Bear Valley Telemark Festival - Feb 6-8, 2009
- Thread starter MAS
- Start date
tseeb
Well-known member
Admin may want this in a new post. I'm putting it here to bump the Telemark festival.
Some friends went to Bear on 1/28 and 1/30. It was the last mid-week that tickets from San Jose ski show were valid. They were also valid the first whole week in January and when skiing was marginal before Christmas. Bear is located about 15 miles south of Kirkwood, as the crow flies, and is only claiming a 30-40" base with total snowfall this season so far of 160". They have a good snowfall history on their website. http://www.bearvalley.com/mountain/cond ... istory.asp
Bear is a few miles closer to San Jose than Kirkwood, but includes almost as much two lane road so it still takes 3 to 3 1/2 hours to get there. The main lodge is located at 7,750 feet, the top is 8,500 and the steepest runs drop to 6,600 into a deep river canyon.
My friends on Wed. said conditions on the front side, Kuma and shorter, but steeper, Koala chair both were groomed to perfection with very little traffic including some runs marked as black like Monte Wolf and Feathe Duster. The backside, where Bear's only high-speed lift is located, was also groomed so it was very easy, except for Tiggers, which was ungroomed and a little more challenging. The runs below the lodge had many warning signs due to icy and low snow conditions, but my friends were able to find their way down narrow tracks with good snow on the Snow Valley side to the Goat Trails. They took the Grizzly side once and found crusty powder at the top, good wind pack in the middle and narrow tracks towards the bottom. My friends on Friday reported similar condtions but made the mistake of trying the West Ridge, which is very challenging and hard to find your way down from the top.
Some friends went to Bear on 1/28 and 1/30. It was the last mid-week that tickets from San Jose ski show were valid. They were also valid the first whole week in January and when skiing was marginal before Christmas. Bear is located about 15 miles south of Kirkwood, as the crow flies, and is only claiming a 30-40" base with total snowfall this season so far of 160". They have a good snowfall history on their website. http://www.bearvalley.com/mountain/cond ... istory.asp
Bear is a few miles closer to San Jose than Kirkwood, but includes almost as much two lane road so it still takes 3 to 3 1/2 hours to get there. The main lodge is located at 7,750 feet, the top is 8,500 and the steepest runs drop to 6,600 into a deep river canyon.
My friends on Wed. said conditions on the front side, Kuma and shorter, but steeper, Koala chair both were groomed to perfection with very little traffic including some runs marked as black like Monte Wolf and Feathe Duster. The backside, where Bear's only high-speed lift is located, was also groomed so it was very easy, except for Tiggers, which was ungroomed and a little more challenging. The runs below the lodge had many warning signs due to icy and low snow conditions, but my friends were able to find their way down narrow tracks with good snow on the Snow Valley side to the Goat Trails. They took the Grizzly side once and found crusty powder at the top, good wind pack in the middle and narrow tracks towards the bottom. My friends on Friday reported similar condtions but made the mistake of trying the West Ridge, which is very challenging and hard to find your way down from the top.
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No Sh!t. I'm somewhat embarrassed I've missed something that comprehensive all these years, easpecially in California. That will be added to my data before too long.