Mount Charleston offers fresh snow, $5 parking

Thanks to cooler temperatures and a welcome blast of new snow, Las Vegas Ski &Snowboard Resort will reopen its snow-tubing area today.

But if you go, don’t forget to bring along an extra $5 to park at the top of Lee Canyon.

Starting this winter, the resort is collecting fees from motorists — even those who drive to the end of road to hike the upper Bristlecone Loop Trail just outside the ski area — as part of a new road maintenance agreement.

The Nevada Department of Transportation was previously responsible for clearing snow from the entire length of state Route 156, also known as Lee Canyon Road. Then last fall, the state abandoned the last half-mile of the road above the turnoff for Dolomite Campground, leaving the ski resort in charge of snow removal and off-season maintenance there.

As part of the deal, the U.S. Forest Service agreed to let the resort collect a fee from motorists to cover costs.

“We’re here, and we have the resources,” said Jim Seely, spokesman for the resort. “It just seems easier.”

But the arrangement has led to some complaints from outdoor enthusiasts who don’t think they should have to pay the ski resort to hike or snowshoe on federal land outside the resort. Others have questioned why the resort continues to collect the fee when there has been so little snow to clear from the parking lot this year.

Randy Swick, who manages the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area for the Forest Service, said the agreement is not uncommon for roads leading to ski areas on public land.

It just made more sense to put the ski resort in charge of clearing the end of the road, because that’s where nearly all of the winter-time traffic is headed and the end of the highway is where the resort fires its cannon for avalanche control, Swick said.

He added that hikers still have free access to the Bristlecone Loop Trail’s lower trailhead, and he noted that if the ski resort wasn’t clearing the road, there would be no way to access the upper trailhead, anyway.

In any case, Swick said, the arrangement will be reviewed at the end of the season to see if it’s functioning as intended.

“Right now it seems like it’s working pretty smoothly,” he said. “Of course, we haven’t had too much winter. We haven’t had a real test to the system.”

The ski resort was suffering through its third straight year of abnormally dry conditions until this week’s storm dumped about 10 inches of snow on Mount Charleston.

Seely said the welcome cold snap is allowing the resort to reopen the snow-tubing area it debuted this season but was forced to close a few weeks ago. Abnormally hot, dry conditions in late November also delayed the ski resort’s opening by two weeks.

Seely said snow conditions are great right now.

If the weather doesn’t heat up too quickly, the resort should be able to stay open for skiing through early April, as it typically does, he said.

Las Vegas Ski &Snowboard Resort operates under a special-use permit on land leased from the Forest Service.