Our trained lift maintenance crew did an outstanding job of switching lifts to auxiliary power (diesel engines) especially considering the fact that we were running all 9 lifts at full capacity. While you might think this is nothing more than flipping a switch, transferring power from electric to the auxiliary requires several time consuming tasks such as warming up the diesel for each chair for several minutes.
For some of the older chair lifts such as Supercub and Bear auxiliary power is only configured to evacuate all passengers. However the majority of lifts have been upgraded to continue running on diesel, a bit slower and with some capacity limitations, but still performing.
Running on auxiliary power during this busy weekend created longer lines for our guests and we apologize for this circumstance, albeit out of our control. We do truly appreciate your business and patience during this power outage and tried to show that via some vouchers handed out by some of our staff members. However I want to reiterate that this is not an entitlement as the power outage and resulting lift capacity reduction was not caused by Bear Valley Mountain Resort. So if you received a coupon please enjoy it when you are here next time.
In an earlier blog there was a question why Grizzly Bowl was not opened right after our last big storm (super bowl Sunday). Reiterating an earlier answer, we had a significant avalanche risk on that Sunday plus the weather was inclement with periods of complete white-outs which made it not feasible from a staff and guest safety perspective to clear and open the lower mountain. As I am sure you understand safety of our guests and our staff is our first priority.
posted by Martin Wegenstein @ 8:35 AM
7 Comments
7 Comments:
Hi Martin,
Yes, I was there, about 4-5 chairs ahead of you when the power failed. It was a bit concerning, considering the age of the lifts and the incident(Grizzly chair) a couple of weeks ago, but hey, the crew did a great job at getting backup power going, and the lifts turning.
With Grizzly in mind, let me say, It is my favorite place to ski in the sierras. The wild, ungroomed, properties, make the Griz a lift accessed backcountry area unlike any other sierra resort offering. I fully understand the nature of the beast, as far as making the mountain safe for employees(ski patrol)and the guests. There are times though, when I wonder what's keeping the lower mountain closed. My biggest gripe is timely reports and information flow as to what's happening with the lower mountain. Is there a way that the ski patrol can meet with the marketing people, FIRST THING in the morning and provide a mountain update? a plan? a suggestion as to timetable? This would be valuable information for those that are considering shooting up to the mountain but want to know if Grizzly will be open. It is terribly disappointing to anticipate a great day on Grizzly, only to show up and have it closed. Enough said.
I was skiing on Superbowl Sunday and given the amount of snow that fell overnight, I wouldn't and didn't expect Griz open, but man-o-man was it an epic day! 2 feet of fresh! I'd like to remind you that on that day, Kirkwood was closed. Hwy 50 was closed. Hwy 80 closed. Squaw Valley only selected lower mountain lifts were open. Alpine Meadows was closed. I drove up Hwy 4 in a near white-out blizzard that day but, Hwy 4 and Bear Valley were OPEN!!! Yahoo!
Bob R.
vouchers? I got stuck on Grizz chair that day only to immediately get stuck on Bear, no vouchers.
Just a heads up on a situation that occurred Feb. 10th 2008.
We rented skis for my daughter (10 years old) at the bear Mountain rental place and left them outside for 10 minutes while we used the restrooms. When we came back out they were gone! We are being charged $300 to replace them. We are very disappointed especially since we made the decision to visit Bear thinking it was more of a "family" place frequented by "honest" skiers / riders.
Apparently it was not the case that day. On top of it I had no idea that you are supposed to pay full price for a pair of skis that had been used for (at least) half of the season. So keep an eye on your gear.
A good ending to a seemingly disappointing and unfortunate story. The skis were returned to us from a rental shop in the Bay Area. It looks like somebody mixed up rental skis standing unattended outside, and mistakenly took the wrong pair. Obviously the ski replacement charge will be reimbursed.
In terms of charges we have a standard to wait about 10 days before we apply the charges for lost/stolen skis to the credit card. As in this case, most of the times rental equipment turns up after a few days.
The amount of the lost/stolen charge, for obvious reasons, is based on replacing the equipment not the depreciated value.
Situations like this are good reminders to us all to keep an eye on ski and snowboard equipment. I highly recommend use of the ski/snowboard check for equipment safekeeping – the $1.00 fee is certainly worth the piece of mind and will eliminate the unfortunate mistakes and occasional theft that unfortunately happens in many places in our society, but happy to say it is extremely rare here. It’s important that each individual be responsible and takes the necessary precautions.
We have again great fresh powder and expect awesome snow conditions for the weekend.
Martin
Yes! We received your refund and we are very glad about how everything was handled. good thing my wife called that other rental place and tracked the skis back..she's a true detective!
I never had a chance to say how much I enjoyed "snow valley" at Bear...at one point me and my daughter were alone for a good 15 minutes in the whole valley. It seemed to be somewhere in the Alaska backcountry. I love how in Bear valley you can go from easy -groomed trails, to intermediate parks, to backcountry-like conditions, I can't wait to ride my board again there saturday.
The place was absolutely accessible with occasionally no lines at all at the lifts, I could not believe it was a sunday. I will be back there this saturday.
Grizzly Bowl was epic on Feb 4. Thanks for keeping it closed on Super Bowl Sunday!
Curious as to why you don't groom Sun Valley and Waterfall also under the Grizz chair? It would still leave plenty of ungroomed runs, yet open up the lower mountain? To be honest the lower mountain is unskiable alot of the time which really limits the skiing experience at Bear. It really is a crapshoot to see if the lower mountain is worth skiing.
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