Traffic, Road Closures Put Chill on Trips to Mt. Pinos : Recreation: The hordes of city folks who want to see the snow on weekends make the trek hard sledding.

Urbanites who flock to snowy Mt. Pinos this weekend may encounter traffic jams and roadblocks instead of fun in the snow.

The mountain retreat in northern Ventura County--a tempting 90 minutes from many cities in Ventura, Los Angeles and Kern counties--became so packed with people last weekend that the California Highway Patrol closed roads leading to it to all but local residents. Thousands of tourists were turned around at the Frazier Park off-ramp from northbound Interstate 5.

On other less-crowded weekends, the “snow-play people,” as the local residents call them, make their way west of Frazier Park and into the Mt. Pinos Recreation Area before they are turned back.

People such as Stephen Everson of Ventura have been among the several thousand tourists who have headed north in search of a rural retreat in the Los Padres National Forest only to find people stopped and fuming in their cars.

“It’s two hours from Ventura and to be turned back is very frustrating,” said Everson, who went cross-country skiing in the middle of this week to avoid the crowds. “It makes you want to scream.”

Stacey and Ed Rose of Canoga Park, who took a midweek day off work to take their three dogs for a peaceful walk through the snowy woods, said they would never come on weekends.

They said they try to avoid people as much as possible.

Elmer and Leona Swedlund, a retired couple from Hawthorne who drove up to take a few toboggan rides down the packed runs, said they prefer to leave the weekends for the younger crowd.

This weekend, those who want to assure getting a parking spot should plan to arrive at the mountain play area before 10 a.m., the CHP advises.

The popularity of the small communities in the area, which straddles the border between Ventura and Kern counties, has risen steadily over the years with the increasing population in Los Angeles, Kern and Ventura counties, officials at the U. S. Forest Service’s Mt. Pinos district said.

But lately, the crowds have been bigger because people have not seen so much snow for years, authorities said. The weekdays, though not nearly as popular as Saturday and Sunday, are attracting visitors as well, said Don Trammel, district recreation officer.

Before the roads were closed Sunday at 2 p.m., motorists had pulled over to park wherever they could find a niche. The CHP said cars lined 15 miles of narrow mountain roads from Frazier Park to the base of Mt. Pinos.

The cars blocked traffic so that ambulances could not get through to pick up people who were hurt in the snow, authorities said.

“Finally, we had to go out with a patrol car and a public-address system and call the owners in from their snowball fights to move their cars,” CHP Officer Jack Skaggs said. “After that, we had to close the road (to tourists). It’s a matter of safety.”

The inability of emergency vehicles to pass, combined with the horrendous traffic and the trash left by tourists, has prompted a group of residents to schedule a Jan. 29 meeting to seek solutions to the crowded conditions.

Patti Adams, a Frazier Park resident who is organizing the meeting, said she hopes property owners from the area communities--including Pinon Pines, Cuddy Valley and Lake of the Woods--will attend.

Proposals include using shuttle buses to bring in tourists, setting quotas to limit their numbers and establishing a designated recreational area with ample parking and restrooms.

“You can’t stop people from coming up to a national forest,” Adams said. “We just need some control. We like the business, but we want the snow-play people to show a little respect.”

The U.S. Forest Service has proposed a $1-million plan to increase the available parking at the base of the mountain from 300 to 900 spaces, install six permanent bathrooms to replace the portable toilets and provide trash receptacles. But it will be from three to five years before the improvements are completed, said Trinidad Juarez, a ranger at the Mt. Pinos station.

“In the meantime, we’ve got to keep on doing what we can with what we’ve got,” Juarez said.

But Russ Robrahns, a member of the local Chamber of Commerce, said it’s up to the communities in the area to do more to accommodate tourists.

“Some locals are forming a group to save the area from the tourists, but it’s too late for that,” he said. “This is a designated recreation area.”

Robrahns said he is working with Kern County to try to bring needed facilities to the area.

“This is like building Disneyland and having no parking, no bathrooms, no trash receptacles, nothing,” he said.

Robrahns asks motorists who are turned away to write to their supervisors and state legislators.

“Trying to prevent tourists from coming is the wrong approach,” he said. “We’ve got to solve this problem.”

Mt. Pinos Recreation Area information U.S. FOREST SERVICE

* 24-hour recording on snow, road and parking conditions: (805) 245-3449

24-hour weather information: (805) 393-2340

24-hour road conditions: (805) 393-7350

Chuchupate Station, in the Los Padres National Forest, four miles west of Frazier Park off Lockwood Valley Road: (805) 245-3731. Maps and trail information available at the station, which is open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Closed Sundays and holidays.

CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL

Office at Ft. Tejon: (805) 245-6655, Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Warning: U.S. Forest Service and California Highway Patrol advise motorists to carry chains when traveling to mountain communities.