Ski season kicks off despite lack of snow
No powder on slopes, but resorts make their own as dry weather continues
ALPINE MEADOWS, Placer County — There wasn’t a flake of real snow anywhere in the Sierra, but that didn’t matter to Andy Melendes, who was first in line Friday for opening day at the Alpine Meadows ski resort.
Melendes, 48, of Incline Village, Nev., was eager to try out the man-made stuff that the resort had laid down on the Kangaroo run, an intermediate slope on the lower part of the mountain.
“It’s actually the best hill going right now,” Melendes said, as he climbed on the chairlift. “It’s a good day!”
Skiers and snowboarders took to the artificial slopes around Lake Tahoe on Friday in a blissful mass escape from the catastrophe of the Camp Fire, which has wafted smoke throughout Northern California.
Forecasters say the dry weather, which has increased the fire danger across California, is likely to end Wednesday, but the snowfall next week is not likely to make up for the lack of precipitation this fall. In fact, say experts, the forested mountains are facing a parched fu-
“We are experiencing more or less a permanent warming trend.” Daniel Swain, UCLA climate scientist
ture.
“We are experiencing more or less a permanent warming trend,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA, adding that the snow and rain that does fall tends to come during short periods when there are large winter storms. “We’re seeing how much it matters, because if the rainy season starts late we get fires.”
The slow start, which so far mirrors what happened last year, is a pretty good indicator, along with all the other trends, that a big snow year may not be in the cards, Swain said.
“We are really starting with a deficit,” Swain said. “We can definitely recover from it, but unless we are wetter than average the rest of the year, the likelihood is that we will have a precipitation deficit.”
A warmer-upper is exactly what the eager souls on the slopes Friday wanted.
“It’s beautiful, nice and warm, like a spring day,” said Deborah White, 58, of Truckee. “I wish there was more snow, but, hey, opening day is really a day for friends and shaking out the cobwebs.”
The bright blue skies around Lake Tahoe were a revelation for Kate Brazauskas, and not just because every place else was covered in a gloomy haze. She and her husband, Andy Yewdell, moved to Berkeley in August after 30 years of living in Washington, D.C., and got the new lifestyle they were looking for, in spades.
“We left last night to escape the poor air quality, which we’ve never experienced before, and now we’re getting a new experience on opening day,” said Brazauskas, 34, after a couple of runs on Kangaroo. “This is a different kind of wild.”
There were, to be sure, limited choices Friday for snow lovers. Squaw Valley opened a beginner ski area known as Sno Ventures, which includes a chairlift, two conveyor belt style lifts for kids and a tube run. North Star and Heavenly Valley also opened, with very limited service. Boreal Mountain opened Nov. 9 and Mount Rose opened Oct. 19.
“There’s no natural snow, so we’re running on entirely machine-made snow,” said Liesl Hepburn, the spokeswoman for Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows, who was very thankful for recent advances in snow-making equipment.
Almost every ski resort in the Sierra has invested heavily in snow-making equipment, especially after enduring major losses during the four-year drought that started in 2011.
Michael Reitzell, the president of Ski California, also known as the California Ski Industry Association, said the number of skiers and snowboarders at California resorts rebounded in the winter of 2015-16, when 7.5 million people visited California resorts. The numbers have gone down along with the snowpack since then. Last year, when snow levels were about 52 percent of average, 6 million skiers and snowboarders visited the resorts, he said. The 20-year average is between 6.5 million and 7 million visitors
“Our resorts have some pretty fantastic snow-making systems,” Reitzell said. “Are we worried? Not yet. It’s November. It snows every year. Not getting early snow certainly doesn’t mean it can’t turn into a big year.”
Unfortunately, that may be exactly what it means.
California has warmed by 1 degree Fahrenheit since 1985, from an average temperature of 58.5 degrees to 59.5 degrees, according to climate scientists. Consequently, the snowpack in the Sierra and in three-quarters of the western United States has been shrinking. Some climate studies project that Sierra snowpack could fall as much as 90 percent by 2100.
None of which was spoiling the fun of Kamil and Amie Dusejovsky, who were skiing in fuzzy blue-and-white onesie pajamas designed to look like narwhals. The couple, who have been living in a travel trailer since moving out of their home in Park City, Utah, also visited Mammoth on opening day.
“Actually, the snow is better than expected for a warm start to the season,” Amie said. “You gotta make it fun. In the end, it’s all about enjoying the snow.”