Mammoth Lakes or Sun Valley?

Neither town has a beach, and both are swimming places only for a few cold weeks in midsummer. Mammoth's dips happen at Horseshoe Lake or the warmer Crowley Lake reservoir. Sun Valley's best swim, at the sandy shore of Redfish Lake, is an hour's drive away, so its heated outdoor pools end up being the more reliable option.

Both feed skiers well and neither has a cuisine of its own, but the tone differs. Mammoth leans towards big breakfasts, burgers, tacos, steakhouses and beer brewed in town, with a few more ambitious kitchens around the Village.

Ketchum cooks a little more for a moneyed second-home crowd, with Idaho trout, lamb and elk on the better menus and a summer farmers' market and patio dining. Cheap meals are harder to find there.

Sightseeing is thin in both, but Sun Valley has a story worth an afternoon. It was America's first destination ski resort and had the first chairlifts, and the old lodge, Hemingway's grave and a modest art museum give it a few real stops.

Mammoth Lakes has little beyond its log-cabin history museum and modern lodges, and its heritage lies out of town at places like Bodie and Manzanar.

Evenings in both revolve around après-ski and wind down early, with no clubs in either. Mammoth's version runs through the Village bars and brewery taprooms, with long ski weekends sometimes going late. In Ketchum it is saloons, wine bars and hotel lounges, plus a couple of old western bars that stay loud until closing.

Mammoth Mountain is a vast ski area, and its season often runs into early summer. It stands in volcanic Eastern Sierra country, with granite-ringed lakes, Devils Postpile, Mono Lake's tufa towers and, once Tioga Pass opens, the Yosemite high country. What sets it apart is the sheer scale of the terrain and the length of the snow season.

Bald Mountain is a different kind of mountain, with steep, unbroken runs that drop straight down towards Ketchum. In summer Sun Valley offers dense singletrack, fly fishing on the Big Wood and at Silver Creek, rafting on the Salmon and the jagged Sawtooths an hour north.

Mammoth Lakes has more to aim for along its highway. Bodie's preserved ghost town lies a little over an hour north, while Manzanar, Bishop, Lee Vining and June Lake fill other days, though winter closes the passes west.

Sun Valley's outings are sparser: Hailey's small main street, the log-cabin outpost of Stanley and Shoshone Falls about two hours south. Most days out from there go into the mountains instead.

Mammoth Lakes offers children more variety. A snow tubing hill, beginner ski areas, rowing boats and trout fishing in the Lakes Basin, the bike park and the summit gondola cover small children and teenagers alike, and condominium kitchens help.

Sun Valley's separate beginner hill is a real plus for learners, and it adds an ice rink and horse rides in summer. Even so, teenagers who don't ski may get bored, and the midwinter cold is harder on toddlers. Neither town copes well with a wet day.

Both run free shuttles that make a ski week possible without a car, and both need one for anything further. Ketchum's flat little grid and the bike path down the valley make Sun Valley the easier place to get about on foot or by bike. Mammoth sprawls along a few roads around its compact Village, but its summer trolley and the Reds Meadow shuttle help.

Sun Valley offers more of a browse. Ketchum has fine art and western art galleries with evening gallery walks, plus upmarket boutiques selling cashmere, western wear and home decor, even if the range is narrow and expensive.

Mammoth Lakes is mostly gear: strong ski, climbing and fly-fishing shops, some landscape photography galleries and souvenir stands around the Village.

Mammoth Lakes gets easier on the wallet outside the ski weeks. Room prices drop in summer and the shoulder months, hiking and the lakes cost little beyond a park pass, and a condominium kitchen cuts restaurant bills, though it is never a cheap town.

In Sun Valley, the wealth of second-home owners keeps prices high through midsummer as well as the ski weeks. There is hardly any budget lodging in the valley, so the main ways to save are staying further down the valley and using the free buses.

Sun Valley has the bigger summer draw. A full professional orchestra plays for several weeks in the pavilion by the lodge, with free admission and picnics on the lawn, and star skaters perform on the outdoor rink, a tradition from the resort's early years.

Mammoth's offering is smaller but spread more evenly through the year. A community theatre runs seasons on the college campus, and summer adds a jazz festival and chamber music in the meadows.

Both offer the same pairing of rough natural hot springs and hotel spas, and both are slow, quiet places once the lifts close. Mammoth's primitive pools sit out in open sagebrush with the Sierra across the valley and get crowded at sunset. Sun Valley's soaks lie beside a creek up the Warm Springs valley, and its steaming heated outdoor pools are at their best in falling snow.