Mammoth & June Mt. locals?

I plan on taking a one week ski trip to the Lake Tahoe
area, and the only two areas I have not skied are Mammoth
and June Mountain.
Flying in from MI, with my brother & father and I was wondering
whether to ski Mammoth or June Mt. on a Sunday, (end of Jan. 2004).
I have heard/read that weekend crowds/crowding can be INTENSE at
Mammoth on the weekends. I would like to avoid the bigger crowds
if possible?
I plan to ski three days (Sun,Mon,Tue) in the Mammoth area,
and I was wondering which day I should plan to ski June Mt.:
Sunday or Tuesday.

I was thinking we should ski June on Sunday to avoid the hectic
& busy conditions at Mammoth. My brother is arguing that both
Mammoth and June will be proportionally crowded on a Sunday, and it
would not matter much which place we skied on a Sunday, since they
both would probably be very busy; and then have low crowds on Mon. & Tues.

Could any of you Mammoth/June locals weigh in on this argument and
tell us which resort would be proportionally less crowded on
a Sunday (Jan. 25th to be exact): Mammoth Mt. or June Mt.?

I know Mammoth has added a lot high-speed quads over the last few
years to cut down on time spent in lift lines. Still, how crowded
is it on weekends? Do the locals ever bother to ski on weekends,
or are they wise to the big crowds and just stay away.
Has this changed over the last few years?

I'd appreciate any insight you might have on this matter.

Thanks, -Tom Geissinger
Lansing, MI

"geissing" wrote in message
...
I plan on taking a one week ski trip to the Lake Tahoe
area, and the only two areas I have not skied are Mammoth
and June Mountain.

I wouldn't exactly call Mammoth and June in the Lake Tahoe area. I assume
you will be staying in the Mammoth/June area those days and not making the
trip through the mountains every day. It can be rather frightening when the
weather is bad. For theat matter, the road between Mammoth and June gets
closed sometimes, and the direct route above the lake through the village of
June Lake is sometimes closed by avalanche threat (there is now an
alternative bypass).

Flying in from MI, with my brother & father and I was wondering
whether to ski Mammoth or June Mt. on a Sunday, (end of Jan. 2004).
I have heard/read that weekend crowds/crowding can be INTENSE at
Mammoth on the weekends. I would like to avoid the bigger crowds
if possible?
I plan to ski three days (Sun,Mon,Tue) in the Mammoth area,
and I was wondering which day I should plan to ski June Mt.:
Sunday or Tuesday.

Do June on Sunday, unless the conditions are marginal, in which case you
should probably just skip June altogether. You might want to consider that
June used to have a $10 Wednesday deal. I don't know if they do that
anymore.


I was thinking we should ski June on Sunday to avoid the hectic
& busy conditions at Mammoth. My brother is arguing that both
Mammoth and June will be proportionally crowded on a Sunday, and it
would not matter much which place we skied on a Sunday, since they
both would probably be very busy; and then have low crowds on Mon. & Tues.

Could any of you Mammoth/June locals weigh in on this argument and
tell us which resort would be proportionally less crowded on
a Sunday (Jan. 25th to be exact): Mammoth Mt. or June Mt.?

June is always less crowded than Mammoth.

geissing wrote:
I plan on taking a one week ski trip to the Lake Tahoe
area, and the only two areas I have not skied are Mammoth
and June Mountain.
Flying in from MI, with my brother & father and I was wondering
whether to ski Mammoth or June Mt. on a Sunday, (end of Jan. 2004).

Tahoe to Mammoth will take you 2.5 hours about, depending on which end
of Tahoe you start from, unless it's snowing - likely; or hwy395 is
closed - possible but unlikely.

If this is your first/only trip - skip June. June is a nice change of
pace when you've burned out on Mammoth, otherwise forget it.

Once you get above the base, Mammoth isn't very crowded at any time -
just too much terrain and too many lifts. Go where the crowds aren't and
ski.

geissing wrote:
I plan on taking a one week ski trip to the Lake Tahoe
area, and the only two areas I have not skied are Mammoth
and June Mountain.
Flying in from MI, with my brother & father and I was wondering
whether to ski Mammoth or June Mt. on a Sunday, (end of Jan. 2004).

