Unable to open as planned due to unseasonably warm weather and a lack of snow, the Snowbasin ski resort is offering refunds to holders of season passes.
Ogden weather gauges climbed to 52 degrees on Tuesday. Brigham City, where temperatures hit 45 degrees, set a record for its warmest Jan. 9 on record."Pray for snow," urges Kent Matthews, Snowbasin mountain manager, who had planned on opening the resort over the weekend.
Now, for the first time in its history, the resort is offering full refunds to season pass purchasers. About 100 people hold the passes.
Pass holders can either accept a full refund now on the $499 passes, or wait until the resort's open and get a partial refund, Snowbasin's general manager Rainer Kolb said Tuesday.
He said the amount of the partial refund will be determined at the time Snowbasin finally does open.
Kolb said the resort brought in its seasonal employees last week in anticipation of opening.
"There's plenty of snow on the upper mountain; Middle Bowl and Porcupine are in great shape. And we moved a lot of snow around to accommodate skiers on the lower runs," he said. "But it's been just too warm and too much of the snow melted."
Kolb estimates that the resort needs another storm to drop 5 or 6 inches on the mountain before it can be skied.