Area Skiing: Less Dough for Snow

The word to remember for Southern California skiing this winter is “money.”

One local resort has spent an awful lot of it on improvements. Another resort is charging a lot less of it for lift tickets.

There are eight resorts within three hours driving time from the Valley and Ventura County. Most are clustered around Wrightwood, at the northern edge of the San Bernardino National Forest, and Big Bear Lake.

These resorts cannot offer the caliber of skiing found at Mammoth Mountain or near Lake Tahoe, but they do offer convenience.

“You can go up just for the day,” said Ralph Brasacchio, of Ventura, who has been skiing locally for 35 years. “You don’t have to stay the night.”

Said Nancy Mauro, of Thousand Oaks, who is a member of the Conejo Ski and Sports Club: “For someone learning to ski or for young people, our local mountains are really pretty good.”

The approaching ski season will see various changes and improvements among Southern California resorts, with the biggest news coming out of Mountain High, where new owners have poured $1.5 million into the hill.

With additional snow-making and grooming equipment, the management is promising to open by mid-November with nearly twice as much available terrain overlooking the Antelope Valley.

Mountain High East, the eastern portion of the two-sided resort, will be open every day.

Mountain High hopes the improvements will bolster its reputation to the level of the Big Bear resorts, which are known for offering more varied runs and more challenging terrain.

Meanwhile, one of those Big Bear resorts, Snow Summit, has caused a stir by reducing its adult lift tickets to $32 from last season’s price of $42.

“In recent years the price of lift tickets has increased so drastically,” said Genevieve Paquet, a Snow Summit spokeswoman. “People were walking away, thinking there’s no way they can afford to do this more than once or twice a year.”

Snow Summit is following the lead of Snow Valley, near Running Springs, which decreased its adult price from $42 to $34 last season and will offer the same price this season.

“These ski resorts are all about making money,” said Jay Reed, a Snow Valley spokesman. “Lift ticket prices were just getting out of hand.”

The underlying expectation is that price reductions will persuade skiers to ski more often, making up for the loss in per-ticket revenue.

Snow Valley reported a 40% increase in skier visits last year and is hoping to boost attendance even more this season with the addition of two half-pipes for snowboarders, a sports shop and restaurants.

Other resorts have resisted the experiment.

Bear Mountain, where four tall peaks comprise one of the region’s most-popular spots, is offering little in the way of improvements this season while increasing its lift tickets from $40 to $42.

Even at Snow Summit, previously one of the most expensive local resorts, the management admits to feeling nervous about the price change.

“This is definitely a big step for us,” Paquet said.

Word is already spreading among local skers.

“A $10 rate reduction?” asked Brasacchio, who has been skiing Big Bear for 35 years. “It’s unheard of.”

Other resorts have less-startling news to announce. At Ski Sunrise near Wrightwood, management has built a fire pit in the back courtyard and will feature live music Friday and Saturday afternoons. The resort, with relatively few runs, offers $30 lift tickets.

Mt. Waterman, a small and often uncrowded resort in the heart of the Angeles National Forest, has added a grooming machine for its runs.

Waterman and nearby Snowcrest have no snow-making machinery, which puts them at the mercy of nature. If El Nino comes through with frequent storms, it could be an epic winter. If not, it could be like 1996, when Snowcrest (formerly Kratka Ridge) was open only 15 days.

Mt. Baldy, another of the small resorts, has consistently increased its snow-making capabilities in recent years and now covers 30% of the skiable area. That should put the resort in respectable shape no matter what the weather brings.

Even with improvements, there are drawbacks to local skiing. The mountains aren’t very big, so no resort offers much more than 2,000 feet of vertical drop. And because they are close to a metropolitan area, the resorts tend to attract larger and less-experienced crowds. “It’s just a bunch of kids and out-of-control skiers,” one ski club official said.

But critics admit the physical conditions in local mountains are better than ever. Skiing magazine recently selected Snow Summit for the best snowboarder terrain in North America. And Mountain High is talking about spending another $3.5 million in coming years to become the biggest resort in Southern California.

“I’ve been around locally 20 some-odd years and it has improved dramatically,” Mauro said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Snowcrest at Kratka Ridge

Elevation 7,650 feet

Trails: About 16

Beginner: 30%

Intermediate: 30%

Advanced/expert: 40%

Lifts: 3

Lift prices: Adult $28 weekend, $15 Tues.--Thurs., child $15

Skiable terrain: 58 acres

Vertical drop: 850 feet

Snowmaking: 25%

Rentals, lessons: Yes

Information: (818) 440-9749; snow report (818) 583-9477

Note: Information is from 1996-97 season

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Mountain High

Elevation 8,200 feet

Trails: 45

Beginner: 25%

Intermediate: 50%

Advanced/expert: 25%

Longest run: 1.6 miles

Lifts: 11

Lift prices: 8 a.m.--10 p.m., adult $39, age 13-22 $33, children 10-under free with paying adult; 4-hr. adult $31, 13-22 $25; 8 hr. adult $35, 13-22 $29. Night, $25 adult, 13-22 $21.

Skiable terrain: 220 acres

Vertical drop: 1,600 feet

Snowmaking: 95%

Snowboarding: 2 snowboard parks

Hours: Weekdays 8 a.m.-5 p.m., weekends 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m.; night skiing all week 3 p.m.-10 p.m.

Rentals, lessons: Yes

Information: (760) 249-5808; snow report (888) 754-7878

Mt. Baldy

Elevation Elevation 8,600 feet

Trails: 27

Beginner: 20%

Intermediate: 40%

Advanced/expert: 40%

Longest run: 1.5 miles

Lifts: 4

Lift prices: Adult $40, student $30, children $25

Skiable terrain: 400 acres

Vertical drop: 2,100 feet

Snowboarding: Yes

Hours: 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Rentals, lessons: Yes

Information: (909) 982-0800

Snow Valley

Elevation 7,941 feet

Trails: 25

Beginner: 30%

Intermediate: 35%

Advanced/expert: 35%

Longest run: 1.75 miles

Lifts: 14

Lift prices: Adult $34, child $5

Skiable terrain: 235 acres

Vertical drop: 1,141 feet

Snowboarding: 1 terrain park

Hours: Sun.-Thurs. 8 a.m.-4 p.m., Fir., Sat. 8 a.m.-9 p.m.

Rentals, lessons: Yes

Information: (909) 867-2751

Bear Mountain

Elevation 8,805 feet

Trails: 24

Beginner: 25%

Intermediate: 50%

Advanced/expert: 25%

Longest run: 1.89 miles

Lifts: 11

Lift prices: Adult $40, young adult $32, child $10

Skiable terrain: 195 acres

Vertical drop: 1,665 feet

Snowmaking: 100%

Snowboarding: Snowboard park

Hours: 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

Rentals, lessons: Yes

Information: (909) 686-2519

Ski Sunrise

Elevation 7,516 feet

Trails: 24

Beginner: 30%

Intermediate: 55%

Advanced/expert: 15%

Longest run: 1 miles

Lifts: 4

Lift prices: Adult $30 weekend, $25 weekday; students $20 weekend, $15 weekday; children under 6 free.

Skiable terrain: 100 acres

Vertical drop: 816 feet

Snowmaking: 25%

Snowboarding: Yes

Hours: 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Rentals, lessons: Yes

Information: (760) 249-6150; snow report (760) 249-3200

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Information on local ski areas:

Southland Ski Server web site: https://www.cccd.edu/ski.html