SoCal Rider
New member
The San Gabriels get plenty of love here, so it's time to represent the San Berdoos.
Not long ago, I consulted with Mr. Crocker about where to go for a little "day-after-primo-day" action following the Presidents Day storm that left 2' or so on SoCal mountains. He said, "Duh, Baldy," so I dutifully obeyed, and it was probably the correct choice. The shortest route to Big Bear was closed and the alternate route - the 38 - was allegedly on chain control beginning 40 miles outside of Big Bear. Yikes, plus other reasons having to do with terrain and grooming (or lack of it). So I suffered a bluebird/Ch. 4 pow-corn day at Baldy - boohoo - but this strange, sudden hankering for Bear Mountain persisted. Now, I hadn't been to Bear since a tossed-off late spring day five years ago. This is the place that markets itself as an all-mountain park, and I'm instinctively opposed to metal on snow. I fear the consequences of riding over a 8' wide flat box moreso than dropping in on, say, Bentley's or Olympic Bowl in anything resembling solid* (as in, not too solid) conditions.
*http://www.thefreedictionary.com/solid, particulary definition 6 and maybe 14, although it doesn't have to be that good.
I guess the curiosity formed with Tony's early-season TR on Snow Summit and Bear Mountain in which he talked about the three canyons in-bounds at Bear. These are natural-only, unimproved areas that aren't open too often - consider Bear's reported 100" season average. But they're pretty safe right now, so it was off to Bear on Sunday to ride new terrain. First off, it was a weird weather day. Grey and ominous as can be, with precipitation threatening, but of the non-snow variety. No threat of switchover here; the snow level was something like 10,000 feet. It did in fact drizzle much of the day, but it never really poured. Add to that, I don't believe it even froze overnight. When I checked the snow report at 5 a.m., it said 46 at the base. I questioned it at the time, but the snow was already soft at 8:30, and it hadn't started spittin then. What was already snow on the slow side would only get slower.
Here's where I skip all the educated-skier talk about pitches and comparisons to whatever else. So on to the pics (if you click on them, you eventually arrive at the full-sizers at my Webshots page):
There's all that grey, as seen from top of Chair 9 (aka Park Rat Territory). I did some warm-up runs over there with the bros.
If it's too small, the sign says San Gorgonio Wilderness. This is at the top of Silver Mountain, 8560 ele. I'm a sucker for scenics, I guess.
You can see Big Bear Lake on the left. This was taken on one of Bear's fine long single-black cruisers, Exhibition. It does seem to me that Bear has sister resort Summit beat for extended "steeps." Yeah, it's not that flat all the way down. (Please note the parentheses and resist comparisons to Jackson Hole or Squaw.)
This is near the bottom of Deer Canyon. Tony is right. I didn't have much luck finding extended fall lines. I took the obvious routes and the made the best of it. I actually quite liked the gully, as it wasn't just some flat runout. There were dips and turns and walls, with quick decisions to be made to avoid obstacles. Now there were some flat spots, and combine that with snow that wasn't exactly the fastest. Flat spots notwithstanding, I could see how a snowboarder would have better luck (and fun) in there. It could get pretty tight and curvy.
Deer Canyon gully action photo - kinda!
This is the top of Bow Canyon, just off the Geronimo run on the far east side of Bear (Bear Peak, 8800 feet). This had a kinda Baldy feel to it, the first part at least.
This is looking back at the top part of Bow Canyon. That's about as wide open as it gets, at least what I saw.
Self-portrait. That was before the second and final descent into Deer Canyon from the top of Bear Peak (opposite side of Geronimo from Bow Cyn) and my battery died. I had big photographic plans for that one. I'd like to go back, snow depth permitting, and explore the canyons some more.
Here are a couple digital-camera vids. Nothing special. I shot them my first time in one of the canyons. You can get a good idea of just how slow the snow could be. The trick was to not stop.
Edit: OK, I haven't figured the video posting thing yet.
Bear Mtn has a kinda funky layout. Looking at this, I dropped into Deer Canyon pretty quickly from Geronimo.
