Park City vs. Mammoth

J

Johanm

New member
Hey.

Im a danish guy who is going to spend a season on skis next winter, with a few friends. Some of my friends wants to go to Park City in Utah and some others wanna go to Mammoth in California. Can anyone help us with a few pros and cons for the two places?

I have been told this already.

Mammoth: Less powder, better park, more sunshine, close to LA for some sightseeing :)

Park city: More powder, bigger, big park but not as big as Mammoth's, close to other mountains.

Any info would be nice. Thanks
 
I have never been to either so my opinion is based on what I have read in magazines, on here and heard from other people. Mammoth has a way longer season and some pretty gnar inbounds skiing. I have seen some pretty sick TRs from people on TGR from Mammoth.
 
I don't know where you got your facts but Mammoth has been absolutely getting hammered this year. We go 4.5 feet in 2 days last week. More snow on the way Mon-Weds. Shits going off in Mamm this year, I've just been here for couple weeks. Plus Mammoth's parks are insane. PC has nice parks but Mammoth has way sicker terrain, I had no clue there was such crazy shit here (cliffs and bowls, unbelievable glades and whatnot).
 
Word man, older ski bums have told me that Mammoth was as popular in the 80s and 90s for gnar terrain as it is now for parks. Hopefully I will get to experience it this spring!
 
mammoth is in the middle of fucking no where, park city is a half hour from salt lake and has a nice town of its own

ive never skied mammoth but park city is flat as FUCK and im just speculating mammoth is much better for the powder aspect

then again you could drive an hour from the park city area and be in little or big cottonwood with is some of the best skiing in the world

i dont know just some stuff to help you decide again ive never been to mammoth so i could be completely off
 
Nah, 2 week spring break in March and I am done with school mid May so I would like to make the trip in either March or May.
 
40 minutes to snowbird and alta, i have neven been to mammoth buck i really doubt it's as good as those two.

the park in mammoth is probably bigger but who cares, park city is big enough
 
good thing about Utah is that if you live in salt lake there are 7 mountains within a half hour. Snowbird, alta, solitude, brighton, pc, canyons, deer valley. More variety I guess.
 
If you want sicky parks and booters then PC all the way baby! I wouldn' trust goin' there for the powder. And watch out for all the Punk ass PC bred young skiiers!
 
How about the weather in PC?

I love skiing in sunshine, and i read somewhere that mammoth had and average of 300 sunny days a year, but i can't find any info on PC's
 
It isn't even a contest. the only reason you would be in PC is if you want to be near an airport to get the funk out of there. If you have a car utah can be sick but you drive everywhere.
 
mammoth is a city of its own too! quick 3 hr. drive to Reno, 4.5 to LA, and som eof the sickest conditions out there. one massive park and one medium, so much gnar everywhere (cliffs, trees, chutes etc.)
 
I've lived and skied both places a lot. Mammoth has a way better park. Park City is an all-around shitshow. East coast. For pow, the Cottonwood Canyons have better inbounds terrain than Mammoth.
 
I've lived both places too
Mammoth Pros:AMAZING park, pretty much all the time. The mountain is really sick too for pow days. Way more snow than PC. In the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a GIANT beautiful mountain range, so much outdoors stuff to do. Lots and lots of sunny days
Mammoth Cons:Heavier snow than PC, often more windy, in the middle of nowhere urban, near no cities, if that's your thing

PC pros: Lighter snow, more people to crew up with, less people (but not by a lot), nearby Salt Lake City, you can get to Alta, Snowbird, and Solitude in about an hour if you want some killer in-bounds terrain and very accessible BC.
PC cons: Not as good or large of a park (some disagree), Less snow, less good terrain.
 
mammoth gets hammered!! the sierras usually get a hefty amount of snow.

The weather can be intense when it gets bad. The pacific storms can be awfully damn potent.

The park is a blast. Plus, you have june not too far away with some fantastic park action and less crowds (I havent been there in a while, but june was always a blast). But it is far as shit from any major city, which may be a nice thing. I found it a big bonus when I was there.

park city... well at least you'd be close to alta and stuff. very different scene in my experience (and one that I don't really think works for just skiing for a season).

