GRIZblog #3
Lower Mountain Is Opening Tomorrow!
Yes we have enough snow and yes we will have completed the majority of our opening procedures by this afternoon, SO GRIZZLY WILL OPEN Friday (tomorrow)! Not all of it straight away, but the main veins will be open and peripheries will open as patrol gets to them. So enjoy, be smart and please obey the signs and enjoy.
Will anything be groomed? Maybe it will; maybe it will not. When will it be groomed? Can be groomed? They used to groom all the time, I remember when. Well I am sure you do. First of all, according to the previous management it was not groomed all the time. Second, in the old days when they groomed, it was a free fall (almost uncontrolled) with 12,000 lbs of steel charging down the slope accompanied by gravity. It is, and was, a very dangerous and risky grooming technique. But 20 years ago it was acceptable to do it that way. Third, as I have stated before, I will not put our employees or equipment in harms way! Our grooming fleet has the technology to groom Griz with winch cats and we will groom as conditions, weather, priorities and staff availability allow.
We intend to groom the lower mtn more than last season. On the other hand, we will not groom during most storm cycles, we may not groom immediately prior to the arrival of a storm, we may not groom if visibility is poor, if we have equipment failure or if we do not have the appropriately trained staff.
The moral of this story, be realistic. The lower mountain is for EXPERTS. The trails are black diamond and double black diamond. The conditions and terrain features are for experts and should be treated and respected as such. Those who enter the gates into the lower mountain should be prepared for any type of condition – after all, you are an EXPERT! The lower mountain is very unique and is as close to backcountry as one can get with out actually being in the backcountry.
For all you experts that want regularly groomed trails stick to the upper mountain. Yes, I know that as we age and mature we do not want to give up the things we used to do. Yes, I know that if the lower mountain is groomed so many more people with less ability can enjoy it, yes if it is groomed it spreads people out more. But it is EXPERT terrain. At some point you need to recognize your own limitations or be patient and wait for the perfect day!
Well, enough said. Now is when I apologize to all those who are offended by my bluntness, ignorance and obstinacy. In time, maybe I will learn.
Cheers - Gentling
posted by jim gentling @ 11:16 AM
16 Comments
16 Comments:
Great news! Many thanks for the hard work on getting this ready and safe for us all. Personally I appreciate your frankness and transparency. Let the fun begin. Cheers!
Hey Jim, for us with day jobs in the flat lands could you keep the ropes up until Saturday AM? (just kidding). I snuck out last Friday to ski the powder, but probably couldn't slip by the boss again tommorrow. Hmmm, maybe I should consider sending in my resume for one of the positions at BVMR. Need any software engineers??
Jim-
I applaud your BLOG, thank you so much for saying what a lot of us feel already. Thank you!
Personally I feel that too much of the mountain is groomed as it is, and at least we have griz so we don't snivel too much, that we can get some real skiing!
Thanks for keeping it real! Excited that Griz will be open Whoo Hoo!!!
Jim-
I applaud your BLOG, thank you so much for saying what a lot of us feel already. Thank you!
Personally I feel that too much of the mountain is groomed as it is, and at least we have griz so we don't snivel too much, that we can get some real skiing!
Thanks for keeping it real! Excited that Griz will be open Whoo Hoo!!!
No reason to apologize. Better to have some terrain which is reserved for experts.
But PLEASE have ski patrol actively engaged on weekends to remove out-of-control snowboarders from the area!
Not intended as a ding on riders, but my kids have been hit by ZERO skiers operating beyond their abilities, and by THREE boarders operating beyond their abilities.
When you open Grizz, the testosterone will flow, people will take on more than is safe and some innocent will be injured or killed when struck by a 180-pound falling object (with attached snowboard).
I'm very thankful for your comments. We live in Mississippi and will be visiting Bear Valley March 14 - 16. I have two girls ages 29 and 21 that are very athletic and tend to take on more than they are capable of doing. I made them read your report and hopefully they will realize they are not EXPERTS! They are very excited about visiting BV again. The last time we were there was in 2000.
Grizz is and will always be as the old T-shirt said "not intermediate by nature". My old retired Ski Patrol hat is off to you for telling it like it is!
Cheers - Bigg
Jim,
Thanks for your comments..
It's humbling to admit your weaknesses....bluntness, ignorance and obstinacy... Keep up the good
work. You will get there someday..
Please do not groom Grizzly, or Bear Valley will become like any other places in Tahoe.
Please don't groom Grizzly. If you can't ski ungroomed, you don't belong there.
Thanks. I'll miss the opening but will be there in a week.
