Ski Season in Lake Arrowhead
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Last weekend we were lucky enough to slip away to Lake Arrowhead for a long weekend. Nick and I visited for the first time last fall (I wrote about it here), but this time was different as there was snow on the ground and we intended to ski. We stayed with a friend who happened to grew up there, so the trip was also different as we were able to stay as a local would. If you are looking for somewhere to stay, I linked the cabin we stayed at in Cedar Glen here.
We drove over to Lake Arrowhead from West LA around 4pm on a Thursday. You’d think that traffic would be okay as it wasn’t a weekend and places are still shut down due to the pandemic, but this is Los Angeles and you just never know! It is about a 1 hour 45 minute drive sans traffic, but it took us closer to 3 hours. Lake Arrowhead has a couple grocery stores, but they are small. Additionally most restaurants and such close earlier than later, so we packed most of the food that we would need for the weekend. I compared Lake Arrowhead to Big Bear here, but the headline is that Lake Arrowhead is private, whereas Big Bear is public. Big Bear is therefore more commercialized and has more things to do / more open.
We planned to ski Friday and purchased lift tickets in advance for Snow Valley. We picked Snow Valley over Big Bear because it was closer to where we were staying and had less traffic. This may seem obvious because it is physically closer, but our friend had skied Big Bear the weekend prior and what should have taken her about 50 minutes to get back to her house turned into 3 hours. In comparison, Snow Valley was less than 30 minutes from where we were staying. We purchased night skiing tickets, because it was cheaper ($35!!) and because you are able to ski until 8pm. It’s beautiful to be on the mountain and watch the sunset and it is also less crowded! A couple things to note here… the Snow Valley website was kind of confusing and we thought it started at 12 pm instead of 3 pm. We arrived at 11:30 am to find out not only could we not ski yet, but they were also 100% sold out of rentals. What?! Apparently they sell out around open time each day which would have been nice to know. Since we had to go back into town to get gear anyway, we made the most of it. First we grabbed our gear at Leroy’s - the guys were so nice and the rentals were $10 cheaper than on the mountain. Next we bought lunch at Neo’s pizza - my favorite that we tried was their pesto chicken pizza! We still had some time to kill, so we stopped at the tubing park right next to the mountain - it is so close and on the way back to the mountain parking lot. It was called Snowdrift Tubing Park and was so fun! It was $20 (CASH ONLY - they do have an onsite ATM) per person, per hour. It was worth it in general, but was also fun since we couldn’t go skiing yet. They have sledding at Snow Valley, but it didn’t appear to be as fun as the tubing we did. It is anywhere from $12 - $37 depending on if you have a full day pass and which day of the week. More for holidays. It is right on the mountain though, so that is convenient. When we could finally go skiing, it was a breeze! We got our pass (they literally can’t print them out until at least 2:30 pm) and headed to the lifts. The Thunder Mountain run (main bunny slope - take lift 6) was so nice for me as a beginner. I had only skied one time before in Montana and cried the whole time. This was a much better experience. They are supposed to have two other green runs, but Coyote Flats was closed. I didn’t find this out until after I had already ridden lift 13 up and had no choice but to take Eagle Flats down. It is a green, but has a terrain park / moguls. Needless to say I did not like it. I only fell once this trip and it was going down this run. Trying to get up on skis is a feat in and of itself! I will say something that was interesting is that it was so warm! It chilled up as the night drew closer, but in the afternoon it was actually kind of hot! Nick literally skied in a short sleeve t-shirt and lightweight zip-up jacket along with his ski pants. I think it was a little warmer than usual, but note that it is warmer than most mountains. For sure forget your sunscreen - the sun is OUT. After our evening of skiing we grabbed some hot chocolates at the bar ($4 regular, $7.50 spiked - would have been more like $15 at Big Bear!) and it was so nice! You can’t sit inside because of the pandemic, but there was lots of outdoor seating. Food available for purchase too. After skiing, we headed home and ate dinner and prepared to be sore the next day.
Free People Beanie | Outdoor Voices Cloud-knit Shirt | Columbia Powder Summit Ski Jacket (sold out, similar here) | Columbia Ski Bugaboo Pants | Lululemon Belt Bag
If you are considering skiing, here’s a comparison between Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear. Note that night skiing isn’t always offered (see dates on websites) and that Saturdays and Sundays are more expensive, but it is still cheaper overall at Snow Valley versus Big Bear. Additionally, Big Bear isn’t offering half days as of right now. Everything below is in regard to adult prices. Ski season is typically late November - early April.
