Skiing in the LA area?

B

Brenner

Member
I'm looking at colleges and one of my main criteria is that there is good skiing around. What are some of the best mountains/resorts close to the LA area?

Also, if anyone knows any good skiing around Dartmouth, let me know too.

Thanks, +k to good answers
 
Mammoth is 5 hours away and it goes without saying is awesome. Depending on what school you are looking at several schools have active ski teams that compete every other weekend, so it is easy to find people to go with.

Mountain high is the closet resort and is 1- 1.5 hours from LA. It is a small mountain with three resorts: one is green runs and sledding, one has longer intermediate runs that few people ride with not park and west resort is the main resort. West resort has jumps and rails on most runs. It is close and has night skiing everyday. Mostly snowboarders and gapers to be found at Mt high. Weekends are like Disneyland but they usually have creative jibs. While I was in college I mostly rode here because it was easily to go to before class.

Bear Mountain is an all mountain park. It is 1.5 to2 hours from LA. Snow summit is next to it in Big Bear and they are owned by the same company. Both mountains are larger than Mt high and Bear has better jumps. I think they have too many ride on features but if I have as full day to ride I would go to Bear over Mt high. They have really awesome snowmaking that makes up for lack of snow most years.

Mt Baldy has the best steeps in southern California and takes less then and hour from LA. It does not have much snowmaking or park but when it snow in February you want to go to baldy.

Finally there are a couple other small resorts like Snow valley that I am not going to talk about because they suck and you do not want to go there.

If you have any questions feel free to send me a message.

 
Mammoth passes are not too expensive, if you buy them early. What school are you looking at? Most of the big ones have ski teams which anyone can join. They usually rent a house in Mammoth for the winter. You should be able to get at least two mammoth trips a month that way. It is a long drive, but get several people to carpool and share the driving and it won't be too bad.

As for close skiing, Big Bear and Summit have good parks but lame mountains. Mt. Baldy and Mt. Waterman have legit terrain. Mt. Waterman has access issues. Mt. Baldy does not have much snowmaking, so it is hit or miss. It has been pretty good the last couple of years. When the runs to the parking lot are open you will not believe you are skiing in Socal. Many years, however, those runs don't open.

You best bet is to try to find a school with a ski team, so that you can get 2-3 weekends a month at Mammoth. If the snow is good at Baldy, you can get a day there when you don't go to Mammoth. Mammoth is about 5 hours away.
 
yeah basically any legit school in socal is part of the SCCSC race/freestyle league where you can compete in a mellow ass environment and will help you get to mammoth during the winter

schools like usc (my alma mater) ucsb and ucsd usually have houses they lease for the entire winter in mammoth

as previously noted, a year like this winter with el nino places such as baldy and mt waterman offer world-class steeps only a stones throw from la

big bear is fun if you like park all day and getting hated on by the most ignorant mfm knock-off snowboarders this side of the mississippi
 
hahaha urban with no snow*
im from la, if skiing is a main factor for u choosing a school then DONT go to LA. the only "local" skiing, is 2 hours away and its pretty shitty. Mt High and Baldy are the only close mountains...not so great
 
Mt. Waterman is apparently epic when there's snow (which happens especially in El Nino years like this one). Essentially the only tree skiing in Southern California.
 
Thank you everyone!! This has really helped a lot. I'm looking at the Claremont area now which is 20 minutes from mt. baldy, 1.5 hours from big bear, and an hour from mt. high (which looks tiiiiiny in google maps). Hopefully I can find a college with a ski team.
 
Dude, come on, fuck LA. Go to San Francisco!

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I'm from the east coast, and just a couple of days ago was out in LA for a vacation. I ended up skiing Mountain High and had a pretty good time. The drive is about 1.5 hours, depending on where you start from in the LA basin, but in all honesty, you drive so much living in LA that 1.5 hours is nothing.
I really enjoyed the mountain. We skiied on a Friday, which was busier than I would have liked, but none the less we had a good time. Nearly every run had some park features on it, which was a very cool departure from skiing the east, and the terrain wasn't to shabby either.
If you're hailing from the interior mountain west or alaska or something, you won't think it's that great. But if you're just an average schmuck like most of us, then there's plenty of skiing in LA to tickle your fancy.
Plus, surfing the Pacific is only 1.5 hours from the Mountain High...think about it!
 
You can hike/skin Mt. San Antonio, a legit 10,000 foot peak less than an hour from LA. On a clear day you can see Catalina and shred chest deep turns a few times a year.
 
I think it's middlebury in vermont that has their own mountain. Perhaps dartmouth does too, but I pretty middlebury's got one.
Dartmouth is pretty close to killington, about an hour or so. (and im sure it's better skiing than what you'll get in so.cal....)
 
Big Bear is pretty legit if you like park, mostly jibs but they get a decent jump line put together later in the year. I have no issues with snowboarders there... just ride and enjoy yourself.
 
Quoted for truth. I went to UCSB, and our ski team cost maybe 300$ to join. That gives you access to the house the whole winter. Some weekends we had like 25 people there, so bring a sleeping bag. It was super fun, a great way to get lots of Mammoth trips.

I'm older now, and I have a ski lease at Mammoth. I pay 300 per month, but there are only 6 people on it, so I will usually get a bed.

I would suggest buying your Mammoth pass this spring. Mine only cost 576 for a full, no blackout pass. If the school has a ski team you will get at least 20-30 days at Mammoth if you want to go up that often.

I also completely agree about Big Bear. It is super annoying, populated by snowboarders(95% of whom SUCK) many of whom hate on skiing. If Baldy has snow, go there. It destroys BIg Bear.
 
If youre in the LA area, check out Mt. Baldy. Yeaaah, they have southfacing slopes, but it's epicly close and has by far the raddest terrain in the SanGabs. Nothing south of Mammoth stacks up to it quite well. Plus, the place has like 4 old double chairs that make you feel like its 1970 - pretty fun times for sure.
 
dartmouth has dartmouth ski way. not that great of a mountain. mt.snow is an hour and a half away which is the best park in the eastcoast.
 
if your applying to pomona my older brother goes there... loves skiing he rips mammoth baldy and mt high on the reg and has many skier friends as well. also a new resort opening up this season in LA supposed to be dope when it snows (forget what its called). there is an active ski community/club in the claremont colleges called skeeze or something as well and they have hosted rail jams on campus plus ski movie premiers and shit. his ns name is aron you can pm him if you have more questions but he doesnt check it alot
 
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