I’ve been somewhat putting off this post for quite some time due to a flurry of other fun events to write about, however, I’m finally getting to it!  About a month ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to try out and review Mt. High ski resort.  Being one of the only relatively close resorts to Los Angeles, I talk about Mt. High quite frequently in blog posts, so I jumped at the opportunity to visit and review the hill.  Man oh man, where to begin…

Mt. High is the closest mountain to Los Angeles, taking only about 1.5 hrs. to get there.  I was kind of bummed because when I originally mapquested directions, I noticed the resort was only a 45 minute drive from my Sherman Oaks apartment.  However, as I began my journey to the mountain – and got about 10 miles up Highway 2 – I noticed a sign that said the Wrightwood pass was closed.  Well, apparently, people used to be able to go this way, however, a bridge collapsed 3 years ago that was never replaced.  I guess it’s a lesson for me to check directions on resort Web sites and NOT on mapquest   Anyway, minus the whole getting lost part, it probably took me about 1.5 hours to get up to the mountain (the back way – 134/210 to the 15) from the Valley, which is still pretty decent.

Now, as I was driving along the highway nearing Wrightwood, I was sitting there thinking, “there’s no way a resort is anywhere close to here!”  The roads were completely bare and there was no snow anywhere in sight.  Not to mention the fact that I was basically on a small Freeway!  Then, all of a sudden, on my left a ski resort appeared out of nowhere!  It was like one of those dreams where you’re trekking through a hot desert and all of a sudden your sand mirage turns into a mound of snow… OK, you get the point.  Needless to say, I was a bit skeptical of this strange, rather large mound of snow to my left; but hey, can’t complain!

The snow ended up being a lot better than I expected.  Although I’m used to the cooler weather at Mt. Hood, when the temperature at Hood is anything above 32 degrees it either rains or the snow is so sticky anytime past noon that its practically worthless.  Mt. High, on the other hand, was nothing of the sort.  It was about 40 degrees out and perfectly sunny (I sported my fleece all day because it was “too hot” to wear my jacket – aka, I forgot it) and the snow was actually decent.  I love spring skiing, and with spring skiing-like conditions all year round, Mt. High was made for me.

When I arrived, I parked at the lower lot because the main lot was already full, but it was only a 5-minute or so bus ride to the main lodge.  Mt. High is split into two completely separate resorts – the East Resort, which has a few chair lifts and freeride runs, and the West Resort, which is the snowboarders haven, and also considered the main resort.  I’ll talk about this one first, since its the first part I hit.

The East Resort of Mt. High really reminded me of a smaller version of Big Bear – it was basically one big park.  The entire hill.  The park, dubbed Faultline (check out the layout here; they’re on MySpace too!) was rad – it had rails and jibs I’ve never seen anywhere else!  I now see why pros come in nationwide to ride at this SoCal mountain.  The jumps were great too; it had a few different slopestyle parks, each one a different level.  It had a small one, great for beginners, two medium sized parks, and a gigantic one, where they hold many of their comps.  The one thing I didn’t like, though, was that (similar to Big Bear) the parks weren’t marked off from the rest of the hill.  There were so many times when I saw a beginner just sitting on the edge of a lip taking a quick break (really?!) or a reckless rider cut in mid park.  Despite this minor nuisance, though, I still had a blast (the East resort has a super fun atmosphere, with a lot of young, but not overly annoying, riders); so much so that I didn’t want to leave to go to the West Resort!

But I was SO glad I did.  Its funny, the two resorts are part of the same mountain, but carry completely different vibes.  While the East side is fun, crazy and crowded, the West side is relaxed and calm, and there really aren’t big crowds or long lines.  The runs are much longer (the West peak’s elevation is about 200 feet greater) and there are less people on the hill.  Though there wasn’t a wide variety of runs to choose from, they were the perfect steepness and it was fun to straightline the entire run from top to bottom.

The only couple drawbacks about Mt. High are a) It tends to get pretty crowded (I’ve heard you should either arrive early in the morning, about a half hour before the mountain opens, or after 2pm; and b) Well, its small.  To be completely honest, though, the size didn’t really bother me.  There are definitely days when I’m in the mood to freeride, scope out new tree runs, or build kickers in fresh pow, and on these days Mt. High wouldn’t be the best pick, but there are also days where I’d be perfectly happy spending 8 full hours in the park, and for these days Mt. High is perfect.  In fact, its home to probably one of the best parks I’ve ever ridden through.

Another thing that’s great about Mt. High is the number of fun events they have catered to the college-aged demographic.  For example, they have frequent concerts, events such as ‘College Night,’ competitions like ‘A Snowboard Contest,’ and a solid happy hour (dollar hot dogs!)  They are also very technically integrated, with fun programs like weekly podcasts riders can subscribe to so that people can continue to think snow even when they’re not on the slopes.

All in all, Mt. High’s a great time!  If you live in SoCaland are looking for a close weekend getaway, I’d give this one a three thumbs up.