That’s what we call that time period prior to opening when it starts to snow and everyone gets anxious to get into winter activities and they want to get the season started NOW!!

I love to hear about the pent up demand, it means that our guests are excited about the season, enthusiasm is high, and they are talking it up.

This will be my 33rd time opening a ski area for the season, in that time I don’t ever recall getting one open “soon enough” for our loyal guests. I spent several years at a ski area in Colorado that was almost always the first to open and last to close in the entire USA. And we still could not be open “early enough” nor did we stay open “long enough” – I guess it’s just the nature of the beast ;-0

Here at Bear Valley we have opened as early as Nov 6th and closed as late as May 1st – guess what – probably still not soon enough or long enough? I think it’s an ongoing conundrum– hence the term PENT UP DEMAND!!

All that being said…ON TO OPENING DAY, the recent weather has certainly been challenging, while we received 84” of snow we also received almost nine inches of free water (rain). Despite the rain, we survived and are able to move up our opening by one day, Thursday December 20th is our newly scheduled opening day and it a free day, yep that’s right, no charge for anybody. Just go by the ticket office and get your free ticket. Remember you heard it here first!!

During the peak of the storm cycle I thought we would be 90% done with snowmaking, however it looks like we will be firing up again with a newly revised strategy. In the meantime the cats continue to track pack the beginner and intermediate terrain to set up a sustainable base product.

At minimum we should have most of the upper mtn, serviced by Kuma, Cub/Super Cub and Kola. The Bear West Side (Polar) will be a little more challenging without more snow, so stay tuned.

T-MINUS 11 DAYS AND COUNTING!!!

After a long, silent and quiet summer the mtn and village are in full swing, rapidly gearing up for what is going to be a great rebounding winter

Opening day for the mountain is Dec 21^st and winter has definitely arrived with a vengeance.  It’s been snowing often and a lot, with opening day less than three weeks away; I fully expect for some its never soon enough and seems like an eternity away, yet for others it’s just around the corner.

The mtn is shaping up nicely, we have had very little need or opportunity to make any snow so far this year as Mother Nature appears to be taking control.

Mattly has been updating the snow report on a regular basis please check it out!!  On Saturday the base peaked at 40” and now 24 hrs later its settle to 35” today.  How refreshing to have 3 ft of snow on the ground by Dec 1^st. You can also follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

The Thanksgiving holiday saw Bear Valley Cross Country and Adventure Center open for business (& now open weekends only, call ahead 753-2834) , the holiday Winter Fest was high action with a variety of activities including a fashion show, movie, wine and open houses being hosted by local businesses.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed, toes, legs & arms crossed that the current weather patterns are the trend and not – ahh well lets just leave it at that – a trend!

For those who knew I was gone, I’m back, for those who didn’t know I was gone – I’m still here.  Cheers, GM

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On Monday we had a great standing room only meeting with the BV Water District (meaning sewer) in regards to the USFS Environmental Assessment (EA) and to the BVV Development Environmental Impact Report (EIR).  After months/years of study, analysis, reviews, clarifications, interpretations and extrapolations we all reached a conclusion that secures and preserves enough waste water connections and system capacity to accommodate Bear Valley Village for years to come and at the same time satisfying Alpine County and CEQA requirements to move forward with the preparation of the final EIR.

It’s still a little too early to declare victory, but we believe we are on track for a June if not sooner re-approval by the Alpine County Supervisors.  All that being said, Greg (my boss) and I did find the V’s Bistro open for a celebratory beverage (or two) and then over to Murphys Grill, where Chef Chester cooked us up a fantastic meal.

The positive result of the meeting, for the moment anyway, seemed to take some of the sting away from the season, now ON TO SUMMER – jim

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Old news, but once again I wanted to thank everybody for coming out to play in this wonderful winter wonderland and especially to all whom offered up such kind and thoughtful sentiments for the staffs efforts for this season.  The Team truly worked their magic every day/night of the season to keep it together providing a fantastic season.

What a great closing weekend – oodels of  new snow just before the weekend, cold temps to preserve the quality, a positive sunny forecast, a great reggae band and BEER.  Saturday was in the top 10 busiest days of the season.  I trust despite the disappointments of no pond skimming – a good time was had by all.

