Read skier and snowboarder-submitted reviews on Snow Summit that rank the ski resort and mountain town on a scale of one to five stars for attributes such as terrain, nightlife and family friendliness. See how Snow Summit stacks up in the reviews, on and off the slopes, from skiing and family activities to the après scene. Read up on pros, cons and other comments in reviews left by fellow skiers and riders. Don't forget to submit your own Snow Summit review! Scroll to the bottom of this page to let other travelers know about your skiing and resort experience.
Reviews for Snow Summit
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A ski resort's overall star rating displayed here is not calculated based on a simple average but takes several factors, including the age of a review, into account.
First time snowboarding at snow summit and realized that the beginner slopes were steeper than the one at Bear Mountain. Purchased the night session tickets and it wasn't as packed as the day sessions at bear mountain. One of the staff at snow summit nearly hit my brother because we fell when got off the lift and were not "moving out of the way" fast enough. The employee at the bottom of the lift had told us we were the last ones for the night which is why my brother had told the employee at the top not to worry because we were the last ones anyway. The employee proceeded to approach my brother angrily while screaming. He kept saying he didn't understand why "these people" (beginners) don't learn to move out of the way fast enough. He then managed to fall right next to my brother and went back to his work space quietly after getting back up. You'd think as an employee at the beginner lifts he'd have more patience with those riding the lifts. The 2 employees in the bottom of the lifts were the sweetest ever. They helped me a lot and gave me some tips to improve. ... Full Review
Davis Franklin
I was very disappointed about the efficiency of the shuttle service from remote parking. We had to wait for approximately 1 hour on 3/14 from fox farm to even get to the slopes. This unsatisfactory considering the amount of money for an adult ticket. We did not get on the slope until 1.5 hours of getting to the parking lot. This is not okay and disgraceful... Full Review
Carter
crowded, decent town to stay in, pricey, okay conditions sometimes rare snow... Full Review
Carter
crowded, decent town to stay in, pricey, okay conditions sometimes rare snow... Full Review
Robert
Horrible experience. Signed my son up for 6hr lesson which also included them giving him lunch. After a few hours instructor told all the kids they could go. Get a call from someone else in my group that found him outside freezing and hungry after wandering around for over an hour. What makes this worse is that when I went to go see how he was doing was told he was out getting lessons when he was really wandering around looking for me. He went out into the parking lot and was found by friend sitting outside when it was snowing and in the low 20s. So many things could have happened to him. I called resorts corporate number to report what happened no response. This type of thing should never happen and I would never let any of my other kids get lessons here again. They ruined what should have been a great time and first experience for my son, and ruined the time of the other people in our group that had to take care of him until they got ahold of me. ... Full Review
Tam Le
First time me and my brother ski in the westcoast, we have great time skiing there...
On Thursday , Feb 7, 2019 I lost my Gorpo on the trail, a goodman found it and return to the lost and found office, A GREAT THANKS TO YOU..Whose found my Gopro. Great place to visit.... Full Review
Melmrob2
Great day yesterday........March 18,2018.....Overall great experience.Snow was perfect..... Parking was tough,BUT,..., shuttle services,ticket lines, and outdoor bar area well staffed and efficient. If it snows more I definitely will go back...... Full Review
James Cooper
so this year is a bad year for snow but that doesnt mean you need to stay away from the slopes. the staff is very friendly. they do their best to keep you safe the whole time you are there but if you arent paying attention that part is on you. i heard someone complain that they got taken out by a skier when they were walking around on the beginner slopes... that is not on park staff they warned that same person that could happenand they didnt listen. so yes the staff is amazing for what they have and they do a very good job on busy days. yes the conditions arent to people's expectations but they are the best in so cal like always!!! never seem to fail my expectations, they always do better. i took my son and daughter for snowboard lessons and they loved it. i am actually thinking of buying them private lessons and have them learn more from the teaching staff. outstanding work they do in that department. even when they are understaffed they work till the job is done. good work summit and good work bear you two resorts are killing it even in these conditions.... Full Review
Paul Mann
Stay away from the mountain until we get some snow. Went yesterday and there is almost no snow left on the runs. There is no way that they have 40" You need to avoid the bare spots on most of the main runs. There are a couple that can be found that might have 6-12" of snow, but nothing more than that. Summit has not blown snow all week and due to the excessive heat up here, most of the snow has been melting. I would wait until we get a storm or until they confirm that they have blown more snow before visiting again.... Full Review
Brian
Granted, we visited on the busiest time of the year - the week between Christmas and New Year's. My bride took a lesson and enjoyed it. Lots of magic carpets; two dedicated beginner lifts. They really try to make it easy for beginners in a variety of ways. For example, the trail map did a great job of rating each portion of a trail so you can see if a trail is mostly blue (intermediate) or green (beginner).
No grooming report because all the snow is man-made so it is (of course) groomed every night. There are some expert runs they do not groom daily (I'm told). And if they get fresh snow, they don't groom everything. It's really quite incredible how good the snow is even though it is man-made. If they didn't tell me, I wouldn't have known.
Night skiing exists but good luck finding any info on when it starts/ends. The webpage says to call their hotline but it only says "we have night skiing tonight." Asking a local, it appears it goes to 8:30pm but I'm not sure if that is just for the holidays or not. (They use the yellow-tint lights for night skiing.)
The best intermediate terrain is on the far left of the resort at chairs 7 and 10. Excellent long, wide, blue groomers and very short lift lines because you can't get to those chairs from the base.
The resort can't handle peak crowds so the backup to get a parking spot or even drop someone off can be well over an hour (maybe more). I avoided it by taking back roads to the resort (which were snow/ice covered). Even though the town of Big Bear is in the mountains, it is not a ski town. Californians are scared to drive on ice so the back roads have very little traffic. Free parking can be obtained by showing up at 7am (lifts were opening at 8:30 am during the holiday - not sure of the regular hours). Otherwise, parking is $20. If you show up at 7am, nothing is open... They really need to figure out how to park more than one car at a time. Currently, they only take a single line of cars into their only lot.
There are shuttle trucks that go between Big Bear resort and Snow Summit (only 10 min apart). Open-air trucks that people stand in. I did see a park&ride lot but it is not on the map and there is no info about the shuttle schedule to that lot.
Didn't get a chance to take in their bar scene but they do have an outdoor bar at the base so you can watch the beginner area. There is also a small lodge at the top.
Like usual, get your tickets in advance to save a lot of money! Liftopia and BigBear website had the same prices. To redeem your advance ticket, you can go to ANY ticket line, rental counter, or lesson counter. Usually the lesson windows on the far left of the resort have tiny lines, even at peak crowds.... Full Review
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