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Going to Mammoth for the first time time.... (LONG)

jebfour

Turbo Monkey
Jun 19, 2003
2,059
1,400
CLT, NC
Going to Mammoth this Labor Day weekend. A friend gave me a map of the place with last years trails, but unfortunately it doesn't say where you have to climb....

I'll be doing most of my riding with my wife...and while she is better than she thinks she is, I want to help build her confidence, not scare her. I can say this; she hates to climb! And to be honest I can't blame here because I don't care for it either.

Can anyone suggest a few easy/moderate runs that have very little climbing yet something here and there to keep me interested (I like mellow freeride/DH and aggressive trails). We can build up to more difficult trails as she feels comfortable (like I said, she's better than she thinks she is).

Looking at the map, It looks like "off the top" to "Beach Cruiser" might be a good first run. After that, I was thinking about taking "Brake Through" and maybe hitting it again and adding in the "Seven Bridges" to the mix. I figure that once we get a feel for the place, we can "spice it up" on our second day...

On the trails that I mentioned:

Is there much climbing (excuse me...pushing)? I figure the place has chairlifts and I want to use 'em.

Not too boring, but not too tough...

Something to keep both of us entertained....

If it helps to give an idea, I ride a Giant AC1 and she rides a Specialized Hardrock hardtail (I forget which one, but one of the better ones)

Thanks for any and all help!!

jeb4 :thumb:
 

BillT

Monkey
If you take the lifts, there are multiple runs that have little to no climbing.

For your first run with the wife, take the gondola to the mid-point (McCoy Station), get off there, and take the trail called Trail Home. If she does well at that, on the next run take the gondola to the top and do Off the Top to Beachcruiser to Downtown (there's a small climb in Beachcruiser and towards the beginning of Downtown).
 

Zutroy

Turbo Monkey
Dec 9, 2004
2,443
0
Ventura,CA
jeb4 said:
Going to Mammoth this Labor Day weekend. A friend gave me a map of the place with last years trails, but unfortunately it doesn't say where you have to climb....

I'll be doing most of my riding with my wife...and while she is better than she thinks she is, I want to help build her confidence, not scare her. I can say this; she hates to climb! And to be honest I can't blame here because I don't care for it either.

Can anyone suggest a few easy/moderate runs that have very little climbing yet something here and there to keep me interested (I like mellow freeride/DH and aggressive trails). We can build up to more difficult trails as she feels comfortable (like I said, she's better than she thinks she is).

Looking at the map, It looks like "off the top" to "Beach Cruiser" might be a good first run. After that, I was thinking about taking "Brake Through" and maybe hitting it again and adding in the "Seven Bridges" to the mix. I figure that once we get a feel for the place, we can "spice it up" on our second day...

On the trails that I mentioned:

Is there much climbing (excuse me...pushing)? I figure the place has chairlifts and I want to use 'em.

Not too boring, but not too tough...

Something to keep both of us entertained....

If it helps to give an idea, I ride a Giant AC1 and she rides a Specialized Hardrock hardtail (I forget which one, but one of the better ones)

Thanks for any and all help!!

jeb4 :thumb:
You've got a good plan there. Off the top to Beach crusier is a great fun warm up trail. Breakthrough and seven bridges is fun. Shotgun can be run on a hardtail, they use it for XC races.
 

zmtber

Turbo Monkey
Aug 13, 2005
2,435
0
i think flow has an up hill and then a good long run down to the village or maybe its called something else it behind the sulfur lake in the macoy station i am not sure so you will have to check yourself www.mammothmountain.com
 

Fshflys

Monkey
Jun 29, 2005
139
1
Off the Top is a good first run. If it's early in the day, beware of much cooler temps at the top of the mountain. If you get there for your first days run at mid day, consider buying a 2 lift pass, ie only 2 lifts for the day, either 2 gondola ride or 2 shuttle ride, or a gondola & a shuttle ride. The Off the Top trail will take an intermediate rider a little more than an hour, & remember you're at altitude so that small climb in the middle of the run can produce some heavy breathing. For your second run, do Downtown, it's real flowey, you're in the trees, lots of fun. That'll take 30 - 40 mins. For an intermediate rider, that could do you for you're first day's runs. Remember, when you buy a ticket, that allows you access to all the trails on the mountain for the day so even if you have used up your 2 lifts, you're still entitled to use the trails the rest of the day. A good use for this would be to drive up to the lodge, do 2 gondola rides with you wife, then if you want more, take the Downtown trail & have your wife pick you up in town by the village. If you want to be more aggressive, buy the 2 day pass & go for it.
 

freeridermtb4

Monkey
Aug 27, 2005
132
0
yea check out the kamikaze park, i want to go on it but have no money to get up there, anyone have pics of the doubles, ladders, and everything else i want to see, o yea try chainsmoke lol
 

Slugman

Frankenbike
Apr 29, 2004
4,024
0
Miami, FL
Damn... Forgot that you were heading up there - I could have given you some suggestions of what NOT to ride :blah:

Hope you had a good trip and it was less eventful than mine.
 

Orvan

....................
Mar 5, 2002
1,492
2
Califor-N.I.A.
Slugman said:
Damn... Forgot that you were heading up there - I could have given you some suggestions of what NOT to ride :blah:

Hope you had a good trip and it was less eventful than mine.
Oh I was thinking of your spill when I rode the coffins on Sunday.. they are actually pretty fun to pump and the last one is a good jump -if nothing else. The rest of Chainsmoke was fun except the last rock drop that kinda f-d me up pretty good.
 

jebfour

Turbo Monkey
Jun 19, 2003
2,059
1,400
CLT, NC
Slugman said:
Damn... Forgot that you were heading up there - I could have given you some suggestions of what NOT to ride :blah:

Hope you had a good trip and it was less eventful than mine.
Much less eventful! We had a good time...I rode all day Saturday with the wife on the "intermediate trails" and then she rode a quick ride with me Sunday morning, but then she was plenty worn out and called it quits. The rest of the afternoon she was sipping Sierra Nevadas at the lounge while I hit the harder stuff.

Although I used my butt for a break on Velocity (didn't see how steep the wooden ramp thing was :mumble: ) I had a really good time. I rode a trail called DC-10 a couple times that I thought was a lot of fun....

I see what you mean about the "kitty litter" type dirt. A little annoying, but a small price to pay for a ride to the top! The worst things about the trip was freezing my nuts off camping out at June lake and letting the wife take my AC for a run......now she wants one :p

Also...I was standing in the line for the gondola and there was some guy at the bottom yelling "Orvan! Orvan!". I recognized the name from these boards so I looked to see who this guy was yelling for...well Orvan, if I never ride with you, at least I know what you look like now!