ltd_chick78

It sucks that bears closing tomarrow but it was a good season. exactly. my only regret for this season is that i lost my job too late into it to get up there everyday during the week. boooo.... it's weird isn't it... during the high-density periods of the season i'd find myself struggling with trying to be patient with all the people who were obviously coming out with the whole fam, out for their one weekend a year, falling all over the place, cutting in line, generally being kind of annoying.... but i guess us passholders NEED them, for the place to stay open as long as possible... sigh. at any rate, i'm heading up now for a hopefully glorious last day... i'm just glad last weekend wasn't it, when i did one run and then just lay in the snow at the top of timberline hoping that would help my fever go down... now i can close out my season at bear the way i want to... not sickly and delirious.

now now. pointless bitching and fighting on the internet are for people who aren't old enough to buy their own beer. me, i'll be up there tomorrow. recovering from the flu, still a snot monster, coughing up a lung, the conditions probably won't be that great, but if i can ride, i'm gonna ride. be realistic. we're in southeastern pa.... how long did you think they'd be able to stay open?

sweet! thanks.

that's SUCH a joke. did they just come up with this "guarantee" this season?

how are conditions looking for tonight? i am hoping to get to bear around 4.... and going solo for the first time this season. if you see a girl in a blue helmet, smack me (not too hard) in the back of the head and say hi. and i'll do my best as a season passholder not to create any trouble, since apparently we're responsible for all the altercations at BC. :S ...and i notice that they still have their "limited parking" warning up on the site. is that leftover from last weekend? or should i steel myself for the possibility that i can't ride again this weekend? i'm planning on bringing a crew up on sunday too.

argh. i didn't even think to say something about a friend or a kid or anything.... i was just so shocked. and i didn't get a clear answer on what exactly the deal was.... the dude who yelled at me said parking was full so i couldn't ride. i pulled over down the road and called the lodge cause i was just so frustrated and they said "the mountain" was full. i wasn't sure who was saying what... if they were limiting ticket sales or if the parking had run out. but it seems like it would be next to impossible to limit the number of people actually ON the mountain.... because how would they keep track of the number of passholders who are there on any given day/hour? whatever. i'm over it now.... had a good night out and looking forward to friday afternoon, which will hopefully not be such a debacle! but i'm still putting BC on my own personal orange alert.

it happened around 1.30.... i know not the optimal time, but i've had a lot of stuff to work around lately... stuff i can't adjust. and i did absolutely nothing to provoke this dude who yelled at me. like i said, if you're standing next to a sign that says 'parking' with an arrow pointing elsewhere, in my mind, that indicates more parking in the direction of said arrow. like someone else mentioned, i thought maybe they were running a shuttle to some space they had elsewhere. like i said, i'm not swearing off bear or anything. but i'm just bumming. and disappointed. i'd LOVE to just head out every weeknight and skip weekends entirely but it's getting harder to do with work and now that i live farther away. so i ride when i can. unless i'm told i can't. which sucks.

i was more than willing to LOOK for parking, or walk from the upper lot, or even park somewhere down the road and walk up to the entrance and over the hill... the guy moved in front of my car as i had my blinker on to make the turn in. short of plowing him down, there wasn't really anything i could do. no cowboy hat. and i don't know what he was, if he was parking lot staff or what he was. there were a few people out there. but at the time that i went, they were not allowing anyone to turn into the lot. despite the fact that people were leaving like crazy.

I knew Pres. Day weekend would be mobbed, but I didn't think I'd actually be TOLD TO LEAVE by park staff, like I was two hours ago. Normally I'd avoid this weekend altogether, but with a crazy work week behind me and ahead of me I didn't get as much riding during the week done as I'd normally like. The weather was decent, I get really itchy if i don't ride at least once a week, so I was willing to deal with long lift lines and all the annoyances that come with big crowd weekends just to get out. So I was more than livid when I drove out there Sunday around 1 and was told that the parking lot was full and to go home. I'm not a person who gets angry easily, and am usually very rational and understanding about weird circumstances. But basically, here's what went down: I drive up the road to the entrance and there's a sign that says LOT FULL TO CAPACITY. there's a few people in BC coats standing in the road around another sign that says "parking" with an arrow pointing across the street, away from BC, which to me seems to indicate there might be another lot I never knew about somewhere else. I start to slow down and a dude in a yellow coat starts shaking his head at me and pointing down the road. I roll down my window and ask if there's backup parking elsewhere, since to me, that's what the sign seemed to indicate. ME: Is there backup parking somewhere else? YELLOW COAT GUY: No. you can't come in. ME: (kind of confused that this is actually happening) so I can't ride today? YCG: (yells at me) NO! THERE'S NOWHERE FOR YOU TO GO! YOU HAVE TO LEAVE, GO HOME!!!! now i'm furious, and floor it out of there. I'm mad cause I was willing to deal with the crowds and didn't even get the chance. I'm mostly angry because this guy was a complete jackass, there was no need for him to yell at me. I'm sure he'd been getting a lot of crap from a lot of people up to that point but why take it out on me for asking a simple question? and I know he doesn't know this, but home is Philly and at this point I've now completely wasted 3 hours of my day, half a tank of gas, and a nice afternoon. What's even more frustrating is that BC is apparently not adequately prepared to deal with the crowds they try so hard to attract. Am I going to get all indignant and huff about how i'm never going back there again? no, mostly because i already have a pass so i'm riding there for the rest of the season at least. and in four years this is the only truly bad experience i've ever had there. But as i'm heading home, i keep passing cars with boards and skis on the top and i'm wondering how many of them are going there for the first, and last, time. And I know that one guy isn't representative of Bear Creek as a whole, but if you're going to send someone out to deal with a lot of people in a situation that's going to make many of them angry, maybe it shouldn't be someone with the shortest fuse in the world who freaks on people for asking simple questions. Bear, I'm really disappointed in you.

