Gearing up for the season

This time of year becomes interesting and challenging around Bear Valley Mountain Resort. As we prepare to open for the winter, we close out summer operations where we have focused on repairing and maintaining the assets in preparation for winter. Many great things have occurred this summer.

Of course the highlight of the summer has been the installation of the new Polar Express detachable high speed quad lift. But many other improvements have happened that will go pretty much unnoticed by the majority of visitors.

Our lift maintenance crews have been very busy. They have replaced the old analog drives with state of the art digital drives that will improve our ability to trouble shoot Kuma and Grizzly chairs; both lifts have also had new communication lines installed between each tower and Grizzly has received a new electric motor. These improvements have all been installed and spearheaded by John, our new lift electrician. The desired result of this $100,000 expenditure should be smoother operating lifts with less down time and fewer stops. The lift loading ramps have had wooden platforms built along them to improve the loading process and several lifts will have new information centers. The best though, has got to be that each lift station will have a clock - and not just any clock, but an ATOMIC CLOCK. Atomic clocks talk to a satellite which cues its time off the atomic clock in Boulder, Colorado, thus all clocks will have the same accurate time, providing we keep them plugged in and batteries up to date.

AND yes, we will still scan your lift ticket; our goal is to scan it every time you enter an "access" lift. We have re-engineered our scanning system which should increase the speed of the scan. It has become necessary to scan every ticket in order to validate, count and have the revenue "drop" for the use of that ticket. Many tickets are sold outside the Resort now, at off-site ticket outlets. Tickets sold off site must be scanned to validate their use. The advantages of selling tickets off site are multi-tiered. It offers you the convenience of pre-purchasing your tickets, which in turn means shortened lines at the ticket office because off site tickets can be taken straight to the lifts, thus completely bypassing the ticket office. Off site tickets increase our distribution network and those tickets are offered at a discount, saving you a couple of bucks!

Lets talk rentals next... We have initiated an electronic sign in system- type in your information once and you will be remembered into the future. Our strategy is that it will save time in the future because you will be remembered along with your ski size and boot size. In the Grizzly Den, we have completely replaced the snowboard & boots inventory with Burton step-in equipment. The new step ins have been engineered with a binding back, unlike the older designs with just a step-on plate.

There have many other improvements around the mountain - other things to share: new stripes in the parking lot, another new snow cat, remodeled cafe and service line, the new Monte Wolfe Saloon and to those who have the privilege of a seasonal west locker, new carpet. I also look forward to sharing with you more of our environmental policies.