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Growth in mountain terrain parks, action "hubs" and programming define Woodward as the action sports company enters its 50th year in operation -- and the second decade on the snow.

In the waning days of January, Mother Nature got to work -- dropping her glorious bounty upon the mountains of the West, and finally giving skiers and snowboarders the deep powder they've been waiting for.

The baker's dozen of ski and snowboard resorts in the Lake Tahoe region will start opening for the season in late November, and all will have policies in place to combat the spread of Covid-19.

Like all U.S. resorts, the list of COVID-related changes at Tahoe-area mountains reads familiar: Cashless transactions, masking up, self-grouping for lifts, state regulating size of gatherings, more weekday season pass options, rental shop spacing, group lesson capping,  gearing up in the parking lot, and grab 'n' go food.

Californians love the out-of-doors but COVID has put some reins on that. However, the mountains still beckon as one place that can be safe to go -- and give the sun-and-fun fix they crave.

All across the West you can find year-round paved roads that cross major mountain divides and offer some of the best mountain views in the nation. Plus, many are home to ski and snowboard resorts.

Willy Booker, head of Burke Mountain Academy which hones some of America’s finest ski racers, bemoans that kids are less active and athletic today and don’t get outdoors enough. 

One way to remedy that is to have fun at a mountain resort this summer.

Loveland chairlift ready to be first open. (Loveland/Facebook)

It’s the time of year when the first snow hits the high ridges, the ski shows debut – and resorts begin to announce the day that the new ski and snowboard season will arrive.

Turns to be had at Snow Summit. (Snow Summit/Facebook)

Mid-winter doldrums gave way to a snow-filled spring that has kept many resort open longer than expected – and cranked up the end-of-season parties.

Snow everywhere you look around Lake Tahoe these days. (Heavenly/Facebook)

Ah, just like the old days … The trio of Pacific storms that recently slammed into the Sierra left behind record snow depths and wind speeds as high as 100 mph and forced nearly a dozen Lake Tahoe resorts to shut down their lifts.

Snowcats open up new powder stashes at Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows (Squaw Valley/Facebook)

The storms have started to roll across the Sierra Nevada, giving skiers and snowboarders who venture to the Lake Tahoe region a taste of what is to come this season.

A pair of skiers punctuate the new season at Copper Mountain. (Copper Mountain/Facebook)

Just as doomsayers raised their voices, Mother Nature came to the rescue in the West and turned the conversation to, “When are you opening?”

For many resorts in the Rockies, Sierra and Cascades, the answer is a resounding “soon.” Yes, terrain will be quite limited – often a couple of runs in the beginner/intermediate areas – but many ski and snowboard areas put up cheap ticket deals to get people to the slopes as soon as possible.

Significant snowfall coursed across the northern tier of the Western mountains in the past week, dropping as much as a foot on Steamboat which opens this week. Most Colorado resorts that pushed back their traditional pre-Thanksgiving opening days have put a new date on the calendar. Colorado’s Keystone, Breckenridge, Winter Park and Copper Mountain all dropped the ropes this past week, after a week’s delay. Eldora is set drop the ropes this week.

Farther south, resorts like Purgatory got enough to open while others, like Taos Ski Valley, put it off until snowmaking and natural snowfall will cover more terrain.

Out west In SoCal, Mammoth Mountain has been open for a couple of weeks and, in the Sierra, both Boreal and Mount Rose began spinning lifts this past week while a slew of other Tahoe-area resorts plan to open for Thanksgiving.

Early snow has come fitfully to Utah, but Snowbasin plans to lead the pack with a Wednesday (Nov. 23) start, followed by Park City on Friday (Nov. 25). A bunch of Utah’s 15 resorts haven’t announced an opening yet.

Up in the Northwest, Mount Baker expects to win the race this season by kicking off the season on Nov. 23. Others have coverage, but await more.

OpenSnow forecasters see multiple storm systems rolling in off the Pacific in the next couple of weeks, bringing significant snowfall to the mountains and brightening the prospects for early-goers all across the West.

Yes, it’s finally a bonanza snow season in the Sierra with double-digit storms all over, but the managers of Soda Springs Mountain Resort don’t regret their decision to become the first California resort to use recycled water for snowmaking.

As serious snows return to the Lake Tahoe region, thousands of skiers and snowboarders make the trip up to a dozen mountain resorts. Once they get there, area officials work hard to provide transit options so that all those vehicles stay parked during their stay.

For terrain parkers, the end of the winter ski and snowboard season means more than six long months of life without a jib, jump or butter box – unless you got the bread for some time at Woodward.

Lake Tahoe resorts are rejoicing as the latest storm finally delivered snow across the region.

Climate change – and its threat to snow-dependent ski and snowboard resorts -- has become a priority for many resort owners, and a large number in the West are taking steps to reduce emissions and energy use.

All eyes are on the skies – and all hands are on the snow guns – as Northern California ski and snowboard resorts begin to turn on the lifts for the season, thanks to regular snow storms that started cycling through the region since Thanksgiving.

The skiing and snowboard season in California was a mixed bag this season, but hope always springs eternal for the next season – as do the bargains for buying a season’s pass early.

After a snow-challenged 2012-13 season that came on the heels of an industry slowdown, the 14 resorts that ring Lake Tahoe kept upgrades modest this summer. Still, there are a number of improvements.