Columnist Susan Snyder: Canyon is not typical LV resort

Monday, Dec. 1, 2003 | 8:40 a.m.

A week after Brian Strait designed the World Cup ski race course at Park City Mountain Ski Resort in Utah, he drove 500 miles to face his next big challenge:

The bunny slope at Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort -- Rabbit Peak.

On Nov. 15 the family that had owned the ski area at the top of Lee Canyon on Mount Charleston since 1965 sold to Powdr Corp. The Utah-based company owns five ski resorts in the Lake Tahoe area and Utah, including the Park City resort that played host to the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.

"We closed the deal at 8 o'clock on that Friday night, and we're open 11 days later here," Strait said Tuesday morning, an hour after the Las Vegas lifts began running for the first time this season.

Southern Nevada's ski season opened under sunshine and blue skies. Chairlifts for the beginner slope and a moderate run called The Strip started running at 9 a.m. The lift serving the most advanced slopes stood idle. Its runs were snow-covered but lacked the depth Strait desired.

No matter. Lee Canyon's snow comes from machines when Mother Nature doesn't deliver. And the machines have been running since Nov. 1, said Craig Baldwin, base operations manager and 20-year employee of the ski area.

"It's been great for snow-making. We're really happy to open before Thanksgiving," Baldwin said.

Monetta Bean and her family have already planned Christmas. Her husband, Jack, is mountain operations manager. Their son Joshua makes snow. Monetta helps in the office. On Christmas, they'll open gifts before Jack hits the mountain for work.

"We'll all come up here to ski all day then go home for barbecued steaks and baked sweet potatoes," she said.

But the three-chair ski area means more than work. Monetta and Jack met here when she was a 16-year-old Western High School student. They celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary in July.

"Jack was raised here in Lee Canyon. His mom ran the (lift) ticket booth for years," Monetta said. "Our daughter met her husband here. I even came up here when I was pregnant with Joshua. He was almost born up here."

A change in ownership inevitably means changes to the mountain. But Strait says no one's sure what those may be. The snow-making equipment purchased in 1987 was the last major improvement. Two lifts date from the 1980s. The third dates from the 1960s.

The mountain isn't huge, but it's decent downhill fun without driving three hours to Southern Utah's Brian Head.

"You can get out here, breathe the air, enjoy the mountain and go back down and pick the kids up from school," Baldwin said.

Demitri Mavroidis, a Las Vegas heart surgeon and five-year resident, took his sticks to Lee Canyon for the first time Tuesday. He and a buddy had planned to ski Brian Head, but only a couple of its runs were open.

"If you're going to ski short stuff, there's no sense in making that drive. We thought we'd give this a shot," Mavroidis said.

"But you can't use my name," his friend added, "because I'm playing hooky."

With no lift lines, this ski area is a hooky magnet. But fear not. What happens there, stays there.

"That's been our motto for a lot of years up here," Baldwin grinned.