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Bear Creek Mountain Resort - Macungie, PA

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  • Bear Creek Mountain Resort - Macungie, PA



    Date of Visit: 100+ times over past 5 seasons

    Review: Bear Creek is my home mountain. I have to say at this point I have a love/hate relationship with the place. Perhaps familiarity breeds contempt. Don't get me wrong - I can have a good time there, but the past 2 years I don't think the resort has lived up to its potential especially the grooming. Yes, the past 2 winters have not been great weather but the resort often doesn't make the most of what they have. Bear Creek has invested heavily in snowmaking capacity, including a big percentage of the guns being computer controlled. They have at least 4 modern groomers, including a winch cat, so figure about $1 million in grooming equipment. That is a huge amount of equipment for a place this size. Unfortunately, I don't think they have the necessary talent/experience to use the equipment to its fullest. Conditions can be very nice corduroy that is consistent top to bottom and side-to-side, Pocono Pavement (frozen hardpack base with thin powdery or loose granular surface) or an inconsistent mix of a bit of everything.

    This is a good place for families and intermediate riders. Advanced or expert riders won't find much, but there are some ways to make it interesting. There are 2 main terrain parks that have decent features - I don't do park but as the season progresses the number of and size of features continues to grow. I will say that the conditions in the park often look sketchy with mediocre grooming.

    Drifter is a small beginner run with a dedicated lift. Broadway is another beginner run that if taken from the top is a long run but the top portion is very flat and requires good gliding and some skating - this is the connector between the 2 halves of the mountain. Kodiak is a nice blue cruiser right in front of the lodge. To make it more interesting, take the connector toward the top on the rider's left to Bear Trap. This is the best view at the resort - looking down onto the hotel and lodge. Stay to the rider's left from Bear Trap and you can hit a nice steep lip that drops you onto Kodiak. The light tends to go very flat on Kodiak at times so be prepared to ride by feel. On the other side of the mountain Timberline is a great blue cruiser with a double fall line. The rider's left (top line) is great and if you stay tight to the trail's edge you can often find corduroy late into the day on a weekday or late into the morning on a weekend. Grizzly is a nice black diamond run - a good entry level black for aspiring riders. This year they turned it into a terrible mogul run. Hopefully, they get enough negative feedback they go back to grooming it next year. Extreme is a black diamond run under the quad lift - this run is almost always extremely icy and despite having a winch cat usually has sup-par grooming. A good run to practice riding in poor conditions but rarely a purely fun run. Sasquatch is the best run - rider's left is the steepest line and actually easier than the rider's right line because in that line you are working with a bit of a double fall line. Sasquatch often has good conditions - sometimes when the place is icy you can wait until 10pm or so if the sun is shining and Sasquatch will soften up into a good surface.

    A few tips:

    --Get to Bear Creek early. If you are there as soon as the lifts start running you can get at least 2 hours, sometimes nearly 3, before it starts to get crowded.

    --Hit Bear Trap and Kodiak early - Kodiak especially gets used very hard so it gets skied off quickly most days. If it is hard and icy, then head over to the other side of the mountain and then come back after other people have skied off the surface into something a little softer.

    --Hit Timberline early - if the conditions are good you will have a blast. It also gets skied off fast most days. The conditions are hit or miss on Timberline - sometimes it is the "lost run" that the groomers seem to overlook. If the conditions are good, keep hitting it until you are bored or you have skied it off.

    --Sasquatch - unless it is icy, hit it earlier in the day to get the best conditions. You can't get directly back to it. You need to take the B lift back to the top, follow Broadway across the top and then ride a run down to the F lift. We call it "Sasquatch Laps". I think I did a morning last year of 2 warm-up runs and then 8 Sasquatch laps and it took 2 hours to give you can idea.

    Skiboarder Tips: be good at gliding and skating - lots of flat areas and you have to go uphill to get to Bear Trap and Timberline. If you have younger kids and use poles, stop at the point on the flats or uphill sections where they will run out of steam and let them grab the grips of your poles (turn them around so you are holding near the snowbaskets) and pull them up while you skate. Trust me, this will get you some extra runs with them because they won't be tired out from so much skating. This mountain is made "bigger" by skiboards, which is a good thing.

    Dining: The facilities here are first class - like something you would see in Colorado or Utah. There is a cafeteria, a snack bar, a pub, a bar (more casual and downscale food than the pub) and a place that is kind of like a Starbucks with drinks, sandwiches and lighter fare. Prices are kind of high. If you just want a beer and a burger, go to the bar and not the pub - the pub menu was redone a year or so ago and made much more upscale. Food is pretty good.

    Lodging: The hotel is very nice. I have not stayed at it but the facilities look really nice. Heated outdoor pool, indoor pool. It seems like it is often booked solid for weekends so plan in advance. They run some nice mid-week specials that are a good deal.

    Summary: Overall, Bear Creek is a decent place to go. Very nice facilities and amenities. When the conditions are good it can be a lot of fun. If the conditions are sub-par it can be a frustrating place. I can spend 3 hours here and am good. Anything more than that and I feel I am just flogging it.
    Last edited by Greco; 02-14-2013, 10:16 PM.
    In pursuit of Peace, Harmony and Flow.....
    Think Like a Mountain

    Boards ridden, some owned: Sherpas, Spruce 120 "STS", Blunts, DS110 custom prototypes, Rockered Condors, Revolts, DLPs, Summit Custom 110s, Summit Marauders, Head 94s, Raptor prototypes, Osprey prototypes.

  • #2
    Some photos from Bear Creek:

    Best view at the resort - top of Bear Trap:



    Kodiak:



    Broadway (green) on the right and Lower Extreme (blue) on the left:



    Upper part of Kodiak - Bear Trap to the upper right, steep lip to Kodiak downhill from Bear Trap:



    Extreme:



    Timberline - spring-like conditions:

    In pursuit of Peace, Harmony and Flow.....
    Think Like a Mountain

    Boards ridden, some owned: Sherpas, Spruce 120 "STS", Blunts, DS110 custom prototypes, Rockered Condors, Revolts, DLPs, Summit Custom 110s, Summit Marauders, Head 94s, Raptor prototypes, Osprey prototypes.

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    • #3
      Thinking about riding/filming at Bear Creek March 3rd.. this sunday morning. Anyone wanna join me?
      RVL8
      \______^=======^______/
      www.YouTube.com/TalonSei

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      • #4
        I'll probably roll down, just ordered my revolts should be here by then

        Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
        2013 Revolt Trees 105's
        2013 Receptor Red Bindings
        2011 Dalbello Blender Boots

        "Sufficient to have stood. Though free to fall." - Milton - Paradise Lost
        "I'd rather ride a broken Revel8 than skiblades." - Talon

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        • #5
          Originally posted by kkelley1987 View Post
          I'll probably roll down, just ordered my revolts should be here by then

          Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
          I'll cya there.
          RVL8
          \______^=======^______/
          www.YouTube.com/TalonSei

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Talon View Post
            Thinking about riding/filming at Bear Creek March 3rd.. this sunday morning. Anyone wanna join me?
            I'll be working till 1ish, definitely trying to come out after that. Hopefully it isn't crazy crowded

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