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It’s no secret that this season hasn’t exactly gotten off to a bang in the Sierras. Although several resorts have opened on schedule, the amount of snowfall has been minimal and it seems that spending the time, money and gas for a quick fix is a helluva lot more trouble than it’s worth at this point. The good news is that temperatures seem to be dropping, allowing for some heavy duty snow-making that should help get conditions up to speed. I’ve even heard reports that Northstar pumped up to 2.5 million gallons of artificially frozen water onto their slopes a few days ago, making a full push to open their doors as quickly as possible.

But before we all get too down on the upcoming season before it even starts, let’s put the current state of things in context. Taking data from Squaw Valley’s Snowfall Tracker over the past few years, here’s how this season’s numbers stack up compared to the past few years at the same time using snowfall measurements at the base (6,200 feet)…

Season Total Snowfall @ Dec. 1 Total Snowfall @ End of Season

08/09 10″ ???

07/08 15″ 304″

06/07 20″ 190″

05/06 15″ 352″

04/05 39″ 264″

So what’s the moral of the story? That we shouldn’t fret quite yet about the lack of snowfall because it is NOT a sign of things to come. I’m still extremely hopeful that we’ll not only see average to above-average snowfall, but also below-average temperatures…giving us a longer season on the slopes. Fingers crossed, I guess.

For the sake of keeping y’all up to date, here’s the latest on opening dates with some base depth info (where applicable)…

Tahoe – North Shore

Alpine Meadows – Dec. 12
Boreal – OPEN
Diamond Peak – Dec. 11
Donner Ski Ranch – TBA
Dodge Ridge – TBA
Homewood – Dec. 18
Mt. Rose – OPEN
Northstar – Any day now…
Squaw Valley – TBA
Sugar Bowl – Dec. 5

Tahoe – South Shore

Heavenly – OPEN (18″ base)
Kirkwood – TBA (14-20″ base at mid-mtn)
Sierra at Tahoe – TBA

Others

Mammoth – OPEN (13-48″ base)
June Mountain – Dec. 13