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On Monday Liz and I both had off work so with her free Snow Valley tickets from a Ralphs promotion we drove up for the day. The cool thing about Snow Valley is that it’s on the way to Big Bear, but is about 30 minutes less drive time each way through those winding mountain roads. It’s promoted as being “140 turns closer to skiing!”

You can actually see Big Bear Lake from the chairlift, it was beautiful in the distance:

The day was gorgeous - blue skies with no clouds, and a temp around mid 40’s. And it was a Monday, so there was NOBODY on the mountain! I think there were maybe 30 cars in the entire parking lot.

Snow Valley was actually a pleasant surprise - I have driven past it countless times en route to Snow Summit, and I always thought it was some rinky-dink tubing/sledding resort. Not so! There’s actually 14 different chairs, and at the very top (~7800 ft. elevation) there are some black diamond runs. The resort even has a varied and large terrain park, with features including little kickers, tabletops, giant tires to jump over, and tons of rails & fun boxes. (No halfpipe though.) Here I am on the approach:

Here’s Liz going off the edge of the rainbow rail:

They had just gotten 6 inches of snow on Sunday, but there were high winds creating a lot of icy conditions in spite of the runs being groomed. It really didn’t soften up until after 1:30pm, with the sun beating down.

Because it was Monday, and it was so empty, Snow Valley only opened Chair 1. So unfortunately we didn’t experience the full mountain, only about 3-4 of the runs available. We couldn’t get to the back/top runs that almost looked like they were in a little bowl.

We got a lot of runs in though, and were the second-to-last people off the hill at the end of the day! (We were dawdling around in the park taking pictures of each other on the little jumps.) For free tickets, even though we had limited run/chairlift access, it was totally worth it. I got in one more day this season, and got to practice hitting the tabletops without a ton of people in the park.

Liz and I both really enjoyed the day - we want to go back another time when it’s fully open. Lift tickets are only $52 (weekends) and you can usually find some discounts through one of the resort’s promotional partners. Check them out sometime!

It’s been very spring-like here in LA the past two weeks, so it’s been somewhat discouraging in terms of making plans to go snowboarding. However, the forecast for this weekend is for cooler temps and rain in LA county, with snow levels in our local mountains coming down to 4000 feet on Sunday. Yay!

As such, Liz and I are planning to hit Snow Valley on Monday since we both have off work. I’ve never been to that resort but I am looking forward to some fresh snow and exploring a new mountain! It’s on highway 18, on the way up to Big Bear. Elevations are a little lower, but the peak is over 7800′ and the base around 6800. There look to be a lot of trails that are blacks, so hopefully it will be a pleasant surprise.

Afterwards, maybe we’ll even make it back to LA for a few green beers since Mon is St. Patrick’s Day. Will report back with pictures early next week!

Weather forecast for Snow Valley

Headed up to Mount Baldy yesterday - it’s a local Southern Cal. mountain only about 1 hour outside of Los Angeles. They received over 18″ of new snow in last week’s storms, and there was already a 3-4′ base, so conditions were great!

(it’s been a long time since the local mountains have looked like this! The view as we drove north to baldy from the freeway)

Saturday morning dawned bright, clear, and crisp. I figured it would be a perfect bluebird day after all that show! Plus, the roads would be clear. I drove up in Leila’s car with Jessie and Liz. We left LA about 8am, thinking we’d be on the mountain by 9:45 once we parked, dressed, and bought our lift tickets. How wrong we were… it seemed that everybody else in the Southern California region had the same idea. We sat in traffic for almost 2 hours just to get to the Mt. Baldy parking area.

Once we finally bought our lift tickets and got on the mountain though, it was all worth it. The snow was in fabulous condition, and there was TONS of it (for local mountains of course.) It was cold, but not cold enough to cause icy conditions - just cold enough to keep the snow from becoming slushy.

(heading up the chairlift from the Mt. Baldy parking lot - look at all the snow in the trees!)

Mt. Baldy itself really is “one of LA’s undiscovered gems…” once we got past the traffic jam, that is. There are only 4 chairs - only 2 of which go up to runs. But once you get up to the top of the chair lifts, there are quite a few runs to choose from (trail map says 26 trails.)

The elevation at the very top chair (chair 3) is 8600′ so you get some good altitude gain and somewhat lengthy runs. Sure, it’s no Mammoth, but great for a day-trip of snowboarding. It’s hard to believe it’s only an hour’s drive from downtown Los Angeles. Check this out - hard to tell from this pic, but looking west/southwest you can see the ocean from the lodge vista point!

Chair 3 stays open till 4:15pm so if you get up there early enough you can definitely get a good, full day of riding in. We liked chair 3 better because there were more tree runs and a big bowl that some guys showed us how to get to. Speaking of which, ladies, there are definitely a lot of cool local guys at this mountain.

By the mid-afternoon, the fog had rolled in and storm clouds were thickening. We took a brief break in the teeny Mt. Baldy lodge, and took a few more runs before the chairs closed.

For our final run, we strapped back in and headed down the run that goes down to the parking lot. Since it was our first time at Mt. Baldy, we weren’t exactly sure of the best route to take to avoid all the rocks, gravel, and dirt that was still exposed in some areas, so we ended up hitting those very rocks, gravel and dirt! (Thank god I bought brown snowboarding pants…) But we crab-walked through the worst of it, and then found our way down the trail to the parking lot again with relative ease. The snow was still great, but the sun was down and it was twilight, so it was bad lighting and some sketchy riding!

