BC-Mark

This rain is a killer! We had plenty of snow stockpiled to open 100% of our trails on Friday assuming the rain did a normal amount of damage. This rain is exceptionally warm and we have had nearly 1" as of 1:30PM. We still have big piles out there but they are going faster than we could have imagined. Right now, Thursday night snowmaking seems out of the question with rain in the forecast from 10am Thursday to 3am Friday. We are hoping the Friday/Saturday forecast does not change and plan on making snow for as much of that time period as possible. We also anticipate reopening Friday morning but please check back for updates. In the meantime, I will try to keep myself from jumping off a lift tower!

Due to the forecast, we will be closed for skiing and riding on Wednesday. We anticipate reopening on Thursday morning. Please check back for updates.

I want to thank everyone that came out to opening day. It is always great to see old friends and new faces enjoying Bear Creek. I also would like to say a huge thank you to the entire team at Bear Creek that made this the smoothest opening day we have had in 9 years. If yesterday was an indication, we should have a great year all around so block out some time in your schedule to spend plenty of time on the snow this season!

As anticipated, we had a great night of snowmaking last night and should get great production through the day today and most of the night tonight. It looks like we will have an early shutdown due to a warm front moving in with some freezing drizzle around 3am on Tuesday. It looks like we will have to weather some rain on Wednesday but Thursday through Sunday morning looks like non-stop snowmaking. If that holds true, we should be able open up most, if not all, of the mountain by next weekend! Brad and his team along with Dustin have done an awesome job getting the slope covered.

We will be opening with Kodiak, Black Bear and Cascade. Coverage is going to be good in most places but there are still some thin spots out there. We were a bit disappointed with snowmaking last night and ended up shutting down around 10:30pm due to spiking humidity. We were making a mess and decided it was better to stop and work on getting things ready for opening. We anticipate starting up the guns again around 4pm or 5pm today, running straight through tomorrow and tomorrow night. Tuesday and Wednesday nights look like they are going to be too warm but back to the cold temps for Thursday through Saturday. Just talked to Andy to get the setup for today and here it is: Cascade: 30' Box Flat-Down-Flat Candy Cane Up rail Small Staircase Rainbow box Corrugated Pipe Super Man C-Box Black Bear: Small Table Top A-Frame Bleacher Box

Just talked to Andy to get the setup for today and here it is: Cascade: 30' Box Flat-Down-Flat Candy Cane Up rail Small Staircase Rainbow box Corrugated Pipe Super Man C-Box 2 Large Jumps in the tubing section Black Bear: Small Table Top A-Frame Bleacher Box

Just talked to Andy to get the setup for today and here it is: Cascade: 30' Box Flat-Down-Flat Candy Cane Up rail Small Staircase Rainbow box Corrugated Pipe Super Man C-Box Black Bear: Small Table Top A-Frame Bleacher Box

Nick is exactly right. We wanted a few extra hours to pound the slopes before we had to pull the wheel guns and we will need some time to push everything out and get the park set-up. As for opening the other trails, Brad is fairly optimistic about having some trails off of E and F lifts by next weekend. Through the night we were running 2 to 3 rings on most of the guns. Tonight should be 1 to 2 rings and tomorrow night we should be 3 to 4 on most guns if the forecast is correct. Thanks for the compliments everyone. The people who deserve them the most are out there making the snow, getting the trails groomed and ready, building the parks, taking care of the lifts and getting the lodge and clean and the computer systems ready for everyone. It looked like a lot of people out there today because there were. It was our biggest Instructor Training Clinic ever. We had 130 people in the program competing to get a slot on the Snow Sports School team. We do our hiring out of the clinic so only the trainers are in Bear Creek uniforms. See everyone tomorrow!

We had great production night last night and will be making snow straight through until Tuesday morning! Opening should be nice tomorrow with Kodiak and Cascade as definites. There will be some features on Cascade and the jump line will stay. Black Bear, if it is open, will likely be groomed flat until we get a bit more snow on it. I know everyone is eager to get on the lift, but remember we are opening at 10am tomorrow instead of the normal weekend opening of 8:30am so you have a bit more time to sleep in while we get ready. Tickets will be $25, off-peak, 6-Session and unlimited passes will be valid all day. Private lessons will be available for intermediate or above skiers and riders. Rentals are available at regular rates.

Brad and his team were able to make snow starting early this morning and we are going to continue through the day today and tonight. If temperatures permit, we will likely make snow tomorrow day and night, Sunday day and night and Monday day and night. We will begin making snow on the entire mountain beginning this evening around 6pm! We anticipate having a chairlift operating tomorrow from 9AM to 3:30PM for participants in the Instructor Training Clinic only. The lift will not be available for other guests or team members. We are planning on a 10am opening for the general public on Sunday and will operate until 10pm. We will open with Cascade, Kodiak and possibly Black Bear. We will be selling extended day lift tickets for $25. We will offer private lessons for guests who are intermediate level or above. We will not be offering beginner lessons until we open Cub Run or Drifter. We anticipate having those trails as well as other terrain off of E and F Chairs open by mid to late week. Rentals will be available on Sunday at regular rates. Saturday we will still be offering the hike park and jump line from 10am to 3pm and ticket cost will be $10.

