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Closest mountain to a major California city??

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Osek206
Posts: 492 - Karma: 6
I looking to move from Seattle to possibly California. Mainly I want to live in a larger city with a great nightlife (Los Angeles) or something like that.  But I also want to ski a few times a week. Anyone have any info?
Jun 26 2008 1:16PM
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alpineplease
Posts: 2797 - Karma: 1,804
that would be mountain high, with the city being LA.
Jun 26 2008 2:54PM
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dlite!
Posts: 1194 - Karma: 87
thats foolish to move to cali from wa. it doenst snow in cali its hot evry day and when it does snow its only good for a few days then it gets sun baked n turns to shit,. stay in wa. ride bkr. i live in cali an go to skool here but whn the wintwer hits i go to utah or wa to ride real snow.
Jun 27 2008 12:14AM
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PacificRimJob
Posts: 24730 - Karma: 30,002
sac and reno are pretty close to tahoe... especially reno.

Redding is only a few mins from Shasta ski bowl.

Stockton/Modesto is just an hour or so away from Kirkwood, D-Ridge and Bear Valley.

Fresno is about 50 mins from Sierra Summit.

LA has Mt High, Mt Waterman, and Mt Baldy within an hour. and Bear + snow summit if you must go an hour further..

Mammoth is about 2.5 hours from south tahoe, 3 or so from reno. Those are the closest large cities to it.

Jun 27 2008 8:09PM
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snowbladesforlife
Posts: 2033 - Karma: -3
Do not live in Stockton/Modesto/Fresno or Redding if you want nightlife or don't enjoy living in a really city.
Jun 29 2008 3:43PM
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PacificRimJob
Posts: 24730 - Karma: 30,002
Lol. I agree there. I was merely listing cities over 100000

(although.. Fresno and Stockton dont suck 100%.. Fresno has tons of college kids, and Stockton is still super close to SF)
Jun 29 2008 6:19PM
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PacificRimJob
Posts: 24730 - Karma: 30,002
^meant to say Sac.. but now that I think of it.. Stockton isnt too deathly far from SF either.
Jun 29 2008 6:20PM
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snowbladesforlife
Posts: 2033 - Karma: -3
*really shitty city.

I couldn't even imagine living in Fresno, I would put a bullet in my head.
Jun 29 2008 7:51PM
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PacificRimJob
Posts: 24730 - Karma: 30,002
I honestly couldnt either.. though, at least its real close to skiing + yosemite.
Jun 29 2008 8:03PM
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SHastatahoe
Posts: 3414 - Karma: 20
I'm from redding and the nightlife isnt that terrible, I know lots of people that are all about it.  check out rad, redding after dark.  I have never participated in it, I'm not sure exactly what it is besides they added me as a friend on myspace, but I have some friends that are bartenders at some of the bars they do stuff at.  I live in Chico, and there is a killer nightlife here.  Playboy has ranked it top party town a few times.  We are about 2/2.5 hours from truckee, and about the same from mt. shasta ski park.

