Bear Valley Cross Country & Adventure Company

If you are a cross country skier, skater or snow shoe fan come here for miles and miles of beautifully groomed trails. The terrain is varied from beginner to advanced and it’s spectacular. We come up from San Mateo and it takes about three hours door to door. None of that crazy Tahoe traffic! As you arrive at the Bear Valley village pull into the small parking lot on the left with the gas pump and go inside the shop to buy a trail pass, rent equipment if needed, etc. The cross country area is a short walk across the highway and once you take off skiing you’ll feel miles away from civilization. If you have kids and want a fun and easy sledding spot they have that too (sleds and tubes for rent). This is a great option if you have downhill skiers but need another option for non-​skiers. Have fun!

(This is for the sledding section and the great staff behind the counter) Came up for a last minute day trip mid week and happened to not go to the rental place we were going to get gear from and came upon this location. The weather was perfect and the snow looked fantastic. So, we sheepishly asked if they did rentals (like I said it was last minute. I didn’t plan anything for this jaunt) and the girl was totally helpful in setting us up for our adventure. As was the older gentleman who walked us across the street. We had two sleds for $ 24 total. We walked across highway 4 and he let the boys pick their colors of the sled and we were on our way. Like others have said its 3 – 4 small groomed runs but they were perfect for us. Way better than the abused Snow Park lot we checked out on the way back home. We got there and we were the only ones and after a while another family joined us. But for the most part we were on our own. (Again: Remember this was a mid week trip). It was beautiful and well maintained. We would absolutely come back. Just not on a weekend. I bet it gets crazy up there. Next time maybe we will do some lessons and who knows what.

Perfect 1^st time snow destination.
Our 7year old was ready for his snow intro. We decided to start slow with a day trip.
Plenty of parking close to the main building at 10am-​ish, were told to cross the road to a small building adjacent to the meadow. Very reasonable rates for a plastic sled rental. We spent the morning/​early afternoon sliding down small hills and exploring the wooded area. It had become busy by 1:00pm, but still plenty of room for everyone. We’ll be back for more relaxed snow play. Thanks BVCC&AC!

Great skiing. The owner, Paul, can be a real jerk, but I guess you take what you can get. Our daughter took lessons from two different instructors and they were both great. It’d totally be 5 stars if it weren’t for a single bad experience with the owner

We had an amazing time XC skiing at Bear Valley! The staff was friendly and the tracks were well groomed. My husband and I opted for a beginner’s lesson since we were newbies and had Paul as our instructor. He was FANTASTIC! We thoroughly enjoyed our first XC skiing experience and hope to be back on the trails again soon.

Took my family for a short winter vacation a few weeks ago, Jan 25, and we all had a blast. Great friendly service. Was able to to purchase a snow park permit and other last minute items here. Bear Valley has tons of snow with not too much traffic during the weekdays!

Excellent service, affordable rates, short walk to trails and beautiful scenery. What more could you want?

Primarily a snow gear rental place, with skis, lessons, snow shoes, and trail passes. They also have a shop with anything you may have forgotten (hats, gloves, boots, etc.) and a small restaurant area with craft beer.
Staff are friendly and helpful: we came in fairly close to closing and they were happy to help us make alternate plans and suggest other ski areas, without gouging our wallets or suggesting unnecessary expenses.

Great cross country skiing! Perfect afternoon on the groomed trails yesterday before the big storm. Love this place; people are great, super service, and wonderful for families and those that ski on their own (while the kids are doing the awesome downhill). Three hours door to door from San Mateo; you just cannot beat a better deal and absolutely beautiful area!

Had an excellent experience at Bear Valley XC. The staff was very helpful and welcoming. Definitely knowledgeable in all activities at Bear Valley, stopped by to get some questions answered and they went out of their way to help us. Would come back here every time, definitely recommend stopping by.

The staff in this store are very helpful. One staff member kindly gave me coffee filters to last a couple days since I could not any for sale in Bear Valley.
We enjoyed 2 days of tubing on their property. They managed to keep this going in spite of the lack of much snow.
They also have cross country skiing, rental and ski gear for sale. The prices are very reasonable.
Kids loved it. Also enjoyed playing with other families with young children.