LAKE ARROWHEAD SKIING VS BIG BEAR SKIING
Snow Valley Lift Ticket Prices and Information
1 mountain, 7,841 ft at peak
Includes 240 acres of skiable/rideable terrain
Free parking
M-F All Day* $74 (9 am - 4pm)
M-F Half Day $64 (9 am - 1 pm or 12 pm - 4 pm)
M-F Night $35 (3pm - 8 pm)
*You can upgrade an all day pass in person to include night for $12
Big Bear Lift Ticket Prices and Information
2 mountains -Snow Summit (peak 8,200 feet, traditional runs) and Bear Mountain (peak 8,805 feet, terrain parks) all lift tickets are valid for same-day use at both mountains
Includes 240+ skiable / rideable acres at Snow Summit and 740+ skiable rideable acres at Bear Mountain
$20 parking fee
M-F All Day* $119 - $129, plus a $2.58 tourism tax (9 am - 4pm)
M-F Half Day Not available for purchase at this time so I couldn’t find the price (12 pm - 4 pm - note they only have 1 half day time when offered)
M-F Night $97 - $109, plus a $1.94 tourism tax (3pm - 8:30 pm)
*You can upgrade an all day pass to include night in person, but the price isn’t listed online
RECAP OF THE TWO
Lake Arrowhead is cheaper, but you also have less acreage. Snow Valley / Lake Arrowhead is always under $100 even on holidays / weekends. On the flip side Snow Valley / Lake Arrowhead isn’t as commercialized. Big Bear is heavier trafficked, but can also house more people and has more mountain to offer. If you have a beginner, I would 100% recommend Snow Valley. It has something for all levels, while having one of the best bunny slopes ever.
On Saturday we slept in and made a big brunch. We grabbed coffee and tea at Higher Ground Coffee in Crestline (their food looked amazing too!), then we headed to Seely Creek Falls. We hiked (it’s beginner and more of a walk, though the snow made it slightly more challenging) to see the heart rock. It was so pretty and the waterfalls were in full force thanks to the rain and snow we have received as of late. After that we headed home to grab lunch. On the drive back we passed by Lake Gregory. We didn’t stop, but this is where the mountain / camping scenes were filmed in Lindsay Lohan’s version of the Parent Trap. After lunch we headed to Lake Arrowhead Brewing Co. - their local brews were good and it was cute. They have these igloos you can rent if you want a fun place to sit, but you need to do that in advance. Otherwise they have benches / tables and some standing areas. Next we went to Lake Arrowhead Village which Nick and I had been before. We walked Bank of America Trail (which we hand’t done before) and it was fun. Note that you have to have a resident of Lake Arrowhead with their Arrowhead Lake Association card or you will be kicked out. No worries if you don’t have one though, as walking around the village is fun and still scenic. We ate dinner at home that evening, then crashed.
Sunday we woke up, ate breakfast, and headed back to Los Angeles. We left around 10:00 am and made it back around 11:30 am. There was no traffic, so it was smooth sailing!
Here’s a more bulleted list of how we spent our trip:
THURSDAY
Drove to Lake Arrowhead and at dinner at the house
FRIDAY
Got ski gear at Leroy’s
Lunch at Neo’s Pizza
Tubed at Snowdrift Tubing Park
Night Skiied at Snow Valley
SATURDAY
Coffee at Higher Ground Coffee
Hiked Seely Creek Falls / Heart Rock
Drank at Lake Arrowhead Brewing Co
Walked Bank of America Trail at Lake Arrowhead Village
SUNDAY
Drove back to Los Angeles
I shared some bulleted lists on my other Lake Arrowhead post, but wanted to share food options, as I feel like you typically know what you’re going to do heading to the mountain. I don’t really have any recs of places to stay except the cabin we rented last time, which is linked here. These are the best food options though! If you need a grocery store, there’s Jensen’s Minute Shoppe and Stater Bros.
PLACES TO EAT / DRINK
Neo’s Pizza* (Running Springs)
LuluBelle’s Mountain Bakery (Running Springs)
El Toto’s (Running Springs)
High Ground Coffee* (Crestline)
Hortencia’s (Crestline)
Lou Eddies Pizza (Sky Forest)
RB’s Steakhouse (Cedar Glen)
Malt Shop* (Cedar Glen)
Lake Arrowhead Brewing Co.* (Lake Arrowhead)
Papagayos (Lake Arrowhead)
The Grapevine (Lake Arrowhead)
Dogwood Tavern (Lake Arrowhead)
The Lakefront Taproom and Bar* (Lake Arrowhead)
Belgian Waffle Works (Lake Arrowhead)
Bin 189* (Lake Arrowhead, would recommend for drinks and a view, not dinner)
*denotes places I have been
I hope this post helps plan your Lake Arrowhead trip! If you have a favorite spot, please let me know so I can try it when we go back. I for sure want to go back in 2022 (if not sooner), as they will re-open Aztec Falls. We wanted to hike this when were there in the fall, but they closed it as too many people had hiked it // too many people left trash behind and the land needs time to heal. As the people who live on the mountain say “flat landers” ruined it. Apparently after every ski season the locals go out and pick up pounds and pounds of trash left behind from those who sought an out of city getaway I found this very sad. Please be sure to pick up your trash and dispose of it properly. I noticed even when we were there that people had left broken sleds, just discarded by the side of the road and such. Don’t do this! I think a lot of what happened specifically to Aztec Falls was COVID and people looking for something to do, but the trash issue is not new. Pick up after yourself and leave it a little better than you found it.
Pro Tip: Check the weather before you drive down and be prepared. Chains are sometimes necessary! It had snowed a lot the weekend before we arrived, but none when we were there. We drove our 4 wheel drive car and brought chains just in case though.
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