On the way up, you have your back to the lake so the best views are on the way back down. At the top, there are some great views, but there is only a fairly small area for hiking (without going back down the mountain). The View Haus BBQ, one of the two eating areas during ski season, is open from 10am-3pm and has drinks, burgers, and snacks. The Sky Chair is open every day during the summer until 4 or 5pm, depending on the day of the week.

There were two interesting features of the ride. One was the "trash targets" - trash cans on the ground that invite you to try your luck at flinging your pop bottle from high above and getting it in the receptacle. We just missed on our attempts, as did several others. Presumably someone comes along and picks up all the errant shots. It must work because we didn't see any litter anywhere else. The other was the "underwear tree". As we ascended the mountain we noticed a tree ahead that had a bunch of stuff hanging in it. As we got closer we noticed it was full of bras and panties! It's not clear whether people bring extras or somehow get them off, which must be pretty interesting on an open ski chair.

The ski area at the bottom of the lift is abandoned in the summertime, which is too bad. It's a nice space and could potentially be a tourist focal point for the village, with a little Whistler-like planning.

Their ski and snowboard school is excellent. I have had a few friends learn there last year and now they are going down diamond runs.

I found the formerly known Snow Summit side catering to families. On the other hand the Bear Mtn. side is for an older crowd.

Even though the holiday weekend crowds were long gone, the classes were still full of potential snowboarders (there were only three people in attendance for ski lessons). I was part of a mass group of well over 75 people who were being taught at once. This wasn't ideal and, in fact, my friend's little daughter got so disgusted from the lack of attention, she just walked off and my friend got her money back.

I stuck with it, being a bit bolder about asking questions and getting some kind of individual attention, and kept going until I could barely lift myself up after falling down for the 40th time.

They show you the basics but then it's all about practicing over and over. I finally stopped because I was sooo exhausted! I wasn't alone. Even the guys that looked well-built were huffing and puffing. One said what we all felt, "What this lesson has really taught me is how out of shape I am."

From this lesson I gained that knowledge, a completely stiff, beat-up body and a bruise across the back of both thighs that resembled the edge of a snowboard.