If you were to dream up a quintessential Southern California day, it might look something like last Saturday’s Red Bull Switchboard event: Surf in the morning, snowboard in the afternoon.
Red Bull’s double-sport day brought 300 California college students first to Huntington Beach (aka Surf City USA) and Ocean Beach to ride the waves in the morning—Sambazon açai bowls and breakfast burritos included. After a quick transition, buses drove students along the cliff-hugging Rim of the World Scenic Byway for a little over two hours to reach Big Bear Lake's Bear Mountain Resort for a ski or snowboarding session.
Joining the students were some of Red Bull’s professional athletes, including BMX rider Mike “Hucker” Clark, standup paddleboarder Isabella Gomez, and skimboarder Amber Torrealba, who is based in Laguna Beach (fun fact: Torreable can be seen in the latest Visit California TV spot).
“For me, growing up in Florida, you didn’t have the mountains and the surf,” Torrealba says. “The greatest thing about Southern California is that you’re only two hours away from the mountains, so you can catch the surf in the morning and head to the mountains and get your snowboarding in in the afternoon. You get a great day of riding on both ends—water and the snow in one day.”
This was the first time since 2015 that Red Bull has hosted the Switchboard event, and the company may consider opening it up beyond college students in future iterations. Looking for more ways to Catch the Winter Wave? Check out how to Plan the Ultimate Winter Getaway, follow photographer Tiffany Nguyen's Beach and Mountain Getaway itinerary, or get more Huntingon Beach-to-Big Bear ideas from Stephanie Be's Surf and Ski Vacation.