A really, really brief excuse on why Pond Skimming didn’t happen.  We started building the pond on schedule (Tuesday), by mid day Wednesday the pit was in place but now it was snowing heavily.  Then the forecast – lots of snow, wind, lows in the teens & highs barely above freezing.  Try to image busting up & skimming off 2500 square feet of ice 2 to 3” thick off the pond & then missing one piece (think titanic).  So here we go again = Safety First.   Just think, for next year there will be that much more anticipation!

It never ceased to amaze me how the Media can manipulate and spin the weather and conditions.  While I understand the need to provide attention getting news & headlines, I sometime question whether it’s truly fair and balanced!  In our case, we are especially sensitive and subjected to the media whims as we don’t have the deep advertising pockets of most of our competitors that can get out there & combat negativity.  Our day is out there though!

Many have asked it I will continue to blog after we close and through the summer -  yes of course!

Cheers all and have a great summer – jim

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With only 5 days remaining for the season – I wanted to reach out and personally thank you all for the  75,000 visits you made to BV this winter, to those who would normally generate the other  55,000 visits, we missed you & believe it or not you missed some great skiing/riding, as well as a season for the history books.  I  hope you have not given up the sport and will return next season.

For years I have discussed with my boss that one of the many things that’s unique about our business is there is no such thing as a normal or average season.  Still that’s what we all strive for, plan for, hope for and budget for – just a normal or average season, that’s all we want!  So what’s normal – if you take last years 567” and this years 200” we’re are right on track for being average.

So I guess average would be a snowcat in the middle someplace!

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As of today (Wednesday) there are only 12 days of winter operations left at the mountain!

With the ups and downs of the weather, it doesn’t look like we are going to get the great bake needed to pull the lower mountain out of the hat.  Most of you probably knew it was a long shot and were wondering what world I was living in to even think it could happen.  With only about foot to 18” at Griz bottom, Griz access road nearly impassable and without a deep freeze, the snow pack on the lower 1/3 can barely support any weight.  It is with great frustration that we officially announce that the lower mountain will not open this season.

I know this is very disappointing to many of you, but the good news is that we are having some pretty incredible spring skiing left on the Upper Mountain and Village Side.  With the bus back on its regular schedule, I even made a couple of runs into the village on Tuesday and had a great time gliding through the mash.

Come join us for some great fun as there is still a lot to do over the next couple of weekends with many time tested traditional events lined up.  Check out the web site for more info on the skier/rider/boarder cross, egg hunt, slush cup, pond skimming, reggae and a jib jam.

Once again our last scheduled day of operations will be April 15th.

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We don’t know much more than we did last week at this point.  We did have about 10” of that finer Sierra snow yesterday, but it was not quite enough density to make a difference at the 6600’ elevation.

Hope still remain  high for this next series of systems, if it comes in as predicted over the next few days, it could be the game changer.  Still too early in the week to predict.

Over the weekend,  the snowcat was able to climb down and more importantly back up the Grizzly Access Road, but it was very thin and they felt the rocks through the tracks almost the whole way down, making it a slow and tedious ride back out..  This last storm helped a little but not enough to make another pass.

We will wait out this next system and then try it again.  As a reminder we do have performance clause with the USFS to be able to evacuate the stranded people at Griz bottom in a reasonable amount of time should the lift decide not to operate.  The depth of snow coverage on the road is the critical factor; we need enough to make several down and outs, not just once in and out.

Once again we play the waiting game.  (HINT:  while Cottage Springs is slight lower, it always a good gauge, if the forest floor looks covered, with no stumps, rocks, willows, mud or water/stream courses showing -  the lower mtn is probably getting close)

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Today seasoned veteran patrollers, Chris and Ted were the designate team to review the lower mtn.  They departed at the Griz gate around 11:30a and returned via the lift just after 1:00p.  As they worked there way down they were very optimistic on the upper portions, however as they preceded further down, the optimism quickly faded away and more safety concerns/issues arose.  The snow is very unconsolidated and on the lower third they would break through down to the ground, rocks, branches and stumps.  At the bottom of the bowl there is less than 18” on the ground.

West Ridge and Snow Valley are not even in consideration, the boulders on the Goat Trails breakover and the willow are the blocking factors.  Off of West Ridge there have been multiple wet roller ball slides everywhere.

In the interest of not getting skunked this season, we intend to come up with a plan and provide a safe but limited amount of skiing and riding experience on the lower mtn.  That being said, we have a regulatory requirement from the USFS in that we must be able to evacuate stranded skiers/riders from the bottom of the bowl by some other means besides the chair lift.  We need to be able to get a snowcat and the tour cat down to the bottom of Griz and more importantly back up again.

