Shown is the annual Torchlight Parade at Big Bear Lake’s Snow Summit Ski Resort.

Whether you think 2012 is a year of awakening, the END of life as some interpret the Mayan calendar’s end in 2012, or just another year, life seems to go on each day we can’t escape it. You just gotta’ live it and light the torch. Up in the California mountains the residents have no doubt that life is very exciting and real. And to prove it, they host the Torchlight Parade that heralds in another year.

Get ready to ski down the slopes with your own light, or watch this amazing sight that makes the mountain appear to be on fire, bathed in red. It’s a sight to behold for all who go!

Holiday Torchlight Parde take place in Squaw Valley on Christmas Eve (Dec. 24), and on New Year’s Eve (Dec. 31) in Snow Summit Ski Resort in Big Bear Lake and Badger Pass in Yosemite.