Snow Valley Mountain
Snow Valley Mountain Resort, located in Southern California, is one of four ski resorts in the San Bernardino Mountains and holds the distinction of being the oldest continually operating ski resort in the region. Having opened to the public in 1924, Snow Valley has experienced ongoing growth and expansion throughout its history. It is a highly recommended destination for those seeking a traditional atmosphere and family-friendly environment, situated near the renowned Big Bear Lake.
With 12 lifts available to riders, Snow Valley Mountain Resort provides access to 32 marked trails that encompass a rideable area of 240 acres. These trails are spread across two mountains, with beginner-friendly terrain located at the base area, intermediate options available in the middle of the resort, and advanced and expert terrain on Slide Peak at the summit. Visitors of all skill levels will find something to enjoy at Snow Valley Mountain Resort, which also boasts the only snow-play area in Southern California with a chairlift.
We recently ranked all of California's ski resorts, so you can see where Snow Valley Mountain stacks up against all its nearby ski hills!
Season Passes
Snow Valley Mountain is a part of the Ikon Ski Pass network. This allows you to buy one lift pass, and ski at all or most of the Ikon-sponsored slopes with it throughout the year, depending on the type of pass you bought.
Snow Valley Mountain is a part of the INDY Ski Pass system. This allows you to buy one lift pass, and ski at all of the slopes that are also a part of the group.
Lodging Options
There are numerous options to stay at Snow Valley Mountain around the resort. Check out the available options with the form below.
Snow Valley Mountain Mountain Resort Terrain Overview
Snow Valley Mountain has a total of 28 ski trails, which are serviced by 12 ski lifts, gondolas and/or trams. Snow Valley Mountain is considered a smaller than average ski area, with only a maximum of 240 acres available to ski. This area is equivalent to 97 hectares, 0.4 square miles, or 1.0 square kilometers.
Snow Valley Mountain's slopes see on average 188 inches (4.8 meters) of snowfall a year. That is almost 15 feet every year!
Total Runs
28
Lifts
12
Skiable Acres
240(1 km2)
Annual Snowfall
188"(478 cm)
Snow Valley Mountain Ski Resort Elevation
Snow Valley Mountain Ski Resort has a summit elevation of 7,841 feet, or 2,390 meters. However, not all of that elevation is able to be skied. The base of the ski slope sits at 6,800 feet above sea level, creating a ski hill that is 1,041 feet (317 meters) high. This is referred to as the slope's vertical drop - or a measure of how high the skiable hill is.
Snow Valley Mountain's summit elevation is higher than average. There are a lot of ski slopes that are much higher than this one (some stretch to 12,000 feet!), but it is not small by any stretch of the imagination.
Summit Elevation
7,841'(2,390 m)
Vertical Drop
1,041'(317 m)
Base Elevation
6,800'(2,073 m)
Snow Valley Mountain Ski Resort Difficulty Level
Difficulty Score™
50out 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
Snow Valley Mountain has 240 total skiable acres, which can be broken down into the three main groups of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.
Snow Valley Mountain is a beginner-friendly ski area, with about 14% of its trails as easy. However, it also has a fair share of more difficult runs - which account for the remaining 86%.
Beginner
14%(34 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%(110 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
40%(96 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 Snow Valley Mountain Ski Resort good for beginners?
Snow Valley 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 86% of its trails rated at or above intermediate.
Snow Valley Mountain Ski Resort Location
Snow Valley Mountain Ski Resort is located in the state of California, USA. This ski area is nearest the town of Running Springs, CA.
Address:
Running Springs, CA 92382 USA
View on Google Maps
Website:
snow-valley.com
GPS Coordinates:
34.22500, -113.55700
Getting to Snow Valley Mountain Mountain Resort
By Car: If you are driving, you would set your GPS to either the ski resort's name (Snow Valley Mountain Ski Resort), its coordinates of 34.22500, -113.55700 (latitude, longitude), or simply drive towards the town of Running Springs, 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 Snow Valley Mountain Ski Resort.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Havasu City International Airport | LHS | Lake Havasu City, AZ | 41 mi |
| Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport | PHX | Phoenix, AZ | 104 mi |
| Harry Reid International Airport | LAS | Las Vegas, NV | 157 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 Snow Valley Mountain.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Havasu City International Airport | HII | Lake Havasu City, AZ | 52 mi |
| Prescott International Airport - Ernest A. Love Field | PRC | Prescott, AZ | 71 mi |
| Yuma International Airport / Marine Corps Air Station Yuma | YUM | Yuma, AZ | 124 mi |
There may also be much smaller regional airports next to Snow Valley 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 Snow Valley Mountain Ski Resort.
| Name | Location | Summit | Difficulty Score™ | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elk Ridge | Williams, AZ | 8,150 ft | 33% | 97 mi |
Snow Valley Mountain Ski Resort Mountain Stats
| Name | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Summit Elevation | 7,841 ft |
| Base Elevation | 6,800 ft |
| Vertical Drop | 1,041 ft |
| Trails | 28 (14% Beginner, 46% Intermediate, 40% Expert) |
| Lifts | 12 |
| Skiable Acres | 240 |
| Avg. Annual Snowfall | 188 inches |