Mountain Development – the USFS EA is still moving along, as per the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the USFS is required to respond to comment letters written by those who want this to be the best development possible.  One of the comments received questioned the ability of the BVWD to handle the effluent generated by the additional visitors.  Thusly, the Mtn EA is facing the same scrutiny the EIR did on the waste water system capacity.  We are working closely with the BVWD to provide a letter to the USFS administrative record that supports the EA and should have that within the next few weeks.  Once that letter is on record the Final Decision Notice can be issued by the USFS and the MTN can begin to prioritize and schedule its improvements.

“What’s up with Dundee” -   Just a reminder that Bear Valley Mtn, Lodge and Village Development are owned by a 3 way partnership – Dundee Bear LLC is a 33.33% partner with Radar Bear Valley Partners LLC owning 33.33% and Bear Valley Village Partners LLC with 33.33%. (all their legally registered names)

Dundee Bear is alive and well and as the managing partner we continue to work with Alpine County on the final stages for the approval of the EIR.  The combined ownership group continues to pour in tens of thousands of dollars to keep the process moving.  Not to mention the countless hours of time and energy spent in keeping the County, BVWD and EIR contractor coordinated and aligned.  All indicators lead us to believe, if no other issues arise we could have an approved final EIR with entitlements late this spring or early this summer.

Kudos to those supporters who came out in force to make it known how important this is for the future and success of all Bear Valley.  Your phone calls, letters, meeting attendance and behind the scenes lobbyist let it be known that were 100’s of people who believe in the quality of the project!! – cheers, jim

Next round – some thoughts on Vailwood

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Bear Valley’s Snow Message To Our Guests

Its been no secret that this has been a challenging season so far for most all of California.  However, I believe Bear Valley is currently offering the best ski and snowboard conditions of the season for our guests.  During the beginning of the season and throughout the holidays we invested thousands into snowmaking, then, we had the great storm of January and nearly a foot of snow has fallen earlier this  month.  All combined and with the success of the grooming team, we have been offering our guest the highest quality snow surfaces possible and the ski patrol has been providing the most amount of trails open as possible.

Our Resort Village also offers world class activities and events including cross country skiing, snowmobiling & rentals, sledding and tubing.  We have just completed several of our signature events with sell outs for the Winter Explosion and the Annual Crab Feed Dinner.  On March 3^rd the Bear Valley Lodge is hosting the annual Monte Carlo Black Jack Tournament which benefits the BV Search and Rescue Team, the second annual Senior Winter Games are just around the corner & many of the overachievers have already been here to train.

The Bear Valley slope grooming crews are working every night to provide the best snow surfaces possible and thanks to their hard work, recent new snow and our continued investment in grooming equipment we’ve been able to open more terrain and keep them open, again providing the best skiing and snowboarding experience of the season!

We are continually told by our guests that the conditions on the mountain are superior to anything currently offered elsewhere in Northern California.  Our employees really are the friendliest in the west!  We are proud of what we have to offer and those who have visited BV this winter continually share with us how great their experience was and are pleasantly surprised with all the terrain we have open.

We’ve placed the highest values on delivering a very memorable experience, no matter what the weather brings.  Its time to come to Bear Valley and enjoy the winter!

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I wish I could say that it was a planned shot and that I am that good, but my not so steady hand took this shot the other night, from an undisclosed vantage point.  For all you image junkies, which ones the snowcat.

And Bob the bones are coming!

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It was a horizontal flag day, so I took the opportunity to finally take a picture of the flags standing out and present.

I have been asked many times about the flags we fly, the two most FAQ’s are – what are the countries and why did we choose them?

Let’s start with the easy one, the middle of course is Ole Glory, under that flies the great state of CA and under that is our tribute to and remembrance of all the Prisoners of War (POW).

Moving on to the end poles – to recognize our international neighbor to the south it’s Mexico and the other end recognizes our international neighbor to the north – Canada.

Finally the most confusing ones, the ones on either side of the US flag.  Those two are based on the Winter Olympics – we fly the country that hosted the most recent winter Olympics (Italy) (YES, I know the last Olympics was Canada, (please see neighbor the north)) and the country who is hosting the up coming winter Olympic (Russia).

So not so much of a mystery after all!

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Here’s a couple of shots for all of you who could not find the time or energy to make it up to enjoy the 11” of new, it actually skied/rode like a lot more – awesome day had by all!  (Yes this really was yesterday with James and Jesse not playing hooky)

Rumor has it that the Village Runs were “OK” too!  So “OK”, we are running the Village Shuttle bus again on the hourly schedule.

