California skiers had an ‘unBEARlievably’ close call when a massive black bear unexpectedly stormed across a busy ski run in Lake Tahoe on Sunday. The wild moment was captured by Tao Feng, who nearly collided with the bear while skiing down a trail at Heavenly Mountain Resort at around 11am Sunday.
In the video, a large bear can be seen emerging from the woods and pausing at one side of the slope. It then suddenly sprints across the trail towards the woods on the opposite side – leaving scores of startled skiers in his wake.
The video, shared on TikTok Monday, has since been viewed more than 800,000 times and received thousands of shares. As skiers casually navigated the run, a large black bear emerged from the woods at around 11am. It then charged towards the opposite woods after making a brief pause at one side of the trail. A few skiers turned back when they realized it was a bear but did not lose speed as they swiftly passed the massive animal. Fortunately, no one collided with the bear or was harmed during this unexpected encounter.
Feng told KTLA that he felt better when the bear eventually reunited with its mother on the other side of the trail. ‘Didn’t realize it was a bear until it was too close,’ he wrote along with the video he posted on social media.
The population of black bears in California is estimated to be between 30,000 and 40,000 bears, according to the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife. Although bears can be unpredictable, encounters that result in human injury are very rare in the state, authorities said.
The video elicited excited reactions from social media users, as one jokingly wrote: ‘bearly made it!’
‘I’ve watched this many times…that bear was waiting to cross! How was everyone casually skiing by?!’ another user asked. Feng responded by saying: ‘I was honestly afraid it would attack me if I stopped too close. All I could think of was to get away fast, I bet the bear thought so too, and we both underestimated the other’s speed.’
Another person wrote: ‘I could BEARly watch. I was afraid of a GRIZZLY outcome or PANDAmonium, but it turned out to be the POLAR opposite, a KODIAK moment!’
One commenter remarked, ‘Poor bear, he was like y’all are fast and scary and I just need to cross over real quick.’
Encounters between humans and bears in California are not unheard of, but incidents resulting in injuries are rare. Sunday’s close call serves as a reminder of the importance of respecting wildlife and maintaining a safe distance.
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