Southern California Resorts Offer Modest Upgrades This Season
Los Angeles skiers and riders have a choice make when they the itch: Head up into the San Gabriel Mountains to a trio of independent hills, or veer to the east to another three mountains in the San Bernadino Range that are all owned by the same company.
First, in the San Gabriels. Mountain High (290 a., 1,600 vert.), a two-mountain resort that is two hours from downtown L.A., will be in its second season after narrowly avoiding disaster from a wildfire in September 2024. The Discovery chair -- its highest lift from which you can see the ocean -- was damaged by the fire but will come back on line this season.
Part of the Indy Pass and Cali Pass networks, Mountain High also put in more snowmaking equipment to its already extensive system on both black run-centric West area and blue-and-green East sector just down the road.
In the same neighborhood, Mt. Waterman (160 a., 1,030 vert.) has new ownership that will grapple with the mountain's sporatic operations but has plans for snowmaking, base lodge and more.
Closed for about four years until last March, the mountain will operate Saturdays and Sunday as the closest ski area to the L.A. Basin. It offers the Waterman100 membership that ropes off private powder days on a section of the hill. And there's a private helipad for incoming skiers and riders.
Also in the San Gabriel Mountains, Mt. Baldy (600 a., 2,100 vert.) has a gnarly access route but also the most vertical in the range. Operating Thursday-Tuesday to begin the season, the mountain splits into a Y, with Chair 1 pulling everyone out the parking to a mid-mountain junction of blue and green runs.
Over in the San Bernadino National Forest, the troika of Bear Mountain (formerly Big Bear), Snow Summit and Snow Valley has solidified under the ownership of the Ikon Pass folks as Big Bear Mountain Resorts.
At mothership Bear Mountain (198 a., 1,665 vert.) -- where snowboarders rule -- the owners have invested in more snowmaking and grooming equipment on the hill. Down below, RFID gates speed up lift lines, and new walkways have been installed.
Next door at Snow Summit (240 a., 1,209 vert.) -- known for its terrain parks and half-pipe -- snowmaking also got upgrades, and several trails including Blue Steel were cleaned up. The big future plan is an interconnect between the two mountains, negating the current shuttle system.
Down the road at Snow Valley (240 a., 1,041 vert.) where dozens for black chutes intersperse all over the mountain, management tweaked terrain to add more learning space, expanded terrain park features -- and looks forward to a new high-speed lift in the future.
