Warm Storm Makes for Bad Snow Business
The rain this week might have been great for the parched earth of the flatlands, but it was more bad news for ski and snowboard resorts in the local mountains.
Tuesday’s storm was tropical and, because of the warm temperatures, brought a steady rain to the slopes above Big Bear.
Snow Summit closed for the day. Big Bear Mountain stayed open, but it couldn’t have been a fun day for the 256 people with lift tickets.
“We got less than a quarter inch of measurable rain,” said Greg Ralph, director of marketing at Big Bear Mountain. “It wasn’t too bad but still it wasn’t snow. It just sort of makes it miserable out there.”
It cooled down considerably late Tuesday and early Wednesday and Ralph said the top of the mountain got a one-inch dusting of snow. “It’s our biggest storm of the season so far,” Ralph said. “I don’t have any kind words to say about nature this season.”
Major Southern California resorts, of course, learned long ago not to depend entirely on nature for snow, and Wednesday the snow-making machines were blasting again.
MAMMOTH DRIFTS
The story couldn’t be more different at Mammoth Mountain, which has had a 12-foot dumping since Jan. 11. In the last nine days, the resort reports more than 10 feet of snowfall, including an amazing 35 inches on Tuesday.
The fortunate weather comes on the heels of a very slow start to the season at Mammoth, which was only 30% open at the first of the month.
CRASH RECOVERY
Professional snowboarder Tara Dakides splits time between residences in Laguna Niguel and Mammoth Lakes, so she figured to have a home-slope advantage at the first Gravity Games last weekend at Mammoth.
But Dakides, 24, crashed Friday in practice before the Big Air competition, straining stomach muscles and hurting her head. Therefore, she said, she wasn’t at her best in Big Air qualifying, and missed making the five-woman final by one spot.
Feeling better Saturday, she “foreran” the Big Air final, meaning she took an exhibition jump to begin the event, but thought she was done competing for the weekend.
However, Sunday night when several competitors pulled out of the Women’s Quarterpipe event, Dakides got a last-minute call as a replacement. “I ran up there,” she said. “Practice was going as they were calling me.”
In this Quarterpipe event, which pitted the top skiers and snowboarders against each other, the person with the highest score stepped aside until someone had a higher scoring run. Dakides played it safe on her first ride but no one scored higher and she won the gold medal.
“I didn’t get to go again,” she said. “It was kind of a bummer because I wanted to try something else.”
The Gravity Games will be broadcast by NBC Feb. 12, 13 and 20.
SKATING AWAY
Austen Seaholm, a 13-year-old from Anaheim, finished 11th, one spot out of the street finals, at the Vans Amateur World Championships of Skateboarding Saturday in Ontario.
Josh Spencer of Anaheim finished 16th in the event, which was won by Colt Cannon of San Francisco. John Wilinski of Capistrano Valley finished 15th in the vert competition Sunday. Daniel Ehara of Holly Hill, Fla., won the vert event.