Skier Being Chased by Bear Pulls Off 'Pretty Cool Move'

Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see? In this case, what the brown bear saw was a skier trying to outmaneuver it down a ski slope in Romania. Per the New York Daily News, the frightening incident took place Saturday at the Predeal mountain resort, where an unlucky tourist apparently caught the animal's attention as he was making his run. Video taken by another visitor riding the ski lift shows the bear barreling after the skier, as the skier makes his way down the slope as fast as he can in a white-knuckle escape attempt. ABC News notes that bystanders tried to distract the bear by yelling and making other noises, but then the skier himself pulled off what another person at the resort called "a pretty cool move."

The skier threw off his backpack and the bear went after that instead (watch that part here), allowing the skier to escape. Workers warned other skiers about the bear, which had been seen throughout the day, and everyone vacated the area. A police spokesman, meanwhile, tells ABC that "the skier did the right thing," adding that they plan to "relocate" the bear, which is apparently one of quite a few lately that have been popping up near the Romanian ski slopes as climate change upends their hibernation cycle. The story seems so unbelievable that even Snopes jumped into action, but the fact-checking site indeed awarded the report a coveted "True," noting: "Let this put to rest the myth that bears can't run downhill." (More strange stuff stories.)