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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us December 6, 2005 Mt. Ashland set to open Friday The Mt. Ashland Ski lodge is the center of bustling activity this week as the ski area prepares for this Friday’s opening. Alan Panebaker | Ashland Daily Tidings November snow has helped the ski area plan for opening one day ahead of average By Bill Kettler For the Tidings A strange illness may settle over Southern Oregon Friday, causing hundreds of otherwise healthy people to miss work or school. “Opening-day flu” seems to strike every year when the chairlifts start running on Mount Ashland. Southern Oregon skiers and snowboarders will get what they’ve been waiting for Friday, when Mount Ashland opens for the winter of 2005-06. Ski area crews will be working this week to have all four lifts operating on opening day, said Rick Saul, Mount Ashland’s marketing director. Saul said more than 2 feet of snow fell last week, giving Mount Ashland enough snow to cover rocky obstacles and brush on ski trails. There was 28 inches of snow at the lodge on Monday and 69 inches at the summit. Ski patrollers were out over the weekend setting boundary poles and marking obstacles, Saul said. Chairlifts will begin rolling at 9 a.m. Friday for day skiing until 4 p.m. The ski area will observe the same schedule on Saturday and Sunday and then close until the following Friday, when seven-day-a-week skiing and snowboarding are scheduled to begin. Saul said mountain managers decided to operate on weekends only until public schools’ winter holidays begin because historically there have been relatively few visitors during midweek days until the holidays. People who have purchased season passes may pick them up between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. at the ski area’s business office, 693 Washington St. in Ashland. The business office is at the south end of town, off Ashland Street (Highway 66), near the U.S. Forest Service’s Ashland Ranger District office. Beginning Friday, season passes also may be picked up at the Mount Ashland lodge. This year’s opening day on Mount Ashland comes one day earlier than the average opening day of Dec. 10. An early taste of winter at the beginning of November dumped 2 to 3 feet on the mountain in the space of about three days, raising hopes that the season might open by Thanksgiving.However, most of that snow melted when an air inversion settled over Southern Oregon, bringing bright sun to the mountain and dense fog to the valley floor. The ski area opened in November as recently as 2002, when the chairs started running on Nov. 30. Skiers and snowboarders who want to play at nearby Mount Shasta will have to wait a while. The Mount Shasta Board & Ski Park had about a foot of snow at the base area Monday. Crews were using snow machines to supplement natural snow. Mount Bachelor, Oregon’s largest ski area, opened Nov. 11. There were 76 inches of snow at Bachelor’s base area Monday, and 85 inches at mid-mountain. For more information on Mount Ashland, see www.mtashland.com. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Online Pharmacy Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations Hammocks Water Filter Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams