Great Bear Recreation Park

Great Bear Recreation Park, more commonly referred to as Great Bear, is a small ski hill in the northeastern section of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in the United States. It is owned by the city of Sioux Falls, and co-managed by Great Bear Recreation Park Inc.HistoryGreat Bear Ski Area was established in 1963 by Dennis Finke and Jerry Dirks. Great Bear started out as an old gravel pit with one rope tow and two runs. One longer run to the left of the rope tow and one shorter run to the right. Dennis and Jerry built the first chalet at the ski area. In the early days Great Bear was open Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday expanding hours in the 1970s to everyday. By the early 1970s Great Bear had expanded to three rope tows and seven runs. Great Bear began expanding into a year-round recreation park in the summer of 1998. The renovation of the Chalet at Great Bear was completed December 2001 and offers a wonderful 270-degree panoramic view of the surrounding area. The 2002 completion of the Ralph and Doris Wallin Nature Trail System marked the completion of the Great Bear Expansion Project and officially opened the park to four-season use.FacilitiesThe ski hill has 12 runs with 3 lifts . It also has a Terrain park. The tubing hill has 4 runs with one lift, a handle tow. Both the ski and tubing hills have snowmaking. Mountain biking is not allowed on the trails in the summer.