Mammoth Mountain: the back story

About Mammoth Mountain: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Ski Resorts Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

In 1946 ski-industry experts surveyed Mammoth Mountain and pronounced it a terrible place to ski. Dave McCoy spent the next fifty years proving them wrong, from a T-bar in 1953 to the first chairlift on Thanksgiving Day 1955, and the volcano on the rim of the Long Valley Caldera became one of the great ski mountains of the American West.

A terrible place to ski

Visit Mammoth tells the story with relish: in 1946, experts from the ski industry surveyed Mammoth Mountain and officially declared it a terrible place for skiing. It sits on the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada, far from the cities, on the rim of the ancient Long Valley Caldera, and its weather arrives straight off the Pacific.

Dave McCoy

The man who disagreed was Dave McCoy, a scrappy child of the Great Depression who fell for the mountain and spent, in the town's words, fifty years working tirelessly to turn it into what it is today. He even dreamed of linking Mammoth with June Mountain across the San Joaquin ridge, a plan that never quite came true.

For fifty years he worked to turn Mammoth Mountain into what it is today.

Chair 1

A T-bar served the slopes from 1953. Then, in the mountain's third winter, a team led by McCoy built Mammoth's first chairlift, Chair 1, a double with room for 900 riders an hour. It opened on Thanksgiving Day 1955, and about 2,000 skiers came. The line was rebuilt as a high-speed quad in 1988 and is now being replaced by a six-seat chair with enclosed terminals.

The mountain today

Mammoth now has more than 3,500 acres, 25 lifts and 181 trails. The Panorama Gondola climbs to 11,053 feet, where Eleven53 Café looks out over the Sierra, and the Village Gondola links the mountain with the shops and restaurants of the Village in town. Its sister resort, June Mountain, has 1,500 quieter acres to the north.

A long season

Altitude is Mammoth's gift. The 2026/27 season starts on Friday 13 November 2026, and the mountain is known for skiing that carries on deep into spring, when the Eastern Sierra sun turns the morning corduroy to soft snow by lunch.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Mammoth Mountain: the back story before you go.