The new Mammoth

I learned to ski at Mammoth Mountain, on the Eastern Sierra peak my dad always referred to as "McCoy's Mountain." That was in deference to the ski area's legendary founder, Dave McCoy, a man my father met when, as a teenager, he'd plop two quarters in the breadbasket proffered up by Dave's wife, Roma, for the pleasure of using a rope tow powered by a jacked-up Model A Ford.

This was a long time ago, when skiing meant soft leather lace-up boots and cable bindings and wooden skis, which is the kind of equipment I learned on as well. I wore denim jeans, a scratchy wool sweater, and a black knit longshoreman's cap. My dad said a scarf could get tangled in a rope tow and rip your head off, so no scarf. We stayed in a summer cabin nearby. There was no heater, but there was a stone fireplace. I slept on a couch in front of the fire, and it was my job to get up several times during the night and throw more pieces of pine on the fire to keep it going. If I didn't, the wet jeans and sweaters and wool socks draped over the mantle like Christmas stockings would never dry by morning.

Ruth Anne Kocour
Experts-only Dave's Run commemorates Mammoth's legendary founder, Dave McCoy

The last time we stayed at the Alpenhof was in April 1996. Spring break. The next year, my son, Max, joined his high school water polo team, and skiing was strongly discouraged. My daughter also started playing water polo. So we all hung up our skis and snowboards, thinking we'd get back to them later. But it just didn't happen. The kids finished high school and moved on to college, and for whatever reason, I lost interest in skiing and didn't return to Mammoth. Until now.

The upscaling of Mammoth

Mammoth has changed. Just driving into town, I have that sensation that everything has been shuffled around. Or replaced. Feeling disoriented, I park in front of the Alpenhof, which is still there, and try to find the Village Market. It is being replaced by swank condos.

Call it the upscaling of Mammoth. A decade ago, Intrawest — a Vancouver-based company that owns other ski resorts, including British Columbia's Whistler — bought a portion of Mammoth Mountain from McCoy, who started it back in 1953. Intrawest then launched a multimillion-dollar upgrade. The rap against Mammoth had always been, in the words of one ski magazine, "The mountain is excellent, the town is not." Year after year, Mammoth garnered accolades for its superior terrain, well-planned lift system, and a season that often ran from Thanksgiving to the Fourth of July (the current season started on October 21). The surrounding community, with its mini-malls and drab appearance, was another matter.

Now there's a new Mammoth. Last season, the first phase of Intrawest's Village at Mammoth opened, with 166 condos constructed around a pedestrian village. At the other end of the plaza is the Mountain Center, where young employees garbed in Hawaiian shirts enthusiastically offer up tidbits of knowledge about the latest skiing and snowboarding equipment, and a state-of-the-art gondola whisks you, in a matter of minutes, up to the Canyon Lodge warming hut, giving you access to 3,500 skiable acres via 27 lifts.

It all reminds you a lot of Whistler, which, I guess, is the point. I pass by a Polynesian-style bar and restaurant called Lakanuki, where young skiers are sipping mai tais and ordering Hawaiian beer. Nearby is the Lingerie Lounge. Its owner, Marlene Rheault, tells me she wrote computer software for 20 years, when she decided to do something more fun with her daughter, Alicia Provancher, and sell women's lingerie and lounge wear. Business is good.

I tell Marlene I haven't been to Mammoth in eight years. "It's more lively now," she says.

This is certainly true. Still, some of the old feeling lingers. Dave McCoy remains a presence here in the Village, where a bronze sculpture of him schussing down the mountain stands in front of the new gondola. And on the mountain, as I discover the next day, things are pretty much the way I remember them. There are newer and faster lifts, of course, and the food is better. I spend one lazy afternoon joining friends for lunch at Parallax, a white-tablecloth restaurant at McCoy Station, a midmountain warming hut, where we nibble soft-shell crab cakes and ceviche while arguing over the merits of a Central Coast Chardonnay. In the same complex is a well-designed food court serving kung pao chicken, veggie lasagna, roasted chicken, and portabella mushroom sandwiches. You can still get a bowl of chili too — but it's not Roma's recipe anymore.

