April 4, Bear Mtn. Resort, San Bernadino Mtns, CA

As a high school teacher, Spring Break is always a fun and necessary time to ski. Last year, I had my first taste of the Haute Route. This year, the family is in Palm Springs. This, howver,  is no deterrent to skiing. I've been watching the Bear Mountain Resort webcams for a few weeks, and the area just happened to have received an additional 2 inches over this past week, on top of their 20" base. So, Friday evening I checked my ski and boot bag to LAX, and then dragged them to the East Side of the "divide", on I-10. A few funny looks, but those folks don't know what they are missing! Anyway, Monday brought a typical 4:15 AM start for me, and I then drove the 100+ miles up to Big Bear Lake. Though the slopes of Bear Mountain showed a few bare patches (no pun intended), the snow was bottom-to-top i place. To be sure, though; endless nights of refreezing corn means that the 7 AM skiing is tooth-breaking at best! 1 new experience was that Security Officer John came out and let me know I'd need to be done by 9 AM. (Summit West and East have no such hired hands...) I assured him that I would be. 2 laps at 1500 vert. each, and 2 very bumpy/icy runs down got my April TAY month started. I even topped out on Silver Mountain (the middle peak of the ski area) to look down into the East LA Basin, and it's 5 million plus residents! Wished them all a happy morning. I know all of you bruthas and sistahs at home are gettin' the good goods this week, but skiing above the desert is something else! Joy-O-Meter pegged at 11!!! No cam, so I've thrown in a couple of stock pix; you get the idea...