Three new chairlifts may be coming to Alterra’s outpost in Southern California. Under a plan unveiled today, Big Bear Mountain Resort would link neighboring Bear Mountain and Snow Summit via a series of new lifts and trails to form a cohesive mountain. The project would be remarkable given the two mountains haven’t seen a single new lift in 25 years. The two came under common ownership in 2002 and Alterra added nearby Snow Valley to the resort earlier this year. In addition to the interconnect, Big Bear also plans to add a new beginner terrain pod at Bear Mountain, expand snowmaking, construct mountain bike trails, build a zip tour and install an alpine coaster.
The interconnect would require two detachable chairlifts spanning approximately 4,000 feet apiece. Lift C on Bear Mountain would rise about 850 vertical with significant new ski terrain. On the Snow Summit side, Lift D would service approximately 525 vertical feet and include three connector trails. The two lifts would meet at a central low point with a skier bridge completing the link. All told the project would require approximately 300 acres to be added to Big Bear’s special use permit area, about 60 of which would be developed trails with snowmaking. A third new chairlift is planned to service a new beginner pod near the Access Express on Bear Mountain.
The San Bernadino National Forest is preparing an Environmental Assessment and accepting public comments on the proposal over the next 30 days. The Forest Service’s schedule of proposed actions suggests the project could be approved by May of next year.
Lift Blog 
This would be a game changer as you would create a large ski area with difficult terrain. The area is all trees and steeps. This would raise the profile of the area to a more respected difficult hill. There is no down side as people already ski the area. Opening the area would allow for patrol and safety and create a more epic experience.
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On a typical season there is not enough snow to access the trees. The first 5-10 days after a decent snowfall the trees are accessible, once it melts out you are limited to the groomed runs. Bear/Summit is sunny with highs in the 40’s-50’s most of the winter. The terrain in that area would be mostly blues with a couple black.
Something like this is a necessary improvement. They need more acreage and lift upgrades to spread people out. On an average weekend 90 of the people on the hill are on the same 5 runs, Westridge, Summit Run, Miracle Mile, Park Run and Easy Street. People stick to the longer runs accessible by the quads.
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I think it’s very sad we are focused on convenience instead of the effects a decision like this has.
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Effects that are uniformly positive
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I mean, you could apply that response to the invention of the internal combustion engine or air conditioning. Presumably you live without both to avoid contributing to their “effects”?
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I’m in favor of the proposed changes, but I don’t see why Keysswede is being attacked. While I see see benefits, it isn’t hard to see the effects. Based on the considerations available to me, I believe the benefits outweigh the negatives.
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How the heck does Alterra intend to acquire the water to put snowmaking on this area?
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They will pump it up from Big Bear Lake. https://www.bigbearmountainresort.com/blog/snowmaking
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Which is terrible for the environment. So terrible and besides I imagine this will be an expensive project.. how about we get new snowcats and improve our internal operations before even thinking about expanding. Such a joke.
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Have you been to bear recently? They have like 16 pistenbullys just chilling there.
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Yes I live in Bear and have worked terrain parks. This is exactly what I’m talking about Bear needs to focus on internal operations before expanding. Those listen bullies are constantly broken down, leak, needs repairs. Why wouldn’t we handle things like that before even consider this.
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They use lake water. Replenish Big Bear is set fir completion 2027.
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This is the right way to do an interconnect here. Expanding terrain is hard to do in SoCal, but Alterra sells so many Ikon Passes that it is necessary. The new pod off of Goldmine Mountain actually looks decent, and it should hold snow well being north-facing and above 7600 ft. Hopefully, it will draw some people away from Bear Mountain Express. The lift to Snow Summit is more of a connector, but the new trail that will no longer make Lift 7 a dead end will be very useful.
It will probably also make sense to realign East Mountain Xpress to the top of Lifts 6 and 7 at some point, as it seems as though it will take two lifts to access Bear Mountain otherwise.
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There is a lodge/cafe at the top of east mountain express. Realigning it to the top of 7 would change the skier flow onto log chute. There is a narrow cat track and no convenient way for the masses to get from the top of 7 onto miracle mile or summit run. A realignment of east mountain would shift too many people onto all mountain express.
Replacing 7 & 10 with a high speed quad from the bottom of 10 to the top of 7 would be a good upgrade for that area. You can walk or use chair 4 to get to the bottom of 10. The map makes it look a long ways, it’s only about 500 feet past chair 4.
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Great to see this come a step closer to reality, I’ve been skiing there many times where Bear is a madhouse but Snow Summit down the street is much quieter, but getting between the two can be a chore even when the shuttle tries to weave around traffic. Stitching the two together with new trails and lifts would really take the edge off and disperse the crowds a lot better.
The two mountains absolutely crank visitor numbers so the additional infrastructure will really help better manage capacity, hopefully some upgrades are in the pipeline for the primary lifts getting long in the tooth (looking at you Chair 9…)
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No new lifts in 25 years says it all. Let’s expand these areas to get more people outdoors enjoying this beautiful wilderness in Big Bear. With the larger crowds we’ve seen at both mountains over the past 3-5 years, demand is there. If you build it, they will come.
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I imagine this would have an impact on vehicle travel as well. Anything that reduces the number of cars on the roads will ease tensions on our mountain and increase safety.
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It’s a great plan seen it on paper years ago way before it’s time.im all in please include some traffic upgrades to handle the flow and parking.you guys rock.go for it.
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I’m surprised Lift D is planned as a detachable. That’s not very much terrain, and 4000′ is short enough a fixed grip triple seems to make much more sense.
