Ski Mammoth: resort guide - Telegraph The place is entirely geared to driving, with no discernible centre - hotels, restaurants and little shopping centres are scattered along the four-lane highway called Main Street and Old Mammoth Road, which crosses it. The resort buildings are generally timber-clad in traditional style - even the local McDonald's has been tastefully designed - and are set among trees. So although it may be short on village ambience, the place has a pleasant enough appearance - particularly when under several feet of snow, which it often is. The Village is car-free, and neatly designed. Convenience Canyon Lodge is closest Two lift bases are both a mile or two from most of the hotels and condos. The major one is Canyon Lodge, with a big day lodge and hotels and condos in the area below it. The Village is linked to Canyon Lodge by a gondola, so is a fairly convenient base. You can ski back on a green run too - though it is very flat in parts. The minor base is Eagle Lodge (aka Juniper Springs, which is strictly the name of the adjacent condos). A road skirts the mountain to two other major base areas: Mill Cafe, and Main Lodge, a mini-resort with a big day lodge. You can stay here, in the Mammoth Mountain Inn; but you are then four miles from the 50+ restaurants in Mammoth Lakes. "Fantastic, reliable, frequent and free" shuttle-buses run on several colour-coded routes serving the lift bases. Night buses run until midnight. But a car is useful. Scenery Hint of the Alpine The resort has a wooded setting below open Alpine style ridges. From the top there are great views north-east into Nevada, and of the jagged Minarets to the west ("wow, wow and wow again," says a 2012 reporter). Snow reliability A long season Mammoth has an impressive snow record - an annual average of 385 inches, which puts it ahead of major Colorado resorts and about on a par with Jackson Hole. Its slopes are appreciably higher than those of the Tahoe resorts, and it has an ever-expanding array of snow-guns, so it enjoys a long season - it sometimes has slopes open on 4 July, and even with last season's poor snow, skiing was possible till late May. The mountain faces roughly north-east; the relatively low and slightly sunny slopes down to Eagle Lodge are affected by warm weather before others. Strong winds are not uncommon on the upper mountain, and the snow quality can be affected. But you may find powder is just shifted down the hill. Visitors in 2012 reported excellent grooming. Last year's weekly snowfall provided by the Ski Club of Great Britain Schools and guides More reports needed We have no recent reports. But there are "workshops" with a maximum of four guests and three-day "camps" (eg park and pipe, moguls and over-50s). For families Family favourite Mammoth is keen to attract families. The focal points are the Woolly's Forest childcare centres at the Mammoth Mountain Inn at the Main Lodge area and at the Village, with comprehensive facilities for children up to six years old. Kids from age three can have ski lessons, and there are four Kids Adventure zones with fun features for skiers and boarders, two non-skiing Play Zones and a new tubing park with its own lift. more on Skiing in America