Mount Shasta Ski Park is California’s newest resort, having opened in December 1985. Photo/Kathryn Reed

By Kathryn Reed

MCCLOUD – Mount Shasta Ski Park received the best 30th birthday present it could – snow. So much white stuff has fallen this season that the original planned closing date of March 12 has been moved to April 17.

This North State resort has had a couple tough years. It was open for four days in 2013-14. And while the resort allowed 2013-14 pass holders to use their pass last season, by January 2015 the resort was closed because of lack of snow.

The resort has snowmaking, but there are variables that are beyond its control like drought, rain instead of snow and having a mountain that mostly faces south.

This season the privately-held ski resort has had three of its busiest days since it open in 1985.

Fifty-five percent of the terrain is intermediate. Photo/Kathryn Reed

This is the second ski resort on the mountain. The first was known as Mt. Shasta Ski Bowl and was located at the end of Everitt Memorial Highway. It was open from 1959-78. Avalanches were a constant problem. The last year it was open an avalanche took out the main chairlift.

Most of the skiers who come here are from the Redding area. The resort doesn’t even market to Bay Area riders.

“This mountain is one of the best family mountains in the state,” Michael Smith, report spokesman, told Lake Tahoe News. “Because of the mix of skiing we have it caters to families much better.”

Looking at the resort from the parking lot it’s reminiscent of Homewood Mountain Resort where it doesn’t appear there is much terrain. Once on the mountain that myth is dispelled. It is also a bit like Sierra-at-Tahoe in that there aren’t many lifts. Again, once on the mountain one realizes the lifts are strategically located.

Shasta’s three chairlifts service 32 trails, 425 acres, with 1,435 vertical feet.

Earlier this month the resort hosted 30 high school teams that were competing in the California Nevada Interscholastic Ski and Snowboard Federation Championships.

Conditions were such that the lights for night skiing were on because visibility was sketchy. With the white stuff coming down, a thin layer of powder covered what had been groomed runs. It was light and fun to make fresh tracks even in mid-morning.

Mark the bartender pours one of the 13 beers that are on tap. Photo/Kathryn Reed

The lodge was full of people eating and drinking. The weather was too yucky to enjoy the deck, which was nearly doubled in size in 2013.

Thirteen beers are on tap – most from surrounding breweries. They are rotated, with the brewmaster sometimes on hand to share his expertise.

While there has been talk for 15 years of expanding the resort north into the Grey Butte area of the mountain, there is no publicized time line of when this might happen. Smith said with the resort not making money for three years, that type of capital investment isn’t in the works right now.

The price for skiers is reasonable — $39 for an adult mid-week ticket, $54 on Friday-Saturday-Sunday and holidays.