Dodge Ridge Ski Resort in Tuolumne County opened Friday, nearly two months after its opening date last year.
The lack of snow has resulted in a later start of ski season for the lower elevation resort, with a base of around 6,600 feet. A storm this past week put 19 inches of snow on the summit of Dodge Ridge and 14 inches at the base. That’s about half of the total snow they’ve received this season.
That’s good news for the ski resort, and also for all the restaurants, motels, and ski shops along Highway 108 that rely on the tourists coming up the mountain to ski.
“We solely rely on Mother Nature to deliver and we’re opening five of our chairs which is a huge opening day,” said Hanna Heath with Dodge Ridge. I would presume that we have upwards of one thousand-plus people on opening day.”
Heath said the ski resort will be open seven days a week for the rest of the season.
“We’re hoping to have a successful rest of the season. We have upwards of an additional 100 days of skiing from January, February, March and the beginning of April,” she said. “Last year, we opened up until Memorial Day and so if we have snow and we’re able to stay open, we’re going to stay open as long as we can.”
Most Tahoe-area ski resorts were able to open in late November.
This winter has been much drier than last year, when a series of atmospheric rivers dumped rain and snow on Northern California.
On Tuesday, state researchers performed the first snow survey of the year, measuring only 7.5 inches of snow on the ground at Phillips Station near Lake Tahoe. On the same day last year, there was a snow depth of just under 6 feet.
The snow will continue this weekend, with a winter storm warning in effect from 4 a.m. Saturday to 4 a.m. Sunday for the Sierra and southern Cascades. The National Weather Service is forecasting heavy snow with accumulations of 5 to 10 inches for Truckee and South Lake Tahoe, with 10 to 20 inches above 7,000 feet. Travel could be difficult with possible white out conditions, and strong winds could damage trees and power lines.
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