Mammoth Mountain

Mammoth Mountain 11,053′
Sierra Nevada
Total Time: 1:53
Distance: 4.1
Elevation Gain: 2620′
Crux: Class 1
Trailhead: Mammoth Mountain Inn, full services
Companions: Holly

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Mammoth Mountain will always have a special place in my heart. Holly and I were married at the base in Forest Chapel in 2016, and had our reception half way up the mountain. I had been to the summit a number of times but had always taken the Gondola up. In fact, in Secor’s The High Sierra: Peaks, Passes and Trails, he states that “the easiest route to the top is Gondola #2.” But I have a personal policy that I don’t count drive ups and chair lifts unless it’s the only way to the top, and have never actually hiked to the summit of Mammoth Mountain before. So to more formally tick off this very special mountain, we decided to spend part of our first day hiking to the peak via the standard trail from the Inn. Between leaving Vegas in morning traffic and stopping for lunch and a wilderness permit in Bishop, we didn’t actually start up the Mammoth Mountain trail until after 2:30 PM, utilizing the trail heading up the northwest slopes of the mountain starting from the inn.

It wasn’t until after we started that I thought to check the closing times for the gondola, which I had incorrectly remembered as 5:30. It was actually 4:30, meaning we had to ascend over 2,600′ in about 4 miles without acclimatization and a bum ankle in under 2 hours, or face walking down. Not the worst fate in the world, so we continued on, but with a bit more hustle. Although I thought we’d be traversing the ski slopes and in the constant line of fire from the downhill bikes, the trail actually deliberately skirted through patches of forest, the aggressive cyclists often out of sight and never using the same, hiker-only trail we were on.

The trail began to climb a bit steeper up a shallow ridgeline, passing by a small lake on the west side of the mountain that I later learned was called Reds Lake. As we climbed above the lake, the views opened up to the Ritter Range, with our first views of the Minarets, Mount Ritter and Banner Peak just to the west.

The summit station came into view, looking a bit farther than we had hoped considering we wanted to catch the gondola down, and we pushed on without much of a break. The trees thinned in the upper reaches of the mountain, and the view improved with every step despite the smoke from the Springs Fire to the northeast.

The trail took a wide switchback to the east, and with only a few minutes to spare, we cut the last switchback to reach the summit station…. at 4:32. There were a few people milling about, and it seemed unlikely that they would turn us away for being a few minutes late, especially if I hiked up my pant leg to show the brace I hobbled up in. We took a few quick pictures by the summit sign before hopping in the gondola back down to the inn.

From there, we drove to Minaret Vista to enjoy the afternoon lighting and some cold beers for our first evening back in Mammoth Lakes.