If you're at the parking lot, you may wish to ski the forested area east of the parking lot instead of attempting the peak. Mount Pinos was named by the Spanish who saw the pine-covered peak from the coast and named it for the pines that grow around it. Area Driving Directions Take I-5 to the Frazier Park exit, two miles south of Lebec. That ridge is Mount Pinos. The Frazier Park exit is 4000 vertical feet below Mount Pinos, so don't expect snow there.
Parking is limited.
Parking is available at a few other areas along the highway. Refer to the map for this tour. Take the Mt. Pinos Summit Road, Road 9N24, which starts above the parking lot and heads northeast. As you ski up this road on the northeast slope of Mount Pinos, you're surrounded by Jeffrey pine forest dotted with white fir. The road curves northwest, southwest, then, at 0.9 mile, reaches the first and lower of two meadows, called First Meadow.