Big Bear Resort
Weather at Big Bear
Low: 44.6°F / High: 66.9°F
Wind: E 15.2 mph
Recent Snowfall
24 hours: 0"
7 days: 0"
Snow Depth
Base: 36"
Season Total: 16"
Resort Status
Lifts: 4/11
Trails: 10/29
Resort Overview
Michael Fulton
45+ resortsMelbourne-based ski expert with 45+ resorts across 5 continents. Specialises in Australian skiing and riding and international resort comparisons.
Skiing for 14 years and visited resorts in:
🇦🇺 Australia (6) • 🇺🇸 USA (15) • 🇯🇵 Japan (5) • 🇪🇺 Europe (10)
Bear Mountain sits at the eastern end of Big Bear Valley in the San Bernardino National Forest, reaching a summit of 8,805 feet at Geronimo Peak — the highest lift-served point in Southern California — with a base at 7,140 feet and a vertical drop of 1,665 feet. The 198 acres of skiable terrain across three peaks — Bear Peak, Silver Mountain and Goldmine Mountain — break down as 20% beginner, 33% intermediate, 33% advanced and 14% expert, making Bear Mountain the most technically demanding of the three mountains that make up Big Bear Mountain Resort.
Snow Summit and Snow Valley, both within 15 miles, complete the resort group under Alterra Mountain Company ownership, and a single Ikon Pass or daily lift ticket provides access across all three mountains on the same day. Snow Summit (peak 8,200 feet, 240 acres) focuses on intermediate and family terrain with direct views of Big Bear Lake, while Snow Valley (peak 7,841 feet) serves as the primary beginner and family mountain to the west.
Bear Mountain's most significant historical distinction is in freestyle: the Outlaw terrain park, built in 1992, was the first freestyle terrain park in North America, establishing a legacy that the mountain has built on ever since. Bear Mountain still operates the only halfpipes in Southern California and hosts the Hot Dawgz and Hand Rails freestyle competition, running since 2003 as one of the longest-running freestyle events in the US.
The broader resort's snowmaking infrastructure — more than 560 hydrants, 330 snow guns and 40 fans capable of converting 6,000 gallons of water to snow per minute — underpins reliable conditions across all three mountains from opening day, and Snow Summit was selected to host the inaugural Winter X Games in 1997, cementing the Big Bear area's standing in competitive winter sports history.
Live Big Bear Webcams
Trails & Terrain
Trails
Total Runs
29
Total Area
198 ac
80.1 ha
Big Bear Lift System
Bear Mountain's 11-lift network — one six-seat chair, two quads, two triples, three doubles and three surface lifts — serves the three-peak ski area across Goldmine Mountain, Silver Mountain and Bear Peak. The six-seat chair provides the primary high-speed access to the upper mountain terrain, while the quads and triples distribute intermediate and beginner traffic efficiently across the lower and mid-mountain zones.
Bear Peak's Geronimo summit at 8,805 feet is reached via the upper lift network and is the highest lift-accessible point in Southern California, with views extending across the San Bernardino Mountains and on clear days toward the San Gorgonio Wilderness to the south. The terrain park infrastructure at Bear Mountain — six parks including the historic Outlaw — is served by dedicated lift access and represents the most developed freestyle set-up of the three Big Bear mountains.
The collective Big Bear Mountain Resort snowmaking system across all three mountains represents one of the largest artificial snow operations in California, drawing water from Big Bear Lake to feed the 560-hydrant network and sustaining coverage on all marked terrain regardless of natural snowfall variability. Bear Mountain averages approximately 100 inches of natural snowfall annually — modest by Sierra Nevada standards but supplemented by the snowmaking capacity to deliver consistent conditions throughout the season.
Night sessions operate on select dates at Snow Summit, extending the usable hours of the resort for visitors making the drive from Los Angeles. Snow Valley, Snow Summit and Bear Mountain can all be skied in a single day on one ticket, with road distances of under 15 miles between the furthest pair of mountains.
Lifts
Total Lifts
11
Lift Types
5
Lift Breakdown
Season Info
Big Bear Mountain Resort operates from late November through to mid-April, with the 2025/26 season running 22 November to 12 April across the three mountains. The San Bernardino Mountains' position above the Los Angeles basin creates a distinct seasonal pattern: cold air pooling at elevation through winter combined with snowmaking water drawn from Big Bear Lake sustains the season across all three mountains regardless of natural accumulation patterns, which vary considerably year to year at this latitude.
The current 2025/26 season has recorded a base of around 36 inches as of early March with a season total of approximately 16 inches of natural snowfall, reflecting the supplementary snowmaking load the system regularly carries in lower-precipitation years. In strong snow years, the Big Bear mountains deliver considerably more natural cover, and the combination of elevation, aspect and snowmaking gives the resort the most operating days per season of any Southern California ski area.
The proximity to the Los Angeles metropolitan area shapes the seasonal rhythm more than at any comparable US ski resort: with 15 million people within a two-hour drive, Big Bear weekends during January and February fill quickly, and the resort's management of lift capacity, parking and snowmaking is oriented substantially around the Southern California day-trip market.
Midweek conditions are consistently less crowded, and the midweek season pass option reflects how significant that segment is to the resort's visitor profile. Night sessions at Snow Summit on select dates extend the usefulness of the trip for those arriving late from the city, and the combination of Snow Valley, Snow Summit and Bear Mountain across a single ski day gives visitors more terrain variety than any other Southern California destination.
Season Info
Current Season
2025 - 2026
Opening Day
11/22/2025
Closing Day
4/12/2026
Days Open
142
Location & Getting There
Bear Mountain sits in the San Bernardino National Forest in the Big Bear Valley, approximately 100 miles east of downtown Los Angeles and 25 miles northeast of San Bernardino. The primary access routes are California State Route 18 via Highway 330 from Redlands off Interstate 10, or the more scenic State Route 38 along the Big Bear Scenic Byway — both climbs of around 5,000 feet from the valley floor to the resort.
The drive from central Los Angeles takes approximately two hours under normal freeway conditions, making Big Bear the closest major ski destination to one of the world's largest urban populations and explaining why Snow Summit, Bear Mountain and Snow Valley collectively represent one of the highest-visitor-volume ski operations in the US by sheer throughput. Chain controls are enforced regularly on the access roads during winter storm conditions, and the resort recommends checking Caltrans chain control status before departure.
Big Bear Lake township at 6,752 feet sits immediately adjacent to the ski area and provides the full range of accommodation, dining and après-ski options within a few minutes of all three mountains. The lake itself — around nine miles long and the largest freshwater lake in Southern California — is the source of the resort's snowmaking water supply and gives the valley its distinctive high-desert alpine character, surrounded by Jeffrey pine and white fir forest on the upper slopes.
San Bernardino International Airport is the closest commercial gateway, approximately 40 miles west via Highway 330, with Ontario International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport offering broader connections for visitors flying in. The Big Bear Valley's position in the San Bernardino Mountains above the Mojave Desert and Coachella Valley creates weather patterns where clear, cold nights and sunny daytime conditions dominate much of the ski season, with the snowmaking system bridging the gaps when Pacific storm systems track north of the region.
Big Bear
, california