Big Bear
Technically speaking, we were at Snow Summit, as the resort named Bear Mountain had fewer runs open that day.
Started in West Los Angeles at a ridiculously early hour, crammed Bill, Annie, Tara, and a snowboard into one the car, migrated to Monterey Park to meet up with Angela and Margaret and un-cram ourselves, then picked up Jianhui. Next stop... Ontario Mills, where we picked up Bej and a few people ordered breakfast. Almost all the snow up there is man-made: as we crossed the 7000' elevation mark on highways 330/38/18, we saw no snow on the ground. Kind of unsettling. Amazingly, we actually ran somewhat decently on schedule and were on the slopes by 9am or so. (yeah, a 5:15am start time should have us there a bit sooner, but we had to stop three times!)
Hit the beginner slopes for a while; those got crowded pretty quickly as more people showed up. Not much was open-- going up East Mountain Express and All Mountain Express, the main two lifts, you could see dirt and grass below your feet. Chair 8 served the beginner area, while from the top, Summit Run, Miracle Mile, and Chair 3 for one of the terrain parks was open. Not much, but it was something.
Spent the morning on the beginner runs with Margaret, Annie, and Bill as we waited for Mary, Erik, and Matthew to show up. Bill picked up snowboarding in about five minutes, which is to say, ridiculously fast. Lost Tara, Bej, and Angela to the harder stuff almost immediately, while Margaret and I stayed on Summit Run as she practiced heel-side boarding. (I, uh, spent most of the time providing inspiration. She has toe-side down really well! Next step... carving! right? *grins*)
Never did meet Matthew, although we spent quite a bit of time trying to call each other... after lunch-- that was a bit of a mess in itself with Erik and Mary meeting Annie and Bill, but Tara/Bej/Angela never finding any of us in the first few minutes, and Margaret and I lagging by about 20 minutes-- we hit the slopes again. Erik was busy teaching Mary how to ski (she picked up skiing in just minutes, too... I'm jealous! It took me years to pick it up!), so Margaret joined them while the rest of us hit the All Mountain Express for more advanced stuff.
Angela hit the terrain park and spent quite a bit of time practicing jumps. Well, little ones. Not quite enough air for a 360. She flies down the rest of the run, though. (only one collision. Good thing she wears a helmet!) Going up and down the terrain on Ego Trip... jump #1 is a little jump to a modest landing... jump #2 is more of the same... jump #3 hits a nice steep downslope... aka, if you're not paying attention, holy crap! I think jump #4 is modest, then #5 is another big landing... suffice it to say I was pleased I was better at landing little tiny jumps, and I pretty quickly bit off more than I could chew as far as scrubbing speed during landing goes on the steeper jumps. Ouch.
Last few runs, back down Summit Run, where we ran into everyone on the way down-- practically the whole group was on that run. Back up again, down Ego Trip a few times, the second to last run is with Bej/Tara/Angela down Ego Trip. I pick up extra speed and forget how steep the landing is down jump #5. Bad combination. I land, then fall over as I realize I'm not braking very well, slide down the slope and end up with Tara dangerously close to running me over as I grind to a halt. So much for being graceful! =P
Very last run is down Miracle Mile with Bej and Tara. Pretty boring, although a few moments of anxiety as we realize one section is a single black diamond. Oh well. No problem!
Drive back... finally meet up with Matthew at Ontario Mills. We initially try Dave and Buster's (don't ask me whose idea it was, it wasn't mine!), but they have a 3 hour wait. Parking is horrible, so we walk from D&B's to Chevy's, which emphasizes how freakin' huge Ontario Mills is. Thankfully Chevy's seats us quickly and we're on our way to full stomachs... well, that and camera wars as Matthew unpacks his camera. heh heh.
Amusing things on the drive back. Bill hijacks the driver's seat as I sit on the trunk in the parking lot. Riding in the backseat of my car is something I haven't done in ages. Filling up shows almost 30mpg... which isn't bad, considering 7000'+ we climbed and my, uh, driving style.
