I know that statement has probably been called from the mountaintops just a while back in January, but if you weren’t there last Sunday or Monday you can’t call it!  HA! 

Hands down, best snow of the season combined with perfect open back country lines, and I tell you it was a “challenge” to select just one out of each run!  So many lines, so little daylight!  And all this was quite unexpected from what seemed to be a silly 3-5 incher storm that began moving thru the valley early Sunday morning.  I drove to Bear with high hopes of slashing just a few inches of pow, but three runs later……#@&*! it……Done.

Heavy winds tossed the chairs and going down you could barely get your stoke on long enough to forget that cold-arse chair ride that would take you up to do it all over again. 

So, moving on to Super Bowl time, the weather finally came in with some colder temps and bigger flakes but still the outlook was far from promising. So, after missing the second part of the 4th quarter (yeah yeah best game in years……DVR’s aren’t always as accurate—thanks Charter!) I finished up the day and was in bed by 9 p.m. with visions of the kind pow-pow dancing in my head.

Holy snow berm batman!!  What a sight on Monday!  That storm finally hit hard overnight and dropped almost a foot of the best snow I’ve seen up here in years.  Ask your skiing or snowboarder buds and they can back me up. 

After a hectic drive to the slopes (4 wheel drive be out) I dove in headfirst and didn’t surface until my legs started to weaken.  This powder was epic…..not to dry not to heavy….perfect!!  Wow!  Seriously, this stuff was bomb.  (translation: super keen)  And no crowds to boot!  I actually kept snowing off and on the whole day which only added to the great stuff out there.  The whole run from the top of Chair 8 was not groomed, but the best riding was the canyons and open fields just to the skiers right of the second pitch.  Amazing!

So, as we approach the middle of February, who know what’s in store.  I’m not into guessing the future, but I think we are going to be riding late into April with some of the best conditions seen in years.  Ditch that gas bill and come up to Big Bear!  Yeah I know Mammoth is great too, but it’s not every year Big Bear has this kind of splendid season, so support your backyard ski resorts this year before the cycle begins again!

Thankful for a good massage therapist:

Landcrab