Mammoth: piste guide

The 28 lifts access an impressive area, suitable for all abilities. The high runs are open, the lower ones sheltered by trees; lightly wooded slopes at mid-mountain are great on a stormy day.

Finding your way around is not easy at first. All the chairlifts are numbered (the traditional practice), and many are also named (a relatively new practice), but the trails are rather ill defined, and signposting on the mountain could be better. The resort trail map uses six grades of difficulty instead of the usual four, of which we approve. There are free mountain tours daily plus free tours on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays that cover the ski area’s environment as well as show you around the trails.

Extent of the slopes

Mammoth is good for every ability of skier and snowboarder. But it’s not huge.

From Main Lodge the two-stage Panorama gondola goes via McCoy Station right to the top. From here, there are countless ways down the front of the mountain that range from steep to very steep – or vertical if the wind has created a cornice, as it often does. Or you can go off the back of the hill, down to Outpost 14, where Chair 14 or Chair 13 bring you back to lower points on the ridge. The third option is to follow the ridge, which curls around and eventually brings you down to the Main Lodge area. This route brings you past an easy area served by a double chair (12), and a very easy area served by the Discovery fast quad.

McCoy Station can also be reached using the Stump Alley fast chair from Mill Cafe, on the road up from town. The fast Gold Rush quad, also from Mill Cafe, takes you into the more heavily wooded eastern half of the area. This has long, gentle runs served by lifts up from Canyon Lodge and Eagle Lodge and seriously steep stuff as well as some intermediate terrain served by lifts 25 and 22 and some excellent tree skiing.

Fast lifts

The main access lifts from every base are fast chairs or gondolas. But there are still several slow old lifts. The Outpost area is the least well served for fast lifts. Usefully, the trail map lists the ride time of every lift.

Snow reliability

Mammoth has an impressive snow record – an annual average of 10m, which puts it ahead of major Colorado resorts. Its slopes are appreciably higher than those of Heavenly and the other Tahoe resorts, and it has an ever-expanding array of snow-guns, so it enjoys a long season – it sometimes has slopes open on July 4 (US Independence Day). The mountain faces roughly north-east; the relatively low and slightly sunny slopes down to Eagle Lodge are affected by warm weather before others. Strong winds are not uncommon on the upper mountain, and the snow quality can be affected. But you may find powder is just shifted down the hill. The grooming is excellent.  

For experts

The steep double-diamond chutes strung across the width of the mountaintop provide wonderful opportunities for experts. Fortunately for the rest of us, there are three or four broad single-diamond slopes, requiring rather less bottle.

There is lots of challenging terrain lower down, too, much of it lightly wooded and therefore good to ski in bad conditions; Chair 5, Chair 22 (the top of which is higher than the very top of Heavenly) and Broadway are often open in bad weather when the top is firmly shut, and their more sheltered slopes may in any case have the best snow. There are plenty of good slopes over the back, too.

Many of the steeper trails are short by Alpine standards (typically under 400m vertical), but despite this we’ve had some great powder days here.

For intermediates

Although there are exceptions, most of the lower mountain, below the treeline, is intermediate cruising territory and generally flattering.

Some of the mountain’s longest runs – blue-blacks served by the Cloud Nine Express and Chair 25 – are ideal for good intermediates. There are also some excellent, fairly steep woodland trails down to Mill Cafe. Most of the long runs above Eagle Lodge, and some of the shorter ones above Canyon Lodge, are easy cruises. There is a variety of terrain, including lots of gentle stuff, on skier’s left of the area.

For beginners

Chair 7 and the Schoolyard Express chair (at the Canyon Lodge base) and Discovery Chair (at Main Lodge) serve quiet, gentle green runs – perfect terrain for novices. These lifts are included in a beginner lift pass. Excellent instruction and top-notch piste maintenance usually make progress speedy, delighting reporters.

For snowboarders

Regularly voted one of the best snowboard resorts in the USA by Transworld Snowboarding magazine readers, Mammoth has encouraged snowboarding since its early days. A huge amount has been spent on the terrain parks, and this tends to overshadow just how good the mountain’s natural terrain really is. Largely serviced by hassle-free fast chairs and gondolas, this is a snowboarder’s heaven with terrain to suit every ability level. Lower Road Runner is reportedly the only unbearably flat trail. 

For cross-country

The specialist Tamarack Centre has 30km of excellent groomed trails, some going round the pretty Lakes Basin area, and provides lessons and tours.
 

Where to Ski and Snowboard

This guide is taken from Where to Ski and Snowboard, edited by Chris Gill and Dave Watts. Chris now produces Where to Ski guides to individual countries. Find out more and receive an exclusive book discount.