The first big winter storm of the season is just a few degrees too warm to pepper the ski resorts closest to home with enough snow to open for the season.
No, this isn’t the same El Nino storm that brought enough snow several years ago to send people to the slopes by Halloween.
But with moisture blanketing the north state, dropping inches of rain in the lower elevations and plenty of snow in the High Sierra, the catastrophic season that resorts faced last year might get a much needed resurgence if things continue along the same path.
Tucked up along Highway 4 just an hour past Angels Camp, Bear Valley is awaiting the perfect combination of winter storm and plummeting temperatures – usually the byproduct of a storm that rolls through after originating in the Gulf of Alaska – before they can open their runs for the holiday season. Machine made snow and packed powder has already helped create a 13-inch base, but it’ll be what Mother Nature dumps in the coming weeks that will likely shape what kind of an early season shows up.
And it could easily be considered one of the best-kept secrets in the region since Tahoe and the megaresorts that surround it – from Northstar on the North Shore to Heavenly on the South – are the ones that draw the tourists and the die-hard enthusiasts that look forward to winter all year long so they can spend their time on the mountain.
That means if it’s a Wednesday and you’re willing to brave the wind (it gets bitter cold at Bear Valley when the conditions pick up), it’s entirely possible to have the mountain reserved for just you and the crew you’re riding with for the day. There aren’t a whole lot of places that offer that, let alone that with world-class conditions.
Even if you’ve never stepped into a pair of bindings, close-to-home resorts like Bear Valley and Dodge Ridge are excellent for beginners because they don’t necessarily cater to the world-class skiers the same way that other resorts do. They offer challenging runs and the sort of powder deposits you’d expect to find in between trees and runs, but beginners would be just as comfortable and not nearly as intimidated.
“It’s fun to make a weekend of it over in Tahoe and all, and you can’t beat the view that you get over there,” said longtime skier Jim McCarthy. “But sometimes you want something that’s just right there and it’s familiar and you’re looking for some good, easy fun. That’s what Bear Valley is. It has teeth when you want it to have teeth, and then it can be as smooth as a pillow.”