California is uniquely positioned for winter sports. With the wind Jet Stream moving from west to east across the United States, a coastal mountain range, and the mighty Sierra Nevada range on the eastern border, California receives a lot of moisture in the winter and where the mountains rise from the valley floor — a consistent and persistent blanket of snow for everyone to enjoy. Since California has the tallest peak in the lower 48 (Mount Whitney), we often have the best skiing and snowboarding in the nation. All along the length of California, from Bear Mountain and Baldy Mountain in the south to Squaw Valley (home of the 1960 Winter Olympics) to Mt. Shasta Ski Resort, the towering Sierra Nevada Mountains provide the perfect combination of sunny weather, cool temperatures and fantastic snowfall to entice any snowman or snowwoman to enjoy their stay.
Types of Snowboarding
All of the various types of snowboarding are popular in California: freeride, freestyle, and freecarve or race. Freeride snowboarding is the most common type of snowboarding — it consists of just gliding down any hill or mountain. It can be as simple as a bunny hill for beginners and as complex and beautiful as aerial flips from snow hills and twists or the long, deep, slow turns of alpine snowboarding. Most riders will learn the basics of freeride before attempting any other style and 90% of riders will stay with freeride as their primary type of ride. Freestyle riders make use of manmade features, like jumps, rails, halfpipes and any other object that riders can use to perform any number of amazing feats of daring-do. One of the first tricks that any rider will learn is the “jib” or grind where a rider will slide on an object not made or covered with snow. The last type of riding is the freecarve style. Much like skiing, freecarve is most likely seen in race or slalom experiences. More often seen in European resorts, it is still extremely popular in California and can be done at any of the incredible resorts found in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Snow Resorts
Some of the most important snow resorts in the world are found in California. Squaw Valley was the host of the 1960 Olympic Games and is commonly considered one of the finest snow resorts. Mammoth Mountain holds some of the most challenging runs in the world — including the only quad-diamond run. Mt. Baldy is so connected to the southern California lifestyle that we regularly put together Surf/Turf/Snow packages where on spring days we present you with a surfing morning in Orange County, a mountain bike expedition on Saddleback Mountain, and finally a night skiing session n Mt. Baldy — all the features and experiences of California in one day.
Ski Packages
Besides the aforementioned Surf/Turf/Snow package, we at Explore California have dozens of both a la carte and all-in-one packages available for you to stretch your snowboarding legs. We can put you on any mountain you would like to carve down — even those without resorts. We have several fully “adventure skiing” packages where we put you in the wilderness of Donner Lake and you have to cross-country ski and snowboard you way back to civilization. Nothing says living like blasting down Donner Pass to Lake Tahoe with the ghosts of history and your own fear behind you. So join us — experience everything the Pacific coast has to offer and Explore Snowboarding in California.