Win a Mountain High seasons pass from your stories of the San Gabriels

We love the San Gabriel Mountains that are in our back yard in Pasadena. We spend an enormous amount of time hiking, camping, climbing and skiing in what we consider Southern California’s greatest range. From the Los Angeles side of the San Gabriels, it would be easy to think that the mountains are only dry chaparral but there’s a side of the San Gabriel’s that would surprise people who don’t know its back country, canyons and waterfalls. These mountains sport Spring flowers, Summer shade, Autumn foliage and Winter snow. Most streams run year round and we’ve written about the many waterfalls we’ve explored.

With Winter arriving, we aren’t ready to slow down. One of our favorite places in Southern California is Mountain High near Wrightwood, on what we call the “backside” of the range. Our children learned to ski at the Mountain High Children’s Academy where they could ride up the hill on the “magic carpet”, perfectly designed for small children who aren’t ready for the adult lifts.

When we tell outsiders that we have a serious ski resort in Los Angeles County, just an hour from our house, it comes as a surprise. While people associate Southern California with palm trees and beaches, the East Mountain at 8,200 ft, the West Mountain at 8,000 feet and the North Mountain at 7,800 feet receive plenty of snow, supplemented with machine-made white stuff. We’ve skied many times in conditions that rival Colorado and Utah for snow quality. Every year a big dump happens that buries Mountain High in powder.

Win a ski pass to Mountain High 

Maximum Adventure, in cooperation with Mountain High, is giving away a free 2013-2014 seasons pass to Southern California’s closest winter resort. We’ve decided to award the pass to the best story of San Gabriel Mountain adventures, which could include skiing, hiking, canyoneering, camping, climbing or whatever else allows you to enjoy our mountains. Submit your entry, even if it is just a few paragraphs, to jeanne@successfulworkplace.com . We’ll announce the winner on November 25, 2013 on our site and run your story on the same day.

Even for those who don’t win, we have a deal…Maximum Adventure readers can use the coupon code maximumadventure to get $299 pricing throughout November (otherwise, it is $349).