RECREATION / STEVE HENSON : Southland Skiers Already Have It Homemade Early in Season

Winter, ever elusive in Southern California, is on sale at nearby ski slopes.

The pitch: Low prices, easy access, manageable crowds and enough snow. Not to mention--cross your fingers--clear blue skies.

Much of the snow is man-made because the local ski resorts turn on the snow-making machines full blast as soon as the temperature drops to freezing.

Hail Mountain High, which has opened ski season with something of a 100-snowgun salute.

About six inches of fresh man-made snow has been blown on top of the real stuff for a powder pack of 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 feet on the upper mountain. About 500 skiers on weekends and 200 on weekdays have visited Mountain High, near Wrightwood in the Angeles Crest Forest.

The numbers will increase along with the snowfall, but the first real crunch will occur over the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend.

“The number of people on weekends should go up steadily and then there is a real surge around Christmas vacation,” said Tracy Henry of Mountain High.

Also due to increase are prices, which are currently at off-season levels. Tickets per day for adults are $29.75, $15 for children. Adult tickets drop to $25 after 1 p.m. and there is night skiing for $21.75.

Five runs on the upper mountain are open but the lower mountain probably won’t open until mid-December.

“We’ll have enough skiers for that area when schools let out (for winter break),” said Henry, who added that preseason prices will remain in effect for at least another week. Regular prices will be about $40 a day for adults.

Also open are the three resorts near Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains--Bear Mountain, Snow Summit and Snow Valley. All three have about a two-foot base of machine-groomed hard-packed powder that includes about eight inches of natural snow.

Bear Mountain opened Nov. 4, the first Southern California resort to open, and has been making snow for three weeks.

“We have excellent conditions for this time of year and have had good interest so far,” said Polly Lieberman of Bear Mountain.

The good news from Snow Valley is that Slide Peak, the area’s most popular run, is open.

The bad news is that regular rates have been implemented, meaning that a day of skiing costs $39 for adults and $22 for children over age 12.

The same is true for Bear Mountain, where the rates are $38 for adults and $21 for children over 12.

Preseason rates will be in effect through this weekend but could go up any time at Snow Summit. Ten chairlifts are operating, including the new high-speed quad chair, which was christened one morning last week.

“A little champagne at 8 a.m. never hurt anybody,” said Bonnie Tregaskis at Snow Summit.

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That’s the ticket: How does bypassing those lengthy lift-ticket lines and heading directly to the chair sound?

Bear Mountain is utilizing a system developed by Ticketmaster called “Permanent Ticket,” a reusable plastic card similar to an ATM card. It is worn like a lift ticket and is activated by making a telephone reservation with a credit card.

The card, issued free to skiers, includes a personal identification number and an electronic bar code that is scanned with a hand-held computer by chairlift operators.

Snow Summit has a deal with RealTime, which has made lift tickets available for purchase at 21 Southern California sporting goods stores--including Sport Chalet, Chick’s Sporting Goods and Newport Ski Co.

The system involves the use of ATM-like kiosks from which lift tickets are obtained via credit card with the touch of a few buttons. RealTime’s system also will be in use at several Lake Tahoe-area resorts, as well as in areas in Utah, Colorado and the Northeast.

Available exclusively at Snow Valley is a system called “Park-and-Ski.” Skiers can purchase lift tickets over the counter at more than 100 Southern California sporting goods stores--including Big 5, Oshman’s and Newport Ski Co.

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Ski reading: Exasperated by brochures that make every ski resort sound perfect for everyone? A set of books published by World Leisure Corp. aims to separate the truth from the snow jobs.

Skiing America and Ski Europe are the nation’s best-selling ski guidebooks. The 1995 editions includes prices, ski school programs and day care at all major and most smaller resorts.

A third book written by the same author, Charles Leocha, is WomenSki.

“This book empowers women to embrace the sport and enjoy it,” Leocha said. “Women need to be comfortable skiing their own way, without intimidation.”

The books take no advertising and do not shy away from criticism.

Information: 800-444-2524.

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Giving youth a lift: November skiers are early starters, but for a really early starter, look up the slope and find Matthew Miller, a 9-year-old from Thousand Oaks.

Miller finished ninth in the state in the National Standard Race (NASTAR) in the 1993-94 season, making him one of the fastest ski racers in the nation for his age.

NASTAR ranks the top recreational racers nationally and in all 50 states by timing them on a modified slalom course. Each racer is given a handicap.

About 250,000 people raced NASTAR last ski season.