Big Bear Lake Snow Play Adventure: Guided Sledding, Snowmen & Hot Coffee in Southern California

You arrive on a winter morning to a grey Jeep idling at a turnout, steam from a thermos weaving with the chill. The guide—Big Bear’s local Snow Sherpa—hands over a steaming cup brightened with a splash of Baileys and points to a slope where kids are already careening and dogs tear through chest-high drifts. The sound is immediate: laughter, the slap of plastic sleds, pine needles rattling under fresh snow. It feels improbably alpine for Southern California, and that tension—between desert proximity and mountain weather—makes the day feel like a small, private discovery.