Noticed that Kodiak is no longer listed on the snow/lift report. In the 10 years I have been going to BV it's been open only a handful of times. What's the future for that lift? Frankly I don't see the need for it except on very busy days when more than experts ski snow valley.
Jim,
Thanks for keeping the Great! in Griz by not grooming much.
Keep being straight forward in your Blog. Very refreshing.
I agree with the expert and lack of grooming on Griz especially since I have skied it 30 years and the comment about what I used to be able to do is true. I told operators and mountain staff last year that by groom I hoped for a narrow escape route that I could use if I had to bail...
Like others, I enjoyed Jim's blog, and appreciate the honesty.
Here's a suggestion for how Griz could be groomed, if and when BV chooses to go in that direction.
I'm a relatively new BV skier--season tickets this season and last, but had only skied there once previously in the past 25 years.
My primary disappointment with BV has been that for me, the effective vertical is less than the advertised vertical, because Griz is often closed, and when it is open I can't ski it with my kids. This problem could be "solved" with an express quad running from Grizzly bottom to Kuma top. To make this worthwhile, BV would have to cut a skid trail into the lower mountain, similar to Mountain Run at Squaw Valley, with significant snowmaking along this trail. BV would probably also want a mid-ramp load near the current Kuma chair. Griz could then be groomed along the skid trail, leaving the rest of the area open in its pristine condition. This would permit true top to bottom skiing off a single express lift.
Yes, I know it would be expensive to install such a lift, and it would be difficult to get Forest Service approval for the skid trail. However, it would make BV a much better mountain, and would balance the objectives of the expert skiers who want to ski Griz in backcountry conditions, with the objectives of skiers who want more vertical and faster uphill lift capacity. Plus, it would better spread skiers around the mountain, and would allow advanced intermediates to test the lower mountain terrain, while keeping the option of returning to the skid trail if conditions proved too difficult.
The constant reading of our passes/tickets at Kuma Chair is getting very tiresome.The new scanners are just as slow, reading our passes as the old ones were. after 4 tries they then read. This is unacceptable.What did the new scanners cost?.What a waste of $$.The joke I started yesterday while the pass reader fumbled with the scanner,was "time to get the data","Gots ta have the data". "Somebody wants the data". There must be a better way, if you insist on reading our passes each time we use the Kuma chair.The present system sucks, the readers suck despite the larger bar code, and new scanners.It is a real pain if you are skiing the front side, to be harassed each time you come to take the Kuma chair.What possibly is the reason to know how many times I took the Kuma , or Koala chair?Who has a data fetish? I say get over it.On a slow day such as it was on 1/14/08 , it was harassment to be clumsily scanned every time we took the Kuma chair.Last year, due to my memorable appearance; long beard, and garish Fila jacket, the scanner person would recognise me, and I could ski unencumbered to the chair, now NO.We should not be treated like cattle, and the scanners must be improved to work satisfactorily, not needing 3-4 attempts over my pass to read it.For now , it is a major pain to use the Kuma chair, fix it please.Either install reader posts the pass holders scan themselves, use magnetic strip readers,or some improvement over this failed system.Why must I be scanned 12 times in one ski day?
Jim,
I just discovered this blog and thought I might share my two cents on some of the topics. I have been skiing at Bear Valley since my very first turns in 1980.
You mentioned that "according to the previous management it was not groomed all the time." I am sure that is true. I never felt the previous management did a very good job of grooming the mountain and I hope you administration doesn't feel that their standards should be good enough. However, before that family arrived "the valley" did have several regularly groomed runs. What is now called upper snow valley to the corner, and down either goat trails or waterfall and finally to grizzly road there was a groomed run.
Also if you look at older trail maps you will see a winding intermediate run going down the grizzly chair side of the valley. For awhile there was a groomed track on that side as well, however that was much rarer than the grooming on the kodiak chair side. I never felt that the winding intermediate run was an accurate reflection of the difficulty of the terrain but the management at that time for some reason did.
I completely agree that anyone who goes down into "the valley" should be an expert skiier and able to handle the terrain and conditions they encounter there. However, even experts like to cruise now and again, and the terrain in "the valley" is a much different experience than the upper mountain. Being a relatively small mountain I would think that you would want to provide as divirsified a mountain experience as possible. Selective grooming in "the valley" will help accomplish that goal.
I also whole heartedly agree with your feelings on the importance of safety. Fortunately as you said "Our grooming fleet has the technology to groom Griz with winch cats," so safety or the ability of your equipment shouldn't be a major issue. Equipment efficiency might though.
In general, do what you can, I am sure that the Bear Valley loyalists will appreciate it. I know I will.
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