the Mt. but people were driving extremely cautiously. Took us about 3Hrs.
We stayed at Juniper Springs, got an IKON discount, had a 3br/3ba condo up on the hill could walk about 40ft to a trail and ski down to Eagle lift,
we liked that we got freshies and no crowds on that side of the mountain every morning. It snowed 70" in about 30hrs when we were there in March!!
Mammoth is now an annual destination for me, it's really a great mt.

we never drove the car except the first night to the market. (Mammoth town is small, easy to get around) Left it in the parking garage, was great we didn't have to
shovel snow, no cramming on buses or missing fresh because the buses do get full.
Juniper springs had a complimentary driver in big van that would take us to restaurants and come pick us up along with the village shuttle buses they stopped at Juniper Springs (had to walk down to main desk/hotel)

Book by September 17th for best Rates! https://www.juniperspringsmammoth.com/

 

[TonyPlush]

We flew into Reno rented big SUV, we stayed over night in Reno, 1st day, skied Alpine Meadows in a blizzard then drove down to Mammoth that same day.
4WD/AWD is needed or Chains.

When I was in Yosemite this May, they were requiring chains even on 4WD/AWD vehicles. Is that a California rule or just a Yosemite specific quirk?

 

[river-z]

To answer your questions (from my own opinion having been to Mammoth quite a few times)

1) Eagle and Canyon are fine but my preference is for the Village. It has numerous restaurants and shops, and it’s close to the (excellent) brewery. The gondola takes you to Canyon efficiently. The Village is more centrally located if you do decide to drive anywhere.

2) the least white knuckle drive is from LA or Las Vegas. Most of the drive is through flat desert with only the last 25 miles at an elevation that might have snow. Coming from the north you have to go over mountain passes.

3) public transit is great in Mammoth. You could catch the bus at Eagle, Canyon, or the Village, but the Village is more centrally located so that does make it easier.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

@TonyPlush IIRC chains are required unless you have AWD and snow tires. I believe it's a California law.

 

[river-z]

Anyone driving into Mammoth will need chains, unless, as snowsurfgirl says, you have AWD and snow tires. I have needed to use chains on more than half the week-long trips I’ve made to Mammoth.

 

[TonyPlush]

@TonyPlush IIRC chains are required unless you have AWD and snow tires. I believe it's a California law.

Thanks, that's the same thing they told me at Yosemite. "AWD AND Snow Tires..." must be California law...

That's a hassle for us vacationers. I may try to convince the group to fly right into Mammoth and avoid the car entirely.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

Thanks, that's the same thing they told me at Yosemite. "AWD AND Snow Tires..." must be California law...

That's a hassle for us vacationers. I may try to convince the group to fly right into Mammoth and avoid the car entirely.

Or fly into LA, Ontario or Vegas. In all the years I went to Mammoth there was only 1x it was ugly from Bishop to the town of Mammoth. It's easy driving on route 203 when you exit to mammoth. I don't remember how far it is but just a few miles and bam you are where everything is....

 

[mdf]

Thanks, that's the same thing they told me at Yosemite. "AWD AND Snow Tires..." must be California law...

That's a hassle for us vacationers. I may try to convince the group to fly right into Mammoth and avoid the car entirely.

It's not quite that simple. There's a whole thread about it:
https://www.pugski.com/threads/understanding-traction-control-regulation-in-the-mountains.16239

 

[river-z]

While it is necessary to have chains, I don’t want to imply that it’s difficult to use chains. I was kind of intimidated by them at first, but while it’s kind of a hassle to use them, it’s not that bad, and it’s entirely possible you won’t need them.

...BUT I’m always glad when I do, because that means it’s snowing!

 

[4ster]

When I was in Yosemite this May, they were requiring chains even on 4WD/AWD vehicles. Is that a California rule or just a Yosemite specific quirk?

R3 restriction is extremely rare & usually only applied during an escort situation or when a road would otherwise be closed.

 

[Pequenita]

When I was in Yosemite this May, they were requiring chains even on 4WD/AWD vehicles. Is that a California rule or just a Yosemite specific quirk?

If you were inside the park, it was federal, so park police makes the call. Also, those May storms were nuts.

I don’t advise flying in to Sacramento if no one has already mentioned that. The route you’d have to take in the winter is long, and if you can cut that out by flying into Reno, that’s a way better option.

 

[TonyPlush]

Great info everyone. Thank you. Personally it makes the most sense for me to fly directly into the Mammoth airport. I'll advise the rest in my group to do the same, or otherwise look into LA or Vegas.

 

[TonyPlush]

Still trying to decide on question 2. I'm planning as if we won't have a rental car. (With a group of 7-8 adults, it's usually preferred to just walk to dinner/après or take the bus anyway.)

I think I've narrowed the lodging decision down to between Main Lodge and Canyon Lodge.

Canyon Lodge Pros:

• At the places we're seeing, walking to dinner in the village looks very easy.
  
• 10-15 minutes closer to the town.

