{"id":137113,"date":"2025-05-27T23:08:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T23:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/137113\/"},"modified":"2025-05-27T23:08:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T23:08:08","slug":"mammoth-employee-captures-footage-of-bear-breaking-into-gondola-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/137113\/","title":{"rendered":"Mammoth Employee Captures Footage of Bear Breaking Into Gondola Station"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Photo: Vincent Valencia \/ Instagram<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Vincent Valencia has one of the most unique homes in the world.<\/strong> He\u2019s the sole resident at the top of Mammoth Mountain,<\/a> where he operates and cares for the Panorama Gondola. And in the two decades that Valencia has called the station home, last week was the first time he\u2019d ever had a specific midnight visitor inside the station. A brave bear paid him a visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the years I\u2019ve been living at the top, I haven\u2019t seen a bear in the building,\u201d he wrote on Instagram last week.\u201d(A) couple of weeks ago I chased Boo Boo out of the building. This Tuesday early morning around 3 a.m., (I) woke up to loud noises. Boo Boo was back on top of Mammoth Mountain\u2026.Now every night I\u2019m going to need to secure the building\u2026\u2026AWESOME!!!!\u2026..Y\u2019all STAY SAFE.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s surprising at first to learn that Valencia\u2019s never had a bear find its way into the gondola station. He\u2019s lived up there through 160 mph winds, 700-plus inches of snowfall in a season, and plenty more since he moved there in the early 2000s. But black bears are typically found between 3,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level in the Sierra. It\u2019s rare to find them above 9,000 feet, and Valencia\u2019s station at the top of Mammoth sits well above that at 11,000 feet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need to make sure that what elements I\u2019m in, I\u2019m sure I\u2019m safe,\u201d he said back in 2023.<\/a> \u201cbecause, well, things will get bad fast. If something does happen, you knock yourself out, you cut yourself, you break a bone, no one\u2019s coming up to save you.\u201d<\/p>\n