When we left the mountain to walk back down to our car, the rain had begun (bummer!) It was pouring when we finally started the downhill drive. And unfortunately, we sat in traffic again for almost 1 1/2 hours before we really started moving.

We did enjoy the day, though, and for future trips to Mt. Baldy for snowboarding, we’ll follow this advice:

• Leave Los Angeles early. Get on the freeway by 7am or earlier to beat all the other cars who are sure to be heading up if there’s been recent snow.
• Park as close to the bottom chair as you can. This way, you won’t have to walk as far to get to the chairlift, AND you can ride down to your car at mid-day to have a lunch break at your car! Bring a cooler, save yourself money!
• Leave the mountain early. If you get there early, you’ll still get a good many runs in. And you’ll beat everyone else down the hill, again, avoiding traffic.
• Buy a 10-ticket pack to save money. I saw the 10-ticket packs online at their Web site for just $325. If you plan on going often, you’ll save as much as $27 per ticket (full-day, peak weekend tix are regularly $59.) I was thinking you could also split the 10-pack with friends, and each would save the money that way (don’t think the tickets are non transferable, but have to check it out.)
• Make friends and talk to some regulars who can show you the best runs. We had fun off Chair 3 with the dudes we met in the lift line. I do wish we had some guidance on that final run though! Ah well!

Yay Baldy - closer than Snow Summit, and just as fun. And a little less crowded!

Leaving work today at about 3:45pm (Hurrah for New Years weekend, early release!) I happened to look over to the east from where I was in Pasadena. When what to my wondering eyes did appear, snow on the higher elevation mountains in what I think are the eastern San Gabriels! It’s cool, because at that time of day the sun is beginning to set to the west and is casting really nice horizontally-slanted beams as it goes down, which highlighted the snow on the west-facing hills I was looking at.

We got a ton of rain late last week and I guess I just didn’t make the connection to getting snow locally. I believe I was looking at Mt. Baldy or at least some of the surrounding mountains (Baldy is a local resort just east of San Gabriel Valley/Claremont that I haven’t been to yet because of last year’s horrible dry winter. I understand it goes off when we get lots of snow in a season, fingers crossed!)

Here’s a picture I attempted to snap with my Blackberry - apparently it doesn’t do so well with distance shots But it is nice to be in Los Angeles and still have a nearby reminder of snow, snow, snow!

Why oh WHY, when there are loudspeakers playing music on the runs… do the ski
resorts usually play classic rock? And even in the bars… wtf?

Please! Don’t make me hear Runnin’ On Empty by Jackson Browne again!

At least in the parks there is more contemporary music: Incubus, Linkin Park, and the like. Not necessarily my style, but I don’t think anyone but me would appreciate some deep or progressive house on the hill.

Resorts… listen up! We’re not a bunch of graying baby boomers who are down for some ZEPPELIN when we’re out snowboarding! At least throw us a bone with some 80s or something. I would love it if I was cruising along and heard Rio by Duran Duran

Saturday I woke up at 5:45 and hit the road at 6:45 to drive to Big Bear where I was meeting Cheryl and her husband Eric for a morning of practice/warmup riding before my snowboarding trip to Whistler in a little under two weeks.

(here comes Cheryl)

We were pleasantly surprised by the conditions! They had made a bunch of snow and there was at least two feet of coverage on all the open runs. (Coloradans and others, please don’t mock us about our lack of snow here in the local mountains)

(snowmaking machines below Chair 5)

The temperature was like Goldilocks’ porridge - not too hot and not too cold, just right! Runs were a teeny bit icy in places but for the most part it was as good as it gets at Snow Summit. Plus, there were NO crowds… we think everybody was getting in a last day of Christmas shopping! What a pleasant surprise.

Bonus… we left before 1pm so we got the “Getaway voucher” for $19 off our next ticket. All in all, a great day at Snow Summit!

(pizza & beer after our riding.)

Need to get some days on the hill but you don’t want to make the drive to Mammoth? Want to stay kinda local but you’re bummed by the crowds during weekend days on Snow Summit and Big Bear?

You have an alternative! Have you considered weekend night boarding at Snow Summit?

Snow Summit offers night sessions which (if I remember correctly) start at 3pm and go till 9pm, priced at $40. (Half-night I think starts at 6pm and is $30). I did this a few times last season and was pleasantly surprised!

When I went, it had been nice and cold for the entire week, so the mountain had made tons of snow. The runs are not crowded due to the crowds having been boarding all day long. Only a few die-hards were out there from the day session! The added cold of it being night-time also keeps crowds away.

The mountain keeps just a few of their runs open (including a terrain park), but they’re well-lit, and due to the lack of crowds, you won’t find yourself waiting in line at the chair. You will find yourself able to pack in quite a few practice runs before you head up to the Sierras or elsewhere. And, being just a 2-hour drive from LA is a big bonus. You can drive up midafternoon on a Saturday, ride for a few hours, then head home!

Tip-off: our local mountains had over a foot of snow in this past weekend’s storm, so this might be a great time to go and check the night sessions out! I will personally likely be headed up there next weekend (12/22) to get my “mountain legs” before the big Whistler trip at New Years. (p.s. also be sure to fill out the C.O.R.E. form (PDF here) at Snow Summit for a special $10-off one-time offer on your ticket.)