Hit Slopes Midweek for a Treat : Skiing: Five major resorts, within a few hours of Orange County, offer challenging mountains and a good time.

The woman in the neon orange parka punched her companion on the shoulder and the schoolteachers giggled like schoolgirls.

“I hope we don’t run into any students,” she said, looking warily over her shoulder while hiding behind white Vuarnet sunglasses.

It’s not likely any students spotted her. A ski resort is one of the few places besides a freeway median where you can dress in the colors of a Caltrans worker and remain inconspicuous.

It was a spectacularly clear Tuesday morning in Big Bear Lake, and the skiers in line for lift tickets at Bear Mountain Ski Resort were too preoccupied with the anticipation of a day on the slopes to notice anything but that blue-and-white paradise looming above the base lodge.

After all, what’s sweeter than the forbidden fruit of midweek skiing? And Mondays through Fridays, nearly everyone on the mountain is playing hooky from either school or work . . . or both, which was the case for these two, who preferred that their principal not read about their “illness” in the newspaper.

It’s a growing tradition. Flu season? Sure, but health officials ought to rethink their statistics before blaming some virus for the rise in absenteeism at the workplace and on campus these days.

When storms such as the one last weekend leave the local mountains draped in white--and even visible from the beach cities in the morning--ski fever breaks out all over the Southland. And even if you can sneak away in the middle of the week, you had better get to the parking lot of your favorite resort early or you could be in for a long walk.

There are five major resorts within a couple of hours of Orange County--Bear Mountain, Snow Summit and Snow Valley in the San Bernardino Mountains and Mt. Baldy and Mountain High in the San Gabriel Mountains--and almost every skier who dreams about Colorado and Utah but ends up in the local mountains has a favorite. Some point to convenient freeway routes, shorter lift lines, more advanced runs--even better “snow management”--as their reasons, but most admit that they have skied at only one or two of the other resorts.

So here’s a consumer’s guide to the Southland’s Big Five, with driving time and miles calculated from the junction of the Santa Ana (5) and Costa Mesa (55) freeways:

BEAR MOUNTAIN

Height at Peak: 8,805

Vertical Drop: 1,665

Lifts: 10 (3 triples, 5 doubles, 2 surface)

Miles: 94

Driving Time: 2 hours 20 minutes

Adult All-Day Lift Ticket: $34

This area used to be known as “Goldmine” and in those days the resort did most of its business when Snow Summit was sold out or, at least, very crowded.

But developers have expanded it to include four peaks--Showdown Mountain, Goldmine Mountain, Silver Mountain and Bear Peak--and a “graduated” lift system that takes skiers to increasingly steeper terrain as they move from west to east across the range from Showdown toward Bear.

The most difficult run, Geronimo, is at the top of Bear Peak and features a 1,105-foot drop, pitches up to 72% and a rugged stretch of moguls at the top. Advanced skiers will want to take more than one shot at this run, but make sure your skis are tuned. When the wind is blowing and scouring the run, there are some icy spots near the top.

One ski magazine recently touted Bear Mountain as the closest thing to a Sierra-type experience this side of Mammoth. The variety of terrain is impressive. Snow-making ability was increased 21% before this season and now covers every run.

But the resort does have one drawback. There are too many flat spots where you have to point your skis straight downhill and maintain as much speed as possible to return to the lifts or connect with another trail.

Becky Paradee left her husband, Ben, at home in Mission Viejo to mind their four children--including 4-month-old daughter Rachel--and escaped with a couple of friends to the peace of the slopes.

Paradee, who once worked as a ski instructor in Lake Tahoe, said she likes Bear Mountain because if offers a wide variety of good terrain for advanced skiers.

“You don’t find many good bump runs in Southern California,” she said. “The wind is howling up on Geronimo today and it’s pretty icy, or I’d ski that run all day. That’s about as good as it gets in the local mountains.

“Snow Summit does a better job of grooming their runs, and I guess most California skiers like well-groomed runs. But I think this place is more fun and the lift lines are shorter too.

“Oh yeah, and they have the best French fries I’ve ever tasted.”

Indeed, Bear Mountain’s managers are working toward making the area a full-service resort. They’re widening trails, revamping their on-mountain directional sign system, expanding their rental capacity and teaching programs and have installed additional ticket windows to cut down on the lines.

And, if your tastes run along the same line as Paradee’s, you’ll be glad to know they have also added a giant outdoor barbecue, a pizza shop, and, of course, with the California skier in mind, a salad bar.

MT. BALDY

Height at Peak: 8,600

Vertical Drop: 2,140

Lifts: Four (all doubles)

Miles: 49

Driving Time: 1 hour, 5 minutes

Adult All-Day Lift Ticket: $30

If you like a dose of adventure with your skiing, this is the place. If you prefer predictable, man-made, groomed skiing, avoid Mt. Baldy.

