Join & volunteer
A ski hill is a lot of people agreeing to keep it open
Bear Mountain has no parent company and no outside owner. It is run by the Dawson Creek Ski and Recreation Association — also known as the Bear Mountain Ski Club — a board-governed, volunteer-heavy organisation that has been at it since 1959.
The club
It started in a hay field
The association formed in 1959–60, and the first rope tow was installed in an old hay field. Everything since — the lighting in 1970–71, the snowmaking in 1987–88, the chalet, the park — has been added the same way: a decision by the club, then a lot of donated hours.
The hill does not own the land it sits on. The Dawson Creek Area Authority took control of the property in 1979, and the club has operated on a lease from that public body ever since — which is a fair description of how a lot of small community hills survive.
Paul Gevatkoff, President
"If we don't have that community spirit, we wouldn't have a ski hill here."
Placeholder photo Pitch in
Four ways to keep the hill open
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Take a shift
Volunteer hours cover roughly 40% of what it costs to run Bear Mountain each winter. That is not a nice extra on top of the budget — it is nearly half the budget, done by people who live here.
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Stand for the board
The Dawson Creek Ski and Recreation Association is board-governed, and the board is drawn from the membership. If you can read a set of accounts, run a kitchen or fix a pump, you are useful.
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Help with the chalet
The club rents the chalet out, which means somebody sets it up, cleans it and hands over the key. Unglamorous, and it is money straight back into the hill.
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Ask the president
Out of season, the person to talk to is Paul Gevatkoff. One phone call is a shorter route into this club than any form on any website.
Bryan Harman, volunteer coordinator
"We do it because Bear Mountain is such an asset to our city."
That is the whole business model, stated plainly. Roughly 40% of the cost of running this place is people from Dawson Creek deciding it is worth their Saturday.
Contact
Talk to the hill
This is a concept site and has no working contact form — please use the real details below, which are the ones the club publishes. Note that they change with the season.
- In season
- 250-782-4988 bearmountain@hotmail.ca
- Off season
- 250-719-8739
gevatkoff@telus.net
Paul Gevatkoff, President
- Chalet rentals
- 250-219-6056
Charene
The land the hill sits on
Bear Mountain operates on land leased from the Dawson Creek Area Authority, which assumed control of the property in 1979. The club runs the hill; it does not own the ground underneath it.
It is worth saying out loud, because it explains a lot about how carefully a club like this has to plan, and why every improvement on the hill took a decision and a partnership rather than a cheque.
Summarised from the club's own published material. Any statement about land, tenure or territory on a real site should be written by the club, not by us.
What this concept leaves out
No vertical drop. No lift type. No date for Ski Fair. No prices for the coming season, and no rental or lesson rates. Every one of those is either unpublished or contradicted between sources — so this concept shows the empty slot instead of filling it in.
What we would change first →