Bear Valley has talked about building a lift, presumably a gondola, from the village up to Koala Top. It would not be quite as long as the gondola at Heavenly, but it would be an impressive lift.
I would also imagine the longer lift to the village would be probably be a gondola (or possibly a chondola) since their plan has it crossing several roads and not really serving most of the terrain back there. Anyone finishing their run on the western part of the Dardanelle Vista Bowl would need to take a shuttle back to the base of the lift. Although that is likely by design as it would primarily be used as an access lift to get to the rest of the mountain as an alternative to their current single base area. All of the terrain on this side of the mountain is south facing so any lift would need full download capacity for when there isn’t enough coverage. A lift in their proposed alignment would probably be in the ballpark of 7,000-8,000 feet long.
Fundamentally because prior operators have never been able to afford it.
It will be interesting to see if California Mountain Resort Company decides it would be worthwhile. I’d argue Bear Valley would be fantastic with a bit more terrain and investment—it’s the closest resort to a good chunk of the South Bay.
Bear Valley has so much potential. I wish they had replaced Grizzly first, it seems to always be out of service for mechanical. If it isn’t broken down, then it’s getting buried. Would they consider a height adjustable base station for the big winters?
When Grizz is down, Bear Valleys’ total vert is reduced from 1900ft to 950ft, that’s significant!
Throw in that access lift from the village and you’ve now got a destination ski resort!
Kuma chair shortened to unload at beginner area instead of peak and renamed ‘Cub’ (good idea, doesn’t block ski slopes and congest mazes so that it is difficult to get to lifts in loading area). Cub is in the process of being removed as of February 2025 except unloading area.
Lift Blog 
How come Kodiak was removed?
LikeLike
Bear Valley has talked about building a lift, presumably a gondola, from the village up to Koala Top. It would not be quite as long as the gondola at Heavenly, but it would be an impressive lift.
LikeLike
I would also imagine the longer lift to the village would be probably be a gondola (or possibly a chondola) since their plan has it crossing several roads and not really serving most of the terrain back there. Anyone finishing their run on the western part of the Dardanelle Vista Bowl would need to take a shuttle back to the base of the lift. Although that is likely by design as it would primarily be used as an access lift to get to the rest of the mountain as an alternative to their current single base area. All of the terrain on this side of the mountain is south facing so any lift would need full download capacity for when there isn’t enough coverage. A lift in their proposed alignment would probably be in the ballpark of 7,000-8,000 feet long.
LikeLike
Yan built platters?
LikeLike
Yes, look at the Mammoth page for pictures of a few
LikeLike
Sky Tavern (Nevada) used to have five YAN platters built in 1968. Two remain (Rocco 1 & 2). Peter has pics of them on the Sky Tavern page.
LikeLike
It seems to me that “hibernation” probably happened to some riding the 4400′ lift!
LikeLike
why don’t they have lifts going out of bear valley village?
LikeLike
Fundamentally because prior operators have never been able to afford it.
It will be interesting to see if California Mountain Resort Company decides it would be worthwhile. I’d argue Bear Valley would be fantastic with a bit more terrain and investment—it’s the closest resort to a good chunk of the South Bay.
LikeLike
Very correct. I ski there, it would be better if it was invested in more.
LikeLike
Bear Valley has so much potential. I wish they had replaced Grizzly first, it seems to always be out of service for mechanical. If it isn’t broken down, then it’s getting buried. Would they consider a height adjustable base station for the big winters?
When Grizz is down, Bear Valleys’ total vert is reduced from 1900ft to 950ft, that’s significant!
Throw in that access lift from the village and you’ve now got a destination ski resort!
LikeLike
Changes in 2024-25 season.
Slow 2 person Koala lift replaced by even slower quad, apparently originally from Santa Fe NM, “Super Chief” https://liftblog.com/santa-fe-super-chief-ski-santa-fe-nm/ [same unloading station]
Kuma chair shortened to unload at beginner area instead of peak and renamed ‘Cub’ (good idea, doesn’t block ski slopes and congest mazes so that it is difficult to get to lifts in loading area). Cub is in the process of being removed as of February 2025 except unloading area.
LikeLike