The last few miles of the road up the mountain include some extremely steep switchbacks that can be a terror in snowy conditions. And the resort relies almost exclusively on Mother Nature for coverage, which is to say the skiing here can get downright rugged.

There are only four lifts, but they service the most skiing acres in Southern California and some of the longest runs. When you take a break, Baldy has a cozy, quaint lodge with a roaring fire and pictures from the ‘50s and ‘60s on the walls.

While the fire might be delightful, the skiing outside can be frightful. Mt. Baldy is home of the steepest--and often most treacherous--runs in the local mountains.

“See that up there,” said Jim Sears of Yorba Linda, pointing to a chute he had just descended. “Well, it was sort of a mogul run with some powder and ice. Actually it was kind of a mogul-ice-bushes-trees, look-out-for-the-rocks run.

“When there’s enough snow, this place is the best skiing in Southern California, no doubt. It’s deep and steep.

“A few weeks ago, right after a good snow, it was really great. But we couldn’t get up the road, even with chains, so we had to park at the bottom and hitch a ride up with a guy with a four-wheel drive with chains.”

Not surprisingly, crowds are usually not a problem. Ten days ago, before the most recent storm, fewer than 40 lift tickets had been sold by noon.

But there are plenty of skiers who swear by Baldy, even when the conditions are less than perfect.

“Maybe you don’t want to take a girl here on a first date,” said Bob Pinney of Placentia. “And you certainly want to bring your rock skies. But I really like Baldy. It’s steep and it’s really fun. The obstacles just make it more exciting.”

Snowboarders, an aggressive breed by nature, are attracted to Baldy for similar reasons. A new half-pipe (a trough of snow used for performing snowboard tricks) has made for some “rad shredding” for the “boardheads.”

Kindra Anderson of Yorba Linda had just made her first foray into what seems like an uncharted wilderness when compared to most local ski areas.

“It’s kind of weird,” she said. “I mean, there’s nobody up there. I don’t know, I don’t really like it that much. It’s fun, but there are too many obstacles.”

Thanks to last weekend’s storm, which dumped four to five feet of snow on Southland resorts, only the skiers, not the rocks, are showing up at Baldy these days.

And, for now, they’re knee-deep in some of the hottest skiing around.

MOUNTAIN HIGH

Height at Peak: 8,200

Vertical Drop: 1,600

Lifts: 11 (2 quads, 3 triples, 6 doubles)

Miles: 76

Driving Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Adult All-Day Lift Ticket: $34.75

Paula Vogel skidded to a stop a couple of feet up the slope from her daughter, Jessica, who sat in the snow, staring down at the snowboard affixed to her feet.

Jessica, a freshman at Saddleback College, was snowboarding for only the third time, but she apparently had just about mastered it. She popped upright and weaved her way downhill in a series of sweeping turns.

Paula Vogel of Laguna Beach was taking a day off from the family’s refrigeration business to enjoy the combination of fresh air, exercise and mother-daughter bonding.

But she wasn’t ready to strap on a snowboard to heighten the experience.

“We have a condo in Mammoth but we haven’t had the time to get up there this year, so we’ve come up here on Fridays a few times,” she said. “We like it because it’s a really easy drive, the snow is usually pretty good and it’s not that crowded.”

Mountain High is actually two resorts in one, with a shuttle bus carrying skiers between the two base lodges, which are located within a mile of each other on Route 2. It offers, by far, the smoothest drive to a Southern California resort. It’s 90% freeway and 10% two-lane highway, and there’s hardly a curve in the road.

Mountain High also boasts the Southland’s only high-speed quad chairlift, a $2 1/2 million addition that services a long, wide intermediate run at Mountain High East called Goldrush. The new quad is 6,000 feet long and whisks skiers up 1,600 vertical feet in about six minutes, but the Mountain High Express is a mixed blessing.

The lift line moves quickly, but all those skiers have to get back down the hill and Goldrush gets so congested at times that it’s tough to stake a claim on enough territory to snake down a path.

Mountain High West has no technological breakthroughs, but it does have six efficiently placed lifts that service a variety of runs, 12 of which are black diamond (the most-difficult rating).

Shuttling between resorts is a bit of a hassle. The bus ride takes less than 10 minutes--and much of that time is spent loading and unloading--but on crowded days, you sometimes have to wait in line as a bus or two fills up ahead of you.

Snow-making capability has been increased to 175 acres, one of the largest systems in the West, and there are 40 runs. A lot of them, however, are rather short.

It’s a great spot for families, though, especially if the little ones are prone to car sickness on windy mountain roads. Children 10 and under ski free when accompanied by a paying adult, which could save a family with two children under 10 about $40.

Steven Nelson, a 10-year-old from Newport Beach, likes Mountain High’s ticket policy. It meant he could talk his mom into taking him, which meant he could get in some more time on his new snowboard.

“I’ve been here and Snow Summit,” he said. “I think this is better than Snow Summit, for snowboarding, anyway.”

