Mammoth Mountain
Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort is a popular ski destination located high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, near the town of Mammoth Lakes. The resort is located approximately 4 hours from the city of Los Angeles and about 3 hours from Fresno, making it a popular ski destination for skiers and snowboarders coming from southern California.
Mammoth Mountain has a surprising high annual snowfall, averaging over 400 inches per season, with it being typically dry and powdery. The ski season at Mammoth Mountain typically runs from November to June, with more bluebird days than most resorts. The one downside here is that the mountain can get quite windy due to the slopes being highly exposed.
The resort offers over 3,500 acres of skiable terrain for all levels of skiers and snowboarders to enjoy. Mammoth Mountain also has a number of terrain parks for freestyle skiers and snowboarders, featuring a variety of jumps, rails, and other features. Mammoth Mountain has slopes that fit every skill level. Beginners won't feel overwhelmed, and experts will still get their thrills here.
The mountain scene is pretty laid back with an atmosphere of a much smaller resort. Food options on the mountain aren't great, but there is plenty of lodging in nearby Mammoth Lakes.
We recently ranked all of California's ski resorts, so you can see where Mammoth Mountain stacks up against all its nearby ski hills!
Season Passes
Mammoth Mountain is a part of the Ikon Ski Pass network. This allows you to buy one lift pass, and ski at all or most of the Ikon-sponsored slopes with it throughout the year, depending on the type of pass you bought.
Lodging Options
There are numerous options to stay at Mammoth Mountain around the resort. Check out the available options with the form below.
Mammoth Mountain Mountain Resort Terrain Overview
Mammoth Mountain has a total of 175 ski trails, which are serviced by 25 ski lifts, gondolas and/or trams. The amount of skiable area in this park is huge, with a maximum of 3,500 acres available to skiers. This area is equivalent to 1,416 hectares, 5.5 square miles, or 14.2 square kilometers.
Mammoth Mountain's slopes see on average 400 inches (10.2 meters) of snowfall a year. That is almost 33 feet every year!
Total Runs
175
Lifts
25
Skiable Acres
3,500(14 km2)
Annual Snowfall
400"(1,016 cm)
Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort Elevation
Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort has a summit elevation of 11,053 feet, or 3,369 meters. However, not all of that elevation is able to be skied. The base of the ski slope sits at 7,953 feet above sea level, creating a ski hill that is 3,100 feet (945 meters) high. This is referred to as the slope's vertical drop - or a measure of how high the skiable hill is.
The summit of 11,053 feet makes this ski resort one of the highest in the country. The average ski slope summit is around 4,000 feet, so this is extremely high compared to its peers.
Summit Elevation
11,053'(3,369 m)
Vertical Drop
3,100'(945 m)
Base Elevation
7,953'(2,424 m)
Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort Difficulty Level
Difficulty Score™
69.9out of 100
DID YOU KNOW?
At Parks & Trips, we've created a proprietary Difficulty Score that attempts to show how difficult a particular ski slope is. We get to this number by combining a number of metrics for each resort and comparing them to its peers. Most of the score is based off the amount of easy-intermediate-expert slopes by acreage and the maximum vertical drop of the overall resort, but also includes a few lesser-used metrics as well.
Our algorithm compares each resort’s metrics with all others in North America, then assigns each a Difficulty Score, which we use to rank them accordingly. Resorts with a lower score are easier to ski than those with a higher one. However, a high score does not mean that the resort does not have any easy slopes, or vice versa. This is just an overall score given to the resort based on all its metrics grouped together.
Skiable Terrain by Difficulty Level
Mammoth Mountain has 3,500 total skiable acres, which can be broken down into the three main groups of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.
Mammoth Mountain's difficulty level is higher than average, which is because 48% of its ski trails are rated as intermediate, and another 37% as expert.
Beginner
15%(525 acres)
Beginner trails (identified by a green circle) are the easiest trails on the hill with a gradual 25% or less gradient, and are usually wide to accommodate beginner skiers.
Intermediate
48%(1,680 acres)
Intermediate trails (identified by a blue square) are usually the most popular and crowded runs, which have a slope of anywhere between 25-40%.
Expert
37%(1,295 acres)
Expert trails (identified by a black diamond... or two) are the hardest slopes on the mountain, and have very steep gradients over 40%.
Is Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort good for beginners?
Mammoth Mountain is above average in its difficulty level, so... probably not? It will depend on which trails you take since only 63% of its trails rated for either beginner or intermediate skill levels.
Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort Location
Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort is located in the state of California, USA. This ski area is nearest the town of Mammoth Lakes, CA.
Address:
Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546 USA
View on Google Maps
Website:
mammothmountain.com
GPS Coordinates:
37.65100, -119.02000
Getting to Mammoth Mountain Mountain Resort
By Car: If you are driving, you would set your GPS to either the ski resort's name (Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort), its coordinates of 37.65100, -119.02000 (latitude, longitude), or simply drive towards the town of Mammoth Lakes, CA to get close.
By Air: If you are coming in from across the country, then you may need to board an airplane to get here.
A large airport has scheduled major airline service with millions of passengers per year. This type of airport always accepts international flights. Here are the closest large airport(s) to Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reno–Tahoe International Airport | RNO | Reno, NV | 134 mi |
| Sacramento International Airport | SMF | Sacramento, CA | 157 mi |
| Norman Y. Mineta San José International Airport | SJC | San Jose, CA | 161 mi |
A medium-sized airport has scheduled regional airline service. This type of airport may or may not accept international flights. Here are the closest medium-sized airport(s) to Mammoth Mountain.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fresno Yosemite International Airport | FAT | Fresno, CA | 72 mi |
| Sacramento Mather Airport | MHR | Sacramento, CA | 139 mi |
| Meadows Field | BFL | Bakersfield, CA | 153 mi |
There may also be much smaller regional airports next to Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort, but we didn't list them here due to the fact that no major airlines go through them.
Other Nearby Ski Resorts
Skiers will - especially if coming from far away - try and visit a couple different slopes all in the same trip. Here are the closest other ski slopes within 100 miles of Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort.
| Name | Location | Summit | Difficulty Score™ | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June Mountain | June Lake, CA | 10,090 ft | 68% | 9 mi |
| Big Bear Mountain | Big Bear Lake, CA | 8,805 ft | 50% | 38 mi |
| Dodge Ridge | Pinecrest, CA | 8,200 ft | 54% | 62 mi |
| Kirkwood | Kirkwood, CA | 9,800 ft | 68% | 91 mi |
| Sierra-at-Tahoe | South Lake Tahoe, CA | 8,852 ft | 53% | 98 mi |
Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort Mountain Stats
| Name | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Summit Elevation | 11,053 ft |
| Base Elevation | 7,953 ft |
| Vertical Drop | 3,100 ft |
| Trails | 175 (15% Beginner, 48% Intermediate, 37% Expert) |
| Lifts | 25 |
| Skiable Acres | 3,500 |
| Avg. Annual Snowfall | 400 inches |