Accessible travel

For Mammoth Lakes, California, inclusive tourism didn’t start with a marketing campaign or a new accessibility initiative. It started with a ski school director who saw a need and decided to figure out how to meet it.

Today, the mountain destination is home to year-round adaptive recreation through Access Mammoth, growing partnerships with lodging properties and event organizers, and a community increasingly focused on making outdoor experiences available to people of all abilities.

For Betsy Truax, vice president of community engagement for Mammoth Lakes Tourism, much of the credit belongs to the local adaptive sports organization that helped start the conversation more than two decades ago.

“As far as the driving passion behind accessibility and inclusion in Mammoth Lakes, I really have to give credit to Access Mammoth,” Truax says.

How Access Mammoth Helped Build an Inclusive Destination

Access Mammoth, founded in 2003 as Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra, began with adaptive ski programming and has grown into a year-round organization offering adaptive mountain sports. Its programs now include skiing, cycling, paddleboarding, fishing, hiking and other outdoor activities, with programs for families, veterans and participants of all ages.

Truax credits founder Kathy Copeland, who recognized the need for adaptive programming as a ski school director, with helping establish the foundation for what Mammoth Lakes has become.

“She’s a force of nature,” Truax says.

But the organization’s impact extends well beyond the activities it provides.

Access Mammoth has helped create relationships throughout the community, including with local lodging businesses. Mammoth Lakes has only about 7,000 year-round residents, and Truax says that small-town dynamic has helped bring businesses together.

“We’re a pretty small community,” she says. “The lodging community is pretty tight. Everyone works well together. Everyone knows each other.”

The lines between Access Mammoth, Visit Mammoth, and community partners blur with a lot of overlapping parts, only increasing the spirit of community with a shared goal. Truax’s own husband served on the board for Access Mammoth while managing a local hotel.

Some of those relationships have resulted in lodging partners doing more than simply meeting accessibility requirements. Hotels have donated or discounted rooms for Access Mammoth programs, including Wounded Warrior weeks.

“Our lodging partners really recognize the importance and the need to kind of go beyond the minimum in terms of people being able to come and visit and have this great experience,” Truax says.

Access Mammoth’s fundraising model also helps remove another barrier. “Their policy is not to ever turn anyone away for lack of funds,” Truax says.

For destinations wondering where to begin, Truax has a simple recommendation: find a local partner.

How Mammoth Lakes Is Moving Beyond Adaptive to Inclusive

Mammoth Lakes is also looking at inclusion beyond programs specifically designed for people with disabilities.

Know Before You Go

At TravelAbility, we often talk about the central importance of available information for accessibility. “Accessible” means something different to everyone. Knowing what you’re getting yourself into is essential to planning.

“We collaborated with Access Mammoth on our Certified Unreal campaign to provide accurate descriptions of the accessibility of each geological feature highlighted,” Truax shares. Acknowledging that some areas are more accessible than others, they wanted to give information that went beyond ADA compliance. “For example,” Truax adds,” one site should be accessible but the pavement has deteriorated.” It’s the availability of these details that make it possible to plan individual adventures.

Events for All

The destination allocates approximately $350,000 annually to special events, including its fall endurance season of gravel and road cycling events and Mammoth Trail Fest. These are mainstream events that have been designed to be welcoming to all–not just adaptive events for people with disabilities.

Truax points to the work of trail runner and adaptive athlete Zach Friedley as an example of how the destination is learning from people with lived experience. Mammoth Lakes is now working with Friedley and Access Mammoth to develop an inclusivity checklist for event producers.

The destination is also working to make its own marketing more representative. Mammoth Lakes Tourism has conducted photo shoots specifically to build a library that includes people with different abilities, including climbing imagery.

What Other Destinations Can Learn From Mammoth Lakes

1. Find a Partner

For destinations wondering where to begin, Truax has a simple recommendation: find a local partner.

“There are a lot of really great inclusive organizations like Access Mammoth,” she says. “I think finding that partner is really critical in developing that relationship.”

A local adaptive sports organization can provide training, guidance on best practices, connect a destination with potential participants for photography and content, and help tourism organizations understand what they may not know they need to consider.

But what happens when there isn’t an Access Mammoth?

“Local schools, other community organizations, even individuals who might have family members,” Truax says. “Just kind of trying to find those folks who might be interested in collaborating.”

2. Don’t be Afraid to Try

For Mammoth Lakes, some of the most meaningful progress has come from simply being willing to try. 

Truax recalls one example involving a skier who wanted to access challenging backcountry terrain. There was no obvious equipment solution for getting his sit ski where he wanted to go.

“So a lot of it was just trial and error, and a lot of really fun, smart, creative people who were like, ‘All right, we’re going to figure this out,’” she says.

The solution eventually involved an unexpected trip to a secondhand store for a child’s backpack, but they created a way where there was no way and now they’re more prepared for next time.

3. Get the Word Out

No one knows what you’ve built if you don’t tell them. “We are trying to really show that inclusivity in our photo library and our website,” says Truax. They’re looking to expand into using disabled creators. Representation matters and so does reaching your audience.

Why Inclusive Tourism Matters to Mammoth Lakes

Truax sees an increasingly important audience in an aging population that will need more accessible travel options. It’s a growing need that they’re preparing for.

Beyond that, “It’s just super rewarding,” she says. The impact of being a part of getting people into the outdoors for the first time is incomparable. To see families able to ski together, regardless of physical abilities, has made such a difference for her and for the host of Access Mammoth volunteers.

That may be the clearest description of Mammoth Lakes’ approach: inclusion isn’t simply about creating another adaptive program. It is about making it possible for more people to experience the destination, and the outdoors, together.

↪Watch the motivational story that resulted from figuring out how to manage adaptive back country ski here.