So there is air sevice from San Diego to Mammoth/ Yosemite airport now. After some research I found out that a flight is $179 round trip per person. To me this is a sh#t load of money. I can drive there and back for less that that. I can take a trip that doesn't total that much. So needless to say, I am not for it. This is mostly due to the cost. I would love to fly there and back all the time, but then I would have no car to get to trailheads or place to stash gear that didn't make the game time cut. What are the people's thoughts on this matter?

My thought was mentioned by Lionel, I would fly one time. The views are incredible, especially when the peaks are loaded with snow. I flew into Vegas in April and the Sierra was an awesome sight. But if you get overcast skies, well then you just wasted some $$$$.

Drive. More money for better gear. And who doesn't like crashing in the car at the trailhead?

Perhaps I need to think about it like this, if I take a day or two off work and drive I have just lost out on wages for the day. (If you don't have vacation time)

There are rental cars at the Mammoth airport. I flew there in 1987 (Albuquerque->LA->Mammoth), but it was paid for by the company, and I was there for 10 days. My main memories are 1) the plane was leaking oil out of one motor, I told the pilot, and he told me not to worry; 2) there was no bathroom and it was a rather long, bumpy flight...

EDIT: the regular service now uses Bombardier Q400 planes, much larger with a lavatory.

Da Plane Boss .... da PLANE !!!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x_QbVDlLbI[/youtube]

Who doesn't like snakes ???

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl5cgd9bONM[/youtube]

I've flown to Mammoth,Bishop ,and Independence on 4-place planes from Sacramento for back-country ski ,climbing,and backpacking trips and the views were grand.We rented the planes and found a pilot who wanted the flight-hours. We all split the costs.Plan a trip with partners and put a notice up at Flight Clubs in your area . We taxied and hitchhiked to trailheads .

Denjem wrote:So there is air sevice from San Diego to Mammoth/ Yosemite airport now. After some research I found out that a flight is $179 round trip per person. To me this is a sh#t load of money. I can drive there and back for less that that.

Are you really sure it costs less than that to drive? Google maps tells me it's about 800 miles one way, or 1600 round trip. If your car got 30 mph, at $3.50 (I wish) a gallon that's $180 bucks right there , but add in wear and tear on your vehicle, I would suspect it's costing way you more than you think. For our company, our reimbursement rate for personal vehicle use is around 40 cents per mile. That comes out to over $600 for a trip of this length. Granted, that's probably pretty high, but you start thinking about future transmission jobs and fuel pump replacements, and suddenly driving costs start to skyrocket. If you are dividing up the costs with a couple of friends, maybe you can make it work, but for a solo trip, I would bet you're way better off flying.

Plus, you are about 1000 times safer in a plane than in a car. Factor in the cost of one ER room visit, and flying doesn't look so bad.

edI look again. I5 in CA is not 800 miles long, lol. I only know cause last time I crossed the CA/OR border I remember milepost 789 not far south of the pass. You got mixed up with round trip or something. San Diego to Yosemite is about 430 miles from what I just looked at. Hefty tag, no doubt...

If it were me, I'd probably drive. 179 is flight only. Especially if there was a bonus individual to split costs.

But it's my turn to drive ..

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EkXfjyzjkk[/youtube]

I was just starting to plan a trip from the Bay Area to the east side (LVC and the boulders are calling ) and noticed that United now offers daily round trip flights from SFO to Mammoth for $132. Although I like having my trusty Subaru in any snow, that 6+ hr drive each way is not a great way to spend time off from work, and 600+ round trip miles on the car equates to $300+ if you use the usual numbers for gas+wear&tear + depreciation. Has anyone here tried flying United from SFO to Mammoth and renting a car, and are there pitfalls like frequent flight cancellations at Mammoth, or availability of decent rental cars (4WD/AWD is nice) there, or other problems, that I'm not thinking of? I fly enough that I don't have to pay extra for checked luggage on United, so that's not an issue.

The 4WD and AWD vehicles are pretty pricey to rent. If I remember correctlty, a smaller SUV for a week was around $500 (Banff, AL)

Realistically I can probably get away without AWD or 4WD for Lee Vining or Owens Valley stuff, though it would be nice if the rental place offered chains in case it snowed and CHP enforced a chain requirement (sounds like another thread...). I drove for 20 years in New England winters, 16 of them in a front wheel drive only car, and did just fine.