Your Guide to Mammoth Mountain Parking

Mammoth Mountain Parking

Once you get your first look at Mammoth Mountain on your drive in, you’ll have a hard time taking your eyes off it. The problem is, you’re not the only one.

Mammoth Mountain attracts people from all over the world every winter thanks to its long season and storms that dump feet instead of inches, but there are only so many places all those visitors can park near the mountain. If you’re too focused on being on the mountain instead of getting there, then the limited parking will be a rude awakening. To help you get to the snow as fast as possible, we’ve put together a short guide to parking at Mammoth Mountain below. Check it out before you visit Mammoth Mountain!

Mammoth Mountain Parking

The good news is that there is parking near Mammoth Mountain’s lodges and lifts. The bad news is that the demand for those spots makes getting one extremely competitive. For this reason, we recommend taking advantage of Mammoth Mountain’s free shuttle service so you can park away from the mountain but still have easy access to the slopes. The Eastern Sierra Transit Authority also offers routes that drop passengers near Mammoth Mountain’s lodges and lifts.

If you’re determined to park near Mammoth Mountain though, then you’ll need to make a plan the night before. The lifts open at 8:30 am and you can expect plenty of people to be looking for a parking spot by then. As a result, you’ll need to get up early and arrive by 8:30 in the morning to find a parking spot near the lifts. If you don’t then you’ll have a hard time finding parking close to a lift since street parking is not allowed during winter due to snow removal.

Another option is to take the parking shuttle. Mammoth Mountain provides a free parking shuttle that runs from 7 am to 5 pm everyday between Main lodge and parking locations along Minaret Road and Highway 23.

The pickup and drop-off areas are designated by a blue flag with a letter for your parking stop. Make sure you remember what stop you’re picked up at so you’ll be able to tell the shuttle driver where to stop at the end of the day. The shuttle departs every ten minutes, but the driver will only stop if they see people waiting. As tempting as it may be to play in the snow, make sure that you stay visible by the stop so you don’t miss your shuttle. Click here for more information about the Mammoth Mountain Parking Shuttle.

Be sure to check out the parking maps at the link above for even more parking information!

Parking Near the Mountain

Mammoth Mountain’s nearest parking spots are those at the lodges, but after that you’ll have a hard time finding anywhere to park thanks to snow removal and the other parking spots belonging to local businesses or residents. Don’t think you can get around the parking jam by camping overnight either, because overnight parking is not allowed on Mammoth Mountain property. Car campers should look into a SNO-PARK permit that allows daily or seasonal parking. The SNO-PARK location closest to Mammoth Mountain is nearly 30 miles away, but if you use the shuttle system you may be able to save yourself from worrying about parking at all.

Some local businesses may offer Mammoth Mountain overflow parking but you will still need to take a shuttle to get to the mountain, so make sure you look at the local shuttle route mapahead of your visit!

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