Snow Summit Mountain Resort

In southern California, about the only place you can go snowboarding is Bear Mountain Resorts in Big Bear Lake. Snow Summit is more for snowboarding while Bear Mountain is more for skiing. The summits are not very high, but if you are a beginner, then it can still be very challenging. Since it is close to Los Angeles, it's a good place to go to learn how to snowboard. more

Snow Summit and Bear Mountain (both belonging to same company called Big Bear Mountain Resorts) have the reputation as the best ski resort in southern California. I'm not sure that's really saying much. It's right up there with being the best weatherman in San Diego. That said, Snow Summit does offer a ski slope, even some labeled double black diamond. The thing going for it is that it's really close to Los Angeles (and even San Diego), so it's really easy to get to, but the knocks against it is that the snow is usually not that great and it's usually quite crowded on the weekends. Probably the best time to go would be during a weekday with fresh snowfall. This resort is also good if you're a beginner, as most of the runs are fairly easy (yes, even the black diamonds). If you're an expert, well, you probably don't want to waste your time here. more