Review by Mr Head Plant
Mammoth ....... certainly is .......... spread over more than 3,500 skiable acres with 150 named trails comprising of open bowls with 27 lifts from two man boneshakers to a six-man quad (??), tree skiing, wide motorway runs, with the added bonus of a coffee stop within 100 yards wherever you might be,there is something for everyone. incredibly for a resort receiving an average of 32 feet of snow each year, the resort gets 300 sunny days so when it dumps, it dumps big style. On our arrival in the resort it hadn't snowed for almost a month and the skiing was still good. After the first storm about 8 - 10 inches were put down and this stuck to the mountain like glue as it came from the South, the weekend brought a storm from the North putting 18 inches of dry powder down on the top of the mountain and midway through the second week another dump of 6 - 8 inches kept everyone happy.

The skiing around Chair 12 was a personal favorite, many a happy hour was spent looking for a camera, up to my knees in fresh powder under the chair. The runs providing good skiing around an albeit rather slow lift and plenty of variety. Top to bottom could be achieved within a couple of minutes especially when someone behind you shouts last one down's a Yorkshire man! After a few days some in the group commented that the area didn't seem big enough to support us for two weeks, but we were wrong and with the exception of one day spent at nearby June Mountain there was plenty of skiing to keep us going.....and more.

Getting to the mountain from the town was achieved by a free shuttle bus with four routes covering all the base areas, generally this worked a treat but on a couple of occasions the buses were packed by the time the bus reached the North end of the town. A new Gondola is being constructed at the new Village complex and this will provide welcome relief from having to take the 20 minute, 4 mile ride to the Main Lodge.

The top of the mountain provides some great steeps Dave's, Cornice and Scotty all providing challenging skiing, although Dr Dick felt that Dave's didn't provided enough challenge and took the tree route through the waist deep powder! And the Dangling one ran back to the top just to try it again, possibly making up for his overindulgence in the brew pub the night before. If you plan to go running beware, there isn't enough road to keep you interested for more than two days, you might end up in the pub.

On the subject of pub's the base of the mountain was very disappointing after a hard days skiing, the bar was closed by 4:30 and the last bus back to town left at 5:30. At the North end of the town was The Clockhouse with a wide selection of microbrew as well as the usual American rubbish. The Mammoth Brewery, above Whisky Creek brews and sells its beer produced on the premises and the menu provided enough selection to keep even the fussiest eaters happy. Tango's favorite beer was the Blueberry Wheat and Mrs Fumble's "a bottle of anything with a cork".

Dining was a little bit limited to authentic Mexican, Mexican, Tex-mix, Cal-mex, with the Brewery standing out as the best midrange eatery, the schizophrenic La Sierra's was interesting, but for a dearer meal I don't think you could beat Nevado's.

The big question "Is Mammoth worth the 27 hours on three 'planes".........I'd say yes!