SKIING / BOB LOCHNER : For Them, Heavens Can’t Wait

For much of this century, there has been lift-served skiing about 40 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. For most of the last couple of winters, however, Mt. Waterman and Snowcrest might as well have been in the Himalayas, for all the good they did Southland skiers.

Those ski areas, three miles apart on California 2 above La Canada-Flintridge, are closed at the moment, although Tom Kogler, one of the partners who bought Mt. Waterman in 1995, said this week, “We’re still hoping for a March miracle,” meaning a late-season snowstorm.

That, of course, has been the problem. While resorts farther east at Mt. Baldy, Wrightwood and Big Bear continue to operate daily with the help of extensive snow-making systems, those at Mt. Waterman and Snowcrest must pray for snow.

If their prayers are answered between now and, say, Easter Sunday, March 30, both plan to reopen. Otherwise, Mt. Waterman’s season will have consisted of five days over the Martin Luther King holiday weekend in mid-January, and Snowcrest will have been operational for 36 days.

“That would still be an improvement over last winter, when we had only 15 days,” said John Steely, who with his wife, Jackie, has owned Snowcrest since 1994. For Mt. Waterman, it would be about the same situation as a year ago.

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Why would Kogler and his partner, Steve Beaulieu, get involved in Mt. Waterman in the first place?

“We lease the Azusa Greens Golf Course and when it rains, we’re out of business there,” Kogler said. “But in the winter, rain often means snow in the mountains, so Mt. Waterman seemed like the perfect complement.”

Many years, that might be the case.

Mt. Waterman, just the other side of 7,018-foot Cloudburst Summit, has averaged 60 operating days a year since 1938, according to Kogler, who added, “One winter, it was open 120 days, and annual totals of 50,000 skier-visits have not been uncommon.”

With a vertical drop of nearly 1,000 feet served by three double chairlifts, Mt. Waterman offers skiing for all levels of ability. Advanced terrain is on the face at the bottom; the main day-lodge is at mid-mountain.

“Our plan is to install snow-making as soon as possible,” Kogler said, “starting with the face.”

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This winter and last, of course, there haven’t been many snowstorms in the San Gabriel Mountains.

Such was not the case two years ago, when the Steelys bought out Ray and Ed Hensley to take control of Kratka Ridge, as Snowcrest was then called, and managed to keep it open for 105 days.

The name was changed last winter, and there was increased emphasis on courting snowboarders.

Like Mt. Waterman’s new owners, the Steelys have other interests that are not dependent on snow, including campground concessions in the Angeles National Forest, which means they can offer employees year-round jobs.

Snowcrest already has some snow-making capability, but Steely said, “Only about 25% of the slopes can be covered, and we need at least 50% to make it profitable. That’s our immediate goal--more snow-making--along with a new chairlift to the top of Christmas Run.”

Snowcrest has two chairlifts--a double and one of the few singles left in California--plus a rope-tow. About half of its terrain, which has a maximum vertical of 750 feet, is intermediate, with the rest evenly divided between beginner and expert.

Skiing Notes

Recent snow flurries provided only a light dusting at Mt. Waterman and Snowcrest, and both need a more significant storm to reopen. . . . For current status reports, call Mt. Waterman at (818) 790-2002 and Snowcrest at (818) 440-9749. . . . Lynn Newcomb, who founded Mt. Waterman with one rope-tow in 1938 and operated the ski area until selling it two years ago, is still a presence in the area with his Newcomb’s Ranch Inn, six miles back down the road.

About the only U.S. hopes for a medal in the World Nordic Ski Championships, which end this weekend at Trondheim, Norway, were in the Nordic combined--a ski jump plus a 15-kilometer cross-country ski race--but Dave Jarrett, Tim Tetreault, Todd Lodwick and Ryan Heckman finished 24th, 25th, 30th and 46th, respectively, behind winner Kenji Ogiwara of Japan. However, the American foursome did manage to place a respectable fifth in the team event.

After winning downhill and super-G races last weekend at Garmisch-Partkenkirchen, Germany, Luc Alphand of France tops the Alpine World Cup men’s overall standings with 977 points, 163 more than runner-up Kjetil-Andre Aamodt of Norway. . . . Daron Rahlves of Truckee, Calif., placed a surprising eighth in the super-G. . . . Another downhill and super-G are scheduled today and Sunday at Kvitfjell, Norway. . . . After winding up activities at Nagano, Japan, the women will come to Mammoth Mountain for a slalom and super-G Thursday and Friday.

Switzerland’s Bertrand Deveraud was an easy winner of the first North American event in the Swatch-ISF BoarderCross tour last weekend at Bear Mountain. BoarderCross is described as motocross racing on snowboards. The tour will be at Sierra-at-Tahoe this weekend.