Winter Van Life: Snow Valley Mountain Resort
Time of Our Visit: Late January 2023
Kyle and I both learned to snowboard in the San Bernardino mountains during our teenage years. Snow Valley was only 30 minutes from Kyle’s childhood home, and I was fortunate to get discounts to Bear Mountain and Snow Summit working at a sporting good store.
As we’ve been touring about the country, hitting up Southern California ski areas wasn’t high on our list because we’ve been there and done that. However, Snow Valley was about to get a snowstorm and we were already in California enjoying powder days at Homewood and Sierra-at-Tahoe in late January 2023. We also had Indy passes and Snow Valley joined Indy for the first time during the 2022/23 season. (Sadly, they were purchased by Alterra/Ikon this year, so don’t expect them to return to Indy for 2023/24.)
Our decision to head south to Snow Valley kicked off an amazing road trip to lesser known California resorts, including China Peak and Dodge Ridge. All were getting slammed with what would come to be record-breaking snow and we discovered some amazing ski areas with Tahoe-style terrain without the crowds.
What We Love About Snow Valley
Warm weather skiing. Southern California skiing and riding often comes with bluebird skies and slushy runs. It’s not uncommon to see men in shorts and women in bikinis. If you want people to look at you and know you’ve been on the mountain, Snow Valley is where you go to work on your goggle tan.
Ski and ocean surf in one day. There aren’t many places in the world where you can do both with abundant sunshine. You could even challenge yourself and throw in some mountain biking and golf too. Start your day at Snow Valley, then drive about two hours to Orange County beaches like Huntington Beach, Dana Point, or San Onofre.The California State Parks in these cities are all RV friendly to days users and offer camping. Or start your day surfing and end your day skiing.
The incredible amount of local stoke for the mountain. California is more widely known for skiing in Mammoth and Lake Tahoe. I don’t know anyone that has said they’re taking a ski vacation to Snow Valley. However, if you talk to locals on the chairlift or in the lift line, they love their home mountain. One guy we talked to had just returned from a trip to Colorado where he rode a couple of ski areas, including Winter Park and A-Basin. His attitude was that they were “meh” and proclaimed how happy he was to be back at Snow Valley. Maybe the powder we were enjoying at Snow Valley that day was feeling extra epic. However, I did sit with an employee on a chairlift at Arizona Snowbowl who was selling a couple on trying Snow Valley instead of Mammoth on their next ski trip to California. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t getting paid for his endorsement.
Plan Your RV/Van Life Road Trip to Snow Valley
bigbearmountainresort.com
35100 State Highway 18, Running Springs, CA 92382
(909) 867-2751
Contact
Pass affiliation: Ikon Pass 2023/24
Hours: Typically Monday through Friday 9:00 am-4:00 pm, Weekends 8:30 am-4:00 pm, Night Skiing When Scheduled. See Snow Valley’s Hours for more information and schedule changes.
Mountain Stats
- Skiable terrain: 240 acres
- Vertical: 1,041 feet
- Snowfall: 150 inches
Driving to Snow Valley
The highways to Snow Valley are very windy, narrow, and steep whether you’re coming up CA-138 or CA-18 from the Victorville area, from the San Bernardino area via CA-330 or CA-18, or from Redlands via CA-38. During winter storms, these highways are especially treacherous, and you’ll be traveling amongst drivers with varying levels of experience in snow. It’s not uncommon for these highways to shut down during adverse weather. If snow is in the forecast, try to get up the mountain before the snow hits and be prepared to ride out the storm. For road conditions:
- Snow Valley’s Weather & Snow Report
- Caltrans
- San Bernardino County Current Road Closures
- socalmountains.com
Note: If you’re in a large rig, be careful about venturing off major roads and highways around Snow Valley. It might be too tight of a fit and too steep for you.
Parking at Snow Valley
Snow Valley has one very large parking lot. It’s pretty obvious when you arrive where you should go. However, pay attention to your parking spot selection. When we were there, cars created a row behind an existing row of cars that already had another row directly in front of them. The cars within the middle row could not go forward or in reverse. We were lucky that we were still at our van when this parking fiasco was happening as we were able to reposition ourselves before getting blocked in.
AT&T cell service seemed to work well enough in the parking lot. I was able to text, email, and browse the internet without any issues. I’d be cautious about its reliability on a busy weekend.
Tips on How to Ski/Ride Snow Valley
Note: Snow Valley works a little differently than other resorts. The snow play and downhill ski area is secured behind orange fencing. At its entrance, there is an attendant who will scan your ticket.
We were lucky to be at Snow Valley on a powder day. Here’s what we learned:
If Slide Peak happens to be open, go! Don’t save it for another day. Snow Valley used to be Kyle’s home mountain and he never once saw Slide Peak open.
If you take Lake Run, don’t follow tracks that cut into the trees going skier’s left. There were no signs or ropes, so we thought it would be a fun way to ski back to the van. However, we ended up at a maintenance building and there was no easy way to go around. As we passed through the maintenance yard and approached the parking lot, security was driving by and accused us of skiing past signs telling us to keep out. He was ready to call the authorities, but then for some reason, he let us go. We won’t do that again!
If you take Pipeline and drop into the trees on skier’s right, know your exit! There is a creek/gap at the bottom before you hit the run underneath Chair 2. If you decide to explore the trees there, scope out your exit first by taking a ride on Chair 2.
Once Slide Peak was tracked out, we could find mostly fresh lines on the front side of Chair 9, the trees around Bubble Gum and West Run (don’t get caught in the gully), skier’s right of Pipeline in the trees, and skier’s right of Lake Run in the trees.
