California/Nevada Mammoth Intel Needed

[Pat AKA mustski]

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.

Agreed. It's not ski in/ski out, but the shuttle service is really good in Mammoth. Just be picky with the photos of lodging. Mammoth has the good, the bad, and the ugly - all within the same condo complex.

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

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.

Yes and no. If there is a storm - or really high winds - the Mammoth airport shuts down.

 

[4ster]

Keep in mind that sleeping at Main lodge is higher elevation than town

 

[MountainMonster]

It's a small town, great public transportation, IMHO, MM inn or Chalets are the way to go.

 

[MountainMonster]

Agreed. It's not ski in/ski out, but the shuttle service is really good in Mammoth. Just be picky with the photos of lodging. Mammoth has the good, the bad, and the ugly - all within the same condo complex.

Agreed, stayed at the Travel Lodge a few years ago, I think it was built in the late 50's & cleaned once in 62.
absolutely a POS.
The Inn needs some upgrades for sure. But If convenience is the priority, the Inn works.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

Our go to place for the better part of 9 years was the motel 6. Not fancy but with 4 gals and divided by 4 it made for some cheap lodging. In the center of town enough for us with a shuttle stop right out front. Parked the car Friday night and didn't drive again til we left.

 

[Sunnysloper]

Here’s my 2¢ mostly repeating the good advice already given.

1. Probably a Timber Ridge Condo for the garage, but get a nice one. Like Pat wrote, there are very different levels of condos in the same complex. The ski in/out trail is part black (Blue Jay) and part a traverse through trees.
2. Reno. Use chains when required. Wreck in a chain control area without chains on and find out if Californians are really that litigious (hint: they are)
3. Use a designated driver or taxi. It’ll be tough to have ski in/out, walk the town and leave the car parked, even with the busses.

If you prioritize walking the town and easy bus access over staying on the mountain; stay in town, as Surfsnowgirl wrote, near Old Mammoth rd. between Meridian and Main (maybe Sherwin Villas? If they allow short term rentals) and take the bus back and forth to the mountain. This is the better option I think.

Ski in/out probably sounds cooler than it is. The weather on the hill can be waaay worse than the weather in town, the roads are steeper up there, often under plowed and the bus service to the lodges from town is easier to figure out.

I prefer to ski out of Main Lodge but the other Lodges are probably fine.

 

[TonyPlush]

A lot of fantastic info in this thread to take in. Thank you so much everyone.

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

Yep, those chalets are the exact places we're looking at.

The other main contender is a condo one block up the hill from the Westin Monache. It's a 0.3 mile walk to the Village Gondola base and a 2 minute walk to a town trolley stop. (I'm hoping this town trolley could take us up to the Canyon Lodge, but I can't tell for sure from the summer maps. I reached out to the owner to verify.)

 

[river-z]

On the previous page of this thread there was a link to the winter bus map. Here’s a screenshot.

 

[TonyPlush]

On the previous page of this thread there was a link to the winter bus map. Here’s a screenshot.
View attachment 80463

Ah yes, like I said - lots of fantastic info to take in. Especially when reading through on my phone late at night!

Based on the map we could definitely take the trolley up to the Canyon Lodge in the morning. Very appealing!

I'll have to do a search for condos in town / near old mammoth road tomorrow. The motel 6 setup sounds perfect, just not for this trip. With a group of 7-8 old friends it's nice to have a condo with a big common area where everyone can hang out and catch up.

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

A lot of fantastic info in this thread to take in. Thank you so much everyone.



Yep, those chalets are the exact places we're looking at.

The other main contender is a condo one block up the hill from the Westin Monache. It's a 0.3 mile walk to the Village Gondola base and a 2 minute walk to a town trolley stop. (I'm hoping this town trolley could take us up to the Canyon Lodge, but I can't tell for sure from the summer maps. I reached out to the owner to verify.)

What is the name of the condo complex?

 

[TonyPlush]

What is the name of the condo complex?

I can't tell for sure, but it look looks like Mammoth Estates Condominiums from the map.

 

[Pequenita]

I’ve only skied Mammoth in June, so I don’t know anything useful about lodging. The chain control and travel stuff I knew because I’m in and around Yosemite a bunch, and obsessively look at when the passes open.

Looks like some solid leads in this thread!

 

[cosmoliu]

Lots of great info so far in this thread, which I won't repeat. I will make a few observations from my 20+ years of going up to Mammoth.

The first couple of years I stayed a MMI, and quite liked the isolation/quiet. For the most part I just ate up there and didn't bother with driving down to town. However, a group of guys will probably want to explore more than I did.

After that first couple of years I hooked up with a couple of ski clubs. One uses Horizons 4 condos. The other uses Mammoth Creek condos. Both are in town, near Von's, the only grocery store in town for the most part. Horizons 4 is a not too far walk to Von's. Mammoth Creek you'd probably want to drive or bus to. Both complexes are convenient to bus stops. And since the condos are privately owned, there can be some variability in decor/upkeep.

If given a choice, you might look for an option with garage parking. A 4-6' dump makes for quite a chore digging your car out. Particularly if you leave it for days or the week and Mammoth gets a couple of storms in a row.

That said, my usual modus operandi is to drive up the the lot at Chair 2. To get a spot in the lot on a weekend day, you have to get there by 7:45 or so. Earlier if there are freshies. I like parking there because then my car is my locker, and I can switch skis or put on/take off a layer if the need arises.

Yes, the condos listed along the Village Gondola are not ski from/to. However, during one particularly epic dump, I skied on the road down to the gondola before they got it plowed.

Since you are planning to be there for a week, you'll be amazed at how deserted the slopes are mid week. Mammoth really amounts to a weekend operation, when it seems that all of Southern CA has driven up.

You'll have a great time wherever you stay!

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

I can't tell for sure, but it look looks like Mammoth Estates Condominiums from the map.

If it is, they are pretty much right on the shuttle route.

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

Here is a map of the shuttle lines. Again the resort is on the far left and has 4 base areas- Eagle, Canyons, The Mill, and Main. The yellow and blue lines go to Canyons and Eagle. The red line goes to The Mill and Main.


Here is a great link. If you click on the condo complex, it brings up the map and shows you where it is located.
https://www.cccarto.com/mammoth/

 

[TonyPlush]

Fantastic info everyone, thanks. From what I'm seeing, it sounds like the Condo near the village may be a better fit for us over the Challets near the main lodge.

So then the last piece to figure out..

Am I nuts if I fly into Mammoth?

I've read the airport is far less susceptible to closures than somewhere like Aspen. I'd also have a 1 hour 10 minute connection through SLC, which is a little closer than I'd prefer. But price is pretty close to Reno/LA/Vegas, and the convenience of a 15 minute shuttle to the condo and never having to worry about a rental car again is a big selling point for Mammoth to me.

 

[TonyPlush]

Since you are planning to be there for a week, you'll be amazed at how deserted the slopes are mid week. Mammoth really amounts to a weekend operation, when it seems that all of Southern CA has driven up.

Yep, we'd be skiing Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Hoping to avoid the crowds entirely, if possible. (I get way too few days on the mountain to want to spend them in Vail-esque lift lines.)

 

[TonyPlush]

Keep in mind that sleeping at Main lodge is higher elevation than town

This was a good point. We do have one member in our group who's had trouble with altitude before.

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

Nuts? No. I’ve flown into Mammoth many times with no issues. Anytime we fly anywhere during ski season, we risk airport closures. You can always change flights if needed.