SKIING / BOB LOCHNER : Snow Lags but Not Improvements

Winter blew into the Southland mountains last weekend--and then blew right out again, unfortunately.

A cold, dry Santa Ana zephyr enabled Snow Summit and Bear Mountain to begin making snow Sunday, but by Tuesday both Big Bear Lake ski areas had to silence their guns as the weather warmed. Of course, it’s only a matter of time until skiing takes off locally, and there are still three weeks or so before the start of the big Christmas-New Year’s holidays.

When the lifts do start running, one of them will be the East-Mountain Xpress at Snow Summit, the resort’s second high-speed detachable quad chair. Replacing the old Chair 10, the new lift will whisk skiers and snowboarders to the top in seven minutes and provide access to all runs on the east side of the mountain.

Additionally, Snow Summit has increased its snowboarding facilities by adding a second halfpipe, expanding the Freestyle Park to virtually the entire length of the Westridge run and opening the Bear Bottom Lounge for young riders.

Nearby Bear Mountain has also undergone some changes. First, there’s a new owner, Fibreboard Corporation, which bought the 690-acre complex from Vermont-based S-K-I Ltd. for $18 million. The building products company already owned two Northern California resorts, Northstar-at-Tahoe and Sierra-at-Tahoe.

On the slopes, Bear Mountain will be opening its Dynastar Test Center, located halfway down the Lower Claim Jumper run, where that ski-maker’s latest models will be available for four hours of testing at a nominal charge.

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In the meantime, where’s a skier to ski this weekend?

Well, in California it’s still only on Broadway, Mammoth Mountain’s lone available run off Chair 1, which is covered by 18 to 24 inches of man-made snow.

Off Broadway, Colorado is humming, with fresh powder having fallen earlier this week. Vail-Beaver Creek reported up to 12 inches of new snow, Steamboat between 12 and 19 inches--to cite a couple of notable examples.

There’s also some good sliding in Montana, where Big Sky and the Big Mountain have begun operations.

Big Sky, incidentally, now claims to have the most continuous, lift-served vertical drop in the United States. Its new Lone Peak Tram rises to the 11,150-foot elevation, from where skiers can descend 4,180 feet to the base area.

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World Cup racing resumes with speed events--downhills and super-giant slaloms--for the men today and Saturday at Vail, and for the women Saturday and Sunday at Lake Louise, Canada.

The women’s slalom and giant slalom scheduled last weekend at Lake Louise were canceled because of unsafe courses, but organizers hope everything falls into place this weekend.

Conditions were slightly better at Park City, Utah, where Switzerland’s Michael Von Gruenigen won his third consecutive giant slalom of the season and Slovenia’s Andrej Miklavc scored an upset slalom victory.

Defending overall champion Alberto Tomba of Italy failed to finish either race and, anticipating criticism, said: “Now everyone will say I am in a crisis, but that isn’t true. I know I am skiing strongly in slalom.”