Yes, Mountain High is buried. Photo: Mountain High
Mountain High Resort, a local Southern California ski resort west of the 15 Freeway between San Bernardino and Victorville, has reported an incredible 93 inches of snow in the last seven days. If you’re scoring at home that’s nearly eight feet. This at a mountain that averages around 67 inches each season (I’ve ridden the white ribbon of death during low-tide winters). This year is an absolute anomaly, for sure.
Two days ago, the mountain wrote on Instagram, “POWDER ALERT! More than five feet of fresh snow has fallen in the past 24 hours making this our largest snowstorm in recent history.” Unfortunately, or fortunately, that snow kept coming, and the mountain has been closed the last couple of days (they hope to be open tomorrow, Tuesday, February 28, as long as Route 2 is clear).
There are pow turns like this where there aren’t often pow turns to be had. Photo: Mountain High
This recent storm has brought some of the deepest snowfall totals on record to the San Gabriel Mountains and other alpine ranges in the region. Big Bear has recorded over six feet in the last six days. After several feet of snow, Mt. Baldy has been trying to stay open – they were closed Saturday as staff tried to dig out, opened Sunday, and were briefly opened Monday before shutting down due high winds and poor weather, according to the resort Twitter feed.
Mountain roads in Southern California have definitely been a problem with many routes being shut down due to snow accumulation with removal hampered by high winds. More snow is expected this week, with resorts like Mountain High forecasting up to another foot of snow before the storm slows down Wednesday. If you ever wanted to surf and snowboard in the same day in Southern California, this could certainly be the season to do it.
