By Michael Heins
I had only been in the Havre area for a couple of days when a Havre Daily News co-worker, Alan Sorensen, invited me for a day of skiing at The Bear Paw Ski Hill, Havre's premier ski playground.
I have only been skiing for the last three years and the only other ski area that I had been to is Ski Bluewood, in the Blue Mountains, near Dayton, Wash., so I don't consider myself an expert on this subject.
Overall, I had a fun day of skiing at this ski area, rocks and all.
Bear Paw was not as well groomed as Bluewood and lacked the facilities of a larger ski area, but the small warmup shed made it more cozy and the outdoor barbecue gave it more of a family atmosphere, with its menu of hot dogs and hamburgers.
Being an intermediate skier, I only went to the midway point on the ski lift.
I skied all of the runs from that point and even though I found the runs a bit rough with rocks in places, overall I had a fun time of skiing.
The ski patrollers were friendly and very helpful.
Jim Dolph, a ski patroller, even gave me some practical tips on how to improve my skiing.
Outside of my run in with a rock, my ski Bear Paw experience was great and it will help in my overall skiing abilities.
I look forward in trying the more advanced runs there in time.
Bear Paw is close and easily accessible for the skiing public from the Havre area.
The ski area offers two lifts with an uphill lift capacity of 720 per hour and a varieties of runs from beginner to advanced. Bear Paw Ski Hill has one drag lift and one chair lift.
The runs are marked according to difficulty.
About 25 percent of the resort is for beginners and another 25 percent for intermediate and the rest is for the advanced skiers.
The annual average snow fall for the area is 100 inches.
Max age for the free child's pass is 8 and minimum age for a pensioner's free pass is 80. The price for adults is $15 a day.
For ski lessons, call the Bear Paw Ski School at (406) 265-8404. The minimum age taught is 4.
So grab your skis and head out for a fun day of skiing at Bear Paw Ski Bowl, Havre's premier ski playground.
