BIG BEAR 1st timer.Where to go? is it free to sled?

[ondarkness]

I want to check out Big Bear but don't know what to expect.
The trip is just for a fun snow day.
I don't want to go to places that have alot of lines to ride slopes with a sled or a snowboard.

Are there tickets to buy?


it's my first time to check out the snow scene altogether.

 

[Ns1]

snow? in big bear?

surely you jest!


as a serious response, there may or may not be snow in big bear. it's been that way for the past 15 years. be warned as the fires have ravaged alot of landscape

i can recommend allseasonsbigbear.com for rentals

I don't know of any sledding places. if you're a n00b to skiing/snowboarding, i'd recommend snow summit.


big bear mountain > snow summit, but not if you're a n00b

 

[ondarkness]

not really set on snowboarding.
I just want to go have a day in the snow.
slide down the hills on something, with that something hopefully sliding on snow :laugh:

 

[Ns1]

Originally posted by: ondarkness
not really set on snowboarding.
I just want to go have a day in the snow.
slide down the hills on something, with that something hopefully sliding on snow :laugh:

in that case, usually you just go around and try to find a bigass hill with some snow...

 

[ondarkness]

THATS easy enough.
I'll stop by costco and pick up a couple of those snow sliding things.

 

[r6ashih]

I'm driving there for the first time.. in an accord. Will i be okay? do i need snow chains?

 

[Ns1]

Originally posted by: r6ashih
I'm driving there for the first time.. in an accord. Will i be okay? do i need snow chains?

only if there's snow. which is more the exception than the rule.

 

[PetunZ]

Last weekend, I believe they required snow chains. My brother was up there and it snowed and rained on him quite a bit (snow on fri, rained on sat, and snow on sun I think). I'm not sure about this weekend since the storm passed on. They have snow conditions at bearmountain.com (click on snow report).

As long as it's cold, there should be plenty of places where you can have fun in the snow without buying a lift ticket. If it's warmer than normal, you might only find a few places close to the lifts where you can play (but you can't venture up too far without a lift ticket I think).

You can chance it and go up without chains. I've never had to use chains while driving up there, but I've never driven to bear during a storm. I think it's better to be safe and buy chains at walmart for ~$30, than to be forced to buy chains from a gas station up there for ~$100.

 

[ondarkness]

I figure better safe.
just having them in the trunk makes me feel better.
I heard they are very expensive to buy there if needed.

 

[Ns1]

Originally posted by: PetunZ
Last weekend, I believe they required snow chains. My brother was up there and it snowed and rained on him quite a bit (snow on fri, rained on sat, and snow on sun I think). I'm not sure about this weekend since the storm passed on. They have snow conditions at bearmountain.com (click on snow report).

As long as it's cold, there should be plenty of places where you can have fun in the snow without buying a lift ticket. If it's warmer than normal, you might only find a few places close to the lifts where you can play (but you can't venture up too far without a lift ticket I think).

You can chance it and go up without chains. I've never had to use chains while driving up there, but I've never driven to bear during a storm. I think it's better to be safe and buy chains at walmart for ~$30, than to be forced to buy chains from a gas station up there for ~$100.

last weekend yes. IMHO this has been the rainiest season we've had in years. And we've had 2 storms!


just check out bear mountain's website the day before you go. they'll tell you if you need chains or not, + expected conditions

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: Ns1

Originally posted by: r6ashih
I'm driving there for the first time.. in an accord. Will i be okay? do i need snow chains?

only if there's snow.

i :heart: this (edited) response

 

[zinfamous]

BTW, where is this big bear? I wanna go if they have snow, and good skiing.

 

[Ns1]

Originally posted by: zinfamous
BTW, where is this big bear? I wanna go if they have snow, and good skiing.

then you don't wanna go there lol

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: zinfamous
BTW, where is this big bear? I wanna go if they have snow, and good skiing.

it's in the Inland Empire, haven't been there in years and years. But it was never really a place to go if you wanted to ski. Not to say you can't ski there, but everywhere I went up there, wasn't really any big slopes suited for skiing. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong but the Big Bear I remember was mostly a place to play in the snow, sled down some decent lil hills and chill in lob cabins by a fireplace.

 

[Ns1]

Originally posted by: QueBert

Originally posted by: zinfamous
BTW, where is this big bear? I wanna go if they have snow, and good skiing.

it's in the Inland Empire, haven't been there in years and years. But it was never really a place to go if you wanted to ski. Not to say you can't ski there, but everywhere I went up there, wasn't really any big slopes suited for skiing. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong but the Big Bear I remember was mostly a place to play in the snow, sled down some decent lil hills and chill in lob cabins by a fireplace.

not really.

snow hasn't been good up there for 10+ years. it's still pretty good to go if you can go RIGHT AFTER a storm.

bear mountain is fantastic (for being 2 hours away)

but if you compare big bear to a REAL mountain, say mammoth/tahoe/vail/etc, big bear is shit.

double black diamond @bear moutain = a hard intermediate in mammoth.

 

[abaez]

There are two snow hills at the east and west ends of town where you can rent a tube for 10$ and go as much as you want.

Yes, you can find a hill and go down it, but believe me after like 2 or 3 times climbing up a hill you don't wanna do it anymore. These places have a tram to take you back up so it's much easier and doesn't tire you as much.

 

[rpanic]

If you want to just go play in the snow there are easier places to get to than Big Bear if it has been snowing. If you are in LA, Mount Baldy is a quick drive, and Mountain High has a tube park that I think is open now.

 

[ondarkness]

went to the tube on the east side I think.
22 bucks all day.. till 4 that is.

its was not bad.
bear and summit were worse than nightclubs.
the ratio looked like for every 2 people leaving, 100 came in. All day.
what a mess.

 

[Cruisin1]

I just came back from Big Bear today. The snow was real good because of the snow they got lost weekend. I own a cabin up there so its easy for me.

As for snowplay. There's two places that you can sled at that. One is alpine magic mountain. and the other is on the other end of big bear near Riffenburgh lumber, I'd recommend this place. Quite a big hill for sledding and they have a lift too. Not sure what the cost is, I'd assume close to 25-30 bucks since its quite a profesional place and I think they even make their own snow.