It's still winter in the USA
Wednesday June 2, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

It was Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer.   But for some ski resorts winter was welcomed back as they fired up their ski lifts.

Mammoth mountain in California was always due to be open but 3 others in the USA began again.

On the West Coast Donner Summit and Squaw Valley ski areas re-opened after fresh snow fell last week.

On the east Coast, Stowe in Vermont took a different approach and unveiled a huge pile of snow it had stockpiled through the winter to use for one off 'Last Trick' Rail Jam over Memorial Day weekend. 

The giant pile of snow, formerly the resort's halfpipe, provided the venue for Stowe's park crew to set up the rails, boxes and jumps for one more jam session.

The event was open to all skiers, snowboarders and spectators with music provided and prizes and giveaways for participants to add to the mood.

Stowe Mountain resort

To some extent the re-opening were a bit of a PR stunt for the resorts, but nevertheless people turned out to enjoy the re-start of the ski season.

Albeit for just the weekend.

Over the in the West almost half a metre fell last week in some places.

After poor snowfall in the past few years many businesses welcomed the wintery weather.

"The last few years have been very bleak compared to this," said Lincoln Kauffman, general manager of Donner Summit, to local media. "We didn't have this much snow in January of last year."

The keen skiers and snowboarders were rubbing their hands in glee.

Though for those people who had booked a camping trip for Memorial Day and were looking for a bit of fishing, some BBQ food and sunbathing then the return of the snow was perhaps not quite so welcome.

Arapahoe Basin in Colorado, Snowbird in Utah, Timbeline Lodge in Oregon and Mammoth Mountain, as we mentioned earlier, are still open for skiing and snowboarding; as planned.

Bookmark this page

Related Articles