The PLAN – once we reach an agreement that the conditions are ready (late next week) and if we can effectively evacuate people out via the road, we will open Griz Gate for a limited time in the mornings for “corn snow” skiing, then closing just before the surface conditions get rutted and sloppy.  This provides and maintains a quality ski/ride experience for the following days and future guests.

However, the lower mtn will remain closed at least through this weekend.  Early next week the patrol will re-evaluate the conditions as this weeks forecast is to remain unseasonably warm, it could rain, get very cold and then snow again this weekend.

Another update this weekend.

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Thank you all for your comments in regards to the tone of “winter finally gets here”.  While the damage has been done, I truly meant no disrespect, sometimes what I consider as humor crosses the line and can be too edgy for most or my own good.  I thought the disclaimer would have allowed some leeway. Lesson learned.  I will definitely listen to the communication team in the future.

Providing a superior standard of Guest Services is our goal, and I obviously missed the target with you all.  AGAIN, LESSON LEARNED!

Catching up on other comments:

From Bob & more bones – “Kirkwood purchased by Vail Resorts? Good? Bad? Is this a great marketing opportunity for Bear?”  
As to the question of “is this a great marketing opportunity for Bear”, perhaps you all would like to share your perspective on how BVMT could use this to our advantage.  We have had some internal discussion but are not ready to release or share at this time.  

I think this is a great addition to VR’s California Portfolio.  Kirkwood brings a product into the Epic mix that is not really offered by Heavenly or North Star.  When I first move to CA in 2005, we were all chasing the Kirkwood model.  Over the last few years they seem to have lost their edge.  I am confident that over the next 5 years Vail will drive Kirkwood to a new level with capital improvements and services.

From John & Snowymonk – “When will the lower mtn open?”
This was another great storm cycle, it came in warm and heavy (lots of rain between 6000’ and 7000’) and then left light and dry.  The ski patrol will do a recon mission down Grizz on Wednesday.  So stay tuned.  This past weekend was difficult for many reasons but the worst was for those who lost loved ones or had near misses or close calls.  The snow pack is a lot different this season than in a “normal” year.  Once again I hate to keep leaning on Safety First, so we need to await the results of Wednesday exploratory tour.  

From Don –  “charm school” considerations.  
No, not yet.  But you never know…thanks for the smack – I needed it!

From Dawna –   “riders never skiers, lunch breaks & communication”
Thanks for your note.  Over the last few years we have become more generic in our terminology in regards to the inclusive use of the two terms.  However, I know when I share information I generally try to use skier/rider.  I think that since people ride bikes, ride surf boards, ride skateboards and skiers are riding in the terrain parks the term “RIDING” has gained a broader level of acceptance.  I think you will continue to see it both ways for a while to come.

Lift operations and lunch breaks – I agree the lifties work hard and should get a lunch break and for operational reasons either before 11:00a or after 1:00p.  

On communicating the most current, accurate and up to date information in this information age we employ many tactics.  In the span of about 30 mintues total we start getting our messages out to including radio, TV, snow phone, facebook, twitter, website, eblasts and local community.  The team even goes as far as making calls to gas stations and restaurants along hwy 4 just trying to get the word out  There are probably additional methods and we will keep digging in to ensure we get the word out as fast as possible.

In the end, please know these decisions are not made lightly.  Especially on weekend with our final first good dump of snow!!

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(One of the great things about electonic media, it can be changed and updated)

WOW what a face lift and it’s never too late to get in some powder turns.  Looks like the base spiked up around 62”!  Groomers on the hand will have to wait until tomorrow.  I rode the lift today with numerous guest that had been very disappointed in our lack of grooming, something that we have become noted for and very proud of.

After about a 6 minute lift ride, center around the logistic of grooming when its snowing 2-3” an hour for 10 hours and it takes two to three hours to groom a trail, simple math says that the groomed trail could have up to 6” of new snow on it.  

I thought I would take this opportunity to let you know that it is too dangerous to groom into the day.  We will occasionally be out a little longer in the mornings, but usually not much more than a few minutes

On the more morbid side, hardly a season goes by in our industry, when someone is seriously injured or killed by an encounter with a snowcat.  Our business has enough risk every single day and as for grooming when we are in full skier/rider operations is a risk I am not willing to take.  For you safety if you see or encounter a snow cat on the mountain please give it a wide clearance, and if y ou can’t see the operator he probably can’t see either.

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