Santa Barbara??

Bear is 3.5 hours from there...

Mammoth is six hours away.

I went to UCSB, and you can ski there more than you would expect.  I skied about 2 weekends a month, and winter break and spring break. 

There is a ski team at UCSB, or there was when I was there, most of the big California schools have one.
  What this entailed, was paying a fee at the beginning of the year, probably 500 dollars, and then getting use of the cabin for the whole season.  It was definitely college living, sometimes there might be 25-30 people crashing on a weekend,  so you would probably end up in your sleeping bag on the floor, but it was very worth it.  It really is a good way to go, I usually got about 30 days a year, mostly at Mammoth.  Think about that for a minute, 30 days at one of the best mountains in the country.  It really was fun.

Here is a link to the team's website:

http://www.ucsbsnowteam.com/aboutus.html



You can race, but you don't have to.  I almost never did, I would rather ski the noids and hangmans than wait for a race, but there is the option if you do want to bang gates.

When I was there, you could use the house whenever you wanted.  It did not need to be race weekend.  You could use it during Xmas break, or spring break.

I had lots friends at UCSB who did what I did.  You can ski a lot if you want to .  I loved going to school there, I got a very good education, partied a lot, learned to surf(hard but worth it) and skied 30 days a year at one of the country's best mountains.

Passes at Mammoth for college students are 669$, here is the link to that:

http://www.mammothmountain.com/MountainActivities/Passes/

Personally, I would rather go to UCSB and ski Mammoth 30 days a year, than UVM with 50 days at Stowe.

So you can ski a lot.  It is not a place like Utah, where you will get an 80 day season, but 30+ days at Mammoth is nothing to sniff at.  The real issue, is the driving.  You will spend a lot of time in the car, 6 hours each way, each weekend, but it is worth it to ski a mountain like Mammoth.  Think about this, in the east you cannot drive to that sort of mountain.  You will eventually find some people you like to drive with, and alternate who drives.

I loved UCSB, I got to ski a great mountain, had a lot of fun, and got a degree in mathematical statistics, a useful, though challenging discipline.  After college, I spent several years living in Lake Tahoe, skiing Squaw everyday, and I suspect you will do something like that when you finish.  I now live in Newport Beach, work in an office, and drive 5 hours to Mammoth, 2-3 weekends a month.  I do wish Mammoth were closer, but the drive is worth it.

So, the point of this laborious novel is that yes, you can ski a lot at UCSB.  Don't expect 80 days of Snowbird, but 30 days of Mammoth is a better season than about 99% of the folks out there will get.  You just have to be willing to drive.  If you don't have a car, you will make friends on the ski team who do.

Oh, one more thing.  The girls at UCSB are SLAMIMING hot!!!!  Santa Barbara has one of the hottest student body populations anywhere.  You will be right on the beach, like literally right on the beach.  It is an easy place to fail out, so make sure you learn to balance school, partying, working out, surfing, skiing.........But if you do you can have one of the best all-around college experiences out there.  And you can ski a bit too.

Have fun, and good luck.

thanks, tht really helped.

ucsb is an effinnn party! do it!

wtf are you talking about? UCSB has hella snow. there is snow everywhere!



oh...wait...you meant the frozen water kind of snow? ya theres none here

Do it dude. Not only will you be skiing one of the best mountains pretty frequently, but you'll be living in one of the best states.

Yeah, since they have a ski club, im def going to try to get into UCSB. only problem is tht im an outerstater

go to ucsb isla vista is way to much fun

Born and raised in SB. That place KILLS it. The mountains will always be there. If your going to go to school might as well go in paradise.

I went there as an out of stater.  It is harder to get in, and more expensive.  I don't remember the difference in tuition, in-state vs. out of state, but there is definitely a solid difference.

did u get residency somehow or did u pay full out-of-state tuition?

I paid full.  I was lucky, my parents helped me out.

When I was going to school there, they actually made it difficult to get residency.  They made it so that you had to demonstrate that not only did you live in California, but YOU(not your parents) were paying the bills.  In order to claim residency, they want to see that you(or whoever is paying the tuition) is paying state taxes in California.  That is the point of a state school, that it is funded by the tax dollars of the residents.  The residents paying less is justified by the fact that it is their tax dollars at work.

I did look into getting residency, but found it would not work.

I would not go if think you will find a way to get residency.  You can't go for a year, get a California license, and pay fees as a resident.  As I said before, they want proof that the money is coming from someone who is paying state income taxes.

Things may have changed, so you might want to look into it.

lolz?

You don't think California is one of the best states?

Some of the best skiing in the country, the best surfing in the continental U.S. 

California blows doors on anywhere in the east or midwest.  It is not without its problems though.  It is expensive and overcrowded. 

I don't think there is anywhere else you can ski 30-50 days a year, at a great mountain, surf all summer, and hold down a real job.  Oregon maybe, but I would rather ski Mammoth/Squaw/Alpine/Sugar Bowl than anywhere in Oregon.

Been to some UCSB parties, everybody was on cocaine.

There was cocaine at UCSB, but I don't think that is a reason to avoid a school.  There is cocaine at just about every school out there, if you know where to look.

The vast majority of the parties I went to were not full of coke heads.  Pot and alcohol are the drugs of choice.  Maybe it is the people you surround yourself with.  I would not call UCSB all that big of a coke school, although it is definitely around.

I came very close to going to USC, which has plenty of coke, and Claremont McKenna, which probably does not.  When I saw UCSB I did not want to go anywhere else.  The biggest danger at UCSB is probably not coke, but the fact that it is a party school, where you do have to study.  Lots of people fail out.  It is huge, so it is easy to just slip through the cracks.  Too much alcohol/not enough studying is probably  what I would advise people against.

Mt. Baldy is the best place in socal, a really fun mountain, when they get snow.  If you ski Baldy with a good base you will not believe you are in LA.  Mt. High and Snow Summit have good parks, but really nothing else.

If you are making it in 4 hours you are pushing it.  I don't know where in LA you are leaving from, but that is very good time.  I make it in 5:15 from Newport Beach, but that is leaving at 330 am, so I don't hit any traffic.  If don't really have to push it to get there, I drive about 75 which is pretty safe.

How fast are you going, and where are you leaving from? 

hahahahaha yes

I love Santa Barbara, i would kill to live there and just go to mamoth or bear on weekends