In search of snow for Thanksgiving weekend skiing

High temperatures force resorts to wait for storm, or conditions conducive to making their own.

Published online on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008

Good thing for skiers and snowboarders that the price of gas has plummeted.

Because any Fresno-area resident hoping to go skiing or riding during next week's Thanksgiving holiday needs to fill up the tank.

Since two minor storms at the beginning of the month brought a couple of feet of snow to the Sierra Nevada, the past two weeks have been dry and unseasonably warm. The next storm system isn't due to arrive until Tuesday, and forecasters aren't expecting a major dump.

Only two California ski resorts -- Mammoth Mountain and Boreal Mountain Resort -- took advantage of the early snow and opened for business. Several others in the Lake Tahoe area, including Squaw Valley USA, Northstar-at-Tahoe and Heavenly Mountain Resort, are scheduled to open this weekend.

Skiers who don't want to venture so far from home will have to be patient -- and pray to the weather gods.

Sierra Summit has not scheduled an opening date. Marketing manager Boomer Devaurs said the Huntington Lake resort is hoping to open a terrain park and the beginner's area for Thanksgiving weekend, but for that to happen nighttime temperatures have to be more conducive to snowmaking.

Simply put, it's been too warm.

"Last night we were able to make snow for about one hour," Devaurs said Wednesday. "It was first night in several days we've been able to do that. It's kind of hard to make snow when we're getting record-high temperatures."

Badger Pass has set a Dec. 12 opening date if conditions permit. The Yosemite landmark has no snowmaking and relies entirely on what falls from the sky.

"We received a few inches of snow from each of the first two storms, but it's been so warm lately that most of it has melted off," said Colin Baldock, director of guest recreation for DNC Parks & Resorts, which operates the facility.

Currently, the best conditions for skiing and riding can be found at Mammoth Mountain.

With a base elevation of nearly 8,000 feet, the Eastern Sierra resort typically measures snowfall in feet while others are counting up inches.

Mammoth Mountain opened Nov. 3 -- 10 days earlier than planned. The resort had five lifts operating Wednesday with reported base depths of 1 to 4 feet.

"We have pretty extensive snowmaking, but most of the stuff on the hill is natural," communications director Daniel Hansen said. "There's nowhere in the state -- and possibly in the country -- that has conditions like this right now."

With Tioga Pass closed for the winter, the quickest way from Fresno to Mammoth Mountain is by taking Highway 178 east from Bakersfield over Walker Pass to Highway 395 north.

At least the tank of gas no longer costs $80.