SKIING / BOB LOCHNER : No Need to Hike Far Pursuing Good Run

Skiers planning their holiday vacations probably should give first consideration to sticking close to home.

Although Colorado has long called itself “Ski Country USA,” that title could easily be usurped, for the present, by California, which currently offers the world’s best skiing.

For comparison’s sake, take Vail, which has 26 to 33 inches of snow and is 29% open, and stack it up against Mammoth Mountain, which boasts 66 to 90 inches and virtually all of its terrain available for skiing. Or weigh Snowmass, with 25 inches and 31% of its slopes adequately covered, against Squaw Valley’s wide-open 90 to 114-inch base, including five inches of new powder early this week.

Snowmass’ neighbor, Aspen Mountain, claims to be 82% open, but coverage is somewhat thin in spots, topping out at 28 inches. Nearby Aspen Highlands doesn’t even plan to start its season before Saturday.

Locally, temperatures have warmed a bit and an expected storm failed to provide any additional snow last weekend, but major resorts in both the San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountains continue to offer good skiing.

At Big Bear, Snow Summit’s Bonnie Tregaskis said: “We’re 90% open, which is pretty good for early December, and we’re making snow to add to our 16- to 36-inch base.”

There’s an added bonus for Southland skiers, according to Bear Mountain’s Julie Grant, who said: “The weather is beautiful--sunny, blue skies with only a few clouds--and there’s almost nobody in the lift lines.”

Also operating daily are Snow Valley, which has nine lifts running, and Mountain High, which has five lifts serving the west side and is planning to open its east side before the start of the Christmas-New Year’s holidays.

Ski Sunrise, down the road from Mountain High near Wrightwood, missed its targeted opening date last Friday, but General Manager Phil Edholm said: “We have at least six inches of snow and, with the help of another storm and some snowmaking, could begin operating by Dec. 17.”

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Skiers who find far-off places alluring can still choose from among a variety of western resorts, including Utah’s Park City/Deer Valley and Alta/Snowbird, where 50 to 60 inches of snow cover the slopes. Or somewhat closer, there’s Brian Head, a short drive past Las Vegas, where 100% of its runs are open on a 50-inch base.

In the Northwest, snow is also plentiful at Mt. Bachelor, Ore., Sun Valley, Ida., Jackson Hole, Wyo., Big Sky and The Big Mountain, Mont., and Whistler-Blackcomb, Canada. In the Southwest, Taos, N.M., is in midseason form.

As for Europe, forget it.

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World Cup organizers finally found enough snow for a couple of men’s races last weekend on the 8,500-foot-high glacier at Tignes, France, where Italy’s Alberto Tomba won Sunday’s slalom after finishing fourth behind Liechtenstein’s Achim Vogt in a giant slalom the day before.

This weekend’s scheduled events in Italy were moved to Tignes. A decision on a Dec. 13 race in Madonna di Campiglio, Italy, will be made today.

Tomba leads the standings with 150 points, 25 more than runner-up Michael Von Gruenigen of Switzerland, but he faces another test in trying to win the overall title because of his reluctance to enter half of the four disciplines, the downhill and super-G.

“Even if I am in the lead of the World Cup at Christmas, it won’t be that important,” Tomba told the Associated Press. “I want to concentrate on the World Championships (Jan. 30-Feb. 12 at Sierra Nevada, Spain).”

Tomba, who turns 28 on Dec. 19, has said he plans to retire after this season, but his sponsors hope he continues racing through the 1997 World Championships at Sestriere--in the Italian Alps.

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The World Cup women’s schedule is clicking right along, with Heidi Zeller-Baehler of Switzerland having won two of the five races and scoring 289 points to hold a 32-point edge over veteran teammate Vreni Schneider.

Next stop is Lake Louise, Canada, for a downhill and super-G this weekend, and the U.S. Ski Team is hoping at least to duplicate its performance at Vail, where Hilary Lindh won Friday’s downhill and Shannon Nobis and Picabo Street finished sixth and seventh in Saturday’s super-G behind winner Sylvia Eder of Austria.

For Lindh, 25, of Juneau, Alaska, it was her second World Cup victory--she also won the downhill last January at Sierra Nevada--and came as something of a surprise. After a training run the day before, she had told AP: “Certain people have courses they do well on, and this doesn’t happen to be one of mine. I’ve always had a bad time on the turns at the bottom.”

So?

“I looked at the (training-run) video yesterday, and I was standing around, so I decided to be more aggressive,” Lindh said.

Street, 23, of Hailey, Ida., with a later starting number, also decided she had to be more aggressive because of Lindh’s sizzling time, but all it got her was a spill that injured a finger on her left hand.

Skiing Notes

Other World Cup top-15 finishes by Americans last weekend were Eva Twardokens’ 12th behind Switzerland’s Heidi Zeller-Baehler in Sunday’s giant slalom at Vail and Jeremy Nobis’ 13th in Saturday’s giant slalom at Tignes. . . . Mammoth Mountain’s children’s center, nicknamed “Woollywood,” has been doubled in size. . . . Kirkwood and Northstar-at-Tahoe also have their Nordic operations up and running, with more than 50 kilometers of cross-country trails at each location. . . . Mt. Baldy is operating on weekends only at present.