Mammoth, CA May 17-20, 2026

[tseeb]

I'm only skiing May 17-19, but included May 20 in title as I think Tony Crocker is skiing it. I left So. Tahoe not much after 4 and parked by Harrah's to use facilities at Dotty's casino. You can't read too bright sign for Lucky Beaver in the middle. They were closed but gas firepit in table on patio was still burning.

Passing June Mountain at 630 AM. They look like they could still be open on at least the upper mountain.

A little closer and more zoomed in but not very clear through windshield.

The Scenic Loop which saves a couple of miles but not much time is closed for Forest Service to handle a beetle infestation. Cloud over Mammoth from 203.

I parked close to and skied Stump Alley/chair 2 twice starting at 740. Grooming was not very flat between paths and snow was mostly firm so it was best to stay in between ridges. Only route to lift to lift at bottom was thin and narrow enough that I saw groomer trying to improve it mid-day. I rode chair 3/Face lift 3x skiing firm Face twice then firm, bumped out and narrow Dry Creek to chair 5 that I think I ended up skiing 13x. Snow on Solitude was softening where it faced more East and firmer and smooth lower where it faced North. After a few runs, I skied to bottom where it looked like chair 2 was closing so I rode windy chair 10 back to Solitude where you had to push hard into the wind at the top to get to Solitude where I found some good smooth snow on the right side.

Then the wind picked up closing all lifts except for chair 5 and park lift chair 6. Racers moved from Cornice to skiers left of Solitude that was not roped off. I heard wind was going to pickup at 11 so I thought I'd be hiking in PM and went for maximum laps but chair 5 kept loading even though wind alarm went off at top on about half the rides. I followed another skier on traverse to runs under chair, but it was too firm most of the way down, especially on the exit, until later in the day. Chairs 10 and 2 started loading again as did 1, 23 and gondola (that I never rode - tried once but it slowed way down again then stopped loading and closed - luckily before I got there). Runs off 23 and Tony's/Fascination were excellent after re-opening. They were still smooth as they did not get usual AM traffic and race course was wide opened and mostly unmarked. My first time down Scotty's the rest of the way to the bottom was smooth and very fast. I did it later, entering after skiing some of Wipe Out 3, and St Anton was muchj slower. My Garmin show I skied Cornice 4x. I ended my day about 130 skiing Face lift twice. After skiing the Face first run and being left way behind by young lady who sped down it, I took at high line into West Bowl which skied well. Sorry, but neglected to take skiing photos. My Garmin recorded my highest vertical of the year and my first time over 30K since late Feb. at Revelstoke.

 

[ShiftyRider]

I'm here til they kick me out.

I like to go to the top for last run 2:05, today I guess G2 is closed for many days. So 23 to Cornice and the first hundred yards were too firm all day from a minor north wind (and very low overnight temperature). And nobody I saw was doing ungroomed up high.

Otherwise I lapped Stump all day, A+++

 

[tseeb]

@ShiftyRider G2 was closed due to wind. PM me your phone no and we can try to get together tomorrow. I sent you mine.

 

[tseeb]

Monday May 18 was only chairs 1, 2, 3, 23 and lower gondola. Totally sunny but I saw 19F at my car in early AM so very slow softening. I started with 2 laps on chair 2 skiing Stump Alley that was groomed smoother than previous day. Bottom of chair 10 (not running) and chair 2.

Loading ramp was much cleaner looking than previous day as was choke at bottom of chair. But choke quickly showed some floating rocks, including a small one that I hit and a larger one that I stopped and threw off the run. I tried an alternate at the bottom that I thought would be good as it was getting more sun, but tracks I saw must have been from previous day as they were still frozen solid and it was not good.

I moved to chair 3 for a few laps finding OK snow on the three routes I tried. I then moved to chair 23 and skied Cornice. At the top you could hold out your arms and almost prevent steep descent due to strong N wind that was also blowing chunks of snow. Butt sliders on Scottys.

For the day, I skied Cornice 11x and Scottys twice; first time it was too firm and later I took an ill-advised route towards a wiggle where turns did not look that sharp but found very firm snow on way there and at wiggle that I did not enter. Ralphs may have been closed because they did not finish what they were doing.

Also was not sure what groomers were doing at the bottom of West Face, probably moving snow to where it was needed more.

Cornice softened a little, but I found I could barely hang on during a turn on two on most laps even later in day. This was at 148 PM

I tried smoothly groomed Terrys once finding it firm and fast. Race course was very good, smooth and fast when it was opened to everyone. I only skied Fascination once as line developed about noon on chair 1 since Park chair 6 was not running. I rode lower Gondola 3x to take a break from chairs, avoid line on chair 1 or to make calls. I took at break at McCoy's Station before noon. Nothing was open there at that time.