Ruth Anne Kocour
Mammoth boasts 3,500 acres of skiable terrain and a season that can last into July

That afternoon I ride the Panorama Gondola to the 11,053-foot top of the mountain. It was up here, eight years ago, that I gathered my children around me and asked one of the blue-jacketed area hosts to take a picture of us with the Minaret mountain peaks in the background. That photo sits tacked to a bulletin board over my desk. On this day, the sky is just as blue, the mountains clearly etched against it in sharp relief. I pause and take it all in, thinking about my father and Dave McCoy and that early rope tow powered by an old Ford pickup.

Much has changed at Mammoth in 50 years. But the peaks of the Eastern Sierra look just the way they did in that old photo, and the happy feeling I'd had standing on top of this mountain with my father and, later, with my kids is the same. I feel the exhilaration and freedom of being on top of the world. And then I tighten up my boots and plunge down Dave's Run, the snow flying and the wind rushing up against me, making me feel like I'm years younger. Like I'm a kid again.

The new Mammoth | Top

Mammoth Lakes, 3 miles west of U.S. 395 on State 203, is 307 miles from Los Angeles. For more information, contact the Mammoth Lakes Visitors Bureau (www.visitmammoth.com or 888/466-2666). For ski resort information, check with Mammoth Mountainwww.mammothmountain.com or 800/626-6684.

Lodging

Alpenhof Lodge. The best thing about this rather simple hotel is its location — directly across the street from the Village. Rooms in the main building have recently been renovated; some have kitchenettes. From $105 to $249 in winter. 6080 Minaret Rd.; www.alpenhof-lodge.com or 800/828-0371.

Mammoth Mountain Inn. Right across from the resort's Main Lodge, this is the most convenient hotel in town for mountain access. The inn recently completed a lengthy (and much-needed) upgrade with a $4 million remodeling phase. Standard rooms from $155 in winter, executive 2-bedroom condos with lofts from $545. 1 Minaret Rd.; www.mammothmountain.com or 800/626-6684.

The Village at Mammoth. Condo units are rented out like hotel rooms and decorated with simple, contemporary furnishings. My unit sat over a Starbucks, which meant lots of early-morning and late-evening chatter coming in. In general, noise echoes easily through the cavernous Village, and the rooms aren't particularly soundproof. Studios from $275 in winter, 3-bedroom units from $570. 100 Canyon Blvd.; www.mammothmountain.com or 800/626-6684.

Dining

Breakfast Club. Try the home-baked pastries, machaca burritos, or biscuits and gravy. $; breakfast and lunch daily. 2987 Main St.; 760/934-6944.

Hennessey's. Across from the Village gondola, this is a popular gathering spot, particularly after the slopes close, when the young and the restless come in for buffalo wings and Guinness on tap. $$; breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily. South end of the Village; 760/934-8444.

Lakanuki. What's a tiki bar specializing in mai tais doing in a ski village? Who knows, but it works. The ahi steak with salad is a favorite. $$; lunch and dinner daily. Near the clock tower in the Village at Mammoth; 760/934-7447.

Roberto's Café. This fabulous and inexpensive Mexican restaurant was remodeled recently, getting a new bar with a large selection of premium tequilas. $; lunch and dinner daily. 271 Old Mammoth Rd.; 760/934-3667.

Mountain secrets

Dinner at Parallax. Normally open just for lunch, this on-mountain restaurant also does a snowcat dinner every Saturday beginning Jan 8 (weather permitting). $100 per person (includes snowcat ride to McCoy Station, dinner, and dessert; alcohol and tip extra). Call for information and reservations (800/626-6684).

Dry Creek Bar. The deck at the Mammoth Mountain Inn is usually deserted for lunch, even on days when the Main Lodge, just a snowball's throw away, is jammed. For $9.95 you can enjoy an all-you-can-eat salad bar. Upstairs, Mammoth Mountain Inn; 800/626-6684.