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Snow Summit in Big Bear Lake is a ski resort that offers chair lift service to skiers in the winter time and now to mountain bikers in the summer time. They must have realized how popular the sport is getting and decided to cash in on the opportunity. As of this review they are still building more trails to offer more variety to riders of different skill levels. For the most part, mountain bikers who do ski lift runs are usually down hill riders and that's who Snow Summit is gearing its trails towards. They say they are in the process of improving the trails and building additional trails so the bike park should improve and offer more fun over time. |
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Snow Summit Video
Snow Summit Review
If you can go on a less crowded day then that's your best bet since Snow Summit can get kind of crowded with mountain bikers and there are only a few trails on the main face of the mountain to ride for now. If it's a crowded day you may find that people are riding your rear wheel if you are too slow or you are tailgating others if you are too fast. For the most part people do a pretty good job of getting out of the way of faster traffic. If you space yourself out between the riders starting in front of you then you should be ok. There are 2 lifts so the lines aren't too bad even though one lift takes twice as long as the other since it takes more of a scenic route. One thing they need to improve on is the ability to put more than one bike on a lift chair at a time. So if you have 3 people then it takes 4 lift chairs to get you and your bike up the hill.
As for the trails they are pretty fun and you don't have to be an expert downhill rider to ride them. The jumps are not too crazy and you can usually go around anything that looks too intimidating. The hardest part of the trails are the rocky sections which can get pretty rough and if you don't have good control you may end up feeling some of them close up. Westridge may be your best bet to keep things smoother but to get to it you will have to take Cruiser until it splits off at the bridge. Westridge also offers some nice table top style jumps that you can ride over or try and jump over to test your skills. All 3 of the main trails are similar in style and difficulty even though Westridge is labeled as an easier trail.
If you want to get away from the crowds and back to nature then you can branch off to one of the other trails off the other side of the mountain such as Fall Line. This trail is fun and has some technical rocky sections that will test your skills for sure. It's pretty easy to make it back to the bottom where the ski lifts are from these trails as well.
Snow Summit has some decent amenities like a couple of places to eat offering things like burgers and tri tip sandwiches. Sometimes they offer a combo package where you can get a lift ticket and a meal for a discounted price. They also have bike rentals if you want to try out a more downhill appropriate bike. You can get bike and protective gear packages as well. You will have to fill out an online waiver before you can buy your lift ticket but this can be done online from home before you leave to save yourself some time.
Snow Summit Pictures
Directions to the Snow Summit bike park
View Snow Summit Bike Park in a larger map
To get to Snow Summit you will need to get yourself to 880 Summit Blvd in the town of Big Bear Lake. Just navigate to the CA-330 N highway off the 210 freeway which will turn into the CA-18 N highway. Once you get into town turn left onto Big Bear Blvd and then turn right onto Summit Blvd and you will see the lifts. You will pass up some other lifts on the way up on the right hand side so don't get confused thinking you are there because you have another 10 miles or so to go before you get to Snow Summit itself.