Last night was marginal up until 3:30AM when we saw a nice drop in temperature and wetbulb. We stepped up production from then until 8AM when the temperatures and wetbulb began to spike and we had to shut down. Tonight looks like it is out of the question but tomorrow night through Monday night look very good and we hope to be able to run around the clock at least one day during the period. If everything pans out, it looks like there is a chance for a Saturday or Sunday lift opening. Either day will be the earliest opening date since the opening of the area back in 1967/68! Expect to see snowmaking on the entire mountain beginning on Thursday night and continuing as long as weather permits.

I would expect 2 to 3 good nights to open the trails that already have snow and 5 nights for the trails that do not have snow. Let's hope the forecast holds!

Last night and the night before were obviously not great. The image below is from last night for reference. The good news is we hope to make snow tonight and Thursday through Monday nights with the possibility of several 24 hour snowmaking periods! Tonight we will likely focus only on the trails with snow on them already due to the marginal temperatures. Beginning Thursday night, as long as the forecast holds, you will see us go all out on all trails.

Another night right on the edge of being cold enough. The long range looks like is swings a bit in our favor toward the end of the week. Let's hope they are right this time!

It is Sunday morning and the snow has already switched to rain here. Looking at the forecast, we are expecting a brief break from 8am until 10am or 11am followed by heavy rain. The snow has a nice glaze on it now so we have decided to keep the groomer off the snow to try and preserve what we have. Unfortunately, that means we will not be opening the parks today. We do plan on reopening from 3pm to 8pm.

We didn't get the break we hoped for last night as you can see by the weather station data. Tonight looks like another marginal night while tomorrow and Monday nights look out of the question. Right now Tuesday night looks like our best shot at snowmaking in the next 5 nights. The hike park and tubing jump line are still holding up well, so until we get another night of snowmaking, come enjoy the snow we do have!

We were right on the edge of snowmaking temperatures last night. Our lowest wetbulb was 29F, just a 1 degree drop would have put us in business. I am including an image of the log from weather station 5. It looks like tonight we will see a similar pattern but we are hoping for a bit of a break. Tomorrow night may provide the one real opportunity for snowmaking out of the next 4 nights. As I mentioned on the park update thread, we are only one good night away from opening a few trails from the top. Let's hope we can get a night with 20F to 24F wetbulb so we can get a lift open and start skiing and riding from the top!

It looks like Cascade has enough snow to support features, Black Bear will depend on how much snow we can get down.

That is correct, with one good night we should have enough to open Cascade and Kodiak and hopefully Black Bear.

Yes, we will open as soon as we get a good night of snowmaking in. To clarify the meaning of "good nights of snowmaking," I am referring to a night we get at least 8 hours of snowmaking with temps under 25F. If we get 2 or 3 more marginal nights, that will likely give us enough production to open some trails as well.

It was another disappointing night for snowmaking last night. With forecast lows between 25 and 27 and actual lows of 32 with 88% humidity we were unable to make snow. We are currently one good night of snowmaking away from opening three trails from the top of the mountain. Looking at the forecast, there is a possibility of snowmaking on Friday and Saturday nights. When we fire up again we will begin making snow on the entire mountain. To answer Rowsdower's question, we have made snow on quite a few Thanksgiving's, unfortunately, tonight's predicted lows are now up to 31F. The guys will all be checking in around 7pm to make sure nothing has changed, but it looks like they may get the night off. Until snowmaking temperatures arrive, we will continue to operate with the hike park and tubing park jump line. The hours will be: Friday

We did move the Family Park to Teddy Bear. It is under the Triple Chair and it can be accessed from the Triple Chair by coming off Drifter. We decided to move it to cut down on high speed traffic coming off of Extreme and Grizzly and create a safer, more sheltered learning environment. It will have 3 or 4 features geared toward learning specific park skills. We will also be offering an introductory lesson for the Family Park on Saturdays from 1pm to 2:30pm. You can sign up at the Snowsports School Desk and the cost is $30 per person.

11/23/08 Update: Thanks to everyone who came out today. It looks like we will be able to open the tubing park jump line tomorrow in addition to the hike park. We will also be running the magic carpet in the tubing park to access that terrain. We are going to try and make snow tonight and still have some hope of offering trails from the top of the mountain by midweek. The hours Monday to Wednesday will be 3pm to 8pm. Pass holders can access the parks at no charge. The cost for non-pass holders will be $10.

Yes, both parks will be open until we open more trails or as long as the snow holds out.

11-23-08 Update: The hike park opens from 10am to 3pm today. There are 4 features set up in the base area. Admission is $5 for non-pass holders and free for all season pass holders. Snowmaking went well last night and we got good production for the second night in a row. We still don't have enough snow to connect the dots from top to bottom but we will be opening the tube park line tomorrow and will have the tubing magic carpet running for access. We will also keep the hike park open in the base area. Hours and pricing will be announced later today. Tonight looks like the last night of snowmaking for a few days. We hope that we are able to put enough snow down to open at least one trail from the top but there are still a few sizable gaps in coverage. For those asking why the guns shut down early, with 45F to 46F water, almost as soon as the sun comes up, the majority of the water droplets blown by the guns stop freezing and we do more harm than good. If the temperature of the air was 5F to 8F colder or the water was in the mid 30'sF we would be running all day long on days like yesterday.