Fair warning: I ran into the rudest, vilest, angriest snowboarders I've ever
seen at Mammoth, and the mountain encouraged their behavior, afraid to ****
off the SoCal punks. I got ran into not once, not twice, but three times.
Once right in front of a patrol guy, while I was standing there, and the
asshole did NOTHING when the boarder lipped off.
I will never buy a ticket at a mountain that does not enforce the skier's
code. Mammoth is on my ****list.
Come to think of it, I didn't buy that ticket, either, but that's another
story.

In article ,
scottabe wrote:

Fair warning: I ran into the rudest, vilest, angriest snowboarders I've ever
seen at Mammoth, and the mountain encouraged their behavior, afraid to ****
off the SoCal punks. I got ran into not once, not twice, but three times.
Once right in front of a patrol guy, while I was standing there, and the
asshole did NOTHING when the boarder lipped off.

Was he an devastatingly handsome fella, 'bout 6'5"? Dressed in Burton
Goretex?

Mammoth is on my ****list.

Mammoth is in on the conspiracy

Come to think of it, I didn't buy that ticket, either, but that's another
story.

This, I believe.

in article , Vern93 at
wrote on 11/16/03 5:10 PM:

In article ,
scottabe wrote:

Fair warning: I ran into the rudest, vilest, angriest snowboarders I've ever
seen at Mammoth, and the mountain encouraged their behavior, afraid to ****
off the SoCal punks. I got ran into not once, not twice, but three times.
Once right in front of a patrol guy, while I was standing there, and the
asshole did NOTHING when the boarder lipped off.

Was he an devastatingly handsome fella, 'bout 6'5"? Dressed in Burton
Goretex?

I can hope.

Mammoth is on my ****list.

Mammoth is in on the conspiracy

No surprise you are a boarder. Psychopathy fits you.

scottabe wrote in message ...
geissing wrote:
I plan on taking a one week ski trip to the Lake Tahoe
area, and the only two areas I have not skied are Mammoth
and June Mountain.
Flying in from MI, with my brother & father and I was wondering
whether to ski Mammoth or June Mt. on a Sunday, (end of Jan. 2004).

Fair warning: I ran into the rudest, vilest, angriest snowboarders I've ever
seen at Mammoth, and the mountain encouraged their behavior, afraid to ****
off the SoCal punks. I got ran into not once, not twice, but three times.
Once right in front of a patrol guy, while I was standing there, and the
asshole did NOTHING when the boarder lipped off.
I will never buy a ticket at a mountain that does not enforce the skier's
code. Mammoth is on my ****list.
Come to think of it, I didn't buy that ticket, either, but that's another
story.

Mammoth is a great mountain - probably one of the Top 5 mountain's in
the US for sure. On a Sunday, just stay away from the main chairs
(Broadway, Stump Alley etc) and try Lincoln Mountain, Face Lift & the
"Top" - the backside of the mountain (Chair 12-14) are great as well
if there has been recent snow and there is never any wait for a lift.
Great variety of terrain from tree runs to moguls to long wide
groomers. Only go to June if there has been a dump within the past 5
days or so and Mammoth is tracked up -- there will still be stashes at
June, but otherwise there is better terrain and variety at Mammnoth.
Also Sundays are great as most people who visit are from LA and they
start leaving the mountain at noon, leaving you with the mountain to
yourself for those last few runs.

Have fun!

Thanks for the info.
We will be staying in the Mammoth area for four nights,
we're only going to drive there once.
Driving around the Sierras in the winter can be 'a real treat',
I'm familiar with that. Thanks, -tom

Richard Henry wrote:
"geissing" wrote in message
...

I plan on taking a one week ski trip to the Lake Tahoe
area, and the only two areas I have not skied are Mammoth
and June Mountain.


