Snow arrived late in Big Bear this year, but long-term forecasts predict big changes.
Bear Mountain Resort in Big Bear is adding a new chairlift for the first time in 30 years. This is a six-person high-speed lift that will carry its first customers on Thursday.
The new Midway lift (also known as Chair 5) can carry up to six skiers at a time. Its features include a short conveyor belt that transports skiers and boarders to the spot where the lift picks them up, traveling approximately 2,500 feet.
“This is the bright, shiny new toy of the season,” Mark Barnett, the resort’s vice president of facilities, said during a recent test run.
Bear Mountain opened Chairlifts 7 and 9 for the season on Dec. 13, but management waited until later in the month to open the Midway lift in hopes of more snow, which has yet to arrive. . Skiers can get the latest information on Big Bear weather, trails and lifts here.
Meanwhile, Alterra Mountain Company, which operates Bear Mountain, Snow Summit, Snow Valley, and some of the West’s largest winter resorts, connects Bear Mountain and Snow Summit with two lifts and other amenities. This will allow skiers and boarders to travel between resorts without having to drive or take a shuttle bus.
Under the plan, which is still being reviewed by the U.S. Forest Service, the resort would build a pair of “Big Bear Connect” lifts. To make the plan a reality, the two ski areas (together known as Big Bear Mountain Resort) would need to add about 300 acres to the roughly 1,500 acres they currently use with Forest Service permits.
The Forest Service, which owns the land, began gathering public input on the proposed expansion in 2023.
“We are in the analysis phase,” said Janelle Walker, U.S. Forest Service mountain resort program manager, acknowledging that the project is still moving forward. She said, “There will be additional analysis required and we plan to make the draft environmental assessment available to the public in spring 2025.” Resort officials noted that even after approval, the project could take several years to complete.
In the meantime, skiers and boarders can try out Bear Mountain’s new lifts.
New elevator mechanism
Bear Mountain officials said they spent about $10.2 million on the new Midway lift, which will replace the now-defunct Chairlifts 1, 2 and 5 in the resort’s central base area.
The lift, designed by lift specialist company Leitner-Poma, is expected to carry passengers up 7,494 feet of climb in just two and a half minutes. Resort officials say the elevator can carry up to 3,200 people per hour.
“All we need right now is snow,” Barnett said.
Construction, which began in May, included helicopters transporting the 12 towers to their new location on the slope while other workers worked to hold the elevator’s many moving and fixed parts at the base of the mountain. dug a vast hole.
Known for its terrain park and halfpipe, Bear Mountain has operated under various names in the San Bernardino National Forest since the 1940s. For years, the resort has relied heavily on artificial snowfall, attracting many beginner and intermediate skiers and snowboarders.
Burnett estimates that over the past eight years, management has invested $30 million in improvements to Bear Mountain, as well as Snow Summit and Snow Valley.
How can Bear Mountain and Snow Summit work together?
Like many ski resorts, Big Bear’s ski resort includes large tracts of U.S. Forest Service land, where the resort company operates under a long-term special use permit, makes improvements and receives a portion of the revenue. It is shared with the Forest Department.
Bear Mountain’s permit area is 818 acres, with 198 skiable acres served by seven chairlifts.
Snow Summit has a 656-acre permit and operates 10 chairlifts on 240 skiable acres.
The permit is valid until 2057, and linking them would require an additional 300 acres of Forest Service land between the two, resort officials said. Within that area, the “sign of disturbance” would be relatively small, less than 100 acres, Walker said.
Currently, the main ways to travel between resorts are by car or by taking the free inter-mountain shuttle bus, which departs every 30 minutes and takes 10 minutes between resorts.
Bear Mountain and Snow Summit have been jointly owned since 2002, but talk of a partnership began after they were acquired by Mammoth Mountain in 2014 and then absorbed (along with Mammoth) by the Denver-based company in 2017. It didn’t get exciting until then. It is now known as Alterra Mountain Company.
Alterra, one of the ski industry’s biggest players, operates 19 resorts in the western United States and Canada, which it sells in bulk with its popular Ikon season pass.
The company’s proposed Bear Mountain-Snow Summit link is part of broader upgrades outlined in the Big Bear Mountain Resort Master Development Plan that resort officials submitted to the Forest Service in 2020.
In addition to adding square footage and two elevators (average length 4,250 feet), the plan includes building a Goldmine Mountain Lodge (including a restaurant) on Bear Mountain. Create 60 acres of trails in and near the expansion area. cut down trees. A skier’s bridge will be built to allow skiers and boarders to cross the existing 2N10 trail between Snow Summit and Bear Mountain.
Other elements of the proposal: Adding a zipline system. 12 new mountain bike trails. “Mountain coaster” attractions that are located on land that already has a permit or is owned by Alterra. Approximately 1,400 parking spaces will be added. Resort officials said costs for these projects have not yet been determined and are pending review and approval.
Justin Canton, director of advertising and promotions at Big Bear Mountain Resort, describes the connection between the resorts in the simplest terms: “We’re talking about a narrow canyon with two lifts in and out.” said.
“And we already have roads in and out,” Barnett added.
The month after Alterra’s proposed August 2023 plan was announced, more than 40 local residents sent a letter to the Forest Service expressing a mix of alarm and support.
Mitchell Civetta warned that “local infrastructure cannot cope with the current influx of winter tourists.” Even as highways 330 and 38 are being repaired well, “congestion on these roads by inexperienced winter drivers poses challenges for local residents and frustration for all motorists,” Civetta said. wrote.
Conversely, Justin Colas says, “I can’t wait to upgrade to the resort and experience the mountains. Being able to go from Bear Mountain to Snow Summit and vice versa without having to wait in line for a shuttle makes a lot of sense. That’s true.”
