Welcome to Pinecone Therapy......

The mountain retreat for the Rio family. We are located in Big Bear Lake, California. Lou and Linda Rio are the head of the family and take great pride in maintaining this cabin and this web site. We hope that you enjoy viewing our photos and sharing in the fun that we all have up here. For those of you who are not familiar with Big Bear Lake here is a little history

Big Bear Lake is eight miles long and approximately one mile across at its widest point. It has about 23 miles of shoreline and is located at an elevation of 6,743.20 feet. The present dam, built in 1912, replaced the original dam, which was built in 1884. The new dam impounds more than 73,000 acre-feet of water with a height of 72’4”. The Lake is not a source of water for the local water supply. The only water taken locally is by the two ski resorts for making artificial snow. They may each purchase up to 500-acre ft. per ski season. The Municipal Water District manages the lake. Private homes, several marinas, public parks and some hotels and lodges surround the south side of the lake.

In 1929 the first ski jump in the mountains was built in Big Pines near Wrightwood, where a world ski jumping record was set. Later, similar big jumps were built in Big Bear Lake . In the early 1930's, the Viking Ski Club of Los Angeles provided instruction and started holding competitive, winter sports events in Big Bear. Downhill skiing was gaining in popularity and in 1934 a sling lift was constructed at Fish Camp (the present Snow Valley). The historic Lynn Sling Lift opened in Big Bear in 1938; it was located in the Snow Forest Ski Resort. After World War 11, owner Clifford Lynn built a 3000 foot single chair lift. The Snow Forrest Ski Resort closed several years ago. During the 1940's and early 50's several small rope tows were constructed, including an Upper and Lower Moonridge Rope Tow, located where the base of Bear Mountain Ski Area is today. It was during the 50's that Big Bear changed from a summer resort into a four season resort, thanks to the blossoming ski industry. In 1947 Tommy Tyndall, a young man with an impressive skiing background, arrived in Big Bear and started ski schools at several of the ski areas. He founded the Big Bear Winter Club, and held the first Snow Carnival competition in 1949. Tommy looked for a location, where he could open a ski resort that could be improved and expanded; he found the perfect area just east of the Village, in Big Bear Lake - this would become Snow Summit. In 1952 Tommy created the Snow Summit Ski Corporation with financial assistance from his many friends and local investors. He built a mile-long double chairlift which reached the top of the mountain. This was the largest ski development in the San Bernardino Mountains , and Snow Summit became Southern California 's premier ski resort.

After an excellent snow season in 1969, Snow Summit was able to add a second chair lift. The Moonridge area was purchased by several former Snow Summit ski instructors including Fred Goldsmith and Bill Strickland, they changed the name to “Goldmine” and installed a mile long chairlift to the top of the mountain. The next few years saw very little snow and at the end of 1972 Goldmine went into receivership. Snow Forest closed in 1973 and remained closed during the balance of the 1970's, and Rebel Ridge ended operations. The winter of 1972-73 was a good snow year and Snow Summit far exceeded any previous record and Goldmine was able to recover from receivership. The sport of skiing grew rapidly during the 1970's and the winter economy in the Big Bear Valley became more important that the summer season. Today Big Bear Lake is generally thought of as a “ski town”. By 1980, Goldmine under the leadership of Joe Shuff, had three chair lifts and an expanded snow making system. Snow Forest had been purchased by Bob Boothe, and he replaced the original single chair lynn Lift with a new triple chair lift, improved the runs and other facilities. In 1988, Goldmine was purchased by the S-K-I Ltd., a public corporation owning two large and successful ski areas in Vermont and the area was renamed “Bear Mountain”. Subsequently, millions of dollars were invested in major overall improvements, including the first high-speed chairlift in Big Bear Lake . Later a high-speed chairlift was installed at Snow Summit. The Snow Forest Ski Area closed permanently in the early 1990's and the facilities were removed