SKIING / BOB LOCHNER : While Spring Is in Air, Deep Snow on Ground

Don’t look now, but it’s quite possible that spring skiing has arrived in California.

At least, the weather has turned sunny. The snow report has taken on the appearance of midwinter--in Antarctica.

In the Sierra, for example, four major resorts--Kirkwood, Sugar Bowl, Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows--have upper depths in excess of 300 inches, which converts to more than 25 feet. And Mammoth Mountain isn’t far behind with about 22 feet on top.

Both Mammoth and Alpine plan to keep their lifts running through July 4, now that they’ve gotten them dug out.

When the storms finally ceased last Friday morning, Alpine’s Werner Schuster said, “We’ve received more than 100 inches this week, and we’re guessing there’s about 26 feet at the highest elevation. Nobody’s sure, because the gauge there only goes to 23 feet and it’s buried.”

Normally, spring conditions mean hardpack or ice in the mornings, slush in the afternoons. Not this week, anyway. Powder and packed powder are providing some of the best late-season skiing in more than a decade, and the timing couldn’t have been better for skiers about to head for the hills on spring break.

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The snow isn’t as deep in the San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountains, but there’s more than enough to keep Southland ski areas open at least through Easter, April 16.

A two- to five-foot base would be considered ideal in Vermont or the Alps, especially with packed powder on the surface and relatively cold nighttime temperatures conducive to snow-making. And that’s the situation at Bear Mountain, Snow Summit, Snow Valley, Mountain High, Ski Sunrise, Mt. Waterman, Kratka Ridge and Mt. Baldy.

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Ellen Breen, who turns 32 on April 17, won the women’s ballet title in the U.S. freestyle championships last week, then announced her retirement.

The two-time world champion from West Hills also won the World Cup in her event this season, taking the first seven competitions, but placed second in the world championships at La Clusaz, France, last month.

Breen said she plans to remain active in the sport as either a coach or lobbyist to gain Olympic medal status for the only one of freestyle’s three disciplines still unrecognized by the International Olympic Committee.

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A memorial service was held on March 17 for John T. Buchman, retired general manager at Squaw Valley, who died at 83.

The service in the lodge’s rotunda was attended by more than 300, among them Alex Cushing, who spoke about his lifelong friend. Buchman helped Cushing found the resort in the late 1940s and remained there, living for the past 35 years in one of the small buildings used during the 1960 Winter Olympics.

Skiing Notes

During a nine-day period this month, Snow Summit raised more than $270,000 for three charities: $75,000 for the March of Dimes with the 12th annual Celebrity Ski Classic; $145,300 to help fight teen-age AIDS, with Board Aid, and $50,000 to assist people with multiple sclerosis, with the Jimmie Heuga Ski Express.

Phil Mahre, three-time World Cup champion and 1984 Olympic slalom gold medalist, became the 13th recipient of the AT&T; Skiing Award earlier this month at Aspen, Colo. Previous winners included Bob Beattie, Jimmie Heuga, Serge Lang, Billy Kidd, Warren Miller, Marc Hodler, Stein Eriksen, Andrea Mead Lawrence, Dave McCoy, Willy Schaeffler, Franz Klammer and Dr. Richard Steadman.

June Mountain is offering $10 all-day lift tickets each Wednesday through April 12. . . . Mt. Bachelor, near Bend, Ore., is giving families a spring break with its “Kids Ski and Stay Free” program: Children 12 and younger may ski at the resort and stay free at participating motels and inns when a parent buys any multi-day ski vacation package.