Season Dates
Mid November to Mid April
Weekday Hours
Weekend Hours
It's proximity to SD and LA make it a SoCal choice, but only go if the weather is good and the crowds are small in my opinion
The sun hits Bear Mountain different than other places. It sits lower in California's sky at 8,805 feet, where 118 inches of yearly snow meets Southern California attitude. This isn't the biggest mountain you'll ride - just 198 acres - but what they've done with it makes your board sing. Thirteen terrain parks. Let that sink in. While other resorts give you a park or two, Bear Mountain gives you a paradise of steel and snow. The park builders here are artists, and the whole mountain is their canvas. Seven lifts haul 16,590 riders up the vertical drop of 1,665 feet, and on weekends, you'll see every one of those riders. The crowds come thick here - Los Angeles isn't far away, and these people know what they've got. The snow is what it is - they make it when nature doesn't provide, which is often in these southern mountains. It's not that champagne powder you'll find up north, but it does the job. The view spreads out over the San Bernardino National Forest, pine trees marching down to where the desert begins. It's decent enough to make you pause between hits in the park. Twenty-six trails wind down the mountain, but nobody counts trails here. They count rails, count jumps, count boxes and walls and transitions. Alterra Mountain Company runs this place now, and they've kept its soul intact - this is still the freestyle capital of Southern California, still the place where park rats come to progress. The mountain has four beginner runs, four intermediate, ten advanced, and eight expert trails. But those numbers don't tell the real story. The real story is in the sound of edges hitting rails, of boards slapping down on landings, of riders calling out to each other across the parks. This is Bear Mountain - not the biggest, not the snowiest, not the highest - but for park riders, it's a kind of home. You'll battle crowds on weekends, you'll ride man-made snow more often than not, and you might wish for more vertical drop. But then you'll hit that perfect rail, stick that new trick, or watch the sun set behind distant peaks, and you'll understand why people keep coming back. This is Southern California riding - take it or leave it. Most people who know, they take it.