Ski season snowfall still up in the air

Early ski season is still up in the air, due to a continuing lack of snowfall. On average over the last 20 years, Mt Bachelor has opened on Nov. 23, but with Thanksgiving now a week away, it’s unclear if there’s any way possible for that to happen.

Drew Jackson, Mt. Bachelor’s director of marketing, said Thursday the latest they’ve opened in recent years was Dec. 14, back in 2009. It’s been decades since they’ve been able to open as early as October.

As of Thursday, there’s just an average of an inch of snow at the base, with much of the ground still bare.

Jackson said they need much more snow before they can open the lifts.

“At minimum, we would need 12 to 18 inches of snow compact and settled,” he said. “That can happen naturally, that can happen with grooming machines, but we really can’t offer a safe skiing surface to run the chairlifts on and let skiers on and snowboarders on, absent that minimum 12-to 18-inch base.”

He said in order to get 12 to 18 inches of compact snow, they need 18-24 inches of natural snowfall. Mt Bachelor does have more than a dozen snow-making machines in place, but they are meant to add to weak spots, not create a total snowboarding and skiing surface.

If you’re trying to make Thanksgiving plans for the slopes, Jackson said there’s one important thing to keep in mind.

“Let’s say we get that one big storm that gives us enough snow to really move forward with opening. We probably need two to three days to just get the house in order do the necessary grooming.” Jackson said.

“The snow doesn’t necessarily land evenly and distribute evenly, so we have to get the (grooming) machines out to push it to where we need it the most,” he explained.

Powder House Ski and Snowboard Shop owner Todd McGee said this week even though the lifts are not open yet, they’re busy as ever.

“The sales so far have been good,” he said. “People know it’s going to come — sooner or later it’s going to get here.”

Sales haven’t been too bad and the seasonal leases are as strong as last year, McGee said. “Daily rentals will be affected the most, because if the mountain is not open, we’re not going to have daily rentals.”

While they wait for the lifts to open, they spend their time cleaning and preparing the rentals by waxing and doing other needed maintenance.

Jackson said Mt Bachelor will decide on Monday whether they will be able to open on Nov. 23.