The ski area is located on the north side of Mammoth Mountain in the volcanic Long Valley Caldera. Overnight guests stay in the town of Mammoth Lakes, California and occasionally in neighboring towns such as Bishop and June Lake. June Lake's ski area is also owned by Mammoth Mountain Ski Area. The top of the mountain has challenging chutes and groomed as well as mogul runs. There are eight Unbound terrain parks. Unbound Main, adjacent to Main Lodge, is highly praised by extreme snowboarding and skiing enthusiasts, and is one of the major attractions of the ski resort. Many of the top professionals in the sport, including 2006, 2010, and 2018 Winter Olympics gold medalist Shaun White, come to practice and compete in the 18 ft Super Pipe and 22 ft Super-Duper Pipe.

Mammoth Mountain also has one of the longest ski seasons in North America, which averages from the start of November to Memorial Day. The resort occasionally enjoys a longer season, as in 2016/2017, when it opened on November the 8th and did not close until the August the 6th. The 1994–95 season was Mammoth Mountain's longest, over ten months, with the resort operating from October 8 until August 13. The 2016-2017 season was the second snowiest on record, with 618 inches (2010-2011 with 668.5 inches is the resort record), and it stayed open until August 6, 2017. January 2017 was the snowiest month in Mammoth history, with 246 inches.