When the snow starts to fall on Mammoth Mountain, the entire world comes to town to ski it.
Unfortunately, the snow doesn’t only fall on the slopes, and if your journey to Mammoth Lakes includes driving on snowy roads then you’ll need to know where to find Mammoth road conditions and other important information to stay safe while traveling.
The Mammoth Bound team has the links you’ll need to find Mammoth road conditions below, so check them out before your next visit to make your drive as safe as possible!
If you’re the type of person who likes detailed and consistent updates, then the Cal Trans District 9 Twitter account is the resource for you.
Cal Trans is the organization responsible for maintaining state roads in California during snowfall, and in extreme cases they’re also responsible for running chain controls or closing roads.
District 9 is the district with the roads leading to Mammoth Lakes in it, so the account linked above is the best way to get detailed updates on the roads surrounding Mammoth Lakes as soon as they’re available.
Another great way to check on the road conditions around Mammoth Lakes is with the Cal Trans road information page linked above.
When you click above, you’ll see a search bar. If you enter 395, then you’ll see any closures or chain controls for the highway that you must drive on at some point of you’re going to drive to Mammoth Lakes.
If you’re coming from a different direction that does not require you to spend as much time on Highway 395, then you can enter the route number in the search bar and see updates for your route there as well.
For the unfamiliar, chain controls can be difficult to understand. Fortunately, the page linked above goes in detail about the different types of chain controls you may see on your way to Mammoth Lakes.
For example, there are three different types of chain controls, each with different degrees of severity. R1 and R2 are what you’re most likely to see, but they have different requirements for chains to be put on your car.
Whether you need to install chains depends on your car, your tires, and the conditions, but regardless of any of those things you should always carry chains that you know how to install when driving through the mountains in winter.
If you hit a chain control checkpoint and need to install chains, then you will be doing so by the side of an active highway, maybe even with snow falling. That’s not somewhere you want to be for long or reading a set of instructions with your cellphone’s flashlight, so practice installing your chains in your driveway before hitting the highway.
Don’t forget that you cannot drive over 30 MPH with chains installed, otherwise you may damage the chains or your car!