LA is one of those places that you can surf in the morning and hit the slopes in the afternoon. But you’re definitely going to want to manage your expectations, it no Europe.
The major thing Mountain High has going for it is proximity to the city. Theoretically, you can get there in under 2 hours from the beach. Theoretically. This is LA people, I’m not sure it ever works out that way 😂😂😂 We set off ready for our 1h45min journey (breakfast burritos from Great White in hand) when 10 mins in we were re-routed the other way around the city because of road closures. Not to worry, it was only supposed to add 20 mins to the journey ….. for us and everyone else! So 4 hours later we finally made it up to the mountain.
It was an odd experience, I’m not going to lie. The roads were rammed, not with people coming to the “resort” but pulling up along side the road and sledding on whatever they can find, and having a great time doing it. So tip 1: drive carefully, people shoot out onto the road without warning.
Also, the back of everyone’s cars were filled with food & drinks. I found this really weird, until I saw the apres-ski options, then it made complete sense. But now I know what I’ll be doing next time.
So we made it to the slopes. It was hectic. Remember I mentioned the proximity thing, this is one of the downfalls. We grabbed a points based pass which can be used for 2 people- what they don’t tell you, is that you only get 1 card between 2. Not the end of the world, but good to know.
The runs here are short. The lift queues are chaos and the lift doesn’t have a footrest (serious bummer when you have a snowboard hanging from 1 foot) but once you get going, you won’t care. You’re snowboarding, and it hasn’t cost a fortune. Despite a heavy 2 weeks of SoCal winter the resort is still rocking a lot of man-made snow. The good news is, it’s not overly icy even after a bit of rain.
The slopes have stuff for doing tricks all the way down: jumps, rails etc. Super cool if you can do those things, because they are incorporated into your run. Not so cool if you’re like me and stay the hell away from them, because it narrows the piste significantly.
The other bonuses to Mountain High:
- Not too cold, even when the wind picks up
- Night skiing until 10pm
- No scary runs
- Amazing & confusing views: I’ve never been in the snow looking out over the desert before
- Benches to sit on to do up your board!!! No more wet bum!!
- Gorgeous SoCal sunsets while you board
The downsides
- Apres ski is abysmal. Even Al couldn’t be assed trying to get a beer at the end. THATS HOW BAD IT WAS
- Not a lot runs means you get bored easily
- Crowded slopes
- Getting a face full of rocks when you fall over on the edge of the slopes (yup, that happened).
Here’s the other thing: and I challenge any SoCal people to dispute me, providing you have snowboarded or skied ANYWHERE outside SoCal. I’m prepared to acknowledge this is not a representation of all American ski resorts….
Angelenos snowboard like they drive:
- Speed & skill are not in relation to each other
- No awareness or care for anyone around them
- Accidents galore
But here’s the thing: I’m going to go again. You get to have an afternoon of boarding, I’ve never lived anywhere before and been able to do that. Yes, I need to check out actual American resorts, but this is getting me out boarding again and that makes me happy.
Jilltopia 