California Ski Resorts Ranked & Mapped
California has 23 ski resorts, most of which are located within the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. This amount is actually tied for third-most in the US behind New York and Michigan.
We also rated California as the best state to build a National Park and ski trip from.
List of All California Ski Resorts
Skiing can get expensive. Besides equipment rentals, ski lift passes are expensive and really add up if you have a family. To combat this, multi-resort, multi-day lift passes were created to help offset this cost a bit. Buying lift pass days in bulk will usually net you around a 20% discount.
EPIC and IKON are the two most well known mult-resort lift passes available. Both have season-long passes, but also sell multi-day ones as well. IKON is the most frequently used multi-resort pass in California, with it being associated with 5 resorts. EPIC has 3 California resorts within its network. Two others: INDY and Powder Alliance each have 4.
| Resort | Pass | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Bear Valley Mountain | Bear Valley, CA, 95979 | |
| Big Bear Mountain | Big Bear Lake, CA, 92315 | |
| Boreal | Soda Springs, CA, 95728 | |
| China Peak | INDY,POWD | Big Bar, CA, 96010 |
| Dodge Ridge | INDY,POWD | Pinecrest, CA, 95364 |
| Donner Ski Ranch | Norden, CA, 95724 | |
| Granlibakken Tahoe | Tahoe City, CA, 96145 | |
| Heavenly | EPIC | South Lake Tahoe, CA, 96150 |
| Homewood | Homewood, CA, 96141 | |
| June Mountain | IKON | June Lake, CA, 93529 |
| Kirkwood | EPIC | Kirkwood, CA, 95646 |
| Mammoth Mountain | IKON | Mammoth Lakes, CA, 93546 |
| Mount Shasta Ski Park | INDY | Mount Shasta, CA, 96067 |
| Mountain High | INDY,POWD | Wrightwood, CA, 92397 |
| Mt. Waterman | La Canada Flintridge, CA, 93553 | |
| Northstar | EPIC | Truckee, CA, 96161 |
| Palisades Tahoe | IKON | Olympic Valley, CA, 96146 |
| Sierra-at-Tahoe | POWD | South Lake Tahoe, CA, 96155 |
| Snow Summit Mountain Resort | IKON | Big Bear Lake, CA, 92315 |
| Snow Valley Mountain | INDY,IKON | Running Springs, CA, 92382 |
| Soda Springs | Soda Springs, CA, 95728 | |
| Sugar Bowl | COLL | Truckee, CA, 96161 |
| Tahoe Donner | Truckee, CA, 96161 |
Explaining Our ‘Difficulty Score’
Parks & Trips created a proprietary Difficulty Score that is generated by looking at the number of easy-intermediate-expert slopes by acreage and the maximum vertical drop of the overall resort.
Our algorithm compares each resort’s metrics with all others in North America, then gives each a Difficulty Score, which we use to rank them accordingly. Resorts with a lower score are easier than those with a higher one. However, a high score does not mean that the resort does not have any easy slopes, or vice versa. This is just an overall score given to the resort based on all its metrics grouped together.
The Most Difficult California Ski Resorts
Heavenly, located in Lake Tahoe, is both very steep and very large, and has few beginner-level trails. Mammoth and June are only 21 miles apart, which allows you to build a very easy trip between the two.
| Rank | Resort | Green Trails | Blue Trails | Black Trails | Difficulty ScoreTM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Heavenly | 8% | 62% | 30% | 73% |
| #2 | Mammoth Mountain | 15% | 48% | 37% | 70% |
| #3 | Kirkwood | 12% | 30% | 58% | 68% |
| #4 | June Mountain | 15% | 40% | 45% | 68% |
| #5 | China Peak | 11% | 28% | 61% | 66% |
The Easiest Ski Resorts in California
All five of the easiest ski resorts in California are located around Lake Tahoe. However, Granlibakken is a bit different than the others. This ski area has a family-atmosphere and is a go to spot for those visiting Tahoe with young children.
| Rank | Resort | Green Trails | Blue Trails | Black Trails | Difficulty ScoreTM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Granlibakken Tahoe | 50% | 50% | 0% | 15% |
| #2 | Tahoe Donner | 40% | 50% | 10% | 26% |
| #3 | Boreal | 30% | 55% | 15% | 30% |
| #4 | Soda Springs | 53% | 16% | 31% | 31% |
| #5 | Donner Ski Ranch | 25% | 50% | 25% | 38% |
The Largest Ski Resorts in California
Choosing the largest ski resorts is a bit of a tricky proposition. Do you look at just the summit elevation? How about the total acreage, most trails, or steepest vertical drop?
Well, we decided to combine all four of those metrics into one ranking to get the best idea, although we fully admit this is completely subjective. We’ve given you all the data in the following table to make your own decision.
Heavenly wins our award for largest ski resort in California due to its massive 3,500-plus foot vertical drop. This is what Heavenly is known for, and it certainly delivers. Neighboring Palisades Tahoe has the most trails and skiable acreage, and Mammoth Mountain has the highest summit elevation. No matter which resort you choose out of these five, the skiing will all be massive.
| Rank | Resort | Summit Elevation | Base Elevation | Vertical Drop | Acres | Trails |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Heavenly | 10,067 ft | 6,540 ft | 3,527 ft | 4,800 | 97 |
| #2 | Mammoth Mountain | 11,053 ft | 7,953 ft | 3,100 ft | 3,500 | 175 |
| #3 | Palisades Tahoe | 9,050 ft | 6,200 ft | 2,850 ft | 6,000 | 274 |
| #4 | June Mountain | 10,090 ft | 7,545 ft | 2,590 ft | 1,500 | 41 |
| #5 | Northstar | 8,610 ft | 6,800 ft | 2,280 ft | 3,170 | 100 |
