Mammoth Lakes

Paiute and other Native peoples lived in and travelled through the area long before European-American settlement. In 1877 four prospectors staked a claim on Mineral Hill, south of the present town, and in 1878 the Mammoth Mining Company was organised, setting off a gold rush. By the end of 1878 about 1,500 people lived in the camp of Mammoth City, but heavy snow, the company's closure in 1880 and a fire that year emptied it, and by 1888 fewer than ten people remained.

By the early 1900s a small settlement, now known as Old Mammoth, had grown up near Mammoth Creek, and the completion of Highway 203 in 1937 drew businesses north to the present town site. The modern town grew with skiing. Dave McCoy, a hydrographer for the Los Angeles water department, set up a rope tow on McGee Mountain in 1938 and one on Mammoth Mountain in 1942; he obtained a Forest Service permit for Mammoth in 1953 and opened the first chairlift in 1955. Paved roads and Highway 395 made the mountain reachable from Southern California, and lodges, motels and condominiums followed.

In 1980 a strong earthquake swarm and ground uplift beneath the Long Valley Caldera raised concerns about volcanic activity, and later carbon dioxide seeping from the mountain began killing trees around Horseshoe Lake. McCoy sold his stake in the ski area in 2005, and in 2017 it passed to the resort group Alterra, which runs it alongside other North American mountains.

Life here revolves around the mountain and the seasons. In winter the town is a ski resort of early starts, crowded lift lines on holiday weekends and après-ski in the Village; in summer it turns into a base for hiking, fishing, climbing and mountain biking. Many locals came for a season and stayed, and an outdoors identity — skiing, trail running, backcountry trips — runs through almost everything.

Most visitors come from Southern California, and Mammoth is the easiest major ski resort to reach from Los Angeles, a weekend destination reached by a long drive up Highway 395. Professional and Olympic snowboarders and skiers have trained here, and the terrain parks have hosted international competitions.

The wider eastern Sierra has a distinct culture of open space and small towns, with ranching in the valleys, Paiute communities and public land managed by the Forest Service, the National Park Service and the Los Angeles water department, whose aqueduct draws water from the region. Respect for the land — packing out rubbish, keeping food away from bears, staying on trails — is taken seriously.

About 7,000 people lived in Mammoth Lakes at the 2020 census, the only incorporated town in Mono County, but the number of people in town can multiply on holiday weekends when second-home owners and visitors arrive. Much of the housing is condominiums and holiday homes, and many properties stand empty for part of the year.

Tourism is the whole economy. The ski area, the restaurants, lodging, shops and outdoor guides employ most workers, many of them seasonal; numbers of staff swell in winter and drop in spring. Housing for workers is a persistent problem: at the 2020 census more than two-thirds of the town's homes were counted as vacant, and the growth of the ski area has pushed up housing costs.

Winter shapes daily routines: digging out cars, clearing roofs of snow, school and work arranged around storms. A big winter can bring snow banks higher than the houses. Summer is busy but relaxed, with locals on trails and lakes before work, and spring and autumn are quieter months when some businesses close and residents take their own holidays.

Mammoth's food is mountain-town food: hearty breakfasts before the lifts open, burgers and pizza, Mexican restaurants, and bakeries and coffee shops serving skiers and hikers. Après-ski bars in the Village and along Main Street fill up when the lifts close, and the local craft brewery, founded in 1995, has its tasting room in town.

The eastern Sierra's ranching and fishing traditions show in steak and trout on menus; trout is stocked in many of the lakes and creeks, and some anglers cook their catch at campsites. Bishop, further south on Highway 395, is the nearest larger town.

Along Highway 395 a stop for food is part of the trip. North of town, the Whoa Nellie Deli in a petrol station at Lee Vining, above Mono Lake, has a reputation far larger than its setting would suggest. In summer, farmers' markets and outdoor events bring produce, barbecue and food trucks to town.