Big Bear Blog

Growing up on the East coast, spring was not my favorite time of year. I associated it with half melted mounds of snow frozen and covered in dirt, muddy walkways and temperatures that were mostly too cold to break out anything cooler than a long-sleeve T-shirt. Even now, most mountain towns refer to spring as their Mud Season. In those towns, there seems to be a holding pattern - between the activities of winter and the actions of summer. But not in Big Bear, spring is spectacular.

The lines of winter blend with summer and a crazy, unpredictable spring emerges. Big Bear seems to be graced with the exceptional ability to escape from winter every time and spot a perfect landing for stellar days of sun. It keeps us on our toes: Not because we are wading through mud and waiting for the sun to dry us out, but because we are preparing for the unexpected and executing our plan.

In the last eight days, I carried out my plan by napping in a hammock strung in the shade of my front yard, climbing and skiing Anderson Peak in the San Gorgonio range as a spring storm rolled up the San Ana River Canyon, taking it inside on a snowy morning for a spin class at Mountain Fitness, riding some of the best resort pow of the year, catching a sunburn during a long run along the north shore, reading Tolstoy on my deck by headlamp, hiking to the top of Gray’s Peak, watching fly fishermen expertly cast in Baker Pond and cruising a favorite trail with my best mountain biking girls. 

As we prepare for another week of the unpredictable, I’m eyeing my kayak and digging out my paddle. If this is our mud season, I’ll take it each and every time!

Earning my turns,
Glade Girl

Since 1970 we’ve celebrated Earth Day on April 22nd. That was the day Americans decided to stop the un-checked pollution of our planet! Before 1970 there were no laws to stop factory’s from spewing black smoke into the air or dumping toxic chemicals into our oceans and waterways. Earth Day was established by Senator Gaylord Nelson as away to “force this issue onto the national agenda” 20 million Americans responded in protest and their voices were heard!

In December of the same year Richard Nixon and Congress created the United States Environmental Protection Agency to begin the task of repairing the damage already done and establish guidelines to protect human health and the environment. I’m challenging you to use Earth Day as a reminder that this is “OUR yard” and we should be keeping all of Big Bear Lake clean and beautiful 365 days a year.

Big Bear Disposal is doing their part by adding six clean, quiet, eco-friendly trucks to their fleet as they work towards becoming a zero waste community. Soon they will be breaking ground for a new recycling facility on the north shore of the lake, reinforcing their commitment to help us keep Big Bear “green.” Please come up and enjoy our playground, all we ask is that you treat Big Bear like it’s your  backyard, because for us, every day is Earth Day.

spreading the love, rev

After months of above average snow fall, Big Bear Lake is almost “full”, spring has arrived, and it’s time to go fishing. By far the most popular method of fishing for the hard fighting, rainbow trout is bait fishing. Early in the season, a sliding sinker bait rig is the most popular.

The rig consists of a 1/8 to 1/4 ounce egg sinker threaded onto your main line with a small swivel tied to the end. I attach a pre-tied, two hook bait rig to the swivel in either #2 lb. or #4 lb. test. When I take the rig out of the package, I always cut off and shorten the leader where it attaches to the swivel, so that the first hook is about 6” from the swivel. That way when you are fishing, the first hook is about six inches off the bottom with the second hook above that. The length of leader above the bottom can be very important!

Another very effective rig that is more effective as the water warms is the slip bobber rig. With a slip bobber rig, where you place the bobber stop determines how deep your bait will be below the bobber. Start by attaching the bobber stop to your main line, then thread on the slip bobber with a 1/8 oz. egg sinker below that, and then tie on a swivel. To the swivel I tie a two hook, pre-rigged 2 lb. or 4 lb. test leader, with size #14 or #16 hooks. In the spring when the fish are feeding closer to the surface, many times fishing shallow is much more productive than fishing on the bottom. If you are going to use floating baits with this rig, there is and easy little trick to stop the bait from floating up and tangling with the main leader. Buy a small spool of fly tier’s lead thread, and make a few wraps of the lead around the shank of the hooks. This will keep the hooks with floating baits hanging straight down.

By far the king of all “floating type” baits is Berkley’s PowerBait and Gulp! Top colors for Big Bear Lake are Chartreuse, chartreuse/orange, pink, and orange.  Many anglers also spray scents like Gulp! Garlic on the bait, to make sure they eliminate all human odors.

The most popular way to put the bait on the treble hook has always been to mold a bait ball just large enough to cover the treble hook. However, two new methods have been introduced that have become very popular and productive. The first is called the “Power Larva.” Using a little more bait than usual, the bait is shaped like a caterpillar larva, giving the bait a live bait look. The second method is called the “Power Mouse”. To rig a power mouse, mold Berkley Gulp! into a ball just covering all but one of the treble hooks. On the exposed treble hook, add a Berkley Power Trout Worm. The Power Mouse can be fished on a standard sliding sinker rig, or as bait that you slowly work in with a split shot that can also be deadly.

