Mammoth Mountain on Monday, November 17. Photo: Mammoth Mountain
Mammoth Mountain declared Thursday, November 20 its new opening day, following a short pause in original plans to start the 2025-2026 winter. The original opening day was set for Friday, November 14 and then moved back 24 hours in anticipation of a massive storm hitting the West Coast. Then, on Thursday evening, the resort announced it wouldn’t open for Saturday either, as conditions weren’t as cold as expected and snowfall was minimal.
Assuming the third time’s the charm, Mammoth’s Thursday opening day should make it the first resort to begin the winter season in California, beating out South Lake Tahoe’s Heavenly by one day.
“Mammoth Mountain will open for skiing and riding this Thursday, November 20,” they announced on social media Monday afternoon. “Thanks to the teamwork of Mother Nature and our snowmaking crews, these colder temps have enabled us to make substantial progress on our base. Stay tuned for a full operational plan over the next couple of days.”
The resort is reporting four inches of new snow at the Main Lodge as of Monday afternoon with another four on the way in the coming days. That’s welcome, albeit disappointing, news compared to the anticipation set just a week ago. At the time, the atmospheric river headed toward California was predicted to see snow levels “start high, near 7,500–8,500 feet early Thursday, then fall to around 6,000 feet by Thursday night and hold near that level Friday, improving base-area coverage.” Instead, as of Thursday evening, the only snow seen was near the summit. It wasn’t until Friday morning when snow levels started coming down to the Main Lodge (8,909 feet) and McCoy Station (9,630 feet). Meanwhile, cams at places like Eagle Lodge (just under 8,000 feet) saw no snow. Fast forward through a full weekend storm and Mammoth’s cams are looking like winter has finally started.
A side-by-side comparison of McCoy Station (9,630 feet) and Eagle Lodge (7,953 feet) just before 9 am on Friday morning. Snow levels were expected to be at 6,000 feet by Thursday evening.
