SKIING / BOB LOCHNER : Better Late Than Never, Snow Falls on California Resorts

It’s only about three months late, but a full-fledged ski season seems to have arrived in California.

The first of an anticipated series of storms dumped up to two feet of snow on Southland ski areas and at least half that amount on High Sierra resorts from Mammoth Mountain to Lake Tahoe by late Thursday. For skiers, limited mainly to slopes covered by man-made snow or diverted to Utah and Colorado in search of powder, it’s about time.

At Big Bear, Snow Summit and Bear Mountain, which have enjoyed a fairly successful winter because of their extensive snow-making systems, the natural stuff is simply frosting on the cake. Nearby Snow Valley, closed Thursday because of the blustery weather, said it will reopen today and may be able to permit skiing on its advanced Slide Peak runs by Saturday.

Ski Sunrise plans to operate for the first time Saturday, joining its Wrightwood neighbor, Mountain High, and Mt. Baldy advised that it has enough snow to open the entire mountain today.

Mammoth, which was limping along on a limited basis since late November, reported eight to 12 inches of new snow by mid-afternoon, and it was still coming down.

“The forecast calls for another storm to hit late (today) and continue into Saturday, with another one due by Monday or Tuesday,” Mammoth spokeswoman Pam Murphy said. “It looks like we’re finally making a dent in the drought, at least as far as skiing is concerned.

“We’re out on snowmobiles now, evaluating which lifts and runs to add for this weekend.”

The snow is arriving just in time for the North Tahoe Snowfest Winter Carnival, which begins a 10-day stand today at Tahoe City, Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley. Until the weather changed, it figured to be a summer carnival.

Steve Kanaly, better known as Ray Krebbs on “Dallas,” will preside over his eighth annual Invitational Celebrity ski race, benefiting the March of Dimes, Sunday at Bear Mountain.

Larry Hagman, David Soul and Britt Ekland will be among the 65 movie, TV and radio personalities who will race against one another and patrons--who contribute $250 apiece--in a head-to-head, dual giant slalom format.

The festivities begin Saturday night with a dinner-auction-gala at the Big Bear Lake Convention Center. Tickets are still available, as are places for patron racers.

Skiing Notes

The men on the Alpine World Cup circuit will race in a slalom and giant slalom today and Saturday at Lillehammer, Norway, site of the 1994 Olympic Winter Games. . . . At Oppdal, Norway, last Tuesday, Rudi Nierlich of Austria won a makeup slalom, as Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg finished third to increase his leading overall point total to 191. Downhill specialist Franz Heinzer of Switzerland is second with 129, followed by Alberto Tomba of Italy with 117 and Ole Christian Furuseth of Norway with 112. Both Tomba and Furuseth missed gates in the first run and were disqualified.

Edith Thys of Squaw Valley placed second in a World Cup super-G race last Sunday at Furano, Japan, only 0.35 of a second behind Carole Merle of France. Despite her victory, Merle still trails defending champion Petra Kronberger of Austria in the women’s overall standings. Kronberger, who failed to finish the super-G after coming in seventh behind teammate Anja Haas in the previous day’s downhill, has 285 points to Merle’s 173. . . . The women remain in Japan this weekend for another downhill and super-G at Morioka-Shizukuishi, site of the 1993 World Alpine Ski Championships.

The men’s giant slalom in the U.S. Alpine Championships, which was called off because of a snowstorm at Crested Butte, Colo., on Feb. 17, has been rescheduled for Stowe, Vt., on March 27. Slalom winner Joe Levins of White Bear Lake, Minn., leads in the men’s combined with a low total of 47.86 race points to 64.14 for runner-up Kyle Wieche of Killington, Vt. . . . Wendy Fisher of Incline Village, Nev., won the women’s combined. . . . The other U.S. champions: A.J. Kitt of Rochester, N.Y., in the men’s downhill and super-G; Eva Twardokens of Santa Cruz in the women’s slalom and giant slalom; Megan Garety of Sun Valley, Ida., in the women’s downhill, and Julie Parisien of Auburn, Me., in the women’s super-G.

After taking the first three gold medals in the recent World Freestyle Skiing Championships at Lake Placid, N.Y.--by Ellen Breen of West Hills, Calif., and Lane Spina of Reno in ballet and Donna Weinbrecht of West Milford, N.J., in the women’s mogul competition--U.S. skiers had to settle for lesser results in the remaining events. Chuck Martin of Killington, Vt., finished third behind winner Edgar Grospiron of France in the men’s moguls; Dave Valenti of Bellevue, Wash., was third in the men’s aerials behind winner Philipe LaRoche of Canada, and Kristean Porter of Greenland, N.H., who was the top American woman aerialist in ninth place behind winner Vasilisa Sementchuk of the Soviet Union, also took a bronze medal in the combined behind champion Maja Schmid of Switzerland. . . . Soviet Sergej Shupletsov won the men’s combined. . . . Jan Bucher of Salt Lake City gave the U.S. team its seventh medal--a silver in the women’s ballet. . . . Under present plans, only the moguls will be an official Olympic event in the 1992 Winter Games at Albertville, France.

ESPN will show taped highlights of a recent World Cup freestyle meet at Breckenridge, Colo., today at 5 p.m. . . . Christin Cooper, silver medalist in the 1984 Olympic women’s slalom, will be the commentator on Channel 7’s telecast rounding up the U.S. Alpine Championships Saturday at 2 p.m. . . . The NCAA Ski Championships opened a four-day run at Park City, Utah, Wednesday when Toni Standteiner of Squaw Valley won the men’s giant slalom for Colorado. Keri Schlopy of Vermont took the women’s giant slalom. . . . The U.S. Pro Tour stops this weekend at Stowe, Vt., with Bernhard Knauss of Austria still setting the pace, after a pair of second-place finishes at Beaver Creek, Colo., where he lost to Ove Nygren of Norway in last Friday’s giant slalom final and to Phil Mahre of Yakima, Wash., the following day in the giant slalom final.

Snow Summit will play host to the Jose Cuervo Games of Winter Saturday. . . . Corporate teams will compete in the Ford Ski Classic’s regional qualifier today through Sunday at Squaw Valley. The Hertz National Championships are April 11-14 at Snowbird, Utah. . . . Far West qualifying for the national Grand Marnier Chefs Ski Race April 3-7 at Sun Valley, Ida., will be held Sunday at Heavenly Valley.