Canyon Lodge Cons:

• Most of my options look to be 1/3 to 1/2 way up the Village Gondola lift line. Am I correct in thinking properties here aren't truly ski in/out? Looks like the lift-line is blocked by several condos, so I'm thinking we'd have to hike for 1/4 mile down to the village Gondola in the morning and then hike back up hill at the end of the day.

Main Lodge Pros:

• Looks to be true ski in out. (We're looking at places right next to the Mammoth Mountain Inn.) I believe these are referred to as the chalets.

Main Lodge Cons:

• Can't walk to the village. Instead, we'd have to walk to the Mountain Inn bus stop and bus there.
  
• 10-15 minutes further from the village and town.

Anything I'm missing? Any opinions?

Paging @MountainMonster @Pequenita @surfsnowgirl @river-z

Thanks all!

 

[MountainMonster]

I'v never gone out of Canyon Lodge, closer, but I wouldn't think it 10 - 15 min closer to village than main lodge.
The chalets are just above the MM inn parking lot. The city shuttle, red line, stop in the main lodge parking lot, closest to the Inn.
here is a link to a city map that may help...http://www.mappery.com/map-of/Mammoth-Town-Map
Town transportation map...https://www.mammothmountain.com/area-transportation

 

[dbostedo]

Keep in mind that everything in Mammoth Lakes isn't in "the village". The few nights I've been there, we mostly ate in places along Old Mammoth road, which is considerably further from the Canyon Lodge than the village. The main part of town is kind of spread out, so walking places is a bit of a hike.

Here's a Google Maps view of restaurants around the area :



That's not at all every restaurant... but you can see they aren't centralized around the bottom of the village lift or anything. (My favorite restaurant, BTW, was Mammoth Tavern.)

 

[river-z]

Maybe I’m wrong but just as a point of clarity, It seems to me like you’re using “Canyon” pretty loosely whereas most of us use it quite specifically to refer to just the skiing base area. Canyon for most of us = building/parking lot/lifts. If your lodging options are only 1/3 up from the Village you could easily walk to the Village to eat.

Main Lodge is quite a ways from everything except the skiing. Ski-in/out is the main reason to stay there.

I don’t think you would need to hike down to the village gondola to get to Canyon. You should be able to get on a bus someplace nearby and ride it up. In any case, getting to know the bus system seems like a good idea.

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

Here is another option that I use a lot. These are cabins - right next to the Mammoth Mountain Inn. They are ski in/ski out and you can glide right down the bunny slope to the Gondola with ease. You can ski home by riding chair 12 up and skiing back down. They have quite a few sizes and some are recently renovated. They are not owned by the mountain, but you can easily walk to the MMI or the Yodeler for dinner or to catch a shuttle. They have all the same advantages as the MMI and the same disadvantages of isolation. If there has been a huge storm, and you need to park at MMI, they will bring you and your luggage via Cat so no worries about parking. They are super nice people.

https://mmchalets.com


Advantages of staying at a Mammoth property: they are all right on mountain so, if there is a huge storm, you neither have to dig out or miss a powder day if the road gets shut down due to an accident.

Mammoth Moutnain Inn -
Pros
ski in/ski out
gondola access
2 restaurants - both of which are excellent
easy access for tuning and waxing
ski valet
underground parking
some condos have been renovated

Cons:
Some condos are not renovated and are still dated
hot tub is in outbuilding and can be a bit of a walk
kitchens are really "kitchenettes" and have no oven and are only mildly equipped
In a storm, you are stuck there because driving is bad
If the mountain is closed, you are stuck with nothing to do

Village Area:
Pros:
Gondola to Canyon Lodge so almost ski in /ski out and easy access to ski tuning
Lots of entertainment options - restaurants, bars, etc
Mammoth owned condos are fully equipped including the kitchens
There are a variety of non - mammoth owned options that are very close by. (Be aware the Westin is beautiful but has over 100 stairs!)
In a storm, the lower lifts at Canyons are often the only ones that open.
All shuttles stop here!
Warning: There are a lot of condos right near the Canyons Lodge. There is only only restaurant in this area at night - it is really good - but the village looks close and is an easy downhill walk and a terrible walk home! Also, a lot of condos in this area are older and can range from totally renovated to EEEW, don't touch anything.

Cons:
More expensive to stay
No on-mountain gondola so, in white out conditions, you are riding up by chairs instead of the Gondola.

Juniper Springs - Eagle Lodge area
Pros:
Most up to date condos and they are beautiful
ski valet
Least expensive of all the Mammoth properties
Full kitchens
Underground Parking
Private Shuttle that is at your beck and call and will take you wherever you want to go
Close to Lincoln Mountain and a great part of the mountain!

Cons:
No restaurants or bars on the property
In a whiteout, you are traveling a great distance via chair to navigate the mountain
If there are weather closures, you are totally stranded so stock up on food and booze!

We have skied there for years, so please feel free to ask me anything.

 

[MountainMonster]

As @dbostedo says the village is not the main part of town, it is more of a tourist thing. Much better options in town, old mammoth road.