Mammoth Lakes Travel Guides (Updated September 2026)

Aaron was just amazing. We went with our 3 kids (8, 10, and 12), two of who were pretty intimidated by the idea of rock climbing. Aaron is so warm and open, easy to talk to, and easily inspired trust. He was wonderful with the kids - our youngest started out needing him constantly by her side, but by the end of the day she was scrambling up the rock face by herself. He patiently fielded a million questions from my 12 year old and was a calming influence on my very nervous 10 year old. We had such a lovely time learning about climbing in a really beautiful setting. I would highly recommend Aaron and Sierra Climbing School to anyone looking for a kind and knowledgeable expert climber who clearly loves to climb and is inspired to teach others to love it too!

I don't normally write reviews, but my experience climbing with Mark was so great that I thought I should share my thoughts.A little background... My wife are experienced climbers from the Southeastern U.S., and we've been climbing for roughly ten years. Naturally we were reluctant to hire a guide service. But given that we had exactly ZERO experience climbing out West, we decided to hire a guide...and I am so glad that we did!!! It was worth every penny !!!Mark Grundon was our guide for 2 days, and my wife and I both had an amazing time !!!Mark was great ! He is so nice and helpful. He also made us both feel safe the entire time. His knowledge and expertise are impressive. He even helped us stay safe after our 2 days with him were over. In fact, after we climbed with him, he made himself available to answer all our questions about the climbing, safety, approaches, and gear for all the routes we were thinking about climbing on our own. Essentially he helped us plan our climbing objectives for the remainder of our trip. And that saved us a ton of time and a bunch of headaches.Mark was also a great teacher. I learned a ton from him (in a short amount of time) about moving around safely in the mountains.We will definitely be going back to climb out West next year, and I am going to book some days with Mark a year in advance.

We were so impressed with our experience! The quality of the ski gear we rented was excellent- selected and tuned to be an excellent match for our experience and the snow conditions. The delivery guys were knowledgeable, professional and friendly. And the return couldn’t have been easier. Thanks!

Fabulous customer service - my group posed many challenges (equipment changes) and the staff was always friendly, extremely helpful, and knowledgeable. The owner went above and beyond to help us have an easy and fun ski weekend.

I can't imagine going any other way now that we used Black Tie! We got delivered and fitted for skis at 6pm the night we arrived in Mammoth. Service was on time. The equipment was good quality. And how can you beat being fitted indoors, not cold, super relaxed. They don't charge you until the day you are skiing. And, when you are done, they pick up the equipment right away. If you are on vacation, do it right and treat yourself. I saw the lines of people at the lodge waiting and waiting, just to get fitted. We were well on our way to the lifts with our black tie service!

Rented snowboard, boots, and bindings for my son from Black Tie for a trip to Mammoth this past weekend. Equipment was delivered to our room on time and the service/fitting was great. Having the equipment delivered to our room the night we arrived allowed us to head straight to the lifts the next morning, no rental hassles/lines to worry about at the Lodge. On our second day we figured out that my son could use a longer board so I made a call to Black Tie and they were able to meet us at the Mammoth Mountain Inn lobby in a couple of hours. There's no charge for the board swap and again the service was top notch. It's a little pricier than getting your gear from the rental place in the hotel but well worth it. Returning equipment is as easy as leaving it with the Bell Desk in the hotel.