Already Snow Summit and Bear Mountain were in full operation with all lifts and runs open, nearly 200 jibs and jumps between the two, and quite decent January snowpacks.

    And then the snow really came!

    Five-plus feet fell the last week of January with still more in the long-range February forecasts. By the time the last flake fell, Snow Summit and Bear Mountain were reporting base depths of 48-84 inches, enough to last the season really but winter’s hardly over yet. Hello, El Nino! Why, there’s so much snow that ski patrol has had to rope off areas underneath some chairs to make sure skiers and boarders don’t get whacked by those riding up!

    “It was truly an epic storm sequence, the likes of which we’ve not seen since the El Nino of 1969,” said Chris Riddle of Big Bear Mountain Resorts. “There are times we may have had more snow on the ground but it didn’t come all at once like this.”

    Now the tree sections are open at both Big Bear resorts, especially Bear Mountain’s famous canyons. Bow, Deer and Goldmine Canyons are officially open for the first time this year—though snowboarders and skiers have been dipping into them long before January’s bounty—opening up the best tree skiing this side of Colorado. It’s natural riding at its finest, around trees and over drops, ungroomed and unpatrolled.

    Yet the canyons aren’t the only places to find pow-pow. There’s a terrific recently-thinned tree section off Rip’s Run that affords terrific off-piste action. Silver Mountain is littered with exploratory lines, between signature run Exhibition and The Wedge. Showdown Mountain has a peak’s worth of trees.

    Snow Summit has lots of hidden stashes too, from the obvious visible trees into the Chair 6 bowl to tastes hidden amidst Chair 3. The small hill right below the All-Mountain Express, fondly referred to as “Chuck Noll” by Big Bear Today in honor of the great Pittsburgh Steelers football coach, has some amazing lines between lower Summit Run and Miracle Mile’s Widowmaker section. And yes, even Chair 9, servicing the area’s low intermediate Family Park, has been known to harbor tree goodies long after the snow stopped falling.

    Discovering all the snow stashes will keep skiers and snowboarders busy during February as the winter season really cranks up, especially if long-range forecasts hold true and there’s more white stuff to come. Just not all at once, please; last month’s barrage left getting to the snow, not finding it, the biggest challenge with road closures and such.

    Both resorts are well positioned to take advantage of all the fluff. Bear Mountain for instance already had not one, not two but three pipes. Just like in Goldilocks and the Three Bears, there are pipes that are “just right” for you whether it’s the mini with gentle transitions for learners, standard size or competition-size Superpipe with 17’ sidewalls. Plus get some change back with quarterpipes that are half of a halfpipe with one wall.

    The Scene is insane with jibs for all abilities including the recently-unveiled spaceship, winner of Analog’s “Design Unlikely Feature” contest. Yet there’s jibs and jumps for all ability levels lining the runs at Bear, from wide flat boxes for beginners to huge rails for advanced riders.

    While Bear remains Big Bear’s place to park—The Park has been voted number one in the nation by Transworld Snowboarding Magazine readers, and #2 overall behind only Whistler Blackcomb in Canada—Snow Summit also offers more freestyle fun too. Westridge, the resort’s longest run at 1-1/4 miles and at one time the nation’s premier freestyle trail, has gradually returned to its former status.

    Hardly Superpark status like it was when it was Ground Zero for the inaugural Winter X Games in 1997, Westridge still has some premium-size jumps on it plus the famous pole hip. Which makes sense, since Westridge is Snow Summit’s premium run at night.

    “We’re trying to have more of a freestyle mix,” Riddle said. “From the Family Fun Park with hits everyone can enjoy to intermediate and even larger jumps.” Family Fun Park on the low-intermediate runs along Chair 9 is a great place to discover freestyle, with itty bitty hitties including small jumps and tame jibs.

    One thing skiers and boarders won’t see at the Big Bear resorts, almost certainly, is any more snowmaking. “About 75-100 inches of snowfall is our average,” Riddle said. “We have more than that on the ground now. If we have any kind of average February and March we’ll be fine. It would be a strange scenario if we have to make any more snow.”

    Call Big Bear resorts Snow Summit and Bear Mountain at (909) 866-5766.