Skiing: Corn ripens in Local Mountains

An early crop of spring co is ready for harvest in the mountains of Southe Califoia.

This co does not appear in ears unless a hapless skier or snowboarder inadvertently does a face plant while attempting to slide on it. Falling is not as easy as may be thought, however, because snow in this form is by far the least difficult medium on which to tu skis or a snowboard. Making a mistake on it tends to require some effort, which is why it’s known as “hero snow.”

I happened to be in the cofield Feb. 24 at Snow Valley near Ruing Springs, where the base was advertised as 18 to 30 inches. The sun was bright and the temperature was climbing toward the mid-50-degree range, perfect conditions for co.

At 9:30 when I got on the lift, the surface was still firm. Oveight temperatures in the mountains lately have been dipping into the 20s. The skis rattled on the corduroy patte left in the snow by the grooming machinery. The surface was fast and firm but not icy.

An hour later, the co came into bloom. When that happens, the skis suddenly begin to perform perfectly. Tip them and you feel the steel edges bite smoothly throughout each tu. If you stop and look back, you’ll see the tracks that show the skis are, indeed, carving, not that you can’t feel the sensation, which is one of being on rails.

Co occurs when the top layer of snow begins to melt slightly, softening just enough to let the skis sink in about half an inch to a point where they’re supported by ice below. This condition puts you in perfect control. There’s no inconsistency, no slipping or sliding. You feel as though you can do no wrong. Because the moisture slows your speed slightly, performance of the skis in each tu becomes absolutely predictable.

Next to deep, untracked powder, co is the most delightful surface imaginable. It lasted about two hours. Then the sun and the increasing warmth began tuing it to slush, which does not afford so much amusement.

The situation was abetted by the scarcity of patrons, which seems most pronounced on Wednesdays in the local hills. There were so few customers that large patches of untouched corduroy remained most of the day. You hunted it out like you hunt out undisturbed powder.

Favorable agricultural conditions should continue in the mountains for the next week at least. Constant sunshine is predicted with temperatures reaching the 50s to low 60s during the day and dropping to the mid-20s at night.

The only disadvantage of Snow Valley right now is the lack of a run steeper than about 28 degrees, as measured with a pitch meter. Slide Peak, the topmost section with inclines that reach 35 degrees, hasn’t been open for more than two weeks because of thin snow cover.

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Unfortunately Slide is beyond the reach of the snowmaking system. Extending it is the most important upgrade Snow Valley needs to make if it wants to attempt to compete seriously with Snow Summit and Bear Mountain down the road at Big Bear Lake.

Whenever you tell acquaintances that you’ve skied locally these days, the most common response is, “Do they have any snow up there?”

Actually, they do. Plenty. It’s all constructed by artificial means, of course—natural flakes have not fallen in weeks—but no bare spots or rocks were encountered at Snow Valley or, one week earlier, at Snow Summit. Both intend to remain open as long as possible, as does Mountain High in Wrightwood.

Snow Summit probably has the most ambitious plans in that regard. Until this season, the first under the ownership of Mammoth Mountain, Summit remained open as long as enough customers showed up to justify continued operation in the opinion of the management.

That attitude has changed, according to Wade Reeser, the general manager.

“Mammoth has a long-standing policy,” he said. “If they can be open, they will be open.”

Mammoth is famous for seasons that extend into June and even into July. That would be unrealistic to expect this far south. But Reeser does not equivocate about his goal to keep the lifts ruing through all five Saturdays of April, regardless of customer volume, and he won’t hesitate to resume snowmaking operations whenever temperatures permit.

“I don’t think this winter by any means is over,” he said.

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