This was my first time skiing in So Cal. I'm used to the Tahoe resorts. The experience was decent. I went for a day trip on a Saturday and the traffic was horrible once I hit the mountains, which I guess should be expected. Once I reached the resort it took me forever to actually get on a lift because I had to take a shuttle from a dirt/mud lot to the slopes and the lines for the shuttle were huge. The place was packed, but to my surprise, once I reached the upper lifts (lifts 8 & 4) there were no lift lines.

There were a couple of advanced runs at the top, but no moguls to speak of. This was because the mountain is 80 - 90% snowboarders, so there aren't enough skiers to carve bumps. On the plus side, apparently the boarders do not like steep runs which leaves the upper advanced stuff to the skiers.

Unfortunately, the upper lifts are not linked and are not accessible to one another, so it takes a long time to travel from one upper lift to another using lower mountain access lifts. The mountain would be much better for advanced skiers/boarders if they would add a lift or two linking lifts 8, 4 and 9 on the upper mountain so you would not have to ski all the way down to the bottom to catch another challenging lift.

I didn't expect Squaw Valley, so I have to say I was pleasantly surprised to have a couple of advanced runs to enjoy. the snow was pretty good since it had been dumping the week before. It got a little old by mid afternoon though due to lack of options, so I called it a day early.

For a local resort, this isn't bad. The price, $64, is too high though, especially if you are looking for any type of advanced skiing. But in the end, if it is this skiing or no skiing, I'll take it!

Bear Mountain is a "decent" place to ski. I just moved to so cal from New England and this place was a horrible surprise. Basically Bear Mountain is on par with some of the smaller, more run down areas in PA. However, there aren't a lot of options here for skiing, so this place isn't terrible when you look at it that way.

Pros:
You get to ski

Cons:
Lift lines are atrocious
Trails are poorly marked / maintained
Parking is a joke (be prepared to take a cattle car from the parking lot to the ski area!)
Expensive
Trails are congested
Traffic is a nightmare (Use 38 if you're not in a hurry)

Bear mtn is a really nice resort nestled up in Big Bear Lakes. The only issue is with thier group of local snowboarding kids thinking they own the mtn by cutting in line while everyone else waits patiently. Even some of the younger staff at Bear helps allow this action. These kids have no sense of patience, are very rude and can only bring the resort down in service like another so cal resort.

750 acres includes everything in the trees that is not just trail area. Summit next door has more actual trail area, but lists less. That being said there is nowhere better on a powder day in so cal than Bear Mtn. Don't miss it next time there is a good snow year in so cal.

Great beginner mountain and good advanced runs, we went on Feb 24-25 after they had just received 8 inches of snow. It was a little crowded but a great park and great snow. Highly recommended for beginners on snow summit and would suggest going during the week to avoid the crowd.