I caught chair 3 for my last ride loading a couple of minutes after scheduled 2 pm close. 2nd day in a row with highest vert for year.

 

[Sbooker]

I'm only skiing May 17-19, but included May 20 in title as I think Tony Crocker is skiing it. I left So. Tahoe not much after 4 and parked by Harrah's to use facilities at Dotty's casino. You can't read too bright sign for Lucky Beaver in the middle. They were closed but gas firepit in table on patio was still burning.
View attachment 51199

Passing June Mountain at 630 AM. They look like they could still be open on at least the upper mountain.
View attachment 51200
A little closer and more zoomed in but not very clear through windshield.
View attachment 51201
The Scenic Loop which saves a couple of miles but not much time is closed for Forest Service to handle a beetle infestation. Cloud over Mammoth from 203.
View attachment 51202
I parked close to and skied Stump Alley/chair 2 twice starting at 740. Grooming was not very flat between paths and snow was mostly firm so it was best to stay in between ridges. Only route to lift to lift at bottom was thin and narrow enough that I saw groomer trying to improve it mid-day. I rode chair 3/Face lift 3x skiing firm Face twice then firm, bumped out and narrow Dry Creek to chair 5 that I think I ended up skiing 13x. Snow on Solitude was softening where it faced more East and firmer and smooth lower where it faced North. After a few runs, I skied to bottom where it looked like chair 2 was closing so I rode windy chair 10 back to Solitude where you had to push hard into the wind at the top to get to Solitude where I found some good smooth snow on the right side.

Then the wind picked up closing all lifts except for chair 5 and park lift chair 6. Racers moved from Cornice to skiers left of Solitude that was not roped off. I heard wind was going to pickup at 11 so I thought I'd be hiking in PM and went for maximum laps but chair 5 kept loading even though wind alarm went off at top on about half the rides. I followed another skier on traverse to runs under chair, but it was too firm most of the way down, especially on the exit, until later in the day. Chairs 10 and 2 started loading again as did 1, 23 and gondola (that I never rode - tried once but it slowed way down again then stopped loading and closed - luckily before I got there). Runs off 23 and Tony's/Fascination were excellent after re-opening. They were still smooth as they did not get usual AM traffic and race course was wide opened and mostly unmarked. My first time down Scotty's the rest of the way to the bottom was smooth and very fast. I did it later, entering after skiing some of Wipe Out 3, and St Anton was muchj slower. My Garmin show I skied Cornice 4x. I ended my day about 130 skiing Face lift twice. After skiing the Face first run and being left way behind by young lady who sped down it, I took at high line into West Bowl which skied well. Sorry, but neglected to take skiing photos. My Garmin recorded my highest vertical of the year and my first time over 30K since late Feb. at Revelstoke.
View attachment 51203View attachment 51204

395 is gorgeous. I need to get there again sometime soon.

 

[Tony Crocker]

With the two days described above it was not surprising that there was a hard freeze overnight. The weather forecast was correct that the wind finally abated and it was clear with highs in low 40's though the day started below 30.

We had heard that Stump Alley was on its last legs, but it terms of skiing that was not true. It had decent width until the very bottom, and when we started at 8:45 the only softened snow on the hill, so Liz and I lapped it 5x. We met James' friend Bryan, who has lived at Solitude for a decade or so but plans to sell and move, perhaps to Mammoth. He and his friend Pete were tired and only ski a couple of runs with us.

Tseeb got out a little earlier than us and was skiing the harder snow until we connected about an hour after our arrival. The problem with Chair 2 was not its skiing, but the ~3 foot deep snow in its loading area was extremely dirty, so much that you had to walk not glide in it. At the end of the day we heard that today was Chair 2's last day, which means if you park there you'll be taking the shuttle bus to Main Lodge.

When we connected with Tseeb we had a group photo.

Liz, Tseeb, Bryan, Pete, me

We took the upper gondola to Cornice, a bit firm at the top but in good corn form for the lower 3/4. So we skied top to bottom laps via Broadway and Rusty's. Out third upper gondola stopped for 15 minutes and it was past 11:30 when we got out. I dropped about 2 moguls into Climax, found them still crunchy and so traversed out and returned to Cornice. On our second lap we had seen the gates being removed from the race course, so the ropes had dropped. The Gremlin's to lower St.Anton run was corn perfection so we took 1 and 3 for a quick encore.

Fascination was the only remaining lower race course run open, since the bottom of Ralphie's had melted and they were taking snow off Andy's to move elsewhere, I'd guess to keep the St. Anton exit covered. I saw this coyote from chair 1, but it skied in front of Liz on Fascination.

