Mammoth Mountain Ski Area

California's famous Mammoth Mountain

Don’t let the ‘Ski Area’ in the title fool you. Mammoth Mountain, located in Mammoth Lakes, California, is only a short one-hour plane ride from nearby Los Angeles. While the scenic flight itself would be enough to make the trek, the mountain speaks for itself.

Garrett Warnick boosts huge on this backside air transfer

Over 1000 meters of vertical consisting of bowls, chutes, trees and perfect corduroy the mountain offers it all. In the snowboard realm, however, its most famous for boasting some of the best terrain parks in the country with the Mammoth Unbound parks catering from the beginner up too the worlds best riders. When in full swing 11 parks cover the entire resort consisting of small and playful parks up the main XL park (and everything in between), which is regularly seen featuring in some of the most progressive park edits to date.

But it’s not just the parks that make Mammoth famous. The area has pumped out riders such as John and Eric Jackson, both of whom have taken out Transworld’s “Rider of the Year” and “Video Part of the Year”, illustrating the freeride terrain that the resort has to offer.

The location itself sits perfectly in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, benefiting from the active Pacific Ocean snowfall, but also coping plenty of that California sun. 400” of annual snowfall and you will find yourself with plenty of bluebird pow days.

400" of annual snow will give you plenty of time in the white room

The area is also a ‘hotbed’ for volcanic activity and contains plenty of natural hot springs and rivers to cap off a day on the slopes. Nothing better for the muscles than a natural soak followed by a strong session in one of the many bars the town has to offer.

The season runs longer than most; well into May and sometimes June, so pack your wetsuit and you can even fit the double surf/snow day in somewhere along the West Coast.

Kelly Clark with her trademark amplitude in the Mammoth Unbound Pipe