BACK OF THE LINE!

Published in the July 26, 2025 Edition.

Mammoth Mountain Ski Area (MMSA) has indefinitely postponed its Main Lodge renovation project, after running into “roadblock after roadblock” in the design process, CEO Eric Clark told The Sheet Wednesday. 

The project was once pitched as a sweeping transformation of the Main Base area — rerouting Highway 203, demolishing the existing ski lodge and Mammoth Mountain Inn, and replacing them with a “ski beach,” boutique hotels, and new retail shops — but MMSA has now told its partners to put the plan on hold. 

“We’re not ready to put a new plan out there,” Clark said of MMSA’s message to the Town of Mammoth Lakes. “So in that sense, we discontinued that process. But we’re still going through our process, and we just know it’s going to take a little bit longer.” 

MMSA first submitted a conceptual plan in 2021, triggering a joint environmental review led by the Town and U.S. Forest Service, as required by both state and federal law. Though the review began in 2022, it never progressed past the public scoping phase. 

Internally, MMSA has redesigned the project multiple times and scaled it back significantly. 

“We refer to it as ‘Evolving Main,’ and it’s certainly been just that,” Clark said. “Constantly evolving in the design process.” 

The company has abandoned plans to create a full commercial center at the base, worried it would compete with the existing Village at Mammoth. It also dropped its proposal to reroute Highway 203, which Clark said introduced “an 

“an amazing amount of hurdles” that became apparent during the fall and winter of 2023–24.

That’s when MMSA first hit pause. Now, Clark says, the latest pullback is simply a continuation of that pause as the company works internally “to answer some of the questions that need to be answered.” 

But the hold also comes as MMSA’s parent company, Alterra Mountain Company, is investing in resort expansions elsewhere in North America. 

At Deer Valley, Alterra plans to add over 3,700 acres of skiable terrain, 16 new lifts, and upgraded skier services at the base area. Construction is set to begin next year at Winter Park to expand terrain and redesign its base village, and Steamboat recently unveiled a brand-new base area featuring an ice rink. 

Clark said he doesn’t see the pause as a sign Alterra is shifting its focus away from Mammoth. 

“We’re learning a lot from Deer Valley, Winter Park, Steamboat,” he said. “And part of those learnings has led us to take an even greater pause in our redesign. It allows us to make better decisions about what the best possible project could look like for our employees, our guests, our community, and our stakeholders.” 

But, plainly speaking, he also suggested that the potential revenue gains from the investment may not justify the project’s steep price tag. At least not for the time being. 

“These projects are really hard to make work, and you’re lucky if you break even on them,” he said. “The risks today are extraordinarily high, construction costs are continuing to jump, and there’s uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment.” 

Mammoth Mountain is already one of Alterra’s most profitable resorts. It has 1.3 million skier visits annually, a figure Powder magazine estimates makes it the 6th most popular resort in the nation, and Wall Street Journal placed it the 7th best ski resort in North America this year. 

And significant development is already underway in town, with the Limelight Hotel & Residences, set to open this winter and Rocksprings condominiums under construction. 

So for many, MMSA’s decision to step back isn’t exactly a surprise. But when, or if, the company will return to the Main Lodge project remains to be seen.