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The zone to the East of Summit was all time in 2023, not that it could have lift services and snow making only makes the 2 resorts better. I anticipate increased parking prices will come and eventually they will need to start updating the main arteries of each mountain but we must start with what makes sense!
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Sure sounds like it’s going to create more traffic in Big Bear this is not good for the two main roads up to each of those mountains first update the roads
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Good, it needs to happen, ever since the ikon pass the resorts are inundated with flatlanders, more terrain is great!! And if they have snow making equipment in the area it’s even better, another barrier against wildfires.
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The entire mountain from Big Bear to Crestline exists for flatlanders. That’s why they were built in the first place.
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This is a completely idiotic decision for the health of big bear’s forest. It is already dwindling and in so dry already. We don’t have the resources for this. Truly idiotic…
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“we don’t have the resources for this…”
What resources do you think this would require? Do you think NOT having skiing here will improve forest health? Soil moisture? Wildlife density and biodiversity? How do water rights and management work for the ski areas around big bear anyways?
Do you have any idea at all?
This is the valley between BB and Snow Summit. It hasn’t been wilderness for 50 years. The demand for skiing has gone up, LA’s population has gone up, the number of people skiing this terrain when snow allows anyways has gone up.
Other LA area resorts have closed, including an entire resort above the town of Big Bear and Kratka Ridge. The forests above LA are less affected by skiing than they used to be, and much more so by increased foot traffic and OHV adventuring.
Why do people who haven’t the faintest idea how forestry work choose to comment on it 😭
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Skiing improve forest health?!?!? The skiing industry is one of the most wasteful industries ESPECIALLY in areas where we do not get natural snowfall. Do you know how much water it takes to run those snow guns? Where are we in big Bear getting that water? The lake, which by the way is in very poor shape most of the time. Besides that, do you know how much wildlife we force out of those areas/ ruin their habitats to create and BULLDOZE these runs? To say what you are saying is wrong and just plain ignorant in my opinion. A decision like this will 1000% have negative effects on the environment.
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Tell me you haven’t been to Big Bear without telling me you haven’t been to Big Bear.
And where do you think that water runs back to when it melts in the Spring? The very same lake! It is effectively a closed system in that regard. And as for the expansion area, that hasn’t been wilderness for generations. Any human development has consequences for the environment, so unless you are suggesting there should be no human development anywhere, then we should be working to center it on already disturbed locations such as this. The fact that this helps mitigate potential impacts due to it eliminating the need for cars/shuttles travelling between the mountains is a further benefit.
There is someone here who is wrong and ignorant, and it’s not those you are responding to.
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Though sounds like a good idea at first I think it’s important to think of the impactas of our decisions. Bear has had several dry winters recently dramatically impacting our lake in the summers. Our local wildlife has already been impacted by human interference. And the thought of back country riding being on man made snow couldn’t really get dumber.
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There are so many levels to this message, it’s hard to keep up.
Yes there have been dry winters in SoCal recently – how does this expansion impact that fact when all of the water runs back down the hill into the lake every Spring?
Yes – local wildlife has already been impacted by human interference, especially in the expansion zone where there is frequent human activity to begin with between two adjacent, heavily-trafficked resorts. This is exactly the type of place we SHOULD be seeking to increase recreational opportunities as opposed to, say, the San Gorgonio Wilderness.
And then the comment about backcountry riding on man made snow – couldn’t get dumber indeed. Who rides in the backcountry on man made snow and how/where is that being proposed to begin with? The added trails will have snowmaking, but that’s not backcountry. It is by definition the opposite of backcountry.
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The proposed expansion area is not backcountry.
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Some of these comments sound like crappy AI.
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Would love to see this! We need it, the resorts are so crowded on the weekend it will create more terrain and hire more employees the town needs this. Our lake is full and with replenish Bear in effect, we should not be short of water enabling the resorts to make more snow when needed. I look forward to this happening it’s been a rumor for years. Cool to see the start of plans.
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Is it me or has ChatGPT joined the Liftblog community?
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Guess I’m not the only one who had that thought.
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https://usfs-public.app.box.com/v/PinyonPublic/folder/223806911794
Take a look at the MDP as well. Some cool stuff in here including 3 other planned lifts, a restaurant at the top of bear, and some ziplines from the top of bear peak down through deer canyon.
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Two more things I just noticed in the MDP:
The lift upgrade table shows chair 9 at summit as already upgraded to a HSQ. It absolutely needs it, but curiously it’s not mentioned anywhere else.
There is also a planned HS6 to replace 4 and 8 at summit. If this gets built it would likely be the new shortest detachable in America.
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I noticed that too. Perhaps Summit chair 9 would be upgraded prior to the other improvements outlined in the MDP.
A HSQ would be helpful in that pod, currently the chair stops a lot.
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Weird. Surely that would be depicted as “Previously Approved” or some such in the 2020 MDP if that were the case.
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Not even close to the shortest detachable in America. Camelback in Pennsylvania has a detachable six pack that is 2,654 feet long with a vertical rise of 667 feet.
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The current shortest detach is Burns Express at Deer Valley (1020 feet). The proposed “Lift F” at snow summit would have a length of 777 feet, according to the table on page 35.
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There seems to be a lot of people here with local knowledge of Big Bear.
Does anyone know what that is to the west of Snow Summit, above the alpine slides at Magic Mountain?
https://goo.gl/maps/nRaKCvjDPHqYzbrg8
It looks like somebody tried to cut their own ski slopes.
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That would be the former Snow Forest ski area which closed in the early 90s. Up until the early to mid 80s, the skiing operation extended to what is now Magic Mountain with a few surface lifts.
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Thank you!
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