It looks like we could be in a nice little storm cycle over the next couple of days

Come on up and get some!

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Yea yea, I know I have to be more consistent in managing the blog.   But this time around I have been soo busy skiing I have neglected to keep up on the blogging.  I have skied 2 to 3 hours a day almost everyday this past week or so and lovin’ it.  I keep thinking I should stop and take some pictures, but the skiing is so good I just don’t think about it till I get back to base.  I did take one picture the other day of a very special sign.

Just letting you all know that yes, I am very aware that this sign is still out there and the lift is not!  I know it can be confusing when you try to find the ghost of Hibernation.  However, I look at it as a little reminder of the past and what it used to be like when you embarked on that backside adventure.  Someday maybe we’ll change it out, but don’t hold your breath.  While my experience with Hiber was short lived, it still brings a little smile to my face when I remember what a PIA that lift was – cheers, Jim

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I have been skiing and riding past this solar collection tripod for 3 or 4 years and every now and then I think to myself – I gotta remember to ask someone what it does and why it’s there.  Well today I finally asked.

It’s a weather monitoring station for the snowmaking system.  It transmits the ambient plus wet bulb temps and the humidity to a couple of computers around the area.  The snowmaking team then translates the data into gun and nozzle settings to make the best use of optimal temperatures and water usage.

Now that it was explained to me (again), I remember the end around the team took to get it.  It was one of those “here just try this, it’s demos” you get from the salesman, a year later we can’t live w/o it, which then turns into “boy do I have a deal for you” & “you know at this price I am actually loosing money on this deal”.  Hence we are the proud owner of a state of the art solar powered weather monitoring station!

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We had a great weekend, cheers to all who joined us for some fabulous skiing and riding. The weekend grooming plan came together better than we had hoped.  Now here we are on Monday and we are back to operating our country club of a ski area for a select and privileged few.  As I have stated, skiing is as much social as it is adventurous – thanks for coming today – Greg/Nancy, Jon/Suzanne & John/Tessa

Unfortunately, once again the Saloon can’t handle the lack of activity and Melissa got tired of waiting for someone to talk too, so as the sign says – “Beer and Wine are available in the Ebbetts Grill”.  See ya’ll back at the Saloon on Friday!

Game on, and Mikey, this shots for you!  As a reminder, despite what you see here, you cannot import your alcohol into my building – Bad people Bad.  Remember to ski and drive responsibly.  – Jim

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Pictured – A world all its own – guess where the cat is (winner gets bragging rights) and of course a sliver of a moon over paradise!

Yep noodling – what the heck is noodling?  It’s a new grooming term and technique for laying out corduroy on the steeps where we will be doing a little bobbing and weaving down the trails.  The cats will be out tonight grooming corridors down West World, Bear Boogie/Goldie, National and Sugar.  We will also hit the run out from Groovy Gully.  This strategy will be carried into and expanded for Sunday too.  More grooming is on the way.

It’s a hectic weekend with lots of fun activities and events plus one action item.

You won’t find me promoting events here in the blog very often, but this is going to be a great weekend – sunny, warm, the deck BBQ will fire up on Saturday with Deb at the beer box  and Melissa in the Saloon.

Action required – Now that the place is all reflective again and the suns arc is getting higher – be sure to wear your sun screen – this weekend is SUN AWARENESS DAY – FREE SUN SCREEN AT ALL SALES LOCTIONS WHILE SUPPLIES LAST (cheers mikey this patrons for you).

On Sunday, we are hosting a slope style event in the beefed up Cub Park, the park is bigger and better than ever before.  Check it out as you do a flyby on Kuma lift.

Lastly and because we can , we are hosting the Rasmussen Classic, (USSA, 12 and under) race on Rodeo, there will be 80 or so, soon to be Olympian, following in the famous ski tracks of Kyle Rasmussen.

Its time to get out of your arm chairs, off the couch or take a break from biking, hiking and golf! There are only 80 days (+/-) left! – cheers, Jim

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On Thursday sometime mid morning if not sooner we should be operating Polar Express and the Koala Double chair. The ski patrol and lift ops teams pulled it all together, patrol has strung a hundred miles of perimeter rope and the lift team has shoveled tons of snow getting the ramps and mazes together! Please be kind & generous by giving them a big ole’ thanks for a job well done.

Skiing is great & grooming is coming along. We need you all to get out there and rip it up and pack it down so the cats can get on it to lay out some beloved corduroy for the weekend.

For the first time this season we actually made and exceeded our budgeted skier/rider numbers, don’t let us down now, let’s bring it on!! – cheers (the bar is open), jim

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