To rig the Power Mouse as moving bait, it is best that your main line is either #2 lb. or #4 lb. test line. Tie a #16 treble hook to the end of your line, and install a #3 or #5 split shot rigged about 12 to 15 inches above the hook. Cast the Power Mouse out and let in sink to the bottom. Once on the bottom s-l-o-w-l-y reel the bait in, pausing every few feet.
A shoreline bait fishing tip: In the spring the fish might be a lot closer to shore than you think both early and late in the day! Many times fishermen rig up their rods, and then cast as far out in the lake as they can, when quite often the majority of the fish are only maybe 30 to 40 feet from the shoreline.

Curt Dills
Fish Big Bear Charter Service
www.fishbigbear.com
 

Spring skiing offers some of the best conditions for a season: Cold, freezing temps at night coupled with warm, almost hot days, produces a variety snow types during one eight-hour day on the slopes. So grab the sun screen, ditch the goggles and don your best tee-shirt, spring skiing is on in Southern California.

Bulletproof: Sometimes called boilerplate, it’s hard, fast, icy snow typically found if you catch first chair. So, my advice, chill in the parking lot a little longer before taking it to the slopes.

Granular: Snow that has melted and refrozen. It can be loose and sloppy or packed and firm. Gives you a chance to break out your powder sticks one last time even if it hasn’t dumped in months.

Corn: The finest of the spring harvest, Corn is similar to loose granular only better. Like the vegetable, spring Corn is usually sweet!

Crud: Another reason to break out your fatter boards. Crud is what happens to good snow: It’s tracked, ungroomed pitches that freeze over night and soften slowly and inconsistently. If you like the challenges of riding Crud, definitely give it time.

Mank: Kind of like it sounds.

Mashed Potatoes: Clumpy like your grandmother’s, this type of snow typically forms on a sunny day around 1:00 p.m. It’s like riding good snow but not really.

Slush: You probably won’t read this on any snow report but you might hear the term used in the lift line: “It’s getting slushy.” Bottom line: It’s wet, tends to grab at your bases and slows you down. Like Mashed Potatoes, it might be time to call it a day and transition to Apres ski mode.

Have fun, ride safe and enjoy these last couple of weeks of the year that was!

Earning my turns,
Glade Girl

These are exciting times for athletes on our mountain. Local child superstar Jordan Romero just left for his quest to climb Mt. Everest and the entire mountain community has rallied to support his efforts and send him off with our best wishes.
This will be his toughest challenge to date, but his preparation and training has been at the highest. I’m confident that we will soon see pictures of his bright smile standing proud at the summit.

My dreams of having a stage of the Amgen Tour of California in Big Bear will finally come true next month. We will witness the best bicycle racers in the world taking on one of the hardest stages of any race this year including the Tour de France! This will be one of the most beautiful stages of the Amgen Tour of California but it will also be a double edged sword that will rip the legs of even the strongest of climbers.

Then last Saturday I dropped by SkyHigh Fitness to watch Pro MMA fighter Tierry Sokoudjou train with Bob Antonacci. Sokoudjou a.k.a. the African Assassin is a member of Team Quest out of Oceanside, Ca. He is preparing for a big fight tournament in Japan. Part of his new training regimen is spending some time up here in Big Bear working with Bob to improve his cardio, and to kick his overall fitness up a notch.

It’s exciting for all of us that live and breathe the mountain athletic life, and witness these activities at such high levels. We’ve always preached the benefits of living and training in Big Bear and now we get to witness it first hand, that’s exciting!

spreading the excitement, rev  

Beer, wine, coffee, tea – no matter your poison or your pleasure, there are plenty of options in our mountain town! The kind of options that make any post-adventure celebration that much sweeter!

Good beer. Liquid gold. Brewed in Big Bear? Yup, brewed right here at the Big Bear Mountain Brewery & Restaurant. Housed in the pale yellow building at the top of Red Ant Hill on the Boulevard, they serve great beer – Old Miners Gold, Mt. Pub Ale, Lil Beaver IPA and Grizzly Bear Doppel Bock, among others – plus good pub fare and sometimes live entertainment. Their slogan: Arrowhead’s got the water, Big Bear’s got the beer. Lucky for us! www.mountainbrewery.com

Another option for tasty buds – The Himalayan Restaurant in the Village. With beers named Yeti, The Nun and Go for Monk, celebrating just sounds like more fun! Plus they have good food and the best Tandoori Chicken in the Valley. Okay, the ONLY Tandoori Chicken in the Valley. www.himalayanbigbear.com

Coffee – whether you need it or not – is a good thing. And Grizzly Mountain Gourmet in the Village is a perfect place to enjoy a cup of joe. Part market, part hangout, it’s not a bad place to wind down! It’s also on the return route to Snow Summit after some amazing lift-served mountain-biking. And they have more than just fancy coffee drinks. They have lots of other fancy things too: cheeses, meats, breads, salads and more. They even sell hard to find bottled beers and exceptional wines. We give them extra points for that! www.grizzlymountaingourmet.com

Wine. Where? Plenty of places but it really comes down to where to enjoy that glass of sparkly. How about Nottinghams? Lake views? Check. Wine list? Check. Happy hour? Check. Fun atmosphere? Check. Plus a full bar for your non-grape-loving friends looking for libations. www.nottinghams.info

Just a few of my favorites but would love to hear about yours: Where do you commemorate your adventures?