I wouldn't exactly call Mammoth and June in the Lake Tahoe area. I assume
you will be staying in the Mammoth/June area those days and not making the
trip through the mountains every day. It can be rather frightening when the
weather is bad. For theat matter, the road between Mammoth and June gets
closed sometimes, and the direct route above the lake through the village of
June Lake is sometimes closed by avalanche threat (there is now an
alternative bypass).


Flying in from MI, with my brother & father and I was wondering
whether to ski Mammoth or June Mt. on a Sunday, (end of Jan. 2004).
I have heard/read that weekend crowds/crowding can be INTENSE at
Mammoth on the weekends. I would like to avoid the bigger crowds
if possible?
I plan to ski three days (Sun,Mon,Tue) in the Mammoth area,
and I was wondering which day I should plan to ski June Mt.:
Sunday or Tuesday.


Do June on Sunday, unless the conditions are marginal, in which case you
should probably just skip June altogether. You might want to consider that
June used to have a $10 Wednesday deal. I don't know if they do that
anymore.


I was thinking we should ski June on Sunday to avoid the hectic
& busy conditions at Mammoth. My brother is arguing that both
Mammoth and June will be proportionally crowded on a Sunday, and it
would not matter much which place we skied on a Sunday, since they
both would probably be very busy; and then have low crowds on Mon. & Tues.

Could any of you Mammoth/June locals weigh in on this argument and
tell us which resort would be proportionally less crowded on
a Sunday (Jan. 25th to be exact): Mammoth Mt. or June Mt.?


June is always less crowded than Mammoth.

I have heard bad things about rude behavior at Mammoth,
and you confirm my worst suspicions. You are not alone
in your behaviour assessment of the Mammoth weekend crowd.
Weekend yahoos are present at every mountain, but Mammoth
gets much more than it's fair share. That is exactly why I'm
thinking June Mt. might be the best bet on a Sunday, at least
in the a.m.

Sad comment on the patrollers at Mammoth though.
They may have had many bad experiences with L.A. crowd,
and tend to say no outright injury, no harm. and just leave
it at that to avoid gun-totin hoods? Although I have not
read of anybody getting shot at Mammoth, yet.
Maybe the patrollers know that is all too possible, and
want to keep out of the fray?

I have never skied Mammoth so all this is pure speculation on
my part. I doubt that we will have ANY problems on the
weekdays. -tom

scottabe wrote:
geissing wrote:

I plan on taking a one week ski trip to the Lake Tahoe
area, and the only two areas I have not skied are Mammoth
and June Mountain.
Flying in from MI, with my brother & father and I was wondering
whether to ski Mammoth or June Mt. on a Sunday, (end of Jan. 2004).


Fair warning: I ran into the rudest, vilest, angriest snowboarders I've ever
seen at Mammoth, and the mountain encouraged their behavior, afraid to ****
off the SoCal punks. I got ran into not once, not twice, but three times.
Once right in front of a patrol guy, while I was standing there, and the
asshole did NOTHING when the boarder lipped off.
I will never buy a ticket at a mountain that does not enforce the skier's
code. Mammoth is on my ****list.
Come to think of it, I didn't buy that ticket, either, but that's another
story.

geissing wrote:
I have heard bad things about rude behavior at Mammoth,
and you confirm my worst suspicions. You are not alone
in your behaviour assessment of the Mammoth weekend crowd.
Weekend yahoos are present at every mountain, but Mammoth
gets much more than it's fair share.

Amusing - in your first post you said you'd never been there? And yet
you now claim fore-knowledge?

Mammoth is in the North Am Big Five, and is otherwise no different than
anywhere, except some of the LA crowd wears makeup and jewelry while
skiing (mostly women,) which kind of bemused the wife the first couple
times we went racing at Mammoth. Boarders are a pain only in that they
scrape the fresh off the steeps - at Mammoth there is just too much
steep for sideslipping boarders to make a major impact on snow
conditions. Attitudes are peculiar to the individuals involved; not
particular to their equipment.

As I and everyone else who knows anything said, just get away from the
base lifts, and there are no crowds.