Each part of Mammoth Lakes shuts for the fall on its own agency's calendar. Reds Meadow goes first, under a Forest Service order. Next comes a ski-pass deadline. Winter starts with one lodge and one bus line on the same Friday morning, and the lakes still have two more days of trout season after that.
So the useful calendar for the next few weeks is a list of dates, each set by a different agency, rather than a countdown to first chair:
- Friday, October 30: The Haunted Rink at the Community Recreation Center opens Halloween weekend.
- Sunday, November 1, 11 p.m.: Reds Meadow Road closes completely through the end of the year.
- Tuesday, November 3: Last day for half-price Ikon Friends & Family tickets.
- Friday, November 13: Opening Day at Main Lodge, and the ESTA Red Line starts winter service.
- Sunday, November 15: Last day of catch-and-keep trout fishing in the Lakes Basin and at Crowley Lake.
The outer edge is already closed
Visit Mammoth's activity updates page shows how far the closures have reached. The Lakes Basin marinas are closed for the winter. So are the Mammoth Bike Park, both golf courses and the Mammoth Lakes Pack Outfit. On the mountain side, the same page lists Canyon Lodge, Eagle Lodge, The Mill and the Village Gondola as closed. Mammoth Mountain says each will open when weather and snow allow. Tamarack Cross Country Ski Center has no reopening date posted, and Mammoth Snowmobile Adventures is listed as closed until December 11.
Some outlying roads are still open. When Visit Mammoth last updated its road conditions page, Lakes Basin Road and Tioga Pass were both open. Neither has a published closure date for this season, and the page warns that status can change. Caltrans reported no restrictions on State Route 120 in the Sierra Nevada as of its October 19, 2026 update. Weather will decide those two roads, and they could close any week.
Reds Meadow Road has a fixed date. The Inyo National Forest's Reds Meadow Road Reconstruction order has allowed traffic only on weekends since September 21. Under the order, the road is closed from 11 p.m. Sunday to 7 a.m. Saturday each week. On November 1 at 11 p.m., the whole road closes and stays closed through December 31 at 11:59 p.m. The closure covers the road from Minaret Vista to its southern end at Reds Meadow Resort, plus everything within 200 feet on either side. The Starkweather trail is excluded. That makes Halloween weekend, Saturday morning October 31 through Sunday night November 1, the last time this year anyone can drive down to Reds Meadow.
Halloween weekend, in town
Halloween weekend is also when the in-town calendar is busiest. Visit Mammoth's Halloween roundup, published October 2, lists events over three nights.
- Friday, October 30: The annual Halloween Party and Haunted Ice Rink at the Community Recreation Center rink. It's free for members and $5 for non-members, and adults who aren't skating get in free. There are carnival-style games, a costume contest, and rental skates while they last. The Town of Mammoth Lakes calendar lists it from 4 to 7 p.m.
- Saturday, October 31, 7 to 9 p.m.: A DJ set by Nomadic Practice at Distant Brewing, 568 Old Mammoth Road.
- Saturday, October 31, 7:30 p.m. to midnight: The annual costume crawl starts at Clocktower Cellar from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., then moves to Lakanuki in The Village until midnight. Three $100 gift cards go to best costume, best couple costume and scariest costume, with winners announced at Lakanuki at midnight.
- Saturday, October 31, from 9 p.m.: Dos Alas CubaRican Café & Lounge holds its 7th annual Halloween Bash & Dance Party, with live music and a $10 cover.
- October 30 through November 1: Limelight Mammoth serves its special Halloween cocktails at half price to guests in costume at the bar.
All of these are in town or in The Village, within the area winter service will cover two weeks later. The parties land on the same weekend that Reds Meadow closes.
November 3 is a deadline for visiting family
The next date on the list affects houseguests more than residents. Mammoth's Ikon Pass page says Ikon holders can buy Friends & Family lift tickets at 50% off, up from the usual 25%, if they buy by November 3. If you're hosting people over the holidays, check the blackout dates on the same page. Ikon Base and Session Pass holders can't use their passes at Mammoth December 26 through 30, January 16 and 17, or February 13 and 14.
