Pre-Holiday Snowstorms Set Stage for Peak Conditions

It’s winter wonderland time again in the Southland’s high country. Finally.

After making do with an occasional small storm and whatever snow they could generate when cold Santa Ana winds blew, ski resorts in the San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountains are swinging into virtually full operation just in time for the Martin Luther King holiday weekend.

Snow has been falling since Sunday and is expected to continue into today, with more possible by Friday. This should result in the best conditions of the season once the skies clear--or for powder hounds, the time is now. Here’s the situation in midweek:

SNOW SUMMIT--About 30 inches of new snow atop a 12- to 36-inch base. Seven chairlifts are in operation, including both high-speed quads.

BEAR MOUNTAIN-- An additional 34 to 44 inches augmented a base of 24 to 60 inches on slopes served by nine lifts. Three runs on Silver Mountain opened Tuesday, including Quicksilver.

SNOW VALLEY--An additional 24 to 36 inches on a base of 36-60 inches created what a spokesman called “phenomenal” conditions. Four lifts are going.

MOUNTAIN HIGH--The west mountain is 90% open after receiving 18 inches to go with a base of 24-36 inches, and six lifts are operating. The east mountain may be open later in the week.

SKI SUNRISE--It has been open since Monday, with the chairlift and beginners’ rope tow running.

MT. BALDY--An opening is planned as soon as the current storm lets up, possibly today or Thursday.

SNOWCREST--The former Kratka Ridge hopes to reopen today.

MT. WATERMAN--A weekend opening is now likely.

The string of storms also is adding to the already deep snowpack in the High Sierra, where resorts from Mammoth Mountain to Lake Tahoe are back in nearly 100% operation.

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Matt Grosjean, a recent transplant to Southern California, has given the U.S. ski team renewed hope for a slalom medal in the World Alpine Ski championships next month at Sestriere, Italy.

After considering retirement after a poor 1995-96 season, Grosjean, 26, said he decided “to ski in races the same way I ski in training.” Apparently that approach is working, because he achieved the best World Cup result of his career last week at Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, finishing fourth--four places ahead of Alberto Tomba.

Then, on Sunday at Chamonix, France, Grosjean had a strong second run to wind up 11th behind winner Thomas Sykora of Austria, but only 0.75 of a second out of second place.

Grosjean, formerly of Steamboat Springs, Colo., moved his family--wife Torrie and sons Cody, 4, and Austin, 1--into a townhouse in Aliso Viejo last summer and spent Christmas there during a break in competition.

This weekend, he’ll be at Wengen, Switzerland, where the men are scheduled to race in the Lauberhorn slalom and downhill.

There he again will race Tomba, who dropped out after the first run Sunday because of flu. The Italian skipped Tuesday’s giant slalom at Adelboden, Switzerland, on the advice of his doctors. Norwegian Kjetil-Andre Aamodt’s victory in that race enabled him to close within 26 points of Switzerland’s Michael von Gruenigen, who tops the overall standings with 577.

The women’s World Cup leader is Sweden’s Pernilla Wiberg, who is threatening to make it a runaway with 863 points, 214 more than defending champion Katja Seizinger of Germany. They will continue their rivalry in a slalom and two giant slaloms at Zwiesel, Germany, beginning Friday.

Skiing Notes

The Freestyle World Cup circuit’s next stop is this weekend at Whistler-Blackcomb, Canada, where U.S. skiers hope to improve on their somewhat disappointing results. In the mogul standings, for example, the top Americans are Johnny Moseley and Donna Weinbrecht, each in third place. Steven Roxberg is tied for second and Ian Edmonson is fourth in acro-skiing, but the aerialists are all back in the pack.

Primoz Peterka of Slovenia, who won the recent Four Hill ski-jumping event, swept last weekend’s competition at Engelberg, Switzerland, and leads the World Cup standings with 832 points, 162 ahead of Germany’s Dieter Thoma. Austria’s Andreas Goldberger is third, an additional 98 behind. . . . Bjorn Daehlie of Norway and Stefania Belmondo of Italy top the World Cup cross-country standings after seven races each.