Remember when the local ski areas opened early for the first time in forever as forecasts promised heavy snow dumps thanks to El Nino storms?
The operators of Mountain High ski area near Wrightwood are now turning red at that memory, as Southern California has gone on to remain unseasonably warm and natural snowfall has been confined to the northern part of the state.
Now the resort in the San Gabriel Mountains is closed “due to the warm weather but expect(s) to reopen around March 11 with new snow,” according to operators.
But to the rescue of Mtn. High’s season pass holders is Snow Valley. The ski area in the San Bernardino Mountains announced Monday it will honor all 2015-2016 Mountain High season passes during the temporary closure.
Snow Valley has had problems staying open during warm winters itself, but its latest report shows an average base depth of 18-30 inches and many machine groomed runs open on the 240-acre property outside Running Springs. The season snowfall total is 51-55 inches. You can always get a visual of current conditions before heading up by clicking onto the Snow Valley webcam.
“Snow Valley has plenty of snow and has terrain available for all levels of skiers and snowboarders,” says General Manager Kevin Somes. “… Snow Valley will make snow at every opportunity that we can. We believe there is still plenty of season ahead of us. Snow Valley traditionally strives to remain open through at least Easter Sunday and hopefully beyond that as conditions and skier/snowboarder interest permit.”
The resort currently has spring lift hours in effect: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. For lift tickets and other information, visit snow-valley.com.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.