Also, its not the shasta ski bowl anymore.  the ski bowl was engulfed in an avalanche in the 70s or something. 
Jun 29 2008 9:45PM
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SHastatahoe
Posts: 3414 - Karma: 20
the ski park is about an hour away, speeding. 
Jun 29 2008 9:47PM
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PacificRimJob
Posts: 24730 - Karma: 30,002
60 mins is roughly.. a few mins..
Jun 30 2008 5:52PM
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RRhighrider
Posts: 2142 - Karma: 1,158
i grew up in fresno and sierra summit is more then a hour away.  i am glad ai moved away and am never moving back but orchard parties were fun in highschool
Jun 30 2008 7:13PM
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jimmer
Posts: 3586 - Karma: 80
STAY AWAY FROM THOSE 3 CITIES.
Aug 27 2008 7:13PM
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dodgeridge*rider
Posts: 1359 - Karma: 25
modesto has somewhat of a nightlife.
but theres alot of good looking girls in modesto
Sep 6 2008 1:47PM
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snowbladesforlife
Posts: 2033 - Karma: -3
Maybe compared to Barstow or Mojave, but compared to any coastal CA city, they have nothing.
Sep 6 2008 3:28PM
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Squirrel_Murphy
Posts: 2195 - Karma: 1,165
I was just in Modesto last week.  Tons of hot girls, but they're all out of their minds!  Talk about obnoxious valley girls.  Modesto is lame, Fresno sucks major ass.  I'd do Sacramento or Reno. 
Sep 8 2008 12:00PM
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Squirrel_Murphy
Posts: 2195 - Karma: 1,165
It doesn't snow in Cali?  wow ur dumb.  It's only hot in the valley and when it is, its about 20 degrees cooler on the coast or in the mountains.  The snow does not turn to shit in a few days unless you're just that picky.
Sep 8 2008 12:04PM
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SomeSkiGirl
Posts: 214 - Karma: 10
If you want to live in a "real city" try San Francisco.  But you can't really have a huge city and easily ski several times a week without driving.  How much night life are you looking for?  How about midtown Sacramento (at least 1 1/2 hours closer to the mountains than SF)?  If you really want to ski a lot, move to Truckee.
Sep 11 2008 11:25PM
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Rachy
Posts: 4355 - Karma: 2,761
I had no problem the last 5 years in LA. There is pretty much a cult following. Every month there is at least one rail jam somewhere, there are movie premiers all the time. Skidazzle and snowjam are fun. There are people going to high/bear every day and you can carpool with out a problem and there are people going up to mammoth every weekend which takes about 4 hours and is totally worth it.

The snow isnt always the greatest but if you go to mammoth there is no problem unless you hit a windy day.

That and what is great about CA snow is that if you like park, its what we tend to focus on and have some of the best features you will find. That and it will be the middle of february and be 45 degrees and perfectly groomed. Or Mammoth in May where they build up the unbound park is amazing. Just dont expect a lot of powder days at bear/high.
Sep 30 2008 10:50PM
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Funnel
Posts: 7817 - Karma: 1,537
It really pisses me off when people start bagging on Fresno.  95% of the people that bag on it haven't lived there before.  All they have done is drove through on Highway 99 through the really shitty industrial city.  Sierra Summit actually has a good park considering the size and gets more snow than some Tahoe resorts.  Yosemite is so fuckin' close!  And if you live in the Bay area and want to go to Mammoth (you have to, best place in Cali) than it's gonna take 7 or 8 hours.  Fresno is 5:45 nonstop and L.A. is 6.  If you're going to live in L.A. it's even way fucking worse than Fresno.  Shitload of traffic, close resorts are bullshit and way over crowded.  Bear and Mt. High have 100% of the mountain on snowmaking because it doesn't get enough natural snow.  L.A. is more polluted and just as hot in the summer.  Yes Bay area may be better in some ways but it's really expensive and can take 5 to 6 hours to get to Tahoe because of traffic.  Anywhere in the state is easy to get to from Fresno and you can fly to most main airports now out of the airport.  Living is cheap and affordable.  You have to go to the good parts of Fresno to understand the city.
Oct 1 2008 8:01PM
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Squirrel_Murphy
Posts: 2195 - Karma: 1,165
Fresno= the arm pit of California, hence the smell......throughout the whole town.   Nah, i'm just fuckin with you.  only some parts smell like ass.  I've been spending a lot of time there lately and that town has grown tremendously in the past 10 years,  the nightlife is pretty kickass too. 

I'd still have to say Sac or Reno though even tho reno is in NV.  Redding isn't bad for a smaller city.  The traffic from the bay or from LA just isn't worth it, AT ALL.
Oct 1 2008 11:15PM
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snowbladesforlife
Posts: 2033 - Karma: -3
You must be joking. You are saying Fresno is better than LA? Unless you moved from Ohio or Mexico City, Fresno is a fucking shit hole. I would rather put a gun in my mouth than live there. Any coastal city makes Fresno look like the shit hole that it is. No I haven't lived there, but yes I have been there, it fucking sucks. LA might be shitty in some ways, but I would pick that well over Fresno, even though I don't like living in big cities.


