Thanks for the season!

Dear Bear Valley Friends,

First I want to thank you all for your support during the 07/08 season.

Despite low cumulative snow fall (just a bit over last year!) we had excellent snow conditions for most of the season. We were fortunate to get big and cold storms early in January which provided a base and allowed us to open "The Grizz" mid January. While March and April saw little to no snow we had sufficient coverage to enjoy superb late season skiing. For the first time in several years we had perfect weather conditions for the pond skimming. And yes the rumors are correct Jim and I crossed the pond in dry conditions!!

We have one more outstanding snow event, with race and freestyle camp on May 10 & 11^th for racers, devos (and parents!). We also were in contact with the California/Nevada snowmobile association to host a snowmobile event mid May. Unfortunately they could not pull it together for this year, perhaps we will try in a future year.

We held 2 public scoping meetings over the last to weekends regarding the proposed actions for the village lift Environmental Analysis. We received some very good and thoughtful comments. For a replay of the video of the first meeting go to http://thepinetree.net/index.php?module=announce&ANN_user_op=view&ANN_id=6439.

I want to close by saying that it was a great experience and real honor to lead Bear Valley Resorts through this winter. I felt tremendous support (I consider critical feedback support as well) by you, our guests, and am proud of the staff which made it all happen.

Stay tuned for news on progress of the village lift EA and village EIR (environmental impact report), as well as improvements for the 2008/09 season.

Have a wonderful and "gemutlicher" summer.

Martin

Spring Updates

Dear Bear Valley Friends,

It has been a while since my last blog. Much has happened in the meantime but most importantly we have had very good snow conditions and the weather for the most part has been typical “Californian”. So here are a few updates.

As you might have seen on our website we will be open 7 days/ week through April 13^th, and Friday, Saturday, Sunday through April 26^th.  Snow levels are such that we should have very nice April skiing.

We also scheduled a race/free ride camp for the weekend of May 10, 11, open the all racers and free riders from Bear Valley, the central and northern series. For details seehttp://www.bearvalley.com/camps/index.asp. 

April is “Bear Valley Learn to Ski Month”. We planned this under the assumption that the warmer temperatures combined with a good snow base provide an ideal environment for novices or beginners to learn or improve skiing or snowboarding skills though a one, or multiday “immersion” program. See our website for details at http://www.bearvalley.com/tickets/spring_sale.asp.

Our season passes are now on sale and I am glad that we are able to hold the prices at last year’s levels. As some of you might have seen we have added a combination season pass (Mountain/Meadow pass) which allows the holders to ski/snowboard and use the cross-country facility for some cardio workout. As a Bear Valley guest I always had a strong interest in this all encompassing season pass. As CEO I was able to work with Paul Peterson from the Cross Country Center to “get it done”. I hope many of you will take advantage of this.

While the season is still in full swing we are in the midst of putting the summer improvement plans together. I am not ready to announce details yet, as we will cover this in future blogs. However one area I do want to mention briefly concerns progress on the village development and village lift. While from the outside there is little visible activity, there is a significant amount of work going on with the EA (Environmental Analysis) and EIR (Environmental Impact Report). We are approximately at the midpoint of both the EA for the village lift, and EIR for the village development and will soon have some detailed information on our website on these 2 very important processes, inclusive milestones, FAQ’s and an interactive way for all of you to pose questions and comments. Successful conclusion of these two interrelated processes is key and a prerequisite for starting to “pour cement and move bricks” for the new village and the village lift.

I hope many of you will be able to enjoy the last month of this season.

Martin   

Dear Bear Valley Snow Enthusiasts,

If you were here last weekend you experienced a disruption in lift service due to a power outage. In fact a PG&E power problem occurred Saturday around noon in Salt Springs resulting in a complete power outage from Dorrington to Bear Valley, lasting for most of the afternoon.

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.

Gemuetlichkeit!

Dear Bear Valley Snow Enthusiasts,

I hope you all had a good start of the New Year. As you know, it brought some great (and much needed) snow to the Sierras, allowing us to open the lower mountain with excellent coverage. I had the opportunity to get down there myself and I can tell you it was an epic experience.

In a previous blog I indicated that I want to talk about the word "gemuetlich" or "gemuetlichkeit." I am sure you have seen this word either on our website, on t-shirts or printed material. Let me tell you why in my mind this word most embodies our vision and spirit of Bear Valley.

"Gemutlich" (adjective) or "gemuetlichkeit" (noun) is German and means literally cozy or coziness. However, in my native tongue the word has a much broader meaning including "comfortable," "friendly," "cozy ambiance," "atmosphere of comfort," "sense of belonging and acceptance" and "sociable".

Whenever I tried to explain to friends and colleagues what Bear Valley is all about, I was using all the above mentioned English words but the German word "gemuetlich" was in my mind. So, when I joined Bear Valley in my current capacity, I decided to use this word as our "operative term" (Ron Agositini from the Modesto Bee pointedly called it so in his 12/3/07 article). So I hope you will join our friendly team for a "gemuetliche" time in Bear Valley.

Now to some current items. On peak days we are still very tight with seating capacity, especially in snowy weather conditions when all of our guests use the indoor facilities for lunch and breaks. I believe the Black Bear Bungalow with its storage capability for coolers and other personal belongings has helped ease the congestion and I’m glad that we are able to accommodate our guests that occasionally bring their own food and beverage in that facility. However, to improve the experience for all our guests on these buys days, we can only be successful with your support. Your cooperation with our ambassadors, who are assisting other guests find seating is most helpful and appreciated. For this I thank you, our guests, and our tireless ambassadors.

