Bear Rescues self from hole on 911

Earlier this month I was doing some laps on the north facing aspects of Mazama Bowl.
As I started climbing out from the bottom I was practicing my marmot whistles until I noticed the bear over on 911 (the south facing aspect of the bowl). Then for some reason it didn't seem to be the right time to practice marmot whistles.
As I watched him rooting around as I skinned up the gut of the bowl (s)he slid down the snow dragging his rear end an slid right into a hole in the snow. It was interesting to watch the self-extrication. Pics are pretty grainy but is felt good to be far enough away (and cross wind) to need 16x zoom to get any shots.

Great observation! 9-1-1 is a favorite haunt of bears, especially a mother bear; we've watched her with up to 3 cubs; I once found tracks of a female and two cubs chasing a mountain goat along the ridge above 9-1-1 then across the Paradise River and up Edith Ridge; a couple of weeks ago a bear followed my ski tracks from the memorial to the Paradise River then ran away when it saw me coming down Edith Ridge

naw! the bear was practicing crevasse rescue.

Nice photos, Ron.

Bears are factory-equipped with their own crampons and ice tools. They do not front-point and they need no Whippets. What's more, I've seen cubs sliding down snowbanks having as much fun as your average telemarker (which is to say twice as much as most AT skiers). I try to offer them first tracks, and I try very hard not to poach.

Mark

...What's more, I've seen cubs sliding down snowbanks having as much fun as your average telemarker (which is to say twice as much as most AT skiers).  ...
Mark 

Bear did good getting out of hole, but we watched these goats for awhile yesterday on the Paradise Gl, and they had their hooves locked down, so they never slid into a hole. The kids had great fun sliding and bounding around.

Ron, are you sure he didn't purposefully enter that hole to take a sh*t? Looking for a little privacy from the ronster and his 16x zoom...