If you're sick of melting in California's winter heat wave, you might consider taking a trip to one of the area's ski resorts for a chilly getaway.
Not so fast: all of Mount Baldy as well as many other trails around Southern California have shut down in the wake of high temperatures and little to no precipitation.
Mount Baldy closed starting Tuesday, February 16, and hopes to reopen snow tubing and its restaurant, Top of the Notch, on Friday morning. But they are unsure if ski slopes will be open this week, according to an official statement on their website, and echoed in a phone message. The message also states that they "will be watching a moderately sized storm system move through the area this week," and are hoping for snow.
But Mount Baldy isn't the only resort battling this unusual winter weather. Mountain High's West Resort only has a few open trails, but the East and North resorts were closed entirely at the time this post went live.
At Snow Valley Mountain Resort, only four out of an available 12 lifts are open, with one on standby. About a third of their trails are closed.
Mount Baldy, in particular, has had an especially tough battle against icy and generally poor conditions for most of February. On February 2, a 23-year-old fell to his death while reportedly trying to help a friend who had slipped. Then, less than a week later, the resort closed all hiking trails when a second person slipped and fell to his death. As recently as Valentine's Day, another hiker slipped and fell, injuring himself on the mountain.
At these resorts, lifts and trails open and close regularly as conditions change. Snow Valley's website, for example, includes the disclaimer "Trail status is subject to change without notice due to changes in weather and terrain conditions." But normal winter weather and more precipitation would do a great deal to help reopen trails and keep the local resorts operating long into the spring.
