NEW ATTRACTION LOCAL MOUNTAIN RESORTS ARE MAKING ROOM FOR FIRST-TIME SKIERS AND SNOWBOARDERS.Byline: Bill Becher Special to the Daily News Mother Nature seems to be smiling on skiers and snow boarders this year. Early dumps of snow at local and Sierra resorts have meant that the season is already underway. Ski area operators hope the snow will keep coming back, along with new customers. Industry surveys show that only about 15 percent of first-time skiers and snowboarders become committed to winter sports winter sports: see bobsledding; curling; hockey, ice; ice dancing; ice skating; skiing; snowshoes; tobogganing. . Michael Berry Sir Michael Victor Berry, FRS FRSE (born 14 March 1941), is a mathematical physicist at the University of Bristol. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1982 and knighted in 1996. , president of the National Ski Areas Association, said: ``As an industry we've been working for the last several seasons to change that number to 25 percent.'' Ski areas have taken a hard look at the beginner experience and are trying to make it friendlier and less complicated. At Big Bear Resorts (Snow Summit and Bear Mountain) learning to ski or snowboard is guaranteed. If you sign up for the first-time beginner program at either resort and aren't able to ride the lifts and get down the beginner slopes after the first day, you'll get free lessons until you can. Snow Summit has added five acres of beginner terrain, accessible by a new moving carpet. Bear Mountain has made improvements to its beginner area and added a moving carpet lift. Located in the San Bernardino Mountains San Bernardino Mountains, part of the Coast Range, S Calif., extending c.60 mi (100 km) NW and SE through San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Notable peaks are San Bernardino Mt. (10,630 ft/3,240 m) and Mt. San Gorgonio (11,485 ft/3,501 m). , Snow Summit is designed for traditional mainstream, family skiers. It has one halfpipe half·pipe or half pipe n. A smooth-surfaced structure shaped like a trough and used for stunts in sports such as in-line skating and snowboarding. and some terrain features for families who need to get some air. Nearby Bear Mountain, with two halfpipes, is aimed at youthful snowboarders and skiers and adults who want to act like kids on what's billed as an All-Mountain Terrain Freestyle Park. If you can get away mid-week, you can save on local skiing and riding. At Big Bear from Sunday through Thursday one- or two-night packages start at $69 per person, per night, with double occupancy and include lift tickets at Snow Summit or Bear Mountain. Pure freedom is the best way to describe skiing and snowboarding snowboarding: see under skiing. snowboarding Sport of sliding downhill over snow on a snowboard, a wide ski ridden in a surfing position. Derived from surfing and influenced also by skateboarding as well as skiing, snowboarding began to burgeon on the weekdays,'' said Big Bear Lake Resort Association's Jamie Wolcott. The lift lines are short and the lodging packages are excellent. To reserve a midweek ski/board package, visit www.BigBear.com or call (800) 424-4232. Mountain High Resort in Wrightwood had its earliest opening ever this year on Oct. 27. The resort received more than three feet of new snow over the weekend. A new, single-rental facility for skis and snowboards is designed to be more efficient for families with board riders and skiers. An expanded jib park called ``The Playground'' offers 40,000 square feet of features. Mountain High has night skiing Night skiing is the sport of skiing or snowboarding after sundown, offered at many ski resorts and mountains. There are usually electric lights along the piste which allow for better visibility. and snow boarding every day and is open until 10 p.m. At Mammoth Mountain Mammoth Mountain is a large lava dome complex[1] that lies to the west of the town of Mammoth Lakes, California in the Inyo National Forest. Mammoth Mountain is home to the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area which is notable in that it gets an unusually large amount of , which had its earliest opening in a decade on Oct. 21, new skiers will find the old Chair 17 is now a new, high-speed quad called the SchoolYard Express. The Chair 17 project is designed to shorten ride time and provide easier loading and unloading so that new skiers will have a better overall experience, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Pam Murphy, a senior vice president at Mammoth Mountain. Near the SchoolYard Express is the Family Fun Park, a mini-terrain park including a mini-halfpipe, designed for families to try jumping and jibbing jibbing a vice in which the horse refuses to move forwards and may run backwards when in harness. Called also balking. . Near the Discovery Chair on the other side of Mammoth Mountain is the Discovery Zone, another beginner terrain park A terrain park is an outdoor area that contains terrain that allows snowboarders and skiers to do tricks. Jibs Jibs are any type of fixture which can be ground, buttered, or tricked off of. with even smaller features including a halfpipe with five-foot walls. Mammoth continues its efforts at becoming a more upscale, destination resort with the opening of the Grand Sierra Lodge with studio to three-bedroom condos at The Village in Mammoth. The Grand Sierra includes a ballroom, conference center, pool and mountain access via the Village Gondola. June Mountain June Mountain is a winter resort in northern California, located near June Lake, southeast of Yosemite National Park. June Mountain hosted the 2006 Ski Mountaineering Race Series and the ski and snowboard portions of the 2006 California Winter Games in March of 2006. , which is scheduled to open Dec. 11, also in the Eastern Sierra, specializes in beginning skiers and snow boarders and offers first-time beginner programs, including equipment rental, lift tickets and three hours of small group instruction. CAPTION(S): 4 photos Photo: (1) Skilled snowboarders are enjoying Mammoth Mountain, but various local mountains are catering to the beginning skier and snow boarder. (2) Ski areas are trying to become more beginner-friendly to attract repeat customers to the local slopes. A young snowboarder is helped by a Mammoth Mountain instructor. (3) Mammoth Mountain's Superpipe was the first halfpipe to open in the U.S. this season in the resort's Unbound unbound said of electrolytes, e.g. iron and calcium, and other substances which are circulating in the bloodstream and are not bound to plasma proteins so that they are available immediately for metabolic processes. See also calcium, iron. Terrain Park. (4) A young skier enjoys the view from the chairlift before taking a run at Mammoth Mountain. Bill Becher/Special to the Daily News |
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