Ski season in the northeast is wrapping up, so that means it’s turning into mud season. The bums are back and they’re talking about their mud season preparation plans.

Kona Brewing Company, HI

Remy Martin Cognac

Kelly Murphy was snowboarding in Japan’s Hakuba 47 Winter Sports Park near the city of Nagano when what is believed to have been an Asian black bear jumped out from behind the top of a mountain and began chasing her down the slope.

Murphy, humming Rihanna’s “Work,” was completely unaware throughout the experience as she filmed herself going down the mountain.

Many commenters online insisted that the video must be a fake, however bear sighting near the slope have been common in recent years.

Just when we thought Vail Resorts’ one-season, $50 million capital improvement in Park City was a lot of money, Whistler Blackcomb has announced a multi-year, $345 million plan to revitalize its mountain facilities. Get ready, because this just might be the biggest ski improvement plan ever.

Under the catchy name of Renaissance, the plan is the largest and most comprehensive plan in the ski resort’s history and (pending a series of approvals) will be rolled out in three stages. The first stage will invest around $100 million in creating “weather-independent, four-season attractions.” The second phase will invest $105-115 million in a new day lodge and snow school facility on Blackcomb mountain and some real estate development. The final phase will spend $140-150 million to transform the Blackcomb base area.

So what’s on tap?

An indoor water-recreation center built at the upper base on Blackcomb Mountain. Named Watershed, plans call for “waterslides and waves, rope swings and caves.” The building will also house a family entertainment center, food and beverage options, an eight-lane bowling alley, and a surf zone.

New on-mountain summer and winter attractions including a four-season mountain coaster, a ropes course, ATVs and snowmobiles for children, night skiing, a sightseeing suspension bridge connecting the peaks of Whistler Mountain, the expansion of the Whistler Mountain Bike Park at Creekside, and expanded hiking trails.

Revitalization of Blackcomb’s upper and lower bases, including two high-end real estate developments. One will be called the Blackc