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Big Bear Mountain Ski Resort

Home / Ski Resorts / Big Bear Mountain Ski Resort

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 15 ski trails, which are serviced by 12 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 (3.0 meters) of snowfall a year.

Trails
Total Runs
15
Ski Lift
Lifts
12
Skier
Skiable Acres
748(3 km2)
Snow
Annual Snowfall
100"(3,048 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.

Mountain Summit
Summit Elevation
8,805'(2,684 m)
Vertical Drop
Vertical Drop
1,665'(507 m)
Mountain base
Base Elevation
7,140'(2,176 m)

Big Bear Mountain Ski Resort Difficulty Level

Score
Difficulty Score™
55.7out of 100
←  EasyHard  →
Big Bear Mountain's difficulty level of 55.7 is above average. 80% of its trails rated as either intermediate or expert-level, which doesn't leave much for the beginners.

 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's difficulty level is higher than average, which is because 33% of its ski trails are rated as intermediate, and another 47% as expert.
Green Circle
Beginner
20%(150 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.

Blue Square
Intermediate
33%(247 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%.

Black Diamond
Expert
47%(352 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 is above average in its difficulty level, so... probably not? It will depend on which trails you take since only 53% of its trails rated for either beginner or intermediate skill levels.

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.

NameCodeCityDistance
Norman Y. Mineta San José International AirportSJCSan Jose, CA157 mi
Reno–Tahoe International AirportRNOReno, NV170 mi
Sacramento International AirportSMFSacramento, CA175 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.

NameCodeCityDistance
Fresno Yosemite International AirportFATFresno, CA41 mi
Meadows FieldBFLBakersfield, CA115 mi
San Luis County Regional AirportSBPSan Luis Obispo, CA155 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.

NameLocationSummitDifficulty Score™Distance
Mammoth MountainMammoth Lakes, CA11,053 ft68%38 mi
June MountainJune Lake, CA10,090 ft66%46 mi
Dodge RidgePinecrest, CA8,200 ft52%88 mi

Big Bear Mountain Ski Resort Mountain Stats

NameStatistic
Summit Elevation8,805 ft
Base Elevation7,140 ft
Vertical Drop1,665 ft
Trails15
(20% Beginner,  33% Intermediate,  47% Expert)
Lifts12
Skiable Acres748
Avg. Annual Snowfall100 inches
Big Bear Mountain Ski Resort Mountain Stats
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