Saturday 2/13

[enjoralas]

Had a nice day today at Bear. Been skiing with my dad but he's come down with the ick so he wasn't up to going out this weekend. Decided since I was running solo I would hit up Bear Creek for the first time to scope it out. Slept in while deciding whether or not to go and made it over about 10 am. Snagged a locker and booted up, stuck my hands in my gloves and they were still damp from Monday at Blue. Ewww. 

 

Saw they were having a 25% off everything sale at the shop (40% w/ season pass) so popped in to see if they had something reasonable and picked up a pair and a new balaclava for under $50. Nice.

 

Ended up making 30 runs according to Ski Tracks on my phone, although a few of those were real short green runs off the triple when I was running everything in my ability level just to check it out since it was my first visit. Most of the early runs were Broadway, Kodiak or Timberline, or variations of these like cutting through the short blues off Broadway. I also ran the first blacks I've done today, mostly after lunch. The wife was planning on shopping in the area so she came up with my two boys and we had a $35 cafeteria lunch. Went back out and ran Kodiak a few times and finished up lapping Grizzly.

 

Conditions were mostly hard pack, never softened up with the cold temps. There were some cookies on almost every run with some worse than others. Timberline had significant cookies, Easy Street was really bad so most of my Grizzly runs I either bailed early to Broadway or ran out Coaster to Sun Bear to get back to the lift. Best conditions I found were on Grizzly which had a few scraped off spots but for the most part was either packed powder or even some soft powder, I think it was getting refreshed from blown snow out of the trees. Extreme was closed, according to a patroller I rode up the lift with they didn't get a good groom on it after blowing last night. Could see from the lift that there were more cookies than a Nabisco factory.

 

Overall had a real nice day, my longest day of the season with over 6 hours on the skis, and farthest skied as well. Just over 15.5 miles skied and just over 11k vert. Lotta laps. Was glad to challenge myself on some steeper terrain than I had been used to. Went back and forth with myself about whether to give Sasquatch a go, but ended up deciding to save that for next time.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Nice report...I was up to 11k of vert this morning at blue by 930

 

Also nice reading a report from a new skier.

[enjoralas]

Yeah, I thought hard about running up to Blue instead, since I live halfway between the two mountains. But my pops and I each have two days left on a triple ticket we bought so I figured we wouldn't be even up anymore if I burned one today. Since we only ski once a week, those two days, the one day I have from that Sweet Deal and two days on a Camelback triple ticket which should get us just about to the end of the season. We're going to be looking to purchase Blue passes for next year once they put them on sale, particularly if they throw in the rest of this year like usual.

 

My previous high for vert was back on 1/16 at Blue with about 10.5k

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I'm guessing crowds weren't bad at bear creek. Really sucks for ski areas this year. No xmas week due to warmth..a rainy Sunday..blizzard on a weekend keeping people from the hill and now less crowds due to cold. I would not be surprised if local resorts end down 30-40% this season.

[enjoralas]

No, no crowds at all. Never waited more than 3-4 chairs at the most, and most were going up decidedly less than full. Of my 30 trips up the lifts, probably 18-20 were solo and more would have been if I hadn't invited myself along with a few other singles

[Justo8484]

30 laps at bear! That's dedication! I don't blame you for staying away from Sasquatch, that trail is goofy. I don't think I've ever skied anything anywhere else with such a weird fall line. It's short, but if the snow on it isn't good, it really kinda sucks.

[Kyle]

30 laps at bear! That's dedication! I don't blame you for staying away from Sasquatch, that trail is goofy. I don't think I've ever skied anything anywhere else with such a weird fall line. It's short, but if the snow on it isn't good, it really kinda sucks.

It's ice 99% of the year. All the beginners who funnel off of f chair and want to get back to the base slide down it sideways plowing all of the snow to the skiiers bottom right.

[momskeeztoo]

30 laps at bear! That's dedication! I don't blame you for staying away from Sasquatch, that trail is goofy. I don't think I've ever skied anything anywhere else with such a weird fall line. It's short, but if the snow on it isn't good, it really kinda sucks.

I thought it was just me who felt that way about Sasquatch. I just find that trail really difficult a lot of times. Although it was really nice yesterday. And days when it's nice it's such a pain to lap, unless you hike. 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I thought it was just me who felt that way about Sasquatch. I just find that trail really difficult a lot of times. Although it was really nice yesterday. And days when it's nice it's such a pain to lap, unless you hike.

 

How do you like BC compared to Blue? I still haven't been there but might go sometime to try their cheese fries.

[momskeeztoo]

As far as terrain, definitely Blue. Bear is a little closer to me, and was definitely worth getting cheap passes for working there 8 hours week when my kids were young. Might drop the job next year. As far as food, Trails End pizza really good. Don't know about cheese fries. Haven't bought any food at Blue since they dropped BLT.

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

As far as terrain, definitely Blue. Bear is a little closer to me, and was definitely worth getting cheap passes for working there 8 hours week when my kids were young. Might drop the job next year. As far as food, Trails End pizza really good. Don't know about cheese fries. Haven't bought any food at Blue since they dropped BLT.

I used to call it a Ski-lt. I buy food at blue about once a season. The smells coming from the waffle stand were tempting the other day.

[enjoralas]

30 laps at bear! That's dedication! I don't blame you for staying away from Sasquatch, that trail is goofy. I don't think I've ever skied anything anywhere else with such a weird fall line. It's short, but if the snow on it isn't good, it really kinda sucks.

Yeah, I was really feeling froggy to give it a go after getting my feet wet on Grizzly, but without knowing how much of it was ice, just decided it was best to take my day for the success it was instead of pushing too far.

 

Looks like we'll be hitting up Camelback this Sunday and Blue next Friday as our next two trips, and I'm looking forward to trying some new terrain.

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Yeah, I was really feeling froggy to give it a go after getting my feet wet on Grizzly, but without knowing how much of it was ice, just decided it was best to take my day for the success it was instead of pushing too far.

Looks like we'll be hitting up Camelback this Sunday and Blue next Friday as our next two trips, and I'm looking forward to trying some new terrain.

Enjorales when did you start skiing??

[enjoralas]

Enjorales when did you start skiing??

2014, although I only took a first timer lesson at Blue that year. Last year I did the same and then went out about 4 more times. Then this year have been out 5 times. So I've only got 11 days on skis. I told you, wicked new!

[toast21602]

2014, although I only took a first timer lesson at Blue that year. Last year I did the same and then went out about 4 more times. Then this year have been out 5 times. So I've only got 11 days on skis. I told you, wicked new!

Awesome. Keep it up.

[thedude4bides]

I have never seen golf balls at BC like Saturday. It was very blue-like tbh. They even closed extreme due to the horrific death cookies. Sunday was much better and even felt warmer.

And, yeah, dude, always dry your gear after a sesh. Even if you're not skiing in the next few days, it'll reek if you don't.

30 laps at bear! That's dedication! I don't blame you for staying away from Sasquatch, that trail is goofy. I don't think I've ever skied anything anywhere else with such a weird fall line. It's short, but if the snow on it isn't good, it really kinda sucks.

Cant recall what trails but I fee like Hunter is like this in a lot of places.

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Crazy cause Saturday at blue was a top 5 day in terms of conditions.

[Kyle]

Crazy cause Saturday at blue was a top 5 day in terms of conditions.

For some reason bear blows incredibly wet snow and they most likely blew Friday night. I only ever saw the "golf" balls the morning after blowing in sub 20 degree weather. It might not be the exact cause but it definatley contributes.