Bear Mountain (ski area)

Bear Mountain, formerly Goldmine Mountain, is a ski area in Southern California, United States. When its neighbor, Snow Summit, bought Bear Mountain in 2002, the new entity, Big Bear Mountain Resorts, comprised the two, with a single lift ticket usable at both. Snow Summit's Richard "Dick" Kun led the move to focus Bear Mountain upon snowboarders, to draw them away from Snow Summit and thereby attune it once more to the culture of the dedicated skier. Bear Mountain acquired the nickname "The Park" because most of it comprises irregular terrain.

Bear Mountains
Bear Mountain Ski Resort, Big Bear Lake, California
Bear Mountains
Location in California
Bear Mountains
Bear Mountains (the United States)
LocationBear Mountain
San Bernardino National Forest
Nearest major cityBig Bear Lake, California
Coordinates34.2267°N 116.8602°W / 34.2267; -116.8602
Vertical1,665 ft (507 m)
Top elevation8,805 ft (2,684 m)
Base elevation7,140 ft (2,180 m)
Skiable area748 acres (303 ha)[1]
Runs62 total
15% beginner
15% low intermediate
40% intermediate
30% advanced[1]
Longest runGeronimo 1.5 mi (2.4 km)
Lift system12 lifts: 3 quad chairlifts, 2 triple chairs, 4 double chairs, 3 surface lifts
Lift capacity16,590 skiers/hr
Snowfall100 in (250 cm)
Snowmaking100%
Night skiingNone
Websitehttp://www.bearmountain.com/

Resort

The mountain contains one of the few Superpipes in Southern California. Given sufficient natural snow, its tree runs are open for skiing and snowboarding, unlike those at Snow Summit. Even that territory normally "out of bounds" off of Chair 8 has opened after heavy snow. Olympic Gold Medalist Shaun White frequented Bear Mountain while he was quite young, although he spent most of his time on the Snow Summit Westridge freestyle run. Bear Mountain popularized freestyle skiing and snowboarding with its establishment of the first freestyle park in the early 1990s. In the early 2000s, Transworld Snowboarding Magazine placed Bear Mountain among its Top 10 Parks. The movement of jibbing continues to grow with the addition of the Red Bull Plaza and weekly film series called "Sunday in the Park."

Bear Mountain comprises three main peaks: Bear Peak, Silver Mountain, and Goldmine Mountain. Bear Peak's 8,805 ft (2,684 m) summit is Southern California's highest peak served by a lift. Bear Mountain relies heavily on artificial snowmaking, as do most Southern California ski resorts.

In 2014, Mammoth Mountain purchased Bear Mountain and Snow Summit for $38 million.[2] In 2017, Mammoth Resorts announced its sale by Starwood to a partnership of Aspen Skiing Company and KSL Capital Partners, later named Alterra Mountain Company.[3]

Bear Mountain trails

Beginner Intermediate Difficult Expert
Learning Curve Accelerator Exhibition Geronimo
Easy Street Ripcord Rip's Run The Wedge (moguls)
Amusement Park Upper Park Run Outlaw
The Gulch Silver Connection Showtime
Lower Park Run Boneyard Gambler
Hidden Valley Expressway Grizzly
Backdoors Central Park
Inspriation Pipeline
Outlaw's Alley
Street Scene
Park Run Face
Pipeline

References

  1. "Mountain Facts". Bear Mountain Official Website. Retrieved on 2012-04-23.
  2. "Mammoth Buys Bear Mountain". On the Snow. Archived from the original on 2015-02-25. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  3. Martin, Hugo. "Mammoth Resorts is being sold to a Colorado ski partnership – LA Times". latimes.com. Retrieved 2017-12-06.
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