Where to Sleep in Your Van/RV
Snow Valley does not permit overnight RV camping in their parking lot.
SkyPark Camp + RV Resort – 11.2 miles / 25 minutes in Skyforest – This RV park is an extension of SkyPark at Santa’s Village, a popular spot for Southern California families to spend the day. Visiting Santa here is a big deal over the holidays. If you’re traveling with kids, this could be a fun place to stay while skiing at Snow Valley. (Note: Santa’s Village doesn’t operate 7 days a week. Check their hours here.) The RV Resort resides on the south side of the highway with panoramic views of San Bernardino and Santa’s Village resides on the north side.
The RV park was almost empty when we arrived in late January 2023. It was very easy to find a site and immediately go online to reserve it. We paid $55 for a full hookup site. A camp host arrived at our site within 15 minutes of our reservation to give us a parking pass and tell us more about the facilities. As their confirmation email states, the camp host will come to you. No need to look for them.
Tips: On the second night we stayed, snow fell. While the main roads within the RV park were plowed, sites were not. If you don’t want to show up to a snow-covered site, I’d recommend calling ahead.
Also, some sites are sloped and some have better views of San Bernardino than others. If you look at their availability online and it doesn’t appear they will fill up before your arrival, you might consider waiting to reserve a site until you arrive.
Lastly, sometimes the RV park blocks their entrance with cones to keep non-guests or lookie-loos from entering the property. When we went back to the RV park for a second night, we didn’t know if the park had closed unexpectedly. Fortunately, I had the number to security to confirm the RV park was still open. We were instructed to simply move the cones and to put them back once we entered.
The private shower rooms, each with their own toilet and sink, were very clean and the water was hot. They reminded me of concrete state park showers but with a fancier touch. One downside was that the rooms were cold. They did not feel heated, so I wished the water could be a little bit hotter.
Also, the shower is on a 6-minute timer. I don’t think the 6 minutes is unreasonable, California is almost always in a drought, but the countdown timer is not within viewing distance while you are in the shower as it resides on the other side of the shower wall. You have to hit the button on the timer to start the countdown, race into the shower, turn on the water, and wait for the water to heat up which took longer than I had hoped. I estimate that the timer chirped about every minute until the final minute when I believe it was chirping every 10 seconds until the water shut off. If you don’t manage to complete your shower within 6 minutes, you must step out of the shower and hit the timer button again. However, 5 minutes must pass before you can restart it.
The laundry room was also clean with two front loading washers and two dryers. It was rather expensive at $4 per wash cycle and $4 per dry. The machines are operated by paying via PayRange which required us to download an app and deposit more money than we intended to spend. The minimum amount required was $10 when we only wanted to spend $8. Using PayRange required far more steps than using old-fashioned quarters, so the process was mildly frustrating. We’ve only seen PayRange used at one other laundromat in all of our travels so far.
AT&T cell service worked well at SkyCamp. We could text, email, and stream entertainment without any issues.
If you stay here and need groceries, try Jensen’s in Blue Jay about 10 minutes away. Their bakery and deli gets rave reviews. We love their apple burritos!
Silverwood Lake State Recreation Area – 28.7 miles / 1 hour in San Bernardino – If you don’t wish to drive a large rig up the mountain to SkyPark or Snow Valley, this could be a good option for you if your RV is 31 feet or shorter.
The SRA offers full hookup sites and tent sites. Most people were camping in the full hookup loop, but there were plenty of sites available. Nobody was camping in the loops with no hookups, so we chose a site there, directly next to a walking path to the lake. AT&T cell service worked well enough to text, email, and stream entertainment from our campsite.
While you can make a reservation online up to your arrival date, we just showed up. Before you enter the SRA, you must talk to a ranger at the entrance kiosk. The ranger that helped us was kind of enough to give us a 15-minute pass, so we could check out the campground and pick out an open site. We returned to the kiosk to pay $45 for a tent site (no hookups).
After checking in, we immediately headed for the quarter-operated showers. It was a little chilly that day and the shower building was still sitting in the sun.
The shower cost was a little confusing. One shower displayed amounts that were twice as expensive than another, so I chose the cheaper shower. While a certain number of quarters are required to start the showers, the far left shower I chose was only requiring me to insert one quarter at a time.
The showers were clean, but the water was barely lukewarm. The spray was intense to the point it was almost painful, and it was so widespread that water was traveling beyond the general shower area and into the bench area of the private shower room. I hurriedly took my shower, gathered all of my belongings, and with just my towel around me, ran back to our van. Fortunately, we parked it right in front of the shower building instead of at our campsite. I immediately cranked up our heat. It was one of the coldest showers I’ve had living on the road but I was happy to be clean. It’s possible the other showers (there were 3) might’ve offered a better experience. On a hot day in the middle of summer, it probably feels refreshing.
After our traumatic shower experiences, we did enjoy a nice walk around Silverwood Lake. The SRA has 13 miles of paved hiking and biking trails. See the Park Brochure for more information.
Other Ski Areas Near Snow Valley
- Big Bear Mountain Resort (Bear Mountain & Snow Summit) (Ikon Pass 2023/24) – 13.1 miles / 25 minutes in Big Bear Lake
- Mountain High (Cali Pass 2023/24, Powder Alliance 2023/24, Indy Pass 2023/24) – 55.9 miles / 1.5 hours in Wrightwood
- Mt. Baldy – 62.2 miles / 1.5 hours in Mt. Baldy
