Huge Snowfalls in California

California’s ski resorts are finally breathing a sigh of relief after a powerful Christmas storm transformed the season, dropping up to 1.8 m (six feet), of snow (and possibly more, the numbers are still coming in from the heaviest hit areas) across the state’s mountains.

Until this week, many areas had endured an exceptionally poor start, with warm, wet weather through November and December preventing openings or limiting terrain to a handful of runs. The Palisades, for example, had managed only three trails of its nearly 300 up to Christmas, before receiving 160 cm (5 feet plus) of new snow and pushing that total past 30 as teams work to make more terrain safe. Much more is expected to open there and elsewhere over the next few days.

Another area, Sierra-at-Tahoe, which was one of those that had not been open at all until the Christmas snowfall arrived, finally started its season yesterday. Another, like Palisades, that had only opened a few runs before the storm, Mt Rose – Ski Tahoe reports a dramatic turnaround, announcing that 90% of its terrain is now available after more than six feet of snowfall in five days.

The storm arrived with blizzard conditions that shut down lifts over Christmas, brought widespread power outages and created extreme avalanche danger. Now that skies have cleared, resorts are gradually reopening while reminding visitors of hazards such as tree wells and unstable snow off‑piste.

Mammoth Mountain, which previously had the most skiing open in the West, was forced to close completely on 26–27 December due to avalanche risk, with two staff injured during control work. Unofficial indicators (buried signs) suggest it may have received over two metres/7 feet.

Avalanche danger should ease over the next few days as calmer, sunnier weather returns.

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