PINECREST, Calif. — While many ski resorts in the Tahoe area are packed with guests, the season is just getting started in Tuolumne County.
Officials at Dodge Ridge are getting ready to power up the ski lift after a winter storm dropped enough fresh powder to open this weekend.
“We’ve been hoping that this would happen for several months now,” said Dodge Ridge marketing director Hanna Craig.
The snow machines are switched off and the snowmobiles are hard at work as the slopes at Dodge Ridge get ready to open.
“We’re getting everything ready. The cats are on the hill, all the lift operations are out on the hill getting everything ready,” said base area director Eric Sanders.
A winter storm earlier this week gave operators the green light to begin their ski and snowboarding season Friday.
“We had 19” at our summit, 13-14” at our base area. When it does get announced and we do open, that’s what we live for,” said Craig.
It wasn’t quite as soon as last year, but Sanders will take it.
“Last year, we were open Nov. 11. This year, we’re open Jan. 5, so you just never know here in California what you’re going to get but when we get it, we’re excited and ready to go,” he said.
Tuolumne County’s economy is excited too.
“There are a lot of businesses that kind of hang and wait for us to open. Once we do, that whole corridor as you come up, that’s where everyone is stopping along the way to get their coffee and everything else,” he said.
While the buzz is building on the snow, the real thrill starts this weekend when the crowds of snow-lovers finally get to head up Highway 108 to shred the slopes.
“We hope to have five lifts open tomorrow (Friday) and then as the storms come in we’ll get everything else open,” said Sanders. “We were open Memorial Day last year so maybe we will be again this year.”
With the long-awaited season starting, the slopes are expected to be busy this weekend, so it might be a good idea to make reservations online before heading out.
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