Highly recommended. Fantastic service, friendly and knowledgeable staff. In winter there are beautifully groomed cross-​country ski trails with a good variety of terrain from beginner through expert, high-​quality gear rentals, and highly qualified instructors for those who want lessons. Haven’t done the sledding or tubing hill, but the kids seem to be having a great time. Summer, equipment rentals and excellent recommendations for stand-​up paddleboarding, kayaking and mountain biking spots.
And the area around Bear Valley is always a gorgeous place to enjoy recreation of all kinds.

Definitely nice and helpful staff. Rented Kayaks for a week. Came with all the extra bits! Life vests, oars, foam pads for top of the car and tie downs at no extra cost! They even helped us load them. The store had clean bathrooms! Score! A few cute Bear Valley items, but mostly filled with things that you may have forgotten on your trip. Very useful! Past the bathrooms on the right was almost a convenience store area with a staff break room feel with a microwave for quick food and freezer full of its it’s and other frozen treats. Yes, they do have bags of marshmallows and a gopro. Depends on your spending allowance. :-)

This review is for the Sledding and Tubing experience here. Didn’t try XC.
My wife and I borrowed a friends cabin in Arnold for a few days and wanted something fun for our 3 year-​old to do. There was no snow anywhere near Arnold, so we decided to head up the hill to Bear Valley. The ski resort doesn’t do sledding and my daughter was too young for skiing, but the resort sent me down the hill to this place.
The sledding and tubing hills are located in the middle of a nice sized cross country skiing park, you pay at the gas station and grab a sled. It was about $ 20 for the three of us and two sleds. We were directed to cross the highway and follow the sled markers to a pretty modest hill. There are what looked like 4 «runs» each with a slightly different slope, but all were combed and had a walking path between them to climb to the top.
There is no «lifts» you climb up and sled down.
My daughter loved going down, but didn’t really care to climb back up. (not a surprise) After a about a dozen runs I got tired and my daughter got a bit annoyed with the cold, so after a little over a hour we called it quits.
Was it worth it? I didn’t mind the cost, and since the runs were completely empty we didn’t have to deal with crowds or waiting. I can imagine if this place was busy my enjoyment of the experience would’ve been lessened. But it was quite beautiful and we had a lot of fun.
The young ladies at the gas station were pleasant and friendly.
Bottom line is I don’t know if I would come here again, but I’m definitely not sorry that I came here today.

My husband, 20 month old daughter, and I went to Bear Valley XC to get a cross country skiing lesson. We wanted to try XC skiing and hoped it was something we could do with our daughter since downhill skiing and snowboarding was out of the question. We called a few days ahead of time to schedule the lesson and were told no reservations were required and to be there by 10am there would be plenty of room for us. We were disappointed when we got there at 10am and were told that the ski lesson was full that morning. The owner, Paul, offered to take us out for an hour and we happily accepted. Paul was extremely friendly and helpful. He had us both skiing within an hour and loaned us a toddler sled for towing our daughter for free for the day. We had a wonderful time and have found a new sport that we can do with our daughter– thanks to Paul going out of his way to make sure we had a pleasurable experience. There were plenty of beginner trails to keep us busy all day. Trails were well maintained and not over crowded (it was a Friday) Atmosphere was very family friendly. The people at the Café and rental shop were inviting and helpful as well. We will definitely go back and will be getting a season pass next year. I also look forward to taking friends here for skiing and sledding (the sledding hill looked super fun) and checking out their Fat bikes when we have a baby sitter. This summer we will use them for our Kayak and mountain bike rental needs. So glad we have have this place close by.

Went XC skiing with the family and had a great time. Folks at the shop were super nice and really informative. Trails were nicely groomed and well maintained. It was very cool going through the woods and by several really pretty streams. Was the end of the season so not crowded at all. We’ll be back next year.

As this is my first experience with XC skiing on groomed trails, you may want to take my review with a grain of salt — in fact, I’m withholding a star because of this and hope to re-​review later this winter.
The old saying is that «Adventures are more fun after you’re done then while you are doing them» — pretty much holds true! After two days of skiing, I got to try out the groomed XC trails at Bear Valley — it was a bit crowded on the Monday after the Christmas holiday, but the setting was just lovely and I felt like I was in a Disney ride. The trees were all covered in snow, it was really pretty fun except for all the falling down on the (probably very tiny) down hills. I managed to stay up most of the time — chanting my new mantra of «I’MNOTFALLING, I’MNOTFALLING, I’MNOTFALLING, I’MNOTFALLING.»
The folks at Bear Valley Cross Country are really all super nice — the place is quite well maintained and it was overall a tremendously positive experience.