Great Bear Ski Valley begins planning for growth as opening day nears

Assuming weather and snow-making allow, Great Bear Ski Valley plans to open the day after Christmas.

The week ahead “looks really cold with calm winds, and that’s what we’re looking for,” general manager Dan Grider said.

What started as favorable snow-making conditions in early December – “wet and perfect for base snow” – gave way to a layer of rain and icing, followed by winds that make it hard to make snow on top of the hill.

“It just blows off, so we’re limited,” Grider said. “But the winds are going away, and it’s going to get really cold, so we’ll have fun making a lot of snow.”

Preseason pass sales indicate a strong year ahead at Great Bear Ski Valley, he said.

“Last year was the best ever. It was fantastic, and this was a close second, so we’re very excited,” he said. “Getting the new chairlift in last year made a lot of difference. The hill just runs so much more efficiently.”

The coming year also will see Great Bear looking toward its future. Work is underway on a new master plan that will recommend expansion and improvements for the 220-acre city-owned park in northeast Sioux Falls.

“The way the community is growing, we have to keep an eye on that, and it’s not like we have a lot of room to go,” Grider said. “The chalet is kind of locked on all sides, so it will be hard to expand as much as we’d like, but there is additional skiing terrain available to us, and we want to grow with the community.”

The hope is to finalize a plan in the first quarter of the new year and bring it to the city’s parks and recreation board for consideration in the summer, followed by a plan for funding improvements.

“The sport is continuing to grow, but the sport is also very much keeping an eye on climate change,” Grider added. “The predictions to 2050 are that the number of ski areas in the U.S. are going to shrink, so this climate change we feel is real. It’s made weather patterns very unpredictable.”

For instance, earlier in his 30-year career, “I could count on opening Thanksgiving and being open until March 1,” he said.

This year’s Dec. 26 planned opening is on par with the previous two years.

“It is pretty late,” he said. “And we are open later into the season — we get to mid-March — so things are changing. Things are at work, you can’t deny it, but we also take a year at a time. You see what Mother Nature deals you, and you work with it.”

This year at Great Bear also will bring the return of group ski and snowboard lessons for kids on Saturday mornings — something that went away during the pandemic. Private lessons have expanded from 60 to 90 minutes.

“We think that gives students more time to grasp what we’re trying to teach,” Grider said. “We’ll teach anybody from 6 to 95. If you want to do it, we’ll help you.”

Tubing accounts for up to 45 percent of Great Bear’s visits, and it’s the most weather-dependent.

“We noticed last year with the lack of natural snow our tube visits were down 37 percent,” Grider said. “The best marketing we have is 6 inches of snow in your backyard.”

Before you go

Visit greatbearpark.com or call 605-367-4309 for the most up-to-date information and trail status.

Currently, here’s the holiday schedule:

• Dec. 26-29: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• Dec. 30: 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• Dec. 31: 9 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.; special rates beginning at 5 p.m. and fireworks at midnight.
• Jan. 1-2: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• Jan. 3: 3 to 9 p.m.