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Ski area season will end Sunday Photo by Bob Pennell Mitchell Lesh, 6, of Medford has the bunny slope all to himself Tuesday afternoon at Ski Ashland. Because interest in skiing has dwindled during the recent spell of sunny spring days, the ski area has decided to close for the season on Sunday. Interest dwindles with warm spring By BILL KETTLER Lori Burton spent most of Tuesday shoveling snow instead of loading skiers onto her chairlift at Ski Ashland. "It's about 55 degrees and the ramps are melting," she said, tossing fresh snow onto the shrinking approach to the chair lift. "We've got to keep them up. It's a constant battle to keep snow on. That's all we're doing." Skiers were scarce on the mountain this week as Ski Ashland staff counted down toward Sunday -- the final day of the 1999-2000 season. Southern Oregon's publicly owned ski area will finish the year with slightly above-average attendance, despite a mediocre Christmas holiday season. Mountain manager Jeff Hanson said the season will add a little money in the ski area's bank account, but it won't significantly augment the funds that have been earmarked to add five new ski trails west of the existing ski area. Hanson said Ski Ashland spent about $750,000 during the year to build a new sewage treatment plant to replace its aging septic treatment system. The ski area still has more than $1 million in its bank account for operations and the proposed expansion. The Rogue River National Forest, which manages the land beneath the ski area, is conducting an environmental impact study of the expansion proposal. Public comment on the proposal will be accepted through May 4. Marketing director Gene Landsmann said about 83,000 skiers and snowboarders will have visited the mountain by Sunday. That's about 3.5 percent above the average attendance (80,000) during the eight seasons since the area became publicly owned. The 134-day season opened Dec. 5 -- slightly earlier than the Dec. 10 average opening -- but lack of snow prevented it from operating over the Thanksgiving holiday. Dry December weather left barely enough snow to operate during the two-week Christmas holiday. Landsmann said attendance during the last two weeks of December fell to about one-third of what ski area managers hoped to attract during the holiday season. "We had a good remainder of the season," he said. "But you can never make up for (missing) Thanksgiving and (a poor) Christmas. "It was great to be open at all," said Hanson, "considering ski areas to the south were closed." Hanson said ski area managers decided to close in mid-April rather than extend the season because interest in skiing has dwindled during the recent spell of sunny spring days. He said spring skiing enthusiasts already have had several weeks of "bluebird days and corn snow." Skiers and snowboarders looking for a little late-season adventure still will find plenty of snow on the mountain this week. On Tuesday there was nearly six feet of snow near the lodge and more than 10 feet at the summit. Frank Papen, of Ashland, took advantage of the season's last two-fer-Tuesday to ski for $6. "I spend more money than that at the hardware store if I stay home," he said. Leslie Case, of Central Point, said the wet spring snow makes for slower skiing, but it allows intermediate skiers to take on steeper slopes. Nearly empty trails make the mountain attractive, too. "It's still fun," she said. "It's more fun in some ways. It's nice to have the mountain to yourself." Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA