Going to Mammoth -- best airport to fly into?

[Magoo]

Couple of buddies are looking to go to Mammoth, wondering best "major" airport to fly into for reasonable drive to Mammoth? Looked into Reno, but flights are $$$$. Wondering what good alternatives there might be?
If can work, they'd like to hit Kirkwood, too.
Got beta?

[Viva]

Ontario, perhaps? I know that Southwest goes there. That would be about a 4 hour drive to Mammy, however.

[Magoo]

Thanks, I'll check into it.
What about Sacramento? How long does it take to get to Mammoth from there?

[cj001f]

What about Sacramento? How long does it take to get to Mammoth from there?
Why would you drive past all of the tahoe resorts to go to Mammoth :confused: (all of the passes between tahoe and SoCal are closed for all but the wee, wee end of spring ski season)

Look at a map. Mammoth = nowhere. Reno, Las Vegas or LA area for an airport. If you are looking to save $, LAX/BUR/ONT etc have cheap weekend car rental deals usually. And a rental car + chains, even at the extortionate prices of some 395 side dealer, is cheaper than a rental 4wd

[bio-smear]

Reno for sure. It's only 3 hrs south of here and you can't get lost.

[Magoo]

I agree about the why pass the resorts in Tahoe remark! But, meeting friends who live in Mammoth. Looking most seriously at Reno or Sacramento -- want to ski Kirkwood first, are the roads open from there to Mammoth?
Just trying to optimize the $$ vs time thing; saving a few $ isn't the overriding factor.

[MSG]

Where ever you are going you should head in from Reno. To KW it is a couple hours from both Sac and Reno, so it doesn't make a big difference either way but the return from Reno will be way faster.

It looks like the roads you want are open right now, check this website for current conditions:
http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/roadinfo/hwytables.htm
You're interested in hwys 50, 80, 88, 89 depending on your plans.