Mikaela Shiffrin Checks In From California's Spring Skiing Hot Spot

After another successful season on the World Cup—and an Olympic gold medal in slalom—Mikaela Shiffrin is still in the saddle, preparing for next winter.

In a recent social media post, she checked in from the slopes of Mammoth Mountain, California, a resort known as a hot spot for elite snow sports athletes in the spring. 

“Back at it,” Shiffrin wrote, also sharing some photos of the Mammoth training course.

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Mammoth is just one pit stop on the training circuit for racers like Shiffrin. 

The World Cup season lasts through the northern hemisphere winter. When it ends, training begins. Shiffrin noted on X earlier this year that Mammoth and Copper Mountain, Colorado, are two spots to get more turns in. 

Then, when the offseason arrives, Shiffrin goes down to the southern hemisphere, where the ski season is the mirror opposite of ours.

Over the winter, Shiffrin reinforced her already-established legacy as the winningest racer of all time. She won nine out of her ten World Cup races in slalom, almost clinching a perfect season. 

Perhaps more importantly, she returned to the Olympic podium, four years after a challenging outing at the 2022 Beijing Games, where she didn’t win a single medal. 

“I questioned all that I’ve learned in life, multiple times this week. I questioned what kind of grit I have in my heart and I wondered if I should be doing this at all,” Shiffrin wrote in a heartfelt post afterwards. “I questioned my toughness and tenacity. I questioned it all. And then I left those questions behind, and stepped into the arena anyway.”

Now, the grind continues in California.

What makes Mammoth popular among skiing’s best in the spring also applies to more regular skiers like you and me. The resort’s known for its absurdly long seasons. In 2023, it stayed open until August.

That, of course, was unusual, made possible by record snowfall. But even during a much less snowy season like this one, Mammoth is still angling to last until at least Memorial Day, according to its website.

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