Tag Archive for: california snow conditions

Rose Marie Cleese

It’s Snow Sport Heaven This Season In The Sierra Nevada!

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All Systems Go As The Snow Keeps Falling On Sierra Resorts.

"There's no comparison to last season" at Dodge Ridge. Everyone is happy! Credit: Dodge Ridge

“There’s no comparison to last season” at Dodge Ridge. Everyone is happy! Almost 180 inches so far this year.  Check the mounds of “cold gold” on the trees.
Credit: Dodge Ridge

As the East Coast got a taste the last couple of months of what’s it like when the inclement winter weather fails to show up, the situation has been quite different on the West Coast. After four years of a crippling drought, the rains have returned to the flatlands and the snow to the Sierra Nevada mountains. Although California is not home-free yet drought-wise, things were looking good when the California Department of Water Resources did its December 30th water content survey off Highway 50 near Sierra-at-Tahoe ski resort. The snow depth this year was 54.7” or 136 percent of the January 1st average. A year ago, the snowpack state-wide was at just 50 percent of normal.

After barely being able to open the last two ski seasons, Homewood Mountain Resort is no longer suffering from its location right above the shores of Lake Tahoe, finally enjoying a bumper crop of snow and a five-foot-deep base. Credit: Homewood

After barely being able to open the last two ski seasons, Homewood Mountain Resort is no longer suffering from its location right above the shores of Lake Tahoe, finally enjoying a bumper crop of snow and a five-foot-deep base.
Credit: Homewood

Although there haven’t yet been any of the legendary Sierra storms that can dump up to eight feet of snow in a couple of days, the small yet persistent stream of snowfalls thus far this winter has resulted in a gangbuster season. Every single ski resort in the Sierra is open (some opened as early as Thanksgiving), with all or most lifts operating. And the base and peak numbers for the high-altitude resorts are impressive (as of January 13): Mammoth, 75”–115”; Kirkwood, 76”–80”; Sugar Bowl, 57”–96”; Mt. Rose, 63”–92”, as are the stats at resorts that struggled mightily to open last year: Homewood, 60”–76”; Dodge Ridge, 50”–72”; Badger Pass (Yosemite), 60”–72”.

“There’s no comparison to last season; it’s been night and day,” says Jeff Hauff, marketing and sales director at Dodge Ridge. “It’s phenomenal. Everybody’s happy! We’ve had a total of 179” of snowfall so far this winter, with 38” in just this last week. It’s been staying really cold, in the teens and 20s.” That would be “California cold” to our Midwest and East Coast readers!

Those cold temperatures are giving Sierra Nevada skiers an experience they don’t often have: day after day of FLUFFY white stuff to fly through rather than having to deal with “Sierra cement.” Plus the combination of smaller storms with spaces in between them has made the trip “up to the mountains” much less of an ordeal than it often is.

The San Francisco Chronicle’s outdoors writer, Tom Stienstra, headed to the Sierra recently and observed in his latest column that he had run into “dozens of people who said they had not skied in years, and some said they had been away for more than 10 years.” Nothing like a four-year drought to make people long for those idyllic days on the slopes! If  El Niño continues to deliver like it has been for the first two weeks of January, Californians will have ample opportunities to get their ski and board on this season…and on powder if temperatures continue to stay low!

Editor Note:  Here’s a cool video from Sugar Bowl about the El Ninuary experience in the Sierra.

Rose Marie Cleese

There’s Snow In Them Thar (California) Hills

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Although Snow Conditions Have Been Less Than Golden This Season,
There IS Some Great Skiing To Be Had In California’s Northern Sierra Nevada.

Northstar-at-Tahoe has been operating full blast since Thanksgiving. Credit: Northstar

Northstar California has been operating full blast since Thanksgiving.
Credit: Northstar California

While much of the U.S. has gotten battered all winter long by massive dumps of snow and other inclement weather, California’s Sierra Nevada has been having a tough time living up to its name (“snowy mountain range” in Spanish). But, a crazily configured jet stream and a persistent giant high off the West Coast notwithstanding, most of the mountain resorts of drought-stricken California have been able to carve out a decent wintersports season.

As of March 8th, most Northern California resorts, particularly those in the Lake Tahoe region and at the higher elevations, have more than half of their lifts running and terrain open to skiers and boarders, thanks to a storm during the first weekend of March that dumped as much as 28 inches of snow on the slopes and to colder temperatures that have allowed for accelerated snowmaking.

Squaw Valley, with a base of 22″ to 52″, has all but five of its 29 lifts going, and its neighbor area, Alpine Meadows, has nine of its 13 lifts operating on a base of 19″ to 47″. Heavenly Mountain Resort, which boasts “the West Coast’s largest snowmaking” operation, is running 19 of its 28 lifts with an average snow depth

Heavenly Valley's been making snow, producing outstanding conditions. Credit: Heavenly Vally

Heavenly Mountain Resort has been making snow, producing outstanding conditions.
Credit: Heavenly Mountain Resort

of 39″. Says Heavenly p.r. coordinator Liesl Kenney, “Everybody is surprised at how good conditions are when they get up here.” Convincing skiers and boarders of this is probably one of the biggest challenges facing many resorts, seeing as how the San Francisco Bay Area has been experiencing perennially sunny skies and basking in 70° temperatures week after week this winter!

Northstar California is “thriving” this season, according to senior communications manager Rachael Woods. “Every chair is served by our snowmaking system, which can be controlled by a smart phone!” The resort has been operating top to bottom since opening shortly after Thanksgiving and hopes to do so until its planned April 19th closing date. The resort currently has an 18″ to 49″ base with 18 of its 20 lifts operating. The higher-elevation resorts, Sugar Bowl (base: 6,883 feet) near Donner Summit, Sierra-at-Tahoe (6,640 feet) near Echo Summit, Kirkwood (7,800 feet) near Carson Pass, and Bear Valley (6,600 feet) near Ebbetts Pass, can all crow about their healthy snowpacks that stack up to as much as 72” (Sugar Bowl).

The two resorts located northeast of Lake Tahoe in Nevada can’t complain this season either. Mt. Rose, with the Tahoe region’s highest base elevation at 8,260 feet, has all 60 trails and all eight of its lifts going, with snow depths of 32″ to 66″. Diamond Peak, at 6,700 feet, has two to three feet of snow with five of its seven lifts in operation. And SoCal favorite Mammoth Mountain off US-395 in Central California has 19 of its 28 lifts running, a base of 30″ to 60″, and a planned closing date of May 31st. Its fellow Central California resorts, alas, have not fared as well. China Peak, Badger Pass in Yosemite, and Dodge Ridge are all currently closed due to a lack of snow cover. Up near Tahoe, Donner Ski Ranch, Tahoe Donner, and Homewood are also temporarily closed—permanently for the season if that high ridge doesn’t budge!

With most currently open Sierra resorts planning to close the third or fourth weekend in April, West Coast skiers 65 years of age and older still have at least six weeks to enjoy some quality spring skiing or boarding and to catch some senior savings. Most resorts offer discounted lift tickets (65+) and you can even ski for free if you’re 75+ (Bear Valley) or 80+ (Diamond Peak). Several resorts offer clinics for 55+ skiers early on, but that’s a story for next season. May it be ever so snowy! Like Boston-snowy!