Big Bear Mountain
Big Bear Mountain Resort is a popular ski and snowboard destination located in the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California. With almost 800 acres of skiable terrain and a vertical drop of over 1,600 feet, Big Bear Mountain Resort offers a variety of trails for skiers and snowboarders of all abilities. The resort features two terrain parks, the Snow Summit Park and the Bear Park, which offer a range of features and challenges for freestyle skiers and snowboarders.
Big Bear Mountain Resort receives an average of around 100 inches of snowfall per season, which allows for a long ski season that typically runs from November through April. In addition to downhill skiing and snowboarding, Big Bear Mountain Resort also offers cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and other winter activities. With a variety of on-mountain dining and lodging options, Big Bear Mountain Resort is the perfect place to enjoy all that the Southern California mountains have to offer.
We recently ranked all of California's ski resorts, so you can see where Big Bear Mountain stacks up against all its nearby ski hills!
Season Passes
Big Bear Mountain is not a part of any nationwide lift ticket system. Passes such as Epic, IKON, or Mountain Collective allow pass holders to ski at multiple mountians with a single purchase. Unfortunately, none of those passes work with Big Bear Mountain Ski Resort. To purchase season passes, you'll need to visit Big Bear Mountain's website.
Lodging Options
There are numerous options to stay at Big Bear Mountain around the resort. Check out the available options with the form below.
Big Bear Mountain Mountain Resort Terrain Overview
Big Bear Mountain has a total of 58 ski trails, which are serviced by 18 ski lifts, gondolas and/or trams. With 748 acres, Big Bear Mountain Ski Resort has a moderate amount of skiiable terrain available for skiers. This area is equivalent to 303 hectares, 1.2 square miles, or 3.0 square kilometers.
Big Bear Mountain's slopes see on average 100 inches (2.5 meters) of snowfall a year.
Total Runs
58
Lifts
18
Skiable Acres
748(3 km2)
Annual Snowfall
100"(254 cm)
Big Bear Mountain Ski Resort Elevation
Big Bear Mountain Ski Resort has a summit elevation of 8,805 feet, or 2,684 meters. However, not all of that elevation is able to be skied. The base of the ski slope sits at 7,140 feet above sea level, creating a ski hill that is 1,665 feet (507 meters) high. This is referred to as the slope's vertical drop - or a measure of how high the skiable hill is.
The summit of 8,805 feet makes this ski resort one of the highest in the country. The average ski slope summit is around 4,000 feet, so this is extremely high compared to its peers.
Summit Elevation
8,805'(2,684 m)
Vertical Drop
1,665'(507 m)
Base Elevation
7,140'(2,176 m)
Big Bear Mountain Ski Resort Difficulty Level
Difficulty Score™
50.3out of 100
DID YOU KNOW?
At Parks & Trips, we've created a proprietary Difficulty Score that attempts to show how difficult a particular ski slope is. We get to this number by combining a number of metrics for each resort and comparing them to its peers. Most of the score is based off the amount of easy-intermediate-expert slopes by acreage and the maximum vertical drop of the overall resort, but also includes a few lesser-used metrics as well.
Our algorithm compares each resort’s metrics with all others in North America, then assigns each a Difficulty Score, which we use to rank them accordingly. Resorts with a lower score are easier to ski 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.
Skiable Terrain by Difficulty Level
Big Bear Mountain has 748 total skiable acres, which can be broken down into the three main groups of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.
Big Bear Mountain is a beginner-friendly ski area, with about 23% of its trails as easy. However, it also has a fair share of more difficult runs - which account for the remaining 77%.
Beginner
23%(172 acres)
Beginner trails (identified by a green circle) are the easiest trails on the hill with a gradual 25% or less gradient, and are usually wide to accommodate beginner skiers.
Intermediate
46%(344 acres)
Intermediate trails (identified by a blue square) are usually the most popular and crowded runs, which have a slope of anywhere between 25-40%.
Expert
31%(232 acres)
Expert trails (identified by a black diamond... or two) are the hardest slopes on the mountain, and have very steep gradients over 40%.
Is Big Bear Mountain Ski Resort good for beginners?
Big Bear Mountain can be beginner-friendly, depending on the runs you take. While it ranks in the lower half of all North American ski areas in terms of overall difficulty, it still has 77% of its trails rated at or above intermediate.
Big Bear Mountain Ski Resort Location
Big Bear Mountain Ski Resort is located in the state of California, USA. This ski area is nearest the town of Big Bear Lake, CA.
Address:
Big Bear Lake, CA 92315 USA
View on Google Maps
Website:
bigbearmountainresort.com
GPS Coordinates:
37.10000, -119.10000
Getting to Big Bear Mountain Mountain Resort
By Car: If you are driving, you would set your GPS to either the ski resort's name (Big Bear Mountain Ski Resort), its coordinates of 37.10000, -119.10000 (latitude, longitude), or simply drive towards the town of Big Bear Lake, CA to get close.
By Air: If you are coming in from across the country, then you may need to board an airplane to get here.
A large airport has scheduled major airline service with millions of passengers per year. This type of airport always accepts international flights. Here are the closest large airport(s) to Big Bear Mountain Ski Resort.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Norman Y. Mineta San José International Airport | SJC | San Jose, CA | 157 mi |
| Reno–Tahoe International Airport | RNO | Reno, NV | 170 mi |
| Sacramento International Airport | SMF | Sacramento, CA | 175 mi |
A medium-sized airport has scheduled regional airline service. This type of airport may or may not accept international flights. Here are the closest medium-sized airport(s) to Big Bear Mountain.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fresno Yosemite International Airport | FAT | Fresno, CA | 41 mi |
| Meadows Field | BFL | Bakersfield, CA | 115 mi |
| San Luis County Regional Airport | SBP | San Luis Obispo, CA | 155 mi |
There may also be much smaller regional airports next to Big Bear Mountain Ski Resort, but we didn't list them here due to the fact that no major airlines go through them.
Other Nearby Ski Resorts
Skiers will - especially if coming from far away - try and visit a couple different slopes all in the same trip. Here are the closest other ski slopes within 100 miles of Big Bear Mountain Ski Resort.
| Name | Location | Summit | Difficulty Score™ | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mammoth Mountain | Mammoth Lakes, CA | 11,053 ft | 70% | 38 mi |
| June Mountain | June Lake, CA | 10,090 ft | 68% | 46 mi |
| Dodge Ridge | Pinecrest, CA | 8,200 ft | 54% | 88 mi |
Big Bear Mountain Ski Resort Mountain Stats
| Name | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Summit Elevation | 8,805 ft |
| Base Elevation | 7,140 ft |
| Vertical Drop | 1,665 ft |
| Trails | 58 (23% Beginner, 46% Intermediate, 31% Expert) |
| Lifts | 18 |
| Skiable Acres | 748 |
| Avg. Annual Snowfall | 100 inches |