Big Bear Buys Snow Valley

[Tony Crocker]

I just got this e-mail:

Get ready for even more alpine good times because Snow Valley Mountain Resort is now part of Big Bear Mountain Resort. Under terms of the agreement, BBMR will oversee operations at Snow Valley immediately to create a three-mountain experience for visitors of all ages and abilities, featuring Southern California’s most renowned alpine destinations.

As the longest continually operating resort in Southern California, Snow Valley (est. 1924) features some of the region’s best beginner terrain, award-winning learning centers, and lift-served sledding as well as SoCal’s only high-speed 6-seat lift, The Snow Valley Express.

Operations will continue as usual at all three destinations for the remainder of the 22/23 season with Ikon Pass and BBMR season pass holders able to use their passes at Snow Valley starting on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023.

So now I'm free there as well as Big Bear and Mt. High. However it's hard for me to see a scenario where I would prefer to ski Snow Valley over Big Bear or Mt. High. I skied Snow Valley last season for the first time in 36 years because Liz had never been there.

Why would I almost never ski Snow Valley? The advanced Slide Peak chair has no snowmaking and tends to be open the same times that Mt. High East is open. Jojo O'Brien thinks Slide Peak is open more often than Mt. High East, but I've been keeping records for some time and that's not correct. In the last decade Mt. High East has been open average 3.5 weekends vs. Slide Peak 3.1 per season. From 1998-2012 Mt. High was more aggressive about making snow at East, which was open average 10.4 weekends vs. Slide Peak 5.9 per season.