Mammoth Mountain Snow Report

1-18-2020 – 4 PM Had a great morning out on the hill, pulled into the chair 4 parking area at 8:15 AM and there where only 2 other cars and no bumper to bumper traffic going to Main. These blackout days sure do turn away the crowds, when I did leave at noon that little parking area was still not full and it only holds maybe 20 cars.

Started the day by taking a couple of laps on chair 4, sure is fun to bomb that on a Saturday with nobody around the first bell. 

First thing I noticed was the groomed out runs on 4 had some nicely groomed out soft packed powder and of course, South Park is all built out.

Good Morning at Chair 4
Good Morning at Chair 4

Over on 5, I found that the real hard snow was also gone. The face runs were mostly packed out but still soft from the fresh snow we had on Friday.

Took a run on Solitude and the upper section has a bunch of little floating rocks you have to ski around if you can. There is also a larger marked off a section about 150 yards on the skiers right that you want to avoid.

Once you get below that first section the snow in here is groomed out nicely, I did not hit any of the old snowpack and my turns were quite in the softer snow.

Over on 9, it’s low tide at this time. Off the groomers, there is a lot of snow but there are still some stumps and bigger rocks sticking out. The powder over here was good on Friday in spots, you just had to slow down and pick your line wisely.

The groomers on 9 today had some really fun snow, it was much softer than a few days earlier. Back for More and Haven’t the Foggiest are in good shape with just a few floaters when you take the road into those runs.

Groomers on Chair 9
Groomers on Chair 9

Next, I ventured to the top and took a run on Cornice and then on Scotties, both were all groomed out and very easy to carve some nice turns on. Scotties is my favorite as it’s steeper and it gets less traffic on the run.

Scotties in Flat Light
Scotties in Flat Light

The Drop Outs were soft with just a few firm spots I hit and some small bumps are starting to form. The Snow surface is still in transition up top, I am sure on Sunday both the Drop Outs and Wipe Outs will be more packed out.

On my laps off the top, I took some turns on the way back to G1 on St Anton, it’s groomed from chair 23 down at this point. The groomed sections were wide open with plenty of soft snow.

I got up to 18 runs and while there were no lines the runs were getting packed so I called it a day.

Bottom line: there is some really fun skiing and riding to be found out on the hill at this time. 

However the mountain really needs more snow, so far we have not had a real solid base storm this season. 

Let’s all pray and do our snow dances for a big change in the weather come February.

Here are the current base depths out on Mammoth Mountain. Eagle Lodge Area 1-3 feet  – Canyon Lodge Area 2-3 feet – Snow Study Site at Main 4 feet – Up Top 6 feet

All lifts are now running for the winter season (wind and weather permitting), lift hours are 8:30 AM to 4 PM.

Mammoth Area Shuttles are also running for the season, when you check into your lodging ask about the closest shuttle stop and leave your car at the condo. 

Have a great day Snowman out…