The excitement was apparent as I sat watching the news report in my hotel room. I was in Reno resting for the evening between flights about to embark on my first winter trip to the US. What good timing I thought rather smugly as the news reporter announced that Mammoth mountain were experiencing a record breaking snowfall and the pictures showed the small town engulfed in more snow than I had ever seen in my entire life. Obviously I had heard all the hype that surrounds this famous freestyle mecca and couldn't wait to see what all the fuss was about, that's if I could actually find the terrain parks amongst all that fresh powder.
I was immediately impressed with the facilities of this US 'super resort' with an abundance of mountain restaurants to suit any palate, helpful and friendly resort staff and even a singing gondola operator!
With the price of the average lift ticket coming in at approximately $65 and a season pass setting you back as much as $1600 this is by no means skiing on a budget. What I will say though is you get what you pay for and Mammoth mountain is, in my opinion a 5 star resort.
My first week was epic in the sense that I was lucky enough to be riding knee deep powder day in day out, the sky was consistently blue and the sun far too hot for my fair English complexion. There was simply too much snow to give a damn about anything else and the order of the day, or days was to find cliffs to jump off and more pow to slash.
Once the snow had stopped falling and the conditions levelled off somewhat, the park staff had the Mammoth (pardon the pun) task of building and shaping the many terrain parks from scratch. Again hats off to the resort for getting things looking reasonably ship shape after only a couple of days and with 5 terrain parks on offer this place had now been transformed into the very mecca I had been reading about.
The main park is overlooked by the lodge and consists of the largest park features on offer with some jumps in excess of 70ft and a good selection of large rail features, 2 pristine super pipes always cut to international perfection that can test even the best of riders. South park is a little less intimidating with a large 50-60ft jump and a triple line of 40ft jumps with the odd rail/box feature thrown in for good measure. Jibs as you have probably guessed is a park dedicated to rail and box features. Hidden away amongst the tree lined run you can find medium to large rail contraptions to keep most rail ninjas smiling there way to a front blunt bagel out. The two remaining parks are dedicated to beginners and feature small rail and box combos and a mini half pipe.
Overall Mammoth mountain has something for everyone.
A great friendly atmosphere, plenty of snow and an abundance of varying terrain. Not to mention some of the biggest and best park features on earth.
For more info visit - www.mammothmountain.com
The above article is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Wiski.com. For more information, please see the Terms of Use.