Tahoe snowboarder has nerve wracking bear encounter on the slopes

Danielle Brill and a fellow downhiller enjoying a bluebird day on January 12, 2024 at Heavenly, which ended with a bear encounter for Brill on the last run of the day. The last run of the day up in was especially memorable for Danielle Brill last Friday. The Sacramento snowboarder, who was enjoying fresh snow and blue skies at Heavenly Valley, was heading down the Mombo run around 3:30 p.m.

when a bear appeared in front of her on the slopes. Brill stopped in her tracks but, instead of just freezing up, she took out her camera to . “Oh my God,” she can be heard saying while breathing heavily and holding her camera steady. In front of her, the bear holds its ground, then briefly leaps onto a nearby tree before landing back in the tracks, staring at her and a couple of other skiers who approach it to take video.

Then the bear runs into the woods. Advertisement Article continues below this ad A bear stands in the middle of a cat track at Heavenly Valley on Friday, January 12, 2024. But that wasn’t the end of it. Later, as Brill heads down the mountain, the bear reappears. A skier coming through the trees seems to have spooked the bear, and “When the guy spooked him and (the bear) was running towards me in the 23 second video.

That was scary and I wanted to get away as quickly as possible,” she told SFGate. Indeed, in the video she appears to be heading quickly down the hill while filming behind her as the bear scampers across the slope. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Brill’s encounter with the bear was not the first this season at Heavenly Valley.

On December 10, was captured on video when a Tahoe black bear appears to very quickly dart across the slope but not before someone recorded the scene and . At the time, Bear League Executive Director Anne Bryant told SFGate that “it’s happened several times before. The bears often find dens up on the ski runs in the wooded areas and can be awakened when skiers are close by.” Still, even if the bear did not have aggressive intentions, for Brill it was a last run of the day that she won’t soon forget..