| Reviews: 5 |
| Greater Manchester |
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  4 of 5, "Good but not great" 13/04/2012 @ 13:49 |
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| Price Paid |
| £2,000 all in before food |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| Expedia |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
We were in Mammoth from 22nd March until 6 April. Good resort - comments as follows:
Accommodation
Stayed at the Sierra Lodge. Nothing fancy, just good clean accommodation with continental breakfast and more importantly outdoor hot tub!
The more expensive accommodation is at the base lodge, however the bus from the town is regular and fine. Sierra Lodge has a bus stop outside but you could actually walk to the nearest gondola in 10 mins if you were keen.
Mountain
Mammoth Mountain is large but after about 4 days of riding, you pretty much cover most of the terrain. Nice tree lined runs for the most part, with some open bowls further up the mountain.
There is a range of parks, with us finding the Forest Trail Park the best one for intermediates. The half pipe and boxes at the Wonderland Park are also good for intermediates. The other parks have stuff which is a little to mental though!
Whilst snow was good during our stay (got about 40 cm in 10 days) the wind was pretty bad, especially up top where there was no tree cover. This left large parts bare with sheet ice after a dump due to it being blown away. Back bowls where chairs 13 and 14 are great after a dump as they are sheltered from the wind and you get plenty of fresh runs before the masses come over.
For a US resort, the slopes were actually quite busy, more akin to how European resorts are during the week. Weekends are pretty busy, due to proximity to big cities of SF and LA.
Managed to do a day in June Mountain. The conditions were a bit sticky slushy, but the mountain was dead. Definitely recommend giving the mountain a go.
Town
There are a few bars at base Main Lodge which have happy hours between 4 and 6. We even managed to go clubbing in one bar that had a live electro act at the base. The remainder of the bars are spread out through town, however there is a bus which runs every 15 minutes till late.
To be honest, the nightlife is pretty average in town. Grumpy's is a sports bar near Vons which is the best place to play pool and listen to the dukebox. Robertos does cheap Margaritas during happy hour (near to Grumpy's). After that apart from the bars at base lodge, there is little to report.
For steaks, Slocums is spot on. And also Stoves (near to Vons) is great and cheaper albeit sometimes it does not open during the week.
Other Stuff
I would recommend having a car / SUV as there is quite a bit to do around the area. I would highlight that a few people mentioned the air service can be unreliable due to high cross winds at Mammoth Airport, meaning sometimes them cancelling flights at short notice, hence having a car is better (only 6 hours drive from LA and the route is really easy).
A few people said you would need snow chains. We gambled with a 4x4 and didnt buy any. The county is good at clearing roads, so I think there would have to be a massive dump to warrant stopping and putting some on.
On a day off we went to Willie Hot Springs (google it) which basically are a hot spring in the middle of the wilderness, about 20 mins drive from Mammoth. Very surreal but cool sitting in a natrual spring on your own with the view of the mountains in the distance.
