Seeing the snow in California was on my unofficial wish list for a while. California is a huge state and there are plenty of opportunities to see snow if you live up north. But for a SoCal resident like me it was never a priority or rather, it’s not the first thing that comes to mind when I think about how to spend my weekend.
This winter had a lot of rain which apparently means that there’s a lot of snowfall in the mountains. It seemed like a good enough reason to finally explore local snowboarding opportunities. Recently, we organized a Fit Club at work and for our second outing (first was a hike along the ocean) we decided to do a Snow Day. It was such a great idea! Not only did we get a chance to hang out outdoors but we also had a really fun road trip.
I got up at 5 am since the plan was to leave bright and early. Getting everyone together and packing snowboards in a car took a little while and when we finally hit the road it was almost 8 am! We didn’t have a snowboarding rack so we used bunch of bungees to hold the snowboards on the roof of the car. The problem was that the second we started going around 60 mph those snowboards were lifting off in the air!! So freaking scary! We had to drive slower and were constantly making sure everything is fine. Thank god for the awesome Spotify playlist someone in our group put together to keep us in positive spirits.
The ride was beautiful. You can really tell all that rain did a good job of painting California green. It was a little foggy with clouds hanging really low and hugging the green hills, so magical! Soon the scenery changed to a desert with fluffy Joshua Trees and then to snowy mountains and evergreens. Amazing!
We took a couple of wrong turns once we got into the mountains. I was really anxious to get on my board already. After sorting things out with the tickets, rentals and board adjustments we finally got to the top. Growing up in Siberia, especially near awesome mountains in Sheregesh, I always liked winter sports. I started skiing at 6 years old. I switched to snowboarding at 14 and never looked back.
I love the excitement of going down the mountain, the speed and fresh cold air. At Mountain High I picked the perfect track (level Blue, the routes names are “The Wedge” turning into “Catch Ya Later”). I had a whole mountain to myself, there were barely any people! The snow was a little wet and icy but I zipped through it easily and it definitely satisfied my snow craving.
Few Tips for the Trip to Mountain High
- Get your tickets online, the lines for those are much shorter and they have different deals you can research in advance. Since we were in mid-size mixed level group, we took advantage of the “Bring a friend” package, which includes lift tickets for two, rentals and a 1h 45min lesson for one for $119 ($59/person, 30% savings). We paired experienced riders with beginners and everybody got what they wanted.
- The equipment rental line was very long. Some people in our group waited for an hour and a half to get their boards and boots. If you are looking to rent, check out board shops in the village. There are quite a few of those with no lines and you can save from $5 to $15 dollars.
- Wear layers. It’s a pretty obvious advice for winter sports. With Mountain High still being in Southern California, it’s pretty warm during the day. It gets much colder at night.
