herzalot
iMTB Hooligan
Mt High is not quite as ghetto as you describe. People are pleasant to each other. Still have some gangsta rap and pot smoking in the parking lot, but like everywhere else, 4 runners, big expensive trucks, Teslas and Audis now outnumber the lowered Civics by about 50:1 I haven't seen any bad blood on the slopes or in the lift lines. I wouldn't go there if it were actually as you describe.Agreed on all fronts re: Summit. I also think Summit shines in crappy snow years when Mt. High is too low to get decent coverage, and Mammoth isn't worth the drive. Usually ends up being spring conditions in Jan/Feb at Summit in those years, and nobody is there.
I haven't been to Mt. High in at least a decade. It always struck me as full of kids that drove their lowered Civics with fart can mufflers and wore Axe body spray. I saw on-slope fist fights in each of my last 2 visits there. I think Bear is basically the same crowd, just 5 years grown up and of drinking age. I'm sure I'm unfairly generalizing, but I was inspired not to go back to either. Summit is on my pass, and I feel is the best blend of family vibe and decent terrain locally, so that's pretty much exclusively where I go when not venturing up the 395. I suppose the drive sucks, but I never got accustomed to the Mt High drive, so it just feels like what has to be done.
As far as base altitude, Mt. High West is 7000'. I believe Summit is the same.
My daughter had a horrible experience with the Snow Summit Ski School and they had her in basically a condo parking lot and she skied a total of about 75 yards in two hours. Mt. High's ski school was off to the side with its own rental, lunch and learning facility with two magic carpets and a chairlift.
It does look like Snow Summit offers a bit more variety without having to go to a different mountain, and the top to bottom beginner slope is definitely a bonus. But getting there and back is an ordeal when snow is good or weekends, so it's not worth it to me.
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