Stories that capture the heart and soul of Bear Valley.

Dear Bear Valley Enthusiasts,  

Welcome to our second year of celebrating snow play with your stories at Bear Valley Adventure Company (formerly Bear Valley Cross Country). In 2025, Project Warming Hut published: 

• Bear Valley Builds An A-frame, William Orvis 

• Shelter, Anonymous 

• What Goes Up Must Come Down, Eric Stone 

• Memories of the Golden Shovel, Don Lenkeit 

• Snow Lessons, John Hake 

• Unsung Heroes, Susan Carroll 

Project Warming Hut is a story-based history of cross country skiing and snow play in Bear Valley as told by the community.  My hope is to compile the stories into a book that not only provides a shared history but will help sustain the future.  All proceeds from the book will go to support programs for young skiers. 

Please submit your stories up to 2000 words, poems, or other formats to project@bvadventures.com. 

If you’ve got a story but you don’t like to write, no worries, we are here to help.   Submit your ideas and we will go from there.  

Many thanks to Candace Bradley and Judy Bettencourt for their editorial help. 

Susan Carroll 

PROJECT UPDATES:

Story #1 (12/4/24) - We are excited to share the first installment by William Orvis recalling the Bear Valley community “barn raising” an A-Frame.

Story #2 (12/20/24) - A second installment shares the trials and tribulations of living at the Warming Hut (aka Reba’s Toll House Cafe.

Story #3 (1/19/25) - Follow a new homeowner’s adventures in the meadow and beyond.

Story #4 (1/24/25) - I first discovered Bear Valley Cross Country in the early 1970s.  We used Bonna wooden skis and bamboo poles, and always avoided using a klister wax!

Story #5 (2/28/25) - A young family’s adventures while raising and teaching their children to ski in Bear Valley.

Story #6 (3/28/25) - The tale of a mother’s skiing injury on an empty stomach and the unsung heroes who helped her along the way.

Story #7 (1/10/26) - Kerry Kilgore remembers the early days of cross country skiing and the Warming Hut

Story #8 (2/6/26) - Mom transitions from down hill to cross country skiing