Where to Ski And Snowboard - Tahoe’s loving it!

Tahoe’s loving it!

9th December 2009, by Chris Gill

Now, where are the groomers?

There has been good news for resorts in the US this week: storms have brought heavy snowfall to parts of California, Colorado and Utah, as well as welcome snow for areas in Vermont.

It began out west, with the Lake Tahoe region reporting a metre of snow in 24-hours – good timing for the festive holidays starting shortly. The heavy snowfall temporarily closed Reno airport and is claimed as the worst for five years, bringing with it very high winds and plummeting temperatures.

Heavenly and Squaw Valley received between 60-90cm fresh snow. Similar accumulations are expected in the Rockies, but winds in excess of 90mph were blasting the high slopes on Tuesday (8 December). The Loveland Pass had to close.

Vail, Breckenridge and Copper Mountain were all welcoming new snow on Tuesday, after what has been a dry period for the resorts recently – with only limited terrain available. Hopefully, Editor Watts will report back from Vail where he is visiting with a group of Daily Mail Ski Magazine readers.

Some of the heaviest snow was reported across the San Juan Mountains, including Telluride – and the five-day forecast suggests more snow for the end of the week. The resort is preparing for some World Cup Snowboard events on the 15 December, so the slopes should be in great condition.

Further north in Utah, snowfall totals were more disappointing - Alta received 10cm, Park City 20cm and Snowbasin about 10-15cm. But the good news is that more snow is forecast. Fingers crossed for them.

And a storm warning was in force for the east coast resorts, at last bringing more snowfall to Vermont. Here they are predicting 15-20cm, and already reporting up to 12cm in the past 24-hours; it is still snowing, so they have been able to open top-to-bottom riding on one run. Five others are open too – limited but it’s cold enough to continue the snowmaking.