Ready to Hit the Slopes, S.Falls? Great Bear Sets Its Opening Day

A favorite Sioux Falls pass time during the winter months is getting ready to open up for the season in a couple of weeks.

Great Bear Ski Resort near Brandon announced its targeted opening date late last week.

If Mother Nature cooperates by keeping a nip in the air, the snow on the ground, and the arctic winds at a bare minimum, Great Bear hopes to open its slopes to the skiers of the Sioux Empire on Thursday (December 22).

Get our free mobile app

Dakota News Now is reporting the gang at Great Bear has been busy making snow for several weeks, and the colder temps we've experienced lately are helping to make their targeted opening day look more and more like it will become a reality.

Great Bear General Manager, Dan Grider, told Dakota News Now, “What we are looking for is if we can get daytime highs in the upper teens, overnight lows in the single digits, with ‘not’ a 40 mph wind, we can make a lot of snow real fast. We have experienced a little of that in the last few days. We got the warm-up. It will be cold for the weekend. Next week looks really good. So as you can see we just start blowing piles of snow and then we can start pushing them out.”

Great Bear boasts some of the best skiing in South Dakota, this side of the Black Hills.

Great Bear Ski Sioux Falls via Facebook

Once the Bear does open for the 2022-2023 skiing and snowboarding season, their hours will be 3 to 9 PM Monday-Thursdays, Noon to 10 PM on Fridays, and 9 AM to 9 PM on Saturdays and Sundays.

Dakota News Now (with permission)

Great Bear Ski Resort is located at 5901 East Rice Street and offers downhill skiing, tubing, and a variety of cross-country trails for people of the Sioux Empire to ski and hike. Ski and snowboarding lessons are also available.

You can see all the different things Great Bear has to offer here.

Source: Dakota News Now

A Survival Guide For Your First Winter in South Dakota

Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and the rest of the Sioux Empire (AKA southeastern South Dakota) are welcoming thousands of new residents every year.

Many of you new folks will be experiencing your first eastern South Dakota winter. While it doesn't usually get as bad as our Dakota friends up north, I speak from experience when I say it can get a little rough.

MORE: What Every South Dakotan Should Be Doing to Prepare for Winter

So, to help ease you into winter in Sioux Falls and South Dakota here are some winter survival tips: