Imagine you're skiing down the slopes and you come face to face with a black bear. I don't know about you but my parents would probably turn brown. That's exactly what happened to one Colorado skier over the weekend.
Colorado skier Brian O'Neal came very close to running smack into a black bear on April 6 at the Keystone Ski Resort. O'Neal came feet away from smashing into the creature. I imagine that probably wouldn't have ended well for the skier. The black bear was running straight towards him. But the skier managed to avoid colliding with the animal.
He then came to a stop and met up with some of his friends, relieved not to get hit. According to O'Neal, he was with his son on the slopes at a green beginner run called Last Chance. The incident with the bear happened in a flash.
"It happened so quick," O'Neal told Summit Daily. "I was just trying not to run into it." At first, he said he wasn't sure it was a black bear.
Black Bear Warning
"All of a sudden from the right side of my eye, side-vision, it was like, 'Oh crap, here comes something,'" O'Neal said. "Usually, you might see moose up there, but I've never seen a bear."
"We originally heard about the bear at the top of the Schoolmarm beginner trail and raced down Silver Spoon to find the bear," Lynch told Storyful, according to ABC 7 NY. "We found the bear while he was walking through the trees of connecting runs to get to Montezuma lift. So, me and my friends went to the run that the bear was heading to next and waited for him to run out. When he did, I thankfully had my camera out."
Things like this can happen. Vail Resorts spokesperson Sara Lococo encouraged skiers to report any black bear sightings.
"When recreating outdoors and in the mountains, it is important to always be aware of surroundings, to respect wildlife and give them plenty of space by observing from a distance, and to never approach, chase or feed wildlife," Lococo said in the statement.
