🍂 Big Bear Is Starting to Turn Back Into a Ski Resort

Hey Ski Fam,

First, I owe you an apology. This newsletter normally lands on Thursday, and today is Friday. 😂

I could blame work, traffic, kids, my inbox or Mercury doing whatever Mercury apparently does when we need something to blame. But I’m going with a better excuse: I was waiting for Big Bear to start turning back into a ski resort. 🎿

And this weekend, it does.

Snow Summit’s summer season wraps up Sunday, October 4, and then the focus starts shifting toward winter. No, that does NOT mean skiing starts Monday, so please leave the skis in the garage. 😂

But it does mean something I’ve been waiting months to say: winter prep is here. ❄️

🏔️ Something Changes in October

There is always a weird point in fall when ski season stops feeling like something far away. For me, October is that point.

September still feels like summer wearing a flannel shirt. Then October arrives, the mornings get cooler, the days get shorter and the skis in my garage start looking less like clutter and more like transportation. 😂

Up in Big Bear, the mountain is making the same switch. Snow Summit wraps up summer operations this weekend, then winter prep begins

I love our mountains in summer, and mountain bikes, hiking, fishing and cold drinks on a patio all have a place in my heart. But I know what I’m really waiting for. 🎿

I want ski boots clicking into bindings, cold chairlift rides and that first glimpse of white through the trees as I drive up the mountain. Heck, I even miss hearing someone complain that their feet hurt before we make it to the first lift. 😂

This weekend is one of those little turning points. Summer starts packing its bags, and winter gets the keys. ❄️

❄️ No, We Still Don’t Have Big Bear Opening Day

Before somebody screenshots this and texts the ski group, “BIG BEAR IS OPENING!!!”, easy there, powder hound. 😂

Big Bear has NOT announced an official Opening Day. As I wrote last week, winter lift tickets are available for dates beginning November 21, but that is only the earliest date Big Bear says it may open.

The real opening date will depend on cold weather, snowmaking and conditions. If you’ve skied Southern California for more than five minutes, you already know that Mother Nature does not accept calendar invites. 😂❄️

So I would not book November 21 expecting guaranteed turns. I’d circle it, watch it and start getting ready.

That may not sound as exciting as an Opening Day announcement, but I think it matters. We’ve crossed from talking about winter into actually preparing for it.

🎿 October Is My “Get Your Stuff Together” Month

This is the month when I stop saying, “I should probably get ready for ski season,” and actually start doing it. I’m not doing 400 squats in ski boots while watching old ski movies in my living room, although please don’t give me ideas. 😂

I’m doing the boring little things now that keep me from losing my mind later. Here is what I’m checking:

• 🎿 Skis, bases and edges

• 🥾 Boots and buckles

• 🧤 Gloves that somehow vanished in April

• 🥽 Goggles and lenses

• 🧥 Jackets and ski pants

• 👧 Kids’ gear that fit perfectly six months ago and now looks like doll clothing

That last one gets me every year. Kids grow, gloves disappear and ski boots somehow “shrink.”

Okay, boots don’t actually shrink, but explain that to a kid who suddenly needs a boot two sizes bigger. 😂

October gives us time to solve this stuff before the first good storm sends every skier in Southern California digging through the garage at the exact same time.

🏔️ Mammoth Is Getting Close Too

Big Bear isn’t the only mountain making winter feel real. Mammoth Mountain has November 13 scheduled for Opening Day, weather and conditions permitting.

That is now less than six weeks away. 🎿

Six weeks is close enough that I start looking at my calendar very differently. A random November weekend is no longer a random November weekend because it might be a ski weekend.

And once my brain starts doing that, I’m basically useless until April. Sorry, everyone. 😂

Think about where we were two months ago. We were fishing, biking and talking about ski season like it was some distant event on the other side of summer.

Now Mammoth has an Opening Day on the calendar, Big Bear has winter tickets for dates beginning November 21 and Snow Summit is wrapping up summer operations. The pieces are starting to fall into place.

🎿 Do One Thing This Weekend

So I have a challenge for you. Do one thing this weekend that will make your first ski day easier.

Pull out your boots, find your goggles or check your skis. Make sure the kids still fit into their gear, or just text the person you want sitting next to you on that first chairlift.

You don’t need to plan your whole winter today. Just move one little piece into place because the best ski mornings are usually built weeks before anybody gets on a chairlift.

Every November, there are two versions of me. There is Prepared Sasha, who knows where her gloves are, has her skis ready and might even have breakfast burritos waiting in the car. 😎

Then there is Other Sasha, who is standing in the garage at 10:47 p.m. yelling, “WHERE IS MY OTHER GLOVE?” 😂

I know both women very well. October is when I try to make sure Prepared Sasha wins.

❄️ The Big Lesson

Ski season doesn’t suddenly appear on Opening Day. It arrives in little pieces.

First Mammoth puts November 13 on the calendar. Then Big Bear starts selling winter lift tickets, October arrives and summer operations begin giving way to winter prep.

Next we pull out the skis, text our friends and start checking the weather a little more often than any normal person should. Then one morning, sooner than we think, somebody will look toward the mountains and ask the question every SoCal skier waits all year to hear.

“Are they making snow?” 👀❄️

That’s when things get really fun.

For now, I’m happy knowing the mountains are starting to turn toward winter. We’re getting close, Ski Fam. 🎿

Winter doesn’t start when the snow falls. It starts when we get ready for it. ❄️🎿

What is the one thing you do every fall that makes ski season feel real? Hit reply and tell me because I want to hear your weird little ski rituals too. 😂

– Sasha Everett ⛷️❄️

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