Storms Give Ski Resorts a Lift

After a week of relentless storms that blanketed the Sierra Nevada with up to eight feet of fresh snow, skiers and snowboarders welcomed the new year Saturday with some of the best conditions in years.

At the Heavenly ski resort in the Lake Tahoe area, skiers who braved the slick roads and holiday crowds discovered that the resort’s name matched its snow conditions. Twenty-four inches fell there during the 24-hour period that ended Saturday morning, leaving what resort spokeswoman Molly Cuffe called the best snow she had seen in a decade.

“Doesn’t get much better -- the conditions are the best we’ve seen in a long time,” boasted the snow report on Heavenly’s website. Squaw Valley’s snow report called it “absolutely epic conditions.”

The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is traditionally one of the busiest at Sierra Nevada ski resorts.

Snow continued to fall there Saturday, and winds gusting to 60 mph closed lifts at the top of the mountain at Heavenly, so skiers crowded onto lower runs.

At Mammoth Mountain, Friday’s storm dumped a foot of snow, but it wasn’t enough to break any December records.

The month’s total was 116 inches, nearly all of which came during the week since Christmas. Mammoth’s best December on record was a year ago, with 154 inches.

Interstates 80 and 50 -- the main routes into the Tahoe area -- were closed Thursday but reopened Friday, clearing the way for skiers to swarm to the mountains. Reno-Tahoe International Airport was also shut down for part of Thursday, for only the second time in 40 years.

A new storm is expected to drench Southern California today and bring fresh snow to the region’s highest peaks. Meteorologists predicted that the wet weather could linger into Tuesday.