“I’ve seen a lot of bears up here but that’s the first time I’ve ever seen a bear look at me like that. I started to record and when she made that move towards me I thought….ok time to book it.”
The Vancouver Sun reports this video comes from the Crystal Glide run on Blackcomb Mountain on Sunday when skier Jaime Stein pulled out his phone to document some local wildlife. At first he thought it was a single bear but then saw the cub:
“That was the smallest cub I’ve ever seen. It’s good I can ski quickly.”
It wasn’t until made his hasty escape and reached a safe distance that he realized momma bear actually had a second cub in tow.
“A couple Australians saw me and said ‘you got some balls to ski around the bear like that.’”
As Stein himself noted, running into a mother bear and her cubs is normally a situation to avoid — without even getting into the even greater risk presented by getting between the mother and her cub.
****The general rule is to retreat safely from the situation, which Stein was able to do here because he was on skis. If you do encounter a black bear, retreat, while keeping your eyes on the bear and speaking calmly to it. Black bears, even mothers with cubs, rarely attack. If it’s a grizzly and it makes contact, play dead and cover your head and neck. Wait until the bear leaves the area, which could take 30 minutes or more.)
It’s not every day that you have to ski around bear on the hill! 🐻#exploreBC #explorecanada #OnlyInWhistler @WhistlerBlckcmb pic.twitter.com/MO00QWDUlp
— Jaime Stein (@jaimestein) May 6, 2018