2024-25 California Detail

Updated April 12, 2025

Mammoth opened Broadway, Rusty's and Saddle Bowl on snowmaking November 15. 7 inches of snow fell on the opening weekend after a scattered 10 inches during the prior two weeks. Another 11 inches fell Nov. 22-23, opening all groomed runs on chairs 1 and 2 and 3 more runs on chairs 4 and 10. 37 inches of snow Nov. 24-27 opened 90+% of the mountain by Nov. 29. Two weeks of calm and sunny weather firmed many ungroomed surfaces, but they were restored with 19 inches Dec. 12-15. There were 4 more inches before Christmas, and another foot by New Year's. Just 5 inches fell in early January and it was then dry until another 5 inches fell Jan. 25-26. 19 inches of heavy snow fell during the first week of February with considerable rain below Main Lodge. But then it dumped 51.5 inches Feb. 13-15. Spring conditions emerged during the last week of February but winter returned with 23 inches during the first week of March. Then it snowed 33 inches March 13-15 and 10 inches March 18. Spring conditions emerged during the last week of March but it snowed 2 feet from March 31 - April 2. Very warm weather emerged for the the second week of April.

Southern California snowmaking allowed Snow Summit and Mountain High to each open one top to bottom run Nov. 22. Late November storms mostly missed SoCal and one that made it was all rain. December was unusually warm and dry even by SoCal standards. There was less SoCal ski terrain open at New Year's than in over 40 years. The Santa Ana winds of Jan. 6-7 brought 5 inches snow to the local areas with improved snowmaking since the rest of January. Only by Jan. 24 did the Big Bear areas reach majority operation with 8-12 inches snow and moved past those 40-year lows of open terrain by date. February 5-7 storms were all rain for 3 days. Feb. 13-14 was all snow, ranging from 6 inches at Mt. High to a foot at 8,000+ feet at the other areas. The second February storm opened minimal new terrain but offset some damage from the first storm. SoCal open terrain remained in the worst 10th percentile as of the end of February. It snowed 3 inches March 3, then rained all day March 5 before snowing 9-18 inches. Open terrain finally expanded some after 24-30 inches March 12-14, but only Big Bear and Snow Valley reached full operation. By the last week of March open terrain retreated to its meager extent before the mid-March storm. 2 inches at the start of April did not slow down earlier than usual terrain closures. Only Bear Mt. stands a chance of staying open to Easter April 20.

I consider the local areas worth visiting according to the following criteria (2024-25 summary):

Snow Summit: The Wall, Log Chute, Chair 10 and lower Westridge open. Upper Summit Run to lower Miracle Mile and the beginner area opened Nov. 22. Only Upper Miracle Mile was added by Dec. 24 and Summit remained 12% open Dec. 31. 24% open Jan. 10 with chair 3 open, 36% open with chair 7 and Log Chute Jan. 14. 45% with Chair 9 and lower Westridge Jan. 18, 58% with Wall Jan. 25. Chair 10 opened near the end of January but closed with the rain Feb. 5-7. 64% open including Olympic Feb. 15. 61% March 1, 100% March 15, 52% March 31, closing April 13 with 21% open.

Bear Mt: Silver Mt. and/or Bear Peak open. Opened Park Run Dec. 13. 20% open since Dec. 24, 31% open Jan. 10, 38% Jan. 14, Silver Mt. Jan. 18, 59% with Bear Peak Jan. 25, 62% Feb. 15, 100% March 15, 69% March 31, 48% April 12.

Snow Valley: Slide Peak open. Scheduled opening Nov. 29 was only the beginner area and remained that way until 11% open MLK weekend. 22% open Jan. 31. 100% including Slide Peak March 15. Slide closed March 23 and Snow Valley was 19% open March 31 and closed April 6.

Mountain High: East as well as West open. Chisholm and some beginner runs opened Nov. 22. Chisholm closed within a week and reopened about Dec. 20. West was 16% open past New Year's, 25% open Jan. 10, 29% Jan. 18, 32% Jan. 26, 39% Feb. 15, 35% Mar. 1. All of West opened March 15 but none of East. Within a week West was back to 35% and down to 16% at the end of March, closed April 6.

Mt. Baldy and Mt. Waterman: A natural snow base of at least 4 feet. Baldy's beginner area opened at the end of January. Fire Road to Bonanza opened Feb. 15 but closed soon. Baldy opened chairs 3 and 4 March 15 but no skiing on chair 1, and chair 4 closed within a week. March 28-30 were Baldy's final days open. Waterman made no attempt to open anytime in 2024-25.

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