Sugar Bowl kicks off its 85th ski season as other Tahoe resorts wait for more snow
PLACER COUNTY — It's a slow and steady race to open up ski resorts in the Sierra.
Sugar Bowl Resort opened its season Friday, but other Tahoe ski resorts remain closed due to a lack of snow.
A lot of people CBS Sacramento spoke with up the mountain are hoping for a similar season to what we saw last year after a historic winter, but so far, it hasn't started that way.
Still, spirits were high as skiers and snowboarders took over Sugar Bowl for the first time this season.
Jerome Hill and White Pine are the only lifts currently open, as well as a terrain park that provides visitors with a taste of what the winter season has to come.
Kevin Brennan, a skier, came up from Nevada City and had his first chance to hit the slopes this year, "breaking in the new boots." For Brennan, less snow to kick off the season isn't a concern.
"I've been coming up here for 20 years, and we've had just this trail open and it's turned out to be an epic year, so it's too early to tell," he said.
At 8,300 feet in elevation, Sugar Bowl is a prime location for snowmaking and they've been able to maximize their capabilities.
"They've been doing an awesome job making as much snow as they can," said snowboarder Janah Bermudez.
Due to the lack of snow, Sugar Bowl was forced to delay it's opening by about a week.
Last year, the ski resort opened its doors the day after Thanksgiving, setting the stage for that historic winter season and finishing the year with a whopping 110 inches of snow.
"Last year, at some points, we had too much snow to operate the resort," said Sugar Bowl spokesperson Maggie Eshbaugh. "It's the wild and stormy Sierra. You never know what you're going to get."
For Sugar Bowl, Friday was a special day for the resort, as it marked the beginning of its 85th year in operation.
Meanwhile, resorts like Sierra-at-Tahoe are delaying their opening Saturday as they hope for more snow in the coming weeks.
