Skiing starts in snowy Sierra

Friday, Oct. 22, 2004 | 5:37 a.m.

While the Sierra ski season traditionally opens around Thanksgiving, an early storm that dropped as much as 4 feet of snow in places has skiers laying down tracks before Halloween.

Boreal Mountain Resort opened one of its nine lifts on Thursday and plans to operate two more this weekend.

Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort opened two of its 27 lifts Thursday. Kirkwood Mountain Resort is scheduled to open two of its 12 lifts Saturday and will remain open on weekends until beginning daily operations Nov. 20.

"There were people waiting at 4:20 this morning to be first on the lifts," Jamie Bumgarner, Mammoth's advertising and production coordinator said on Thursday.

Boreal's opening was the second earliest in its 39-year history, with the earliest being Oct. 11, 2000, said Kyle Truesdell, group sales manager. He said about 125 people were at the resort by 11 a.m.

Mammoth's earliest opening was Oct. 8, 1994. Kirkwood's best was Halloween, 19990.

Officials at other resorts either haven't decided whether they will open early or have said they wouldn't open before their previously announced opening date.

Squaw Valley USA spokeswoman Katja Dahl said its Nov. 20 opening date may stand because temperatures could turn warmer.

"We're looking at it, but we have to assess what Mother Nature has in store for us next," Dahl said. "We got a ton of snow and we're headed in the right direction."

At Heavenly Mountain Resort, spokeswoman Molly Cuffe said plans are to open Nov. 19 because Heavenly wants to open with as much accessible terrain and operating lifts as possible.

John Wagnon, Heavenly's vice president of marketing, said that despite one of the earliest major snowstorms in years, Heavenly wants to complete work on its new six-passenger lift and upgrades to its snowmaking and grooming operations.

"Should we get a cold snap and get another few feet of snow, we'll re-evaluate the situation," Cuffe said.