Over the last few weeks I have received a lot of direct (verbal) feedback when sitting on a chairlift with guests, or walking through the lodge. The feedback ranges from comments on scanner issues and grooming observations to rental and ticket line suggestions. This input is vital for us to continuously improve your guest experience. One item I’d like to share is that I heard many voices commenting on the friendliness of our staff. I am delighted to hear this and want to extend a big "thank you" to the Bear Valley team.

As always I look forward to your comments and suggestions.

Martin

Happy Holidays

Dear Friends and Snow Enthusiasts,

The holiday season is upon us and I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your patronage of Bear Valley Mountain Resort. I hope you have been able to experience our friendly staff and the great early season snow conditions. Talking about staff, we have a terrific group of employees this season. I’d like to thank them for their dedication and friendly services, as I know they are working hard to make your visit as enjoyable as possible. “Thanks team”!

I want to wish you, your family and friends a happy holiday season and all the best and success for the New Year.

Martin

Dear Friends,

I apologize upfront that I have been remiss in answering my blog for a while. The focus over the last couple of weeks has been on getting the mountain open with man-made, and fortunately also natural snow (thank you all for your snow dances!).

1. As to the environmental report and discussion I very much appreciate your concerns, input (both positive and negative) and suggestions. First the SACC has replied and indicated that they might be visiting with us early next year. I will keep you posted. More importantly environmental practice and improvement is not as much about passing a grade as it is a commitment to a journey. We have done many things as I alluded to in my published letter, but we are very conscious of the fact that there are many more things we can and will do. It is my committement to all of you to keep your informed of our progress. Our ownership team began that process nearly two years ago via their public meetings along the corridor and in the bay area and we will continue to improve our communication to keep you informed on this journey.

2. Many people ask specific questions about snow conditions, runs open, etc. I would suggest consulting the website directly as we are making every effort to keep the information up-to-date and my answers might be slower in coming (and don’t forget to hit the refresh button if the information looks old).

3. There were several questions regarding lockers. Here is the current situation. There are a few East Value lockers available. If you were on a waiting list you should have been called about this (your phone number of record!). However if you have not heard from us please call 209-753-2301 and ask for Ashley.

4. We have installed a new webcam which will allow you to take control. Just don’t get frustrated because there is an electronic “first come – first serve” system. We will soon bring a second, static cam online which will be positioned at the top of the mountain, giving you a view of the backside.

As I said previously I appreciate your interest and active participation in this blog. I am sure you noticed, as I did, that opinions differ. We will do everything we can to move forward towards our vision of being the premier family resort, providing safe and fun mountain experiences for all ages and abilities. While I can not respond to every item I can assure you that your input is important and helping us to improve and move towards this vision.

Thanks, Martin

December 8 opening of ski area and San Francisco Chronicle article on environmental rating

Bear Valley Snow Enthusiasts,

So far Mother Nature has not exactly helped to cover our beautiful mountain and ski runs with snow. But our new and "best in class" snow making crew has been working tirelessly to make snow whenever temperatures allowed. The result is that we will open this weekend, Dec, 8 for the 2007/2008 season. While man-made snow allows for only limited operations, we will have some interesting and fun activities for all family members. Please check the website for details.

I am inviting you to join Jim Gentling and myself for a short 2007/08 ski season opening ceremony on December 8 at 9:00 AM at the bottom of the Kuma chair.

Many of you might have seen the article in the San Francisco Chronicle "How green is your mountain? Ski resorts rated on environment". The article is based on an annual evaluation by the Ski Area Citizen' Coalition.

Protecting and improving our environment in a sensible way is of key concern to us. We have, and will continue to increase our efforts to improve our practices in this area.

As to the SACC evaluation we believe there are some inaccuracies and have invited the coalition to visit with us and assess first hand our current status. This will provide us with accurate and valuable input (for improvement) while assuring that the public is being properly informed.

I am copying my letter to the coalition as I thought you would be interested in this. So here we go:

Sierra Nevada Alliance
PO Box 7989
South Lake Tahoe, CA 96158

To whom it may concern:

Thank you for your comments. It is efforts, commitments and comments like yours that make us more aware of the details of our business.

We reviewed your report on Bear Valley and believe that several areas are inaccurate or based on old information.

For example you should know that we are supporting green policies, do not do any ground disturbing activities from October 15 to July 15 to observe spring birthing rituals including but not limited to fawning and calving. We observe all best management practices issued by the USFS for erosion control and vegetation management. We have car pool incentives, encourage public transportation to the mountain and provide employee and public bus services.

We take the environment and climate changes very serious. For this reason we have programs in place, ranging from educating our guests on how to reduce emissions to supporting PG&E in developing renewable energy sources ("ClimateSmart").

We are very interested to understand our shortfalls so we can continue to improve our environmental practices. To do so however we also want to make sure your information is accurate so it provides input of value to the customers and us. Therefore I am inviting a delegation of SACC to visit Bear Valley Mountain Resort to assess first hand what we are doing right and where we need to improve. I believe this would be in the best interest of the public, and ultimately of the environment.

I am looking forward to your positive reply.

Sincerely,

Martin Wegenstein

CEO, Bear Valley Resort Group

I hope you will visit Bear Valley soon and enjoy the Gemuetlichkeit of this beautiful area and resort.

More on Gemutetlichkeit in my next blog.

Martin