Robert Wangen, director of Mount Ashland’s ski school, helps 7-year-old Nicholas Scianna of Central Point with his very first ski lesson on Friday. (Mail Tribune / Jim Craven)Skiers and snowboarders found a dab of fresh snow on Mount Ashland Friday as the ski area entered its final weekend of the 2006-07 season.
Early birds found pockets of almost-powder after two inches of snow fell Thursday, and the extra snow gave the grooming crew fresh material to shape up some of the most popular runs for winter's last hurrah.
"It's a good way to end the season," said Jeff Sigel of Grants Pass as he loaded his gear and headed for home. "It was nice this morning."
The chairlifts will operate today and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Ski area managers said that attendance for the 2006-07 season may equal or exceed the 90,471 visitor days from the winter of 2005-06. Attendance figures are determined by counting cars in the parking lot and multiplying by a factor of 2.5, said Rick Saul, Mount Ashland marketing director.
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Saul said an influx of skiers and 'boarders from Northern California helped keep attendance strong for the duration of the 118-day season. The Mount Shasta Board & Ski Park struggled through a season that saw few big storms and relatively meager snowpack, and Mount Ashland managers did several promotions in the Redding area to encourage Northern California skiers to come north to find deeper snow.
Mount Ashland had an on-and-off winter, with short periods of stormy weather followed by long dry spells. Storms in late December gave the ski area enough snow to open on Dec. 15, in time for the Christmas holidays, which can account for 25 percent of some ski areas' business for the season.
December snow kept the runs busy during a dry January, and February storms provided enough depth to carry the ski area through a relatively dry March and April, although brush and rocks were beginning to peek through the snow on some runs during the last two weeks.
"There was an unusual amount of good weather," said Bernie Binder of Ashland, a skier on Mount Ashland since 1968. "There wasn't much of that low overcast condition, which is a killer."
Grooming on the mountain took a giant step forward this season with the addition of two new grooming machines that smoothed the surfaces on steep runs such as Upper Tempest, Pistol and Upper Bottom, opening the terrain to skiers and 'boarders who can't handle moguls.
"The new equipment really transformed the area for a lot of people," said Kim Clark, Mount Ashland's general manager.
The mountain traditionally shuts down after the second weekend in April because many people turn their attention to other sports as warm weather begins. Mountain managers decided to extend the season for an extra three-day weekend, just as they did in April 2006.
Clark said mountain managers are planning to begin work on Mount Ashland's long-proposed expansion June 1, but opponents of the expansion still hope to prevent tree-cutting for new ski runs on 70 acres of forestland adjacent to the existing ski area.
In September 2006 a federal judge rejected the claims of environmental groups that the U.S. Forest Service failed to adequately consider the environmental impacts of expanding the ski area, but the Rogue Group of the Sierra Club, along with Ashland-based National Center for Conservation Science and Policy and Oregon Wild (formerly the Oregon Natural Resources Council) have taken their case to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The environmental groups also asked the court to issue an injunction to prevent any construction from occurring while the appeal makes its way through the legal system.
Ski area managers and officials from the city of Ashland are scheduled to have a second mediation session Thursday. The ski area and the city disagree about who should have responsibility for overseeing the ski area's expansion within Ashland's municipal watershed. City officials want to deal directly with the Forest Service. Mount Ashland managers say their lease gives them complete responsibility for all expansion work.
Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492 or e-mail bkettler@mailtribune.com.