Not long ago, I consulted with Mr. Crocker about where to go for a little "day-after-primo-day" action following the Presidents Day storm that left 2' or so on SoCal mountains. He said, "Duh, Baldy," so I dutifully obeyed, and it was probably the correct choice. The shortest route to Big Bear was closed and the alternate route - the 38 - was allegedly on chain control beginning 40 miles outside of Big Bear. Yikes, plus other reasons having to do with terrain and grooming (or lack of it). So I suffered a bluebird/Ch. 4 pow-corn day at Baldy - boohoo - but this strange, sudden hankering for Bear Mountain persisted. Now, I hadn't been to Bear since a tossed-off late spring day five years ago. This is the place that markets itself as an all-mountain park, and I'm instinctively opposed to metal on snow. I fear the consequences of riding over a 8' wide flat box moreso than dropping in on, say, Bentley's or Olympic Bowl in anything resembling solid* (as in, not too solid) conditions.
*http://www.thefreedictionary.com/solid, particulary definition 6 and maybe 14, although it doesn't have to be that good.
I guess the curiosity formed with Tony's early-season TR on Snow Summit and Bear Mountain in which he talked about the three canyons in-bounds at Bear. These are natural-only, unimproved areas that aren't open too often - consider Bear's reported 100" season average. But they're pretty safe right now, so it was off to Bear on Sunday to ride new terrain. First off, it was a weird weather day. Grey and ominous as can be, with precipitation threatening, but of the non-snow variety. No threat of switchover here; the snow level was something like 10,000 feet. It did in fact drizzle much of the day, but it never really poured. Add to that, I don't believe it even froze overnight. When I checked the snow report at 5 a.m., it said 46 at the base. I questioned it at the time, but the snow was already soft at 8:30, and it hadn't started spittin then. What was already snow on the slow side would only get slower.
Here's where I skip all the educated-skier talk about pitches and comparisons to whatever else. So on to the pics (if you click on them, you eventually arrive at the full-sizers at my Webshots page):
There's all that grey, as seen from top of Chair 9 (aka Park Rat Territory). I did some warm-up runs over there with the bros.
If it's too small, the sign says San Gorgonio Wilderness. This is at the top of Silver Mountain, 8560 ele. I'm a sucker for scenics, I guess.
You can see Big Bear Lake on the left. This was taken on one of Bear's fine long single-black cruisers, Exhibition. It does seem to me that Bear has sister resort Summit beat for extended "steeps." Yeah, it's not that flat all the way down. (Please note the parentheses and resist comparisons to Jackson Hole or Squaw.)
This is near the bottom of Deer Canyon. Tony is right. I didn't have much luck finding extended fall lines. I took the obvious routes and the made the best of it. I actually quite liked the gully, as it wasn't just some flat runout. There were dips and turns and walls, with quick decisions to be made to avoid obstacles. Now there were some flat spots, and combine that with snow that wasn't exactly the fastest. Flat spots notwithstanding, I could see how a snowboarder would have better luck (and fun) in there. It could get pretty tight and curvy.
Deer Canyon gully action photo - kinda!
This is the top of Bow Canyon, just off the Geronimo run on the far east side of Bear (Bear Peak, 8800 feet). This had a kinda Baldy feel to it, the first part at least.
This is looking back at the top part of Bow Canyon. That's about as wide open as it gets, at least what I saw.
Self-portrait. That was before the second and final descent into Deer Canyon from the top of Bear Peak (opposite side of Geronimo from Bow Cyn) and my battery died. I had big photographic plans for that one. I'd like to go back, snow depth permitting, and explore the canyons some more.
Here are a couple digital-camera vids. Nothing special. I shot them my first time in one of the canyons. You can get a good idea of just how slow the snow could be. The trick was to not stop.
Edit: OK, I haven't figured the video posting thing yet.
Bear Mtn has a kinda funky layout. Looking at this, I dropped into Deer Canyon pretty quickly from Geronimo.
