The Big Bear Grizzly

Weighing the benefits against the liability risk, Snow Summit’s board of directors voted May 15 to ban competitive mountain bike racing within the resort’s boundaries. The 11th-hour move sent Team Big Bear scrambling for a new location for its Amateur Cup series, which was scheduled to begin May 22 at Snow Summit. The longest-running amateur mountain bike race series in the state did go on, held on U.S. Forest Service land in Moonridge between Snow Summit and Bear Mountain.

“Team Big Bear was unable to provide us with the amount of insurance that was needed to run mountain biking events on the mountain,” said Chris Riddle, marketing director for Snow Summit. “The board determined in the liability world the benefits we gained by having the events paled in the eyes of exposure to risk.”

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