Summary
Mammoth is not a great mountain, but it is a very good mountain. For a pure snowboard holiday, we personally prefer Utah and Breckenridge, due to the range of resorts you can get to. However the big ace up Mammoths sleeve is that it is one of the few places where you could do a snow and beach holiday in the same break. For the last 2 days we stayed at Hermosa Beach LA, it was 25 degrees and flip flop weather, which was a great way to end the break. |
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| Strengths |
Will get powder - (albeit the season we went the snow was apparently bad but still rode powder on about 5 / 11 days)
Good parks (some very big)
Combine beach and mountain in one holiday |
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| Hot Spots |
| Not many - mostly at Base Lodge but would not call them hot! |
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| Weaknesses |
Can be a little busy
Mountain is large but limited - can cover in 4 days
Windy
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Most similar to some of the Utah resorts we have been to, but not as good. |
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 5 of 5 28/04/2009 @ 19:39 |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| Independantly |
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| Times Visited |
| 2-5 Times |
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| Review Detail |
| One of the best all round mountains you can visit for riding. Lots of varied terrain, easy access from lifts, perfect parks and good grooming. The town is spread out but a decent bus service can get you most places you need. There is also a new flight route going to Mammoth from LA which saves you the 3 hour drive from Reno or 6 hours from LA.....it only takes 1 hour on a plane. There is plenty of restaurants in the town and some great Mexican food too. If you don't want to eat out Vons has a good variety of food, just make sure you sign up for a Vons card to make the most of the discounts in store. |
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| Strengths |
| The large amount of terrain, friendly town, perfect parks, good local food, sunny. |
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| Weaknesses |
| Can get windy at times, spread out town, LA traffic at weekends can be bad. |
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| 5 of 5 09/04/2005 @ 23:09 |
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| Price Paid |
| 700 |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| VIRGIN |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
| This is a great resort. Very friendly but the town is a bit spread out and the car comes in handy. But hey, how would you have got here otherwise! I stayed at the Mammoth Mountain Lodge which is slopeside which is like a traditional alpine hunting lodge. Very old fashioned and atmospheric. This was really taken as a bit of a family holiday so this was ideal. Loads of snow which ensures a very long season. The resort isn't that huge but I learnt to snowboard here and the ski school is EXCELLENT, very laid back with a high instructer/pupil ratio. Good food can be found in town but its more like a bit of a cowboy town. |
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| Strengths |
Good snow record.
Ski School.
Friendly people.
Good varied terrain.
No crowds. |
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| Hot Spots |
| Mammoth Mountain Inn. Old school style. |
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| Weaknesses |
| A bit small compared to some of the linked resorts in Europe. |
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Heavenly. |
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| Reviews: 2 |
| Channel Islands - Jersey |
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| 5 of 5 27/04/2004 @ 00:13 |
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| Revision #1 (Last edited: 27/04/2004 @ 00:15) |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| Virgin |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
one word - AWESOME
Visited at the back end of the season but the base snow was still good and the lift Qs non existant. The weekend we arrived we had 16inches of snow over 2 nights - SWEET.
There's not the extensive mountain range as some of the European resorts but the numerous tree lined runs more than make up for this. Lifties are super friendly too and beer and food prices on the mountain aren't that extortionate.
With regard the resort, there is limited slopeside accomodation but I guess this would be fairly expensive. Most accomodation is down in the town and you either need your own transport or you're left needing to catch the bus or the gondola. Can't really comment on the nightlife as it seemed non-existant when we were there although again I stress it was end of season so this might have effected it. |
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| Strengths |
Excellent snow record and season open into June/July
High resort (Lodge 2715m/Top Lift 3369m)
No queues
Tree lined runs
Ungroomed area
High snowboarder/skier ratio (in fact....what skiers???)
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| Weaknesses |
No opportunities to take photos for Ski Wear Disaster Gallery
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Champagny/Meribel/La Mongie/Morzine/Cauterets |
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| 4 of 5 11/11/2003 @ 10:37 |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| Virgin |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
| Mammoth is so cool. This was my first time cross Atlantic (March 03) and would definitely go back again. We had 8 feet of base snow and 1 foot of fresh powder after a snowstorm. Couple that with sunshine and you get conditions that are hard to find in Europe these days. It's definitely boarder friendly - in fact EVERYBOODY is friendly which makes a welcome change to the aloofness from those posh French resorts. What it does lack though is the range and length of runs - very well groomed, very wide but ultimately sterile. I missed cruising on scenic back roads and carving turns in bowls and the fact that you could go for an age to jump onto another mountain! The superb powder also made it too easy for me to go down double diamonds runs which I would have found challenging in Europe. Oh yeah - The town isn't like a quaint Austrian village - you definitely need your own transport as everything is so spread out. Hope this review isn't too negative as I truly love Mammoth. The sunshine, the snow and the people guarantee you a rockin' time. |
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| Strengths |
| fantastic conditions, long season, boarder friendly, sunshine, the people, wide runs which are well groomed |
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| Weaknesses |
| limited mountain by European standards, lack of quality places to eat, poor nightlife |
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Kitzbuhel, Soll, Livigno, Trois Vallees, Mayrhofen |
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