by egieszl » Tue Feb 12, 2019 12:24 pm
Tony Crocker wrote:Is there a scenario when Slide Peak is open but Mt. High East is closed? I suspect that would be rare.
It really isn't rare. Typically I would say they both open or are able to with the same storm, but Mountain High East closes much sooner. The lower slopes, Goldrush in particular, and the base area really suffer from sun exposure and the biggest difference, is the very limited effort or no effort to make man-made snow at East.
Snow Valley's snowmaking effort focuses on the lower mountain terrain that keeps the connection alive late into the season. Slide Peak's exposure is ideal of holding the snow. So there have been many seasons where Slide Peak is still open, but East is closed.
Last Wednesday night to Thursday morning I could see on the webcams they were making snow on that sun exposed pitch of Goldrush and in the base area at Mountain High East. I suspect they may have made snow on lower Sundance.
In recent years Mountain High has shut down before Snow Valley. Through some research yesterday I discovered that the long proposed pipeline from the Crestline-Lake Arrowhead Water Agency to Snow Valley was completed a few years ago so the ski area has the ability to purchase water from the agency through an interruptible supply agreement. Snow Valley now has the third most valuable water supply for man-made snow behind Snow Summit and Bear Mountain.
If the drought were to continue (hopefully not) Mountain High could be in a situation where they would only be able to operate with natural snow or be forced to truck water to the resort for snowmaking. I've heard rumors that they've been doing a little of that already, but can't confirm it.
2018-19 ski season stats- Vertical: 526,029, Days: 27, Lift rides: 319, Top day vertical: 38,370;
Total past 12 seasons- Vertical: 13,318,068, Days: 529, Lift rides: 8,374, Top day vert: 64,867;
