For the week of December 18 - 23, 2002

Three-day series of storms are the perfect Christmas present

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By GREG MOORE
Express Staff Writer

Clearing skies Tuesday morning revealed a Wood River Valley transformed from brown, drab and depressing to winter wonderland.

Coming just before Christmas week, the three-day series of storms allowed local business owners to breathe a sigh of relief.

With a reported 21 inches of new snow on top of Bald Mountain during that period, Sun Valley opened everything on Baldy but the bowls and Seattle Ridge. The Seattle Ridge runs and lift, as well as the Mayday lift, are scheduled to open Friday. The bowls will open for skiing as soon as conditions are deemed safe.

Snow depth on top of Baldy on Tuesday was reported to be 38 inches, with 22 inches at the base. Season total is 49 inches. According to the U.S. Forest Service, wind gusts reached 60 miles per hour on top of the mountain on Sunday.

Dollar Mountain is scheduled to open Friday.

The Sun Valley Nordic Center was scheduled to open today. Galena Lodge reported about 30 inches of new snow, with all trails open and groomed.

"It’s incredibly good classic (skiing)," said Galena ski instructor Stan Bercovitz. "This is as good as it gets."

With the exceptionally wet snow falling on a base of old, dry snow, the Forest Service avalanche report called the slide hazard on Tuesday "considerable."

"Conditions are imminent to trigger large and dangerous avalanches," stated forecaster Greg Johnson.

Johnson said he triggered an approximately 500-foot-wide slide Monday on Titus Ridge, near Galena Summit, that ran to the valley floor. A Sun Valley ski patrolman intentionally triggered a good-sized slide in Lookout Bowl on Tuesday morning.

On Saturday, a male snowboarder from Stanley was buried in a slide on Copper Mountain, just east of Banner Summit. The other members of his party dug him out in healthy condition from about two feet under.

According to the National Resources Conservation Service, the Big Wood and Little Wood River drainages now hold 79 percent of normal snowpack, with a water equivalent that is 97 percent of normal. The area’s snowpack is the closest to normal of any drainage in the state.

On Tuesday, Grand Targhee reported only 4 inches of snow over the past 24 hours, and Bogus Basin reported only 3 inches.

The considerably improved local snow conditions are expected to solidify Christmas bookings that started out well in November, but had tapered off some since then.

"When the news gets out that we have good snow, it always helps our Christmas business," said Sun Valley-Ketchum Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Carol Waller.

Waller said that over the past few years, travelers in general have been booking trips closer to their expected time of departure. She attributed that state of affairs to tighter, less predictable work schedules and the fact that more families have both parents working. Whatever the reason, it means that snow conditions play a bigger role in ski resort reservations.

Jack Sibbach, Sun Valley Co. director of sales and marketing, said Christmas reservations are "fair." However, he said he expects business to pick up as a result of the recent snowfall.

Continued snow showers are forecast through most of the next week.

 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.