And why?

“It’s more fun,” he said, grinning.

Not very scientific, maybe, but after all, fun is the bottom line.

SNOW SUMMIT

Height at Peak: 8,200

Vertical Drop: 1,150

Lifts: 10 (2 quads, 2 triples, 6 doubles)

Miles: 92

Driving Time: 2 hours 15 minutes

Adult All-Day Lift Ticket: $34.50

Snow Summit has long been the bellwether of Southland resorts, the one most skiers use for comparison when talking about any other local area. And it still remains the most popular because president Dick Kun, whose family has run the resort for almost 40 years, is determined to stay ahead of the pack.

A battalion of snowcats blade the slopes each night, covering every bare spot, cutting the bumps and moguls and conditioning the surface for smooth skiing while a battery of snow blowers add new layers of powder.

It may make the runs predictable, but they’re predictably good.

Snow Summit is the only local resort to limit ticket sales, ensuring that the sometimes lengthy lift lines won’t get any longer and that no matter how popular the place is, there’s still room to zoom.

The parking can be discouraging. If you arrive any later than 9 a.m.--even on a weekday--you’ll be directed to auxiliary lots, which means you’ll have to ride a shuttle bus or walk a long way.

But you’ll know exactly what your walking into.

John Florey is only 17, but he’s already an expert on Southland skiing. His father, Tom, owns Mission Ski, Inc. in Mission Viejo and John grew up skiing in the local mountains.

“All things considered, Snow Summit is the best skiing around here,” he said. “Bear Mountain is higher, but I don’t like it as much. It’s usually more icy. The truth is that Summit has better snow management. The quality of the snow there is better.

“They have a good variety of runs and they’re interconnected (by chairlifts) really well, so you can use all your time skiing the runs you want to.”

Dave Patwell of Garden Grove agrees that Summit offers the best all-around skiing experience in the Southland, and he’s one of many who prefer to take the long route (over the Cajon pass on Interstate 15 to Route 18 and then up the backside of the mountain).

“It’s a lot longer in miles, but it takes only about 20 minutes longer to get here and the drive is a breeze,” he said. “Especially on the weekend when the front side is a mess with traffic. It can take you five hours to get home going down the front.”

Jay Johnston of Huntington Beach doesn’t want to concern himself with traffic problems.

“My buddy wants to leave by 3 to beat the traffic,” he said. “But this is so much fun, I say we stay until dark and who cares if it takes four hours to get home.”

SNOW VALLEY

Height at Peak: 7,841

Vertical Drop: 1,141

Lifts: 13 (5 triples, 8 doubles)

Miles: 79

Driving Time: 1 hours, 55 minutes

Adult All-Day Lift Ticket: $33

Snow Valley has the reputation of being a beginner-oriented resort. The addition of Slide Peak, a huge wall at the top of the mountain that is not visible from the parking lot, has helped to partially erase that image, however.

Hopping off the cornice at the top of Slide Peak is a nice rush; the run is wide open to accommodate a wealth of skiers without feeling crowded. Slide Peak is a fun run of lightly packed powder and minor moguls, but it’s subject to high winds and often is icy or closed because of wind or a lack of coverage.

Most of the other black-diamond runs here are the kind of hills that might not even be in the blue-circle (intermediate) category at most resorts in Colorado, Utah or the Sierras.

So, if you’re a progressing intermediate who would like the ego boost of saying you skied the black runs all day, this is the right spot. But if you’re an expert seeking a downhill challenge, you should probably look elsewhere.

“I don’t think this place is as bad as some people say,” said Ray Perez of Anaheim as he stood perched at the top of Slide Peak, taking a second to enjoy the view that includes the Los Angeles basin as well as Arrowhead and Big Bear lakes. “This run is really fun when the snow’s like this. And there’s even a couple of spots where you can ski (through) the trees.”

Perez also likes Snow Valley’s proximity to the bottom of the long and winding road--Highway 330 up from San Bernardino.

“It’s only 15 (actually 12) more miles to Summit, but it takes at least another half hour in good conditions,” he said. “My stomach doesn’t take to this road all that well and if I’m not driving, I usually throw up halfway between here and Summit.”

The fact that the aggressive skier tends to take his business to another mountain, makes Snow Valley that much more appealing to families. The bottom of the hill is a long, wide, extremely gentle slope that is perfect for novices and youngsters.

“I’ve been coming here with my two boys for years,” said Bill Perkins of Long Beach. “One is 12 and the other is 9, and they’re getting pretty good. They decided they’d have more fun if they ditched the old man today.

“We started coming here because I could get them set up at the bottom, they knew which lifts to ride to stay on the beginner hills, and I could come up the mountain and ski on the intermediate runs.

“Now, they’re probably up on Slide Peak while I just look at it and try to get up the courage to go up there.”

So, as two generations of Southland skiers pass on the slopes of a local mountain, a tradition endures.