I am not at Mammoth but my son Adam is with the UCSD ski team. Given both of our familiarity with the area, I'm confident in the accuracy of his report of the past 3 days.
Dec. 28 was nasty weather. High at Main Lodge was 12F, and wind kept the upper lifts closed. The highest Adam skied was the face of 3, and he said coverage there was sketchy.
Dec. 29 was the first day this season that Mammoth has run all of its lifts. Nonetheless much of the steep terrain is not yet skiable. Adam reports the following from the top: Cornice is wide open with a snowmaking base. Once you drop in you can spread out to less trafficked lines. Climax has a couple of skiable lines, but Adam was not impressed with the conditions. The traverse to Dave's is roped off. Drop Out would require a ~50 foot downclimb of the steep entrance to reach skiable snow. The Wipe Out and Paranoid areas are still far too rocky to ski. Scotty's has stepover rocks at the top, and very good snow blow them due to minimal skier traffic.
Chair 14 is open, but Adam stuck to the groomed back there as he suspected the off trail base was thin. Avalanche 2 is skiable once you get past rocks at the top, but none of the other steep lines on Chair 22 have enough snow yet.
Adam had a race clinic on the 29th and placed 3rd in GS on the 30th. He demoed the Volkl AllStar Titanium on the 29th and says it's an excellent ski. He was skeptical of the 175 length before the demo, but he says it's perfectly stable after skiing it all day.
I didn't ask about the lower mountain, but during Christmas week I suspect it's not a pretty picture with the off trail skiing restricted.
I would note that reported season snowfall is 63 inches, and a comparison with Dec. 17 last year, when reported snowfall was 53 inches, shows that upper mountain cover is much worse now. Mammoth reports over 80% open in terms of trail count. I'd say in terms of acreage it's more like 60%.
While I will probably keep my Mammoth reservation for MLK weekend, I would recommend destination visitors avoid committing $ to Sierra resorts before February.
Dec. 28 was nasty weather. High at Main Lodge was 12F, and wind kept the upper lifts closed. The highest Adam skied was the face of 3, and he said coverage there was sketchy.
Dec. 29 was the first day this season that Mammoth has run all of its lifts. Nonetheless much of the steep terrain is not yet skiable. Adam reports the following from the top: Cornice is wide open with a snowmaking base. Once you drop in you can spread out to less trafficked lines. Climax has a couple of skiable lines, but Adam was not impressed with the conditions. The traverse to Dave's is roped off. Drop Out would require a ~50 foot downclimb of the steep entrance to reach skiable snow. The Wipe Out and Paranoid areas are still far too rocky to ski. Scotty's has stepover rocks at the top, and very good snow blow them due to minimal skier traffic.
Chair 14 is open, but Adam stuck to the groomed back there as he suspected the off trail base was thin. Avalanche 2 is skiable once you get past rocks at the top, but none of the other steep lines on Chair 22 have enough snow yet.
Adam had a race clinic on the 29th and placed 3rd in GS on the 30th. He demoed the Volkl AllStar Titanium on the 29th and says it's an excellent ski. He was skeptical of the 175 length before the demo, but he says it's perfectly stable after skiing it all day.
I didn't ask about the lower mountain, but during Christmas week I suspect it's not a pretty picture with the off trail skiing restricted.
I would note that reported season snowfall is 63 inches, and a comparison with Dec. 17 last year, when reported snowfall was 53 inches, shows that upper mountain cover is much worse now. Mammoth reports over 80% open in terms of trail count. I'd say in terms of acreage it's more like 60%.
While I will probably keep my Mammoth reservation for MLK weekend, I would recommend destination visitors avoid committing $ to Sierra resorts before February.