Earning my turns,
Glade Girl

We had some serious storms this winter that covered our mountain with more snow than we’re used to, but once they got a handle on the roads we got back to the business of playing. Even before people had their own walkways dug out of the snow they were out snowshoeing, skiing, snowboarding and sledding with the kids. There’s still plenty of snow on the ground but warm spring temps are here and we are surely in for a beautiful season. Daylight saving time just went into effect and already the bike rides are in full swing and we’ve even had a few really good frisbee sessions. When winter hits hard, it makes our mountain more colorful in the spring and it stays pretty and green all the way through summer. We are having a super spring up here but don’t take my word for it, come on up and see for yourself. spreading the love, rev

Last Saturday B-Ray and I went out for a little day trip on snowshoes on the other end of the valley towards Sugarloaf Mountain. From my front porch we could see a small peak just below the actual top of Sugarloaf and we wanted to find out how long it would take to get there.

After packing a few safety essentials and a few beers for hydration, off we went into the forest slowly plodding towards our goal. It was a perfect day for a snowshoe outing, sunny and warm with no breeze to speak of. B-Ray and I prefer to hike off trail when there’s good snow. In no time we freestyled up a steep ridge that would lead us right to the spot we could see from my front yard. In less than two hours we stood at the crest and looked down on Highway 38 and could see my house.

It really feels like an extension of my “yard” when we can go off into the forest without packing everything into the car and driving somewhere. From the crest we took a roundabout way to head home and found ourselves on the edge of a really steep drop off.

B-Ray loves to charge hard on the way home, so we jumped off into the powder side stepping our way down the steep face until we got to the big meadow at the bottom. As we approached the clearing we heard voices through the trees. At the bottom we saw a six pack of snowshoers heading up the trail. They stood there with mouths open sporting that look of “where the hell did they come from?” They told us they were from San Diego, and had gone to the Discovery Center to get some advice. The fine folks at the Discovery Center sent them out this way. It was really cool to see people enjoying a getaway to the mountains where I call home.

Most people don’t want strangers playing in their backyard, but when your yard is as big as the San Bernardino Mountains visitors are welcome! So come on up and bring your gear, you’re welcome to play in my “yard.” It’s big enough for all of us.

spreading the love, and the mountain style hospitality,
rev

We all have ‘em, right? Sometimes it’s what keeps us focused on the big picture. My list tends to wander from complicated goals – like kayaking South America’s largest lake Lake Titicaca – to simpler projects – like competing in the Holcomb Valley Run. But it is always way cool to cross one off the list once in a while.
This past Sunday, we did: A goal that had been on the list for sometime and was only possible because of the record snow we received this year. Our objective: Hike west from the Big Bear Dam and ski one of the amazingly aesthetic chutes that tumble straight down to the Bear Creek drainage.

We found our access point about one mile south of the dam and quickly skinned to the top of the ridge. Just north of Bluff Mesa we turned right and found an easy north-east facing bowl with plenty of light pow for all of us. We quickly tracked it up, thought twice about skiing it again but opted to continue down toward the top of the steeper chutes we had been eying for so long.

Still safely on the ridge, we looked over and spied the top of the narrow throat of the open gully we wanted to ski. A note about safety: I travel in the backcountry often and always wear a beacon, carry a shovel and avalanche probe. However, the most important thing I carry is the knowledge to use all three. And as a rule, we always dig a pit to check out the conditions before we decide if it is safe to proceed or we need to turn back. After careful study and a ski cut across the top of the chute, we determined the danger was minimal and proceeded one at a time down the drainage.

With gravity on our side, conditions were challenging but fun – from light pow to carveable crust, from spring corn to deep slop. At the bottom we rested next to Bear Creek and observed an avalanche debris pile. It was surprisingly large, likely had happened in recent weeks and sat at the base of a steep gulley looker’s left of the one we had just descended. Nature has a way of keeping you on your toes and confirmed why we are always cautious when entering the backcountry.

The hike out was brutal but worth the descent and we celebrated our list item over Cadillac margaritas and massive burritos at our favorite watering hole.

Earning my turns,
Glade Girl

Yes it’s true the mountain got hit hard and fast with a huge amount of snow, and there’s more on the way. It took most of us a little while to shovel out our walkways and driveways, but as soon as we made a path from the door to the street it was time to play. That’s right playtime is on!

Our biggest problem is choosing how we’re going to play and which toys to bring! Do we grab the Skiis? Snowboards? Snowshoes? Or maybe even go for a mountain bike ride?…trust me, even in the snow it’s super fun!

Now that the storms have painted our season with a thick coat of white, you can be assured of a sweet winter adventure no matter what you pull out of the toy box. It’s okay to forget your socks, gloves, beanie or warm jacket…the local retailers will appreciate your short term memory loss and you probably will want something that has Big Bear on it anyway!

spreading the winter love, rev