a food discount would be great... and maybe even work out better $$-wise for bear... cause as it is now i never buy food there. but i probably would with a discount... so they'd be making something more from me than the nothing i'm spending now.

i gotcha. i was reading it as killing the other trails before they were officially done.

this board exists for everyone to express their opinions, no? that's what i did, i said what i thought. no need to crawl up my ass about it. i know bear's main attraction is the park, but that doesn't mean everyone else should get shut out.

so others shouldnt be able to ride cause you cant? uh, yeah. that's exactly what i said. i'm all for no fun for anyone. sorry if i don't want to spend the last two weeks of the season crammed onto one or two trails with a bunch of twelve year olds whose parents dumped them off sitting on the landings.

mmm.... i'd have to respectfully say, hell no. on behalf of those of us who ride more than the park and don't lose interest after presidents' day weekend.

i was there too! and conditions were way better than i expected for it being so cold.... i thought everything would be ice. but it was a great afternoon. i'm glad to see the family park coming together. my only complaint: -the top of the lift on drifter is still a hot mess. why do everyone's boards/skis get stuck up there? there's always a scary moment when you're off the chair but it's still behind you, pushing you along and your board's not moving.... otherwise, great day! bear creek makes me happy.

nope, i meant phone service. the food is totally decent.

there's a game room in the lodge. and i've found service to be really spotty unless you're at the top. and at the risk of sounding totally whatever, please do stress that should your kids grow tired of the snowboarding, that riding their boards like sleds down the learning hills is totally not an option. i've been teaching my sister the past two weeks and i can't even tell you how many kids do this and how freaking annoying it is.

i haven't been since last sunday, and i'm heading up sat and sun.... how are the trails other than the park? i'm teaching my sister again saturday and she might be ready to get off drifter, but last week bear pass and broadway were pretty assy (i know they had just opened...) but i don't want it to be an exercise in frustration for her... also, the site says that grizzly family park is open, are there any features set up? i went through it last week but nothing was set up yet. i'd like to hit some mini-features before i take a park class... thanks!

i don't believe they've had any yet but i think they start tomorrow. they sound like they're going to be good, i'm most likely going up next tuesday cause last night the pipe wasn't ready yet.

i totally don't want to be debbie downer because i'm so happy bear is open, but i'm a little bummed after my first day out... i was up yesterday evening and didn't get to do much of anything cause i was teaching my sister... but the top of the triple that goes up to drifter was a mess last night... it was pretty much all exposed carpet and everyone's skis and boards were getting stuck to it, and most people were then getting knocked down by the chair... one kid got stuck, freaked out and pulled his skis up, and ended up falling off the chair down the side... where it's all rocky... and when i went to take a last run by myself on kodiak it was a huge sheet of ice... i know you guys have had a lot of challenges this season, and we appreciate your getting up and ready and quickly and as fully as you did... and i know the park is your main draw and i can't wait to hit it later this season, but please don't leave out the rest of us who just like getting out and making turns (and the beginners we're teaching to use the lift for the first time)! (i know the ice thing is just going to happen after a long day and everything, but i feel like it's way worse here than anywhere else i've been)

a snowflex park would be the best. thing. ever. every time i was out at bear late summer/fall (i just had my wedding there) i kept thinking "i want to snowboard NOW".

happy sigh.

glorious. the picnic table is like the only thing i can ride so i'm happy. when are you guys starting the tuesday night park classes? will that start this tuesday? i need someone to push me into trying more stuff.

i can't get there til sunday.... which is painful! i know i've waited this long (been going to blue) but three more days is killing me.

!!!!! it kills me that i can't get up there til sunday. stupid job.