We next skied Face of 3, then off the back for third corn cruiser on World Cup/St.Anton. Next was Terry's, NW facing so in its corn prime 1PM. We took an encore there too, but not until after a ride up 23 to ski Scotty's. Two weeks ago we spotted a bronze turtle affixed to a rock under Chair 23. Two weeks later, the turtle has two babies.

Scotty's was well timed, and surprisingly Skyline getting there had smooth corn, as it is is often bumpy or wind hammered.

I finished my day by going off the back of 3 to explore the chair 5 terrain. Chair 5 has been closed midweek since May 11, and that first closed midweek was very warm without overnight freezes. View down Sliver, which I skied:

It's hard to tell that snow outside skier packed lines was very irregular. At least none of it was frozen at 2PM closing when I was there. The exit at the base of chair 5 was a narrow and flat slog, and here's the view up.

The Comeback Trail was slow but manageable until it started disintegrating in front of the Mill. I suspected that it might not be maintained any longer. With the closing of Chair 2, I may have the last skier of the season through Chair 5 terrain.

Aside from that final run adventure we were in prime corn all day from about 9:45. I skied 25,900 vertical and hopefully have some energy left for my final day tomorrow, when the upper ungroomed runs should finally soften.

 

[tseeb]

My last day of the season started a little after 8 AM and ended a little before 2 PM. Then it was followed by a little over 5 hr drive home including 9945' Tioga Pass that opened last Friday. I crossed Yosemite with minimal stops and mostly light traffic.

I didn't like how dirty the snow was at base of chair 2 (as it was on Sun, but not on Mon) so I turned off my first Stump Run to St Moritz and skied it to chair 1. I skied a lap on surprisingly firm after being closed previous day and resurfaced Rusty's, then better Broadway before moving to chair 3 for 3 laps. It was still cold enough that I next took a full bottom to top gondola to warm up. I skied smooth and fast Cornice that I repeated 3x times using chair 23 before meeting up with Tony Crocker, Liz, Pete and Bryan at top of chair 2.

Tony, Liz and I skied Stump while Pete and Bryan took a coffee break. I later went into Sports Shop at Main Lodge to spend the remaining under $12 of $60 Ikon credit I earned skiing 3 days in February. I found $30 Stance ski socks on sale for half-price that cost me ~$5 after discount and tax.

Most of the rest of my day was skiing with Tony Crocker, usually with Liz, until I separated for a chair 3 Face run followed by Stump Alley, my last run of the season. Yesterday's post included "not sure what groomers were doing at the bottom of West Face Bowl". They were building a jump that got a lot of mostly expert use.

View of end of my last run of my season. Snow was very dirty where you loaded chair.

Garmin stats. I wanted to get 25K and wasn't sure if I would when we had long gondola stop. But got more skiing many fast groomers.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Amazingly Mammoth website says Chair 5 will run Memorial weekend even though Chair 2 will not. Presumably they think Solitude still has enough snow for grooming. The exit trail under the lift from the ungroomed runs was very thin yesterday and will burn off before the weekend. Maybe there will be a rough traverse out skier’s right as it used to be for the original chair 5 before 2011. Access will be from chair 3 or Climax, and exit to chair 3.

 

[Tony Crocker]

We parked at idle chair 2 and took the bus to Main Lodge Wednesday morning.

We were pleased to see Stump groomed so we could ski back to the car at the end of the day.

Liz and I unloaded chair 1 at 8:40, about 5 minutes earlier than our start on chair 2 Tuesday. If you skied towards Stump, you had to cut off at St. Moritz and return to chair 1. So runs facing the morning sun were limited, Rusty's being the only one for maybe a third of chair 1's vertical. Broadway was firm and the steep pitch of Fascination solid frozen granular during the first hour.

We met Bryan for our fifth run, with Rusty's fully in corn mode. That told me that Cornice would be good. Bryan there:

Liz:

Past 10AM, the softening of snow accelerated vs. Tuesday. The low temp was about freezing and mid afternoon high was about 50F. Since even the entry to Cornice had softened we took two more laps via a very smooth World Cup and Chair 23.

Next I figured out that skier's right of Broadway would be smooth corn because it was later to soften than the left side. That was worth an encore. Next up was Gremlin's/St. Anton, which were not roped for racing but take longer to soften with NW tilt. We ran 3 laps of that via chairs 1 and 3 between about 11:15 and noon, fortunately as smooth corn as on Tuesday. Terry's was good though not quite as ideal as Tuesday.

With the warmer day, some of the upper steeps softened fully so I was willing to finish my day/season there. Climax had big moguls left over from last week's hot spell with varied skier tracked lines between them. Past the rocks I traversed hard left to get to Saddle Bowl, Word Cup and Chair 23. Riding up I spotted a new addition to the rocks.

