NorCal Operators Begin Annual Snow Farming
Nov 30, 2006
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Each morning Sierra Nevada ski resort operators emerge into the open air of Tahoe to stick a ski pole into the earth, prodding the ground like a baker sticking a toothpick into a cake to see if it is ready.
On the cusp of December, Sierra snowfall, or lack of it, is always cause for concern, but ski resort operators are eternal optimists.
Hopeful forecasts for the coming ski season were met with rose-colored optimism last week when a fast moving Pacific storm front dumped up to a foot of snow in the Sierra's higher elevations. Boreal Mountain Resort had already opened its resort on November 14th, but the significant snowfall allowed Sugar Bowl, Northstar, Kirkwood and Heavenly to start spinning over the Thanksgiving holiday for surprisingly large crowds of vacationers. Heavenly sold 4,200 tickets on Friday and 4,000 on Saturday. Boreal averaged 2000 visitors a day.
"Thanksgiving was crazy, Friday, too," said Boreal's Rachel Woods. "On Sunday the lines between our two chairlifts passed each other. We crushed it."
"Early snowfall is always an exciting omen," says Bob Roberts, Executive Director of the California Ski Industry Association. " It gets people thinking about the upcoming season and making reservations. It