Big Bear and Mountain High ski resorts opening Friday in Southern California

Two of Southern California’s most popular and convenient ski resorts are opening Friday after a surprise cold snap allowed snow-making for several days. Early-season rates apply, in one of the earliest debuts in decades.

Mountain High in Wrightwood, which opened a top-to-bottom run (Chair 4) today to season-ticket holders, will be offering early-season rates of $35 for four-hour passes and $40 for eight-hour passes. The resort has been making snow almost full time since Tuesday and boasts an 8- to 12-inch base. Six to 10 terrain features were open today, and up to 20 were expected to be open on Friday. Dress warm. Though sunny, the mountain this afternoon was breezy, with temperatures hovering in the high 30s.

The resort also plans to be open over the weekend, including Halloween night, and will reevaluate conditions on Sunday. Options include closing during the week and staying open on weekends. Snow-making requires temperatures in the 32-to-39-degree range, said the resort’s Kim Hermon. There is no firm cutoff on the early-season rates, which depend on snow conditions and size of the crowds. Mountain High hours: 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

At Bear Mountain in Big Bear Lake, snow-making will allow the opening of the Central Park run (Chair 5) and about half a dozen terrain features, some of them new. As with Mountain High, this is mostly an opportunity for snowboarders and skiers to work out the kinks on limited terrain. For machine snow, base depths at Bear Mountain were decent this afternoon, ranging from 10 to 18 inches. Full-day early-season lift tickets begin at $25 for adults. Friday’s hours at Bear Mountain will be 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Nearby Snow Summit was also making snow, but it had not announced an opening date. According to spokeswoman Tamara Hemmerly, priority was being given to shady areas, where the snow would be protected from warming trends.

And, for a break on lift tickets, don’t forget Ski Dazzle, at the Los Angeles Convention Center through Sunday. Exchange your $17 admission ticket for a day pass to Bear Mountain or Snow Summit.

Meanwhile, in Colorado, the Arapahoe Basin and Loveland ski resorts have already opened, thanks to a big snowstorm, my colleague Pete Thomas reports.

— Chris Erskine, Los Angeles Times deputy Travel editor

Photo: At Mountain High, they’ve been making snow since Tuesday. Credit: Mountain High

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This entry was posted on Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 4:26 pm by Chris Erskine and is filed under California, Colorado, Deals, News, Tips & Advice, Outdoors & Adventure, Rocky Mountain States, Ski & Winter, Weekend Getaways. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.