Liz thinks this is supposed to be an avalanche dog with rescue outfit. I was not able to get a more zoomed picture.

Farther up several people were taking a lunch break on the rocks under 23.

Notice the bronze turtles at lower left and the green stuffed turtle above. Bryan had met a local woman Ketty who skied Gremlin's/St. Anton/Terry's with us. After I split to ski Climax, Ketty told Liz those are the people who installed the bronze turtles.

Drop Out 3 was the best of the ungroomed steeps. It was mostly skier packed but any moguls were moderate in size and well spaced. Next I skied Skyline and Scotty's. I saw one skier charge down Wipe Out 2 at high speed, but riding the lift the snow looked more beat up on that side.

I finished with one run on Face of 3. As I suspected the final Stump Alley run to the car was a treat without the lift running. When you can still see corduroy tracks glistening in the spring snow at 1PM, you know it will be good. I finished with 23,700 vertical.

 

[Tony Crocker]

We chatted with Bryan, Paul and Ketty in the parking lot, packed up at our lodging, had a sandwich at Nik n Willie's with a top off charge, and so did not leave Mammoth until after 3PM. On the way over Tioga Pass we took pics of some of the backcountry ski sites. Ellery Bowl:

We could see ski tracks even at long distance here.

This is probably Mt. Conness.

Here is the face that I skied with guide Doug Nidever in May 2003 and which Adam and Ben skied in July 2011.

Mt. Dana is barely visible behind the left side of that ridge. Just beyond that ridge is the Solstice Couloir, which was Adam's original objective before they were slowed by altitude effects of only sleeping two nights at Mammoth before alpine touring from 9,900 - 12,200 feet.

From Tuloumne Meadows, this face left of of Unicorn Peak (10,800 feet) always seems to be snow covered when the Tioga Road opens.

I have often stopped at Olmstead Point, but this time we took the 0.2 mile walk over to a better viewpoint of Tenaya Canyon and Cloud's rest to Half Dome.

Back at the Olmstead parking lot was this marmot.

Liz drove the final hour to Evergreen Lodge, where we arrived about 7PM. On the way we saw 4 cars stopped with a few people taking pictures from the side of the road. Must be a bear!

 

[BryanL]

Thanks for the report, Tony. It was fun meeting you and Liz. I skied again Thursday and Friday. Both days were warmer than the prior few and the groomed runs got slushy early. By 10:00 on anything facing remotely northeast, the corn would "break out" from under you whether you were moving or standing still so off-piste was the place to be. The corn there softened up to a depth of 2-3" both on bumps and smoother slopes that were sun-cupped making for great turns. It was also busy on Friday as people poured in for the holiday weekend and many were young whippersnappers going fast and often out of control or launching jumps wherever they could, further promoting the idea that off-piste was the place to be. I drove back to Utah yesterday (Saturday) after skiing 11 out of 12 days. Although long, I highly recommend the drive through Wendover, Ely, Tonopah and Benton Crossing for stunning scenery and geologic interest.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Thanks for the report, Tony. It was fun meeting you and Liz.

Glad that I was able to connect the two biggest Mammoth lovers I know. I think that he was skiing there even before Tony (late 70s). If I remember correctly, Bryan is originally from SoCal but lived much of his adult life in the northeast. It'll be interesting to see where he ends up with an imminent departure from Solitude.

 

[snowtrekker]

This is probably Mt. Conness

That is False White, the east face of which holds obvious appeal when the pass is open. Though you'd be hiking in and out to reach the snow.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Though you'd be hiking in and out to reach the snow.

When I was on my my ski streak in Aug/Sept of 2011 I drove out to Saddleback Lake and observed that there is long approach to False White. It is a testament to Mammoth's microclimate that when I had to use AT to keep that streak alive, the Mammoth ski area had the most approachable snow with the longest skiable vertical, about 1,100.

It'll be interesting to see where he ends up with an imminent departure from Solitude.

Yes, he said he was considering Brian Head and Mammoth. Brian Head I've often described as "Snow Summit with good natural snow." I can't conceive of spending a whole season at a place that small. And Brian Head averages 300 inches of snow (with higher volatility) vs. 435 at Solitude.

With further discussion I think Targhee is the ideal fit for what Bryan wants in terms of skiing and ambience. The sticking point is that he wants to be somewhere he can walk from his residence to the mountain like Solitude or free local bus service like Mammoth. Hotels are the only on site lodging at Targhee. Google AI search:

Yes, Grand Targhee operates a daily, complimentary Teton Valley Shuttle service during the ski season. [1, 2]
Departure Points:

• Driggs, ID: Free Park and Ride is available exclusively at the Driggs Transit Center and the 5th Street Skate Park.