Icey wipeouts, punk rock and '80s attire set the tone for Big Bear Break 2024

Bear Mountain, Big Bear celebrated its annual Bear Break party last weekend with a retro gear fashion show, a pond skim contest, bands, and DJ sets.

Hundreds if not thousands of people laced up their ski boots, packed their polarized goggles, and headed to the freshly powdered mountain to commemorate the end of spring break.

The event is "SoCal's most bodacious springtime bash," according to the official website, and the day's festivities kicked off with a retro gear fashion show and competition.

Pastel garb from the '80s was dusted off from the attic for its once-a-year debut on Bear Mountain. Flare pants, sequins, faux afros, and leotards were also in abundance on the Bear Mountain stage, but a rainbow get-up and red disco suit took the top prizes.

Runners-up still received their due praise as they face planted into the frozen pond waters during the chaos of the second event, the pond skim.

The pond skim debacle

Pond skimming emerged in the ski world in 1992 as a way for boarders to take their show-off skills to the next level. Birthed in Lake Tahoe, Northern California, the pond skim gives skiers and snowboarders equal potential for "valor and humiliation" as they balance the terrain transition from solid powder to unstable water, according to SKI Magazine.

One hundred registered boarders dressed in a litany of costumes, from 1980s Hulk Hogan to Saved by the Bell Zach Morris, signed up for the highlight event. They hoped to make it down the 45-50-degree slope and across the 80 feet of freezing pond water while somehow managing to stay dry.

Four season pass prizes would be awarded to contestants with the best skim, wipeout, overall performance, and the best "grom," snowboard lingo for child boarders.

And, as if the competition wasn't hard enough, the pond had been frozen for three days, stepping up the severity of the chilled water. Bear Mountain employees hurried to fish out three inches of ice from the previous night's storm before the starters' mark.

The competition was off to a hopeful start, with the first four shredders cleverly skimming the entire length of the pond. Board switches on the descent and front flips out of the water had the crowd convinced that they were at a professional competition laced with skill and size. The fifth competitor, however, reassured the crowd that the wipeouts were plenty stocked up.

Epic fails

Jeans were completely soaked as the first failed skimmer's board sliced through the water like a razor-sharp paper cut and nailed the nearby crowd with a below-freezing wave.

Batman, a businessman on the phone, a group of shirtless men, a young cowboy, and many other park rats kept the competition interesting by maintaining the tradition of legendary wipeouts throughout the hour of unlimited runs.

A self-proclaimed banana man was a fail favorite, although his "costume" looked more like he was a fan of yellow and less like a carb-loaded fruit. "Every year that guy is here, and every year I gotta grab him out of the pond," mumbled a Bear Mountain Rescue employee before he fished a struggling banana man out of the glacial waters.

Other notable wipeouts included a groovy snowboarder in a red Adidas tracksuit and afro wig who face-planted every attempt he made. A workout Barbie eventually won the trophy for best wipeout with a near "scorpion" land where the legs fly over the back of the head to resemble the invertebrate.

One hour wasn't enough for either the skiers or the wipeout-frenzy crowd. One skier got ejected from his skis as his body flew onto the solid powder, but his skis stayed behind in the pond, and the crowd went wild.

Three or four little kids, or groms, attempted the Evel Knievel stunt on water but to no avail.

"If only you had 10 more pounds on you," announced Clayton Shoemaker, the event's voice, as a grom experienced a slow-motion defeat and sank upright due to losing momentum.

One daring boarder, Mark Angler, a hula skirt and coconut bra contestant, even shredded down the mountain on a board sans grip tape. Shoemaker promised the pretend Hawaiian $1,000 cash if he made it to the other side dry.

Angler made it to the other side. The daring attempt caught the eye of the judges and landed Angler the best overall performance trophy and a free 2024-2025 season pass.

Rock on: Bear Mountain music

Music echoed off the ski slopes as Orange County punk band D.I. set the tone for the afternoon of live music at Bear Break. The politically charged local SoCal band included songs about anti-war, suicide prevention, and Second Amendment freedom in the setlist.

Festival attendees in ski regalia and '70s punk band t-shirts formed a small mosh pit, but they traded the pushing and punching for a tasteful circle of marching at the family event. "Be safe but have fun," announced Casey Royer to the small group, vocalist and songwriter for D.I.

The Dickies headlined Bear Break, an American punk band from San Fernando Valley that reached the height of their career in the late 1970s. A scant crowd of older fans handled the front row, Sex Pistols shirts on their backs and hands on the stage like they were preparing for a storm.

Vocalist Leonard Graves Phillips's gentle, aged voice was still very punk. Together with a younger backing band, The Dickies' energetic set pumped up boarders as they carved down the adjacent mountainside. Some non-skiers came to Bear Break solely for The Dickies, made apparent by the presence of patched leather jackets and thick, heavy piercings instead of ski bibs and poles.

Bear Break 2024 "went off," according to the mountain's official Instagram.

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Sol Cal spring breakers partied hard at annual Bear Break bash