A bear and snowboarder appeared to be on a collision course on the slopes of Heavenly ski resort on Sunday until evasive action was taken.
Ekalak Lakshana was snowboarding in front of his friend taking video footage when the running bear appeared on the slope. Lakshana kept the camera focused on the bear and captured the moment of the close encounter his friend, Hunter Martinez, experienced.
Seeing the approaching bear, Martinez appeared to have slammed on the brakes. The bear looked as if it went behind the snowboard as they came together and disappeared in a cloud of snow.
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If there was a collision, it was a minor one, with Martinez quickly popping up and continuing his ride, and the bear running off. As it was, Martinez barely avoided a catastrophic collision.
Lakshana posted video of the encounter on his Instagram page. (Note: On some servers, you might have to click the link to view.)
“When I saw the bear coming at me, all I could think was, ‘Today is not the day—you’re not catching me,” Lakshana told Snowboarder magazine. “I’ve seen bears near the slopes before, but never one running right in the middle like this.”
As for Martinez, he rode past Lakshana and gave him a fist pump. “So all ended well,” Lakshana told Snowboarder.
