SAM Magazine--Big Bear Lake, Calif., May 14, 2004--Big Bear Mountain Resorts (BBMR) areas Bear Mountain and Snow Summit totaled nearly 800,000 visits this past season.

As a result of positioning Bear Mountain as a snowboard and ski pipe and park mountain and downplaying those features at sister area Snow Summit, the two areas have developed two entirely different clienteles. At Snow Summit, the ratio of skiers to snowboarders is now 45 percent to 55 percent, a 10 percent swing toward skiers in just two years, with more than 200,000 skier-specific visits.

The repositioning of Bear Mountain as "The Park," devoted almost entirely to freestyle terrain parks and the youth market, led to an audience that is 85 percent snowboarders, and to an increase in visits over the prior year. Together, the areas had an estimated 535,000 snowboarder-specific visits.