Skiers aren’t the only ones taking advantage of the slopes in California after the Lake Tahoe area got hammered with over four feet of snow.
It’s a winter wonderland out in Northern California right now, and a ski resort called Northstar California is seeing plenty of visitors (both human and animal) because of it. The resort located near the California-Nevada border (and north of Lake Tahoe) is known for its scenic views and – forgive me for saying this – gnarly powder.
I’m not a skier, nor have I have hit the slopes, but one of my life goals is to ski down a mountain and then tell someone at the bottom “that was some gnarly powder.” This location seems like the perfect place to do that.
Northstar California is located in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. It provides challenging slopes for skiers of all levels, and after this viral video, it can now boast that it has “moving obstacles” to test even the most experienced skiers. And just to jump to the chase a bit… by moving obstacles, I mean a family of black bears.
It’s estimated that 340,000 bears live in the United States, and in certain parts of the country, residents have to always be on alert and keep an eye out for bears. Black bears make up most of that total number (around 300,000), and one place where you are likely to see them is in the Lake Tahoe area of California. Roughly 500 black bears call the Lake Tahoe basin home.
The woodland and forest environment located near – you guessed it – Lake Tahoe is the perfect place for a bear to call home. Even when the peaks and hills are covered in snow, a black bear can tough out the weather. Judging by this clip below, they even like to hit the slopes with fellow skiers. This group of three gave Northstar California visitors quite the scare, but the good news is that it doesn’t look like anyone was hurt.
As skiers made their way down the resort’s “Woodcutter” trail, a mother bear and her two cubs decided to cross the heavily utilized slope, which made for a close call. One person was even charged by the mother leading the way, but they were still able to ski out of harms way (it was also more of a bluff charge). Nearby skiers and those riding the ski lift above were able to warn others to come to a stop to let the bears pass on through.
Fortunately, the skiers coming down the mountain were able to heed the warning and avoid a disastrous run in with the bear family. And as for the bears, it’s presumed they continued their regularly scheduled bear activities by scurrying into the woods after briefly playing a real life version of “Frogger” with some skiers.
You can check out the close call (and hear other skiers warning those close to the bear) below:
“Move! Get out of there!”
So any skiing trail that has bears actively on it immediately becomes black diamond rated, right? That’s at least what my rule would be if I ever got out on the slopes.
And if you watched that video and could only think, “I thought bears hibernated during the winter,” rest assured that they normally do. In a place like Lake Tahoe, however, the bear population doesn’t enter into as long of a hibernation period (if they do at all) because they are still normally able to track down food during the most brutal parts of the winter… most of the time thanks to trash and food left behind by tourists that visit.