You are the first person I have ever heard stick up for Fresno, fuck that place.

And Sierra Summit, are you shitting me? I haven't been there in 6 years, but looking from their videos, their shit is as sketch as always. Super short landings. LA to Mammoth isn't close to 5:45, unless you are driving during rush hour.


I would much rather shred bear than sierra summit.


There are no good parts to Fresno, so I guess I wouldn't understand it.

Here is a complete list of CA cities worse than Fresno:

Barstow
Mojave
Cuyama
New Cuyama
Salinas
Maricopa
Stockton
Riverside

That's it.

Look at how many shitty cities I didn't even mention. They are all better than you.
Oct 2 2008 12:52AM
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Squirrel_Murphy
Posts: 2195 - Karma: 1,165
"We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold..."
Oct 2 2008 1:03AM
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Rachy
Posts: 4355 - Karma: 2,761
Nothing wrong with fresno, but you have a lot of false statements in there.
Los Angeles to Mammoth on a good day is 4 and a half hours. I know people that will say 4. Usually it is only 5 hours. Maybe if you take the 15 it will take 6 hours, but the only reason you would do that is if you are coming from the IE or SD which is not LA.

Close Resorts are only over crowded on weekends and in the park areas (bear this isnt really a problem since the entire place is a park) if you go to Mt High east, or over on the conquest side of west, there is plenty of room. Bear and Mt. High do not have 100% of the mountain on snow making. It does get enough natural snow. Last year at one point there was an avalanche that killed 3 people. I know 2 years before that we got 11 feet from one storm and were open from before halloween to May. The snow usually isnt good until December, but the same goes for Tahoe and Mammoth.

LA is not as hot in the summer. The ocean cools us down. The IE may be as hot as fresno. It is as polluted, possibly worse.

LA is very expensive, but the benefits are enough for me to want to live there. I pay for rent and my car, everything else pretty much ends up being free once you learn the ways of the land.
Oct 2 2008 1:42AM
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Funnel
Posts: 7817 - Karma: 1,537
If you haven't been there in six years then you have no clue what it's like.  Opened up a new section of the mountain, built a new lodge, put in two new lifts, and increased the size of snowmaking, and over the summer they built a ton of new features.  Transworld came there last year and did a whole shoot/report on the mountain.  Fresno isn't a bad place to live dude.  Plus notice he wanted to know a city close to ski areas.  Fresno is 500,000+ people and it's closer than any other major city to skiing.  Hour is all it takes to get to Sierra Summit.  Tahoe is more than that from Sac or San Francisco.  L.A. isn't too far from Bear or Mtn. High from what I hear.  Plus I pay 200 bucks for my pass and never wait longer than 2 minutes on any lift on the busiest day of the year.  Every storm that hits Mammoth hits us too.  So if it doesn't snow in Tahoe, but snows in Mammoth it snows at Sierra Summit.  I can ski frsh untracked powder all day without having to look for a stash or any such thing.
Oct 2 2008 7:29PM
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RRhighrider
Posts: 2142 - Karma: 1,158
you are talking up sierra summit a little too much.  every year since i moved away i come back hoping for changes that could make sierra summit reach it's potential.  every year i am disappointed.  they advertise the "park" at sierra summit and every year it is pretty weak,  they stepped up on some of the jibs when i went but their jumps still are small and not very good.  the new section of the mountain has always been open now there is a ski lift so you do not have to hike out.  anyways even though i hate the administration at summit it will always have a place in my heart.  i grew up in clovis just so you know
Oct 3 2008 2:31PM
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unchyll
Posts: 4554 - Karma: 96
If i had a ton of money i would buy a condo at squaw for a year and just ride there all year
squaw super fun and even the village has the quite the night life going
Oct 3 2008 8:13PM
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Funnel
Posts: 7817 - Karma: 1,537
Squaw and Mammoth, two best places in California for sure.
Oct 3 2008 9:08PM
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Squirrel_Murphy
Posts: 2195 - Karma: 1,165

sure you wouldnt want to buy it for more than a year?

Oct 3 2008 9:08PM
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