Skiing / Bob Lochner : Season Warms Up--That’s a Problem
The current spell of stormy weather has done more harm than good to skiing in the local high country. It’s just too warm, with the snow level at 12,000 feet or so--well above the ski slopes.
Only 3 of 10 resorts in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains were operating earlier this week, and all three closed Wednesday because of the rain.
They will try to reopen today, assuming the snowpack hasn’t been washed away. As of Tuesday, Snow Summit was reporting an 8- to 36-inch base, Mountain High a 12- to 24-inch base and Goldmine a 12- to 18-inch base. The warm temperatures have also put a damper on snowmaking, so there’s not much help there, either.
A combination of rain and last-minute confusion caused Snow Summit to cancel last weekend’s Winterfest, which included a Peugeot Grand Prix men’s pro ski tour event. And now, the unstable weather has also pushed back this weekend’s Women’s Pro Ski Racing competition until March 15-16.
The High Sierra is painted white on white since a siege of alternating snow and rain that will probably continue into the weekend.
The net result of all this meteorological activity has been to add several feet to the snowpack, especially at higher elevations. Mammoth Mountain, for example, reported 196 to 202 inches on its runs Wednesday.
Ski areas near Lake Tahoe are also smothered with snow, but the problem is getting there. Slides, avalanches and flooding have created closures--some temporary, some not so temporary--on just about every highway into the basin. Accompanying high winds have curtailed lift operations at several resorts.
This weekend’s main event, the John Denver Pro-Celebrity races at Heavenly Valley, is still set to go on schedule, however. Racing will start at 12:30 p.m. Saturday and at 10 a.m. Sunday.
Skiing Notes The men on the World Cup circuit will return to action this weekend, competing in a downhill and a slalom at Are, Sweden, then moving to Lillehammer, Norway, for a slalom next Tuesday. The women are off until March 1-2, when they will go in a downhill and parallel race at Furano, Japan. . . . The Peugeot Grand Prix men’s pro ski tour will be at ParkWest, Utah, Thursday through Sunday. . . . More than 50 ski clubs are expected to enter the Far West regional Grand Marnier Ski Club Challenge Saturday and Sunday at Mammoth Mountain. The winning team meets five other regional champions in the national finals at Alpine Meadows in April. . . . Sierra Helicopter Ski plans to begin operations out of Squaw Valley this weekend.