Lake Tahoe, CA, Nov. 11--After the six-to-twelve inch mini-dump in the Sierra Mountains last Monday, Mammoth, Boreal, and Heavenly were able to roll out the white carpet for eager, early-season skiers today.
"We are excited that Mother Nature kicked in and helped Mammoth open on time," said Joani Saari, Media Relations Manager of Mammoth Mountain. Mammoth is expecting around 500 first-day diehards to grace their slopes.
So far, one run served by the Broadway Express chair is open; however, if the weather accommodates, the resort hopes to blow more snow and open the new Discovery Chair, as well as features of a terrain park and halfpipe by the weekend. Early-season lift tickets are $35 adults, $29 teens, and $19 children.
Farther north, at Lake Tahoe, Boreal also opened today with two lifts, Gunnar's and Claimjumper, accessing two runs. Boreal is offering bargain lift tickets for the early-season ski junkies. Adults can ski for $20 and children $10.
On the other side of Lake Tahoe, Heavenly opened the Heavenly Aerial Tram accessing the mid-mountain Patsy's run with 1200 feet of terrain. With enough snowmaking to bury a football field in one hour, Heavenly hopes to continue to open more runs--weather permitting. Specialy-reduced tickets at Heavenly are $15 for adults and $10 for children.
Now that the wait is over for California skiers, ski-fever is running high. Director of Communications at Heavenly, Monica Bandows, summarizes the sentiment of resorts and skiers alike, "We are just glad the ski season is here."
