SKIING : Bear Mountain Plans Are Making Progress

Bear Mountain’s big expansion plans appear to be on track again after a public meeting Tuesday night at Big Bear Lake.

“Everything went very well,” said Tim Cohee, vice president of the ski area formerly known as Goldmine. “We’re optimistic that details will be worked out with the city and the U.S. Forest Service, so that we can begin work in July or August.”

Earlier this year, officials of S-K-I, which also owns Killington in Vermont, expressed frustration at the slow progress in obtaining approval for the eight- to 10-year development program at their recently acquired resort in the San Bernardino Mountains.

But Cohee said Wednesday that $4 million worth of improvements are planned for this summer, including construction of a major quad chairlift and the addition of 20 acres of ski terrain.

The lift, Bear Mountain’s 11th, will boost the uphill capacity from 6,100 skiers an hour to about 7,000, and the skiable acreage will increase to about 165. When completed, the plan calls for 18 lifts with a capacity of 9,600 skiers, serving 314 acres, plus expanded snow-making and base facilities.

Cohee said that Bear Mountain will wind up this season on either April 8 or 15 with about a 4% decrease in skier-days from last season.

“That indicates we made a significant recovery after a slow start,” he said.

Only three other Southland ski areas are still operating, with snow depths ranging from eight to 24 inches.

Mountain High, near Wrightwood, will close Sunday night, but Snow Valley, near Running Springs, and Snow Summit, at Big Bear, hope to run their lifts at least through Easter Sunday, April 15.

Snow Valley, where Slide Peak is still open, will play host to its first Easter Carnival Saturday, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Money raised will benefit the California Special Olympic Winter Games.

Snow Summit, whose skier-turnout total will wind up “close to last year’s,” according to Carrie Shirreffs, communications director, plans to stage its annual Springfest April 9-14.

Steve Cramer, manager of Mountain High, said he was happy with the way this season turned out, adding, “We’ll finish with about the same numbers as last year, 345,000 skier-days.”

Mountain High, which recently told the U.S. Forest Service it has abandoned plans to connect its East and West mountains because of the prohibitive cost of the required environmental impact studies, will concentrate this summer on building an eight-mile pipeline from a new water source in the Mojave Desert, to increase its snow-making capability.

General Manager Mark Ward of Ski Sunrise, Mountain High’s neighbor in the San Gabriel Mountains, said: “We had a pretty good year, despite missing most of the Christmas holidays. We finally closed last weekend after having spring skiing at 9 a.m., summer skiing at 10 a.m. and water skiing at 11 a.m.

Skiing Notes

Taped highlights of the World Cup Alpine finals, with GGP Sports’ Christin Cooper and Greg Lewis as announcers, will be shown on Channel 7 Saturday at noon and April 8 at 1 p.m. . . . John Estle, 38, of the University of Alaska Fairbanks has been named coach of the U.S. ski team’s Nordic program, and Alan Ashley, 30, director of the Jeremy Ranch Cross-Country Ski Area at Park City, Utah, the last three years, will coach the team’s cross-country skiers. . . . Ari Pekka Nikkola of Finland clinched the World Cup jumping championship by finishing second to Italian Roberto Cecon in a 90-meter jump last Saturday at Planica, Yugoslavia.

The U.S. Pro Tour will stop at Keystone, Colo., this weekend for its next-to-last meet. Roland Pfeifer of Austria tops the standings with 468 1/2 points, six more than countryman Bernhard Knauss. Phil Mahre of Yakima, Wash., is third with 455, followed by defending champion Jorgen Sundqvist of Sweden with 434. Mahre won his sixth slalom of the season last Saturday at Steamboat, Colo., and is tied for the lead with Austrian Christian Orlainsky after two of the three events in the Million Dollar Plymouth Super Series, being conducted within the overall tour. The co-leaders have 135 points, 7 1/2 more than Pfeifer and Knauss, who are tied for third. The tour and super series finals will both be held April 5-8 at Aspen, Colo.

Bill Johnson of Lake Tahoe, Nev., the 1984 Olympic downhill gold medalist, made his pro debut at Steamboat but failed to qualify for the round of 32 in either the giant slalom or slalom. . . . Catharina Glasser-Bjerner of Sweden won the Women’s Pro Ski Tour’s overall title by taking the giant slalom last Saturday at Keystone, with Birgit Hussauf of Austria placing second and Andreja Leskovek of Yugoslavia third. Former U.S. racer Beth Madsen of Aspen won the slalom Sunday and finished fourth to earn rookie-of-the-year honors. . . . The Subaru U.S. Freestyle Championships will be held today through Sunday at Winter Park, Colo.