Mountain High reopens Saturday after holiday season storms

More than two weeks after winter storms hammered the Wrightwood area, Mountain High is scheduled to reopen Saturday, Jan. 10.

Karl Kapuscinski, president and CEO of Mountain High Resorts, thanked his staff in a written statement issued Friday.

“Without your dedication and hard work through the holidays, we wouldn’t have been able to open the resort,” Kapuscinski wrote. “I would also like to thank Caltrans (and) both LA and San Bernardino counties for their help putting things back together.”

The ski resort has been closed since Dec. 23. Heavy rains in the Wrightwood area caused flooding and slides on Dec. 24, causing flooding, power outages and road damage, making Highway 2 impassable. A portion of the road has since reopened.

An estimated 50 homes were “severely damaged” and are likely uninhabitable, while 25 suffered minor to moderate damage, according to Ryan Beckers, a spokesman for the San Bernardino County Fire Department.

Mountain High received 12 inches of rain in just 12 hours, according to the resort, and 30 inches since Nov. 1.

The winter storms brought so much precipitation to the state that California is 100% drought-free for the first time in a quarter-century, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

With roadways reopening, Mountain High Resorts is scheduled to reopen Saturday for skiing and snowboarding. Up to four lifts accessing five trails from beginner to intermediate terrain are expected to be available, with a 12- to 16-inch base of machine-made snow.