Mammoth

Unreal to be skiing on really good snow at the end of may!   What a blast - no crowds and everything!

Mammoth.

The choice of terrain is hard to surpass.  Perfectly groomed chord, steeps, narrow chutes, Mammoth has them all.  3,000 foot vertical.  3500 acres.  Over 30' of snow a year.  Early opens - before Thanksgiving, late closes - it's nice to ski on my birthday every year (May 1) and beyond - July 4 isn't out of the question.

Nightlife is the weakness.  There's a few places, but nothing to get excited about.  But that just lets you get to bed early to get back on the hill to rip more turns.  Good food on and off the mountain.

The parks (they have a bunch) are the best in the world.   Multiple pipes.   Huge hits.  Just insane.

Prices are creeping up there, but still not Vail prices.

The drive is the killer.   Over 5 hours from L.A.... 6 1/2 from San Diego.   Almost not worth it from S.F.

 this mountain is so excellent.  it's enormous, so there is a variety of challenging runs for everyone.  it also has a great terrain park -- i've skiied there only a little bit, but my younger brother snowboards and practically lives there when we go up to mammoth.  the town of mammoth is also so great -- lots of family-run restaurants, and in the last few years they renovated the Village, that has lots of places to hang out at night.  plus, it's just a 5 hour drive from the Los Angeles area.  there is an airport in the area, but only few flights.  best to drive from LA.  bummer for those of us living in northern california because the tioga pass (road that cuts directly through the sierras) is closed during the winter due to poor conditions, so you have to go way north to pass through the sierras -- and the drive is then waaaaay long (like around 10 hours).  even still, this resort is almost worth the drive!  (and definitely would be, if not for the proximity of tahoe to the bay area).