Skiing in the West

Our favorite places to go skiing, from Tahoe to Telluride--plus some secret tips to take with you to the slopes

Meet Mammoth

Flights to an Eastern Sierra mountain will revolutionize your ski weekend. No chains required

Meet Mammoth: New to Mammoth? An opinionated guide
Photo by Gina Sabatella

New to Mammoth? An opinionated guide

Touching down at Mammoth Yosemite Airport—less than an hour after we’d left San Jose—that last seven-hour Sunday slog from Tahoe back to the Bay Area fades away. The pilot tells us to buckle up, folks, we’re coming in for a landing. Already? I’m just getting comfy with my peanuts and in-flight magazine.

As I step out onto the tarmac, surrounded by a 360° kingdom of Swiss Alps–style peaks, it’s official: I’m gobsmacked. One hour and $188 later, hello, good-mood ski weekend.

Until recently, the Eastern Sierra’s Mammoth Mountain has been almost exclusively the winter playground of SoCal-ers who’ve made the six-hour trek by car. But consider this the end of L.A.’s Mammoth monopoly. Now, flights from the Bay Area mean this eastern front—only 32 miles southeast of Yosemite but as good as unreachable by car in winter—is finally a Tahoe alternative.


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