Winter starts with one lodge and one bus route
Mammoth Mountain has set Opening Day for Friday, November 13, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The kickoff and first-chair ceremony will be at the bottom of Broadway Express. Main Lodge is the only base area with a posted opening date.
Eastern Sierra Transit's winter bus schedule follows the same plan. The Red Line starts winter service on November 13. It runs seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., every 20 minutes, between the Community Recreation Center, The Village and Main Lodge by way of Old Mammoth Road and Main Street. ESTA's winter routes page says its other winter routes will start when conditions allow. So on the first weekend of the season, the transit system matches the open mountain: one lodge, one route.
Several of the changes this season are behind the scenes. Alterra Mountain Company's 26/27 capital announcement describes a $5.7 million project to add 16 Remote Avalanche Control Systems across Mammoth and June Mountain. Alterra says the project was nearly a decade in the making and lets Ski Patrol reduce avalanche hazards remotely during severe storms. The announcement says Mammoth also bought three hybrid PistenBully 600E+ snowcats, which makes its hybrid fleet one of the largest in North America. Ski California's September 21 preview puts Mammoth Resorts' total capital improvements for the season at nearly $13.5 million.
The one new restaurant from the mountain is Apricity, at The Westin Monache. Alterra describes a fully redesigned space with an open floor plan and a menu built on seafood, family-style entrees and seasonal specials. No opening date has been announced.
Two days when both seasons are open
The last trout of the year can be kept on Sunday, November 15. That's two days after Opening Day. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife's 2026 freshwater regulations keep the main local waters open until then:
| Water | Season ends | Rules from the 2026 CDFW regulations |
|---|---|---|
| Lake Mary, Lake George, Horseshoe Lake, Mammoth Twin Lakes | November 15 | Five-trout daily limit |
| Crowley Lake, outside the 1,800-foot outlet dam closure | November 15 | Two trout from August 1, artificial lures only, 18-inch minimum |
| Hot Creek, hatchery property line to the Owens River | Open year-round | Artificial flies, barbless hooks, zero trout kept |
| Owens River, general | Open year-round | Five-trout limit, with sections that are zero-kill or that close after November 15 |
Opening Day falls on Friday, November 13, and the Lakes Basin trout season stays open through Sunday, November 15, so that weekend both seasons are on the calendar. Two cautions apply. The marinas are already closed, and whether you can drive up Lakes Basin Road depends on the weather, since no closure date has been set. Crowley is reached from Highway 395, not the basin road, so it's less exposed to an early storm closing the basin. After November 15, fly fishing on Hot Creek, and on the year-round sections of the Owens under their own rules, carries into winter. CDFW updates its rules and its stocking schedules, so check its current regulations before you go. This is general information, not legal advice.
In town, between the two seasons
With the edges closed and the mountain partly open, most of daily life happens on Old Mammoth Road and Main Street. That's the same corridor the Red Line covers. In August, The Sheet profiled Frezita Snaxx, which sisters Kathy and Joanna Medina opened at 126 Old Mammoth Road after running pop-ups at Village events. At that time it was open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. The same issue of The Sheet covered Yard Sale Boutique, a women's shop at Sierra Manor and Sierra Nevada roads. It was open six days a week from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and closed Wednesdays. Both profiles ran in summer, so check the hours before you go.
Between now and mid-November, the order is this. Reds Meadow closes on its schedule. Lakes Basin Road and Tioga close whenever the weather turns. Main Lodge and the Red Line open together on November 13. Canyon, Eagle, The Mill and the Village Gondola open as snow allows.
If you own a place in town, or are deciding whether a Mammoth second home fits the way you use the mountain, Pacific Harmony Realty offers a free consultation and can walk through how your property fits into the year from Reds Meadow closing to first chair.