Personally, I'd go mammoth. Lots of snow, great parks, still relatively easy access to reno, tahoe, vegas, but pretty much its own little sanctuary (except on holiday weekends).
 
ive only been to mammoth, its an experience.

but since i havnt been to pc, i can't compare with out bias.

mammoth : 3500 skiable acres

pc : 3300 skiable acres

mammoth does have june mountain next to it for a lil variety. and yeh amazing mountain range scenery.

check out "i ride park city" if you wanna see whats goin down over there.

also you may want to consider colorado ( copper mountain, breck, vail, keystone, etc) and lake tahoe
 
Park City is terrible. The Netherlands probably has better ski terrain. The Canyon's park is more fun in my opinion.
 
My friends and I has been in the US for 3 months now, just skiing and bumming around like you will do, and I have some advise for you.
1. Buy a car. If you're over for the season, you don't wanna be stuck in one place the entire time. And you can't really get anywhere without a car in the US, so having a car gives you the possibillity to move around a lot more. We've been to Breck, Keystone, Vail, Park City, and Bear (Colorado, Utah and Cali).
I am so happy we've been traveling around, you get to see a lot of the country, meet a lot of different people and I think you'll get way more out of the trip than if you just stay in one place all the time. Two friends of mine were in Mammoth for three months last year, and they really regret not moving around.
2.Buy a camera, of course. They are really cheap here compared to Denmark (or Norway where I'm from). Make sure you get a PAL camera, not NTSC. check outhttp://www.bhphotovideo.com/ . they have everything.
3.Check out Breck/Keystone while you're here. By far the best place we've been on our trip. We didn't go to Mammoth though, whick kinda sucks, but Breck is just crazy. Cool town too.
4.Get fake ID's!! (I'm just assuming you're not 21 yet). search google for fakeid.co.uk..........It has really helped us while we've been here. Believe me, it's soooo worth it. Just don't get caught, I don't think they take too kindly to that over here.
5.Go to San Diego/LA or something like that and rent surfboards for a couple of days. None of us had ever surfed before, but it's definitely one of the coolest thing i've ever done. This is a MUST-THING-TO-DO while you're here.
6.Get friendly with people. People here will talk to you whenever, and 99% are really nice people and loves europeans (especially the ladies). We've gotten to know a lot of people that way, which is a lot of fun. Chairlifts are a great place to meet people.
Hope my post was helpful, you should definitely do all the things I mentioned. And remember, no matter where you go you will have an amazing time. Enjoy it!!!
 
Thanks alot for the info. +karma!

where did you live while traveling? A think that made me want to stay one place was that me and my friends would have a house there for 6 months.

And how much did it cost, when you moved around alot?
 
I would pick PC

1. pretty sick park most of the time

2. if you get a place somewhere in PC, there's a free public transportation system that goes all over, including Deer Valley, PC, The Canyons, to name a few

3. the night-life in downtown PC is AWESOME!!!

4. lots of ppl from all over the world, which creates for a very diverse group of individuals in town

5. close to several other places (as mentioned before)

6. minute away from Deer Valley, and about 15 mins away from the Canyons

7. kinda touristy, but they only ski the blues and groomers, so if you get out early onto the chutes of trees after snowfall, you can be rest assured ur gonna get some untracked stuff

just my two cents

I am moving to PC this summer

I love the hell out of that place!!

Best of luck in wherever you end up!!
 
This is pretty much what I would have said. Mammoth has sick in bounds terrain, gets lots of snow. If the other areas were not within an hour, I would say Mammoth for sure. The reason to live in Park City is the town or the park. The other Utah areas mentioned have better terrain.
 
no problem at all.
We lived in different houses we rented. We've been between 5-13 people all the time, so the rent wasn't that expensive. It's for sure cheaper to just stay in one place all the time, but I really think the moving around was worth it.
All in all, the car included, our three month trip was around $7000 with todays dollar/norwegian kroners rate. But if you want you can do it for much cheaper, especially if you stay in one place all the time and don't buy loads of clothes and stuff like that like we did.
Another tip I forgot in my other post is buying season passes in advance. Go online early and check what the deals are like. Don't know if Mammoth has a deal like that, but i'm sure they do. We saved mad $$$ this way.

 
Do it right now! Mammoth has their MVP passes for sale (from April 1 until they sell out I believe), which are a great deal. ~$560, unlimited pass to Mammoth and June.
 
There are to many people in utah now if it was 4 years a go i would say PC all the way. Mammoth has an unreal park and every one there is allot more chill. you can buy weed legally in cali.
 
Ive never been to a real mountain but i bet they suck pretty bad... My favorite thing to do is build jumps outside on small hills when i go and visit places with snow like Massachusetts
 
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