Last year Ratih and I were fortunate to visit big bear mountain
a number of times during the great snow of last years El Nino. We
went first with Seth and Trevor via Catalina
Island with a Cessna 180. Lunch on the island then night skiing
in the mountains.
Catalina in our sites
We decided to fly around the island to scope out possible
surf breaks. It turns out that the island has very steep shores and
only has a few surfable breaks that are not world class. At least
they wouldn't be crowded!
Avalon Harbor down below
We landed nicely on Catalina
and ate buffalo burgers. (the islands specialty due to a large heard living
there) From Catalina
it is easy to see the main land, however, from the mainland you can't see
the island very often.
Our faithful craft and crew
After that we headed around all the restricted LA air
space and to the mountains. We went off course for some time but
still made it in time to hit the slopes. We had one more problem
when we got there, no ride to the hill. No worries, just stuck out
our thumbs and jumped in the back of a truck for a cold ride to the hill.
The trip was great, however, we were stranded overnight
in Big Bear due to the cold weather. The engine sounded like a Volkswagen
in Duluth MN. We were lucky to find a nice lodge to stay at, and
enjoyed the flight home more in daylight.
