A California snowboarder’s thrilling encounter with a black bear on the slopes of Lake Tahoe’s Heavenly Mountain Resort has captured widespread attention. Danielle Brill, visiting the resort with her family on January 12, recorded the heart-stopping moment when a bear crossed paths with a skier on the Mombo run.
Brill, a Sacramento native, quickly grabbed her phone to document the scene as the skier managed to avoid the bear. The animal then dashed across the snowy slope and headed towards a tree.
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“It was adrenaline,” Brill told ABC7 News. “I think he got spooked and started running full force. He just wanted to get out of there, and I’m glad I wasn’t in the line of full-force running.”
In another clip, the bear is seen fleeing as a curious skier approaches for a closer look. “When the guy spooked him, the bear started running towards me in the 23-second video,” Brill recounted to SFGate. “That was scary, and I wanted to get away as quickly as possible.”
Despite the tense situation, Brill described the bear as “very gentle” and found the encounter “exciting.” She wisely maintained a safe distance from the bear, an action praised by BEAR League executive director Ann Bryant.
“Bears have a boundary line they’re comfortable with you being at. When that man was coming up behind him, that was it – he had to get out of there,” Bryant explained.
Footage of the incident, posted to X (formerly Twitter), sparked a wave of criticism towards the skier who tried to get closer to the bear. “Poor bear,” one viewer commented. Another questioned, “Why would someone try to get close to a bear? So dumb?” To which another replied, “Probably to take a selfie.”
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