Bob Matthews tests ski binding settings at Rogue Ski Shop in Medford last Thursday. With a lack of snow shutting down operations at the Mt. Ashland Ski Area and slowing ski shop business, employees at the shop are working fewer hours to keep costs down.

Bob Matthews, owner of Rogue Ski Shop in Medford, has seen lean years when a lack of snow kept the Mt. Ashland Ski Area from operating, as is the case so far this season.

“It’s what happens in the ski business,” Matthews said last Thursday at his shop, where business has slowed and employees are working fewer hours to rein in costs. “You don’t have any control over it.”

Ten years ago, the ski area didn’t open at all for a full season.

“The best way to deal with it is, if you have a good year, you save,” Matthews said. “If you don’t, you’re not going to make it.”

The lack of snow this season has idled all but about 10 of the 200 or so ski area employees who were on the books about a month ago awaiting opening day. With the lack of business, ski area finances are taking a hit and no one is having any fun on the slopes. Normally, late December would be the busiest time of the ski season, with young people out of school for the holiday break.

Opening day for the ski area this year was optimistically set for Dec. 9, but as of Tuesday, the highest snow total was 7 inches on the lower mountain. There was 5 inches of snow at the summit.

The National Weather Service in Medford predicted 2 to 5 inches of snowfall for the Mount Ashland area into Tuesday night, with up to 3½ inches possible Wednesday, but snow totals were expected to fall Thursday. A weekend storm system, however, could bring more snow, according to the NWS website.

Andrew Gast, ski area general manager, said the late start is not unprecedented and that in the past 44 years, 13 years have been worse than now.

“It’s not abnormal for us not to open until January,” he said. “The big impact is going to be all the folks who we hired in November. None of them have been able to work yet.”

The employees can apply for unemployment compensation, he said.

The ski area, meanwhile, has a rainy day fund that can be drawn on to help stabilize finances, although it hasn’t been used so far this year.

“The board of directors set aside

enough assets so that we can withstand two seasons of nothing happening at all and not having any impact on the organization,” Gast said.

To cut costs, the ski area has cut back on office hours, which are now 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

Also, some projects have been cut back, although Gast said safety projects are continuing and that a planned new chairlift is still expected to be installed by November of 2024.

“We’re definitely in hibernation mode,” he said last Thursday. “The good news is we got 3 inches of snow yesterday. Unfortunately, today looks like it’s going to be a record warm day.”

“We’re certainly not giving up hope,” he added.

In the early 1990s, Matthews helped found the nonprofit association that operates the ski area, which he says is an economic driver as well as a recreation outlet.

“Great memories and good family friends are made up there,” he said.

Those great moments will have to wait a bit longer. In recent weeks, storms have rolled through the area, but they mostly have been too warm, with rain washing away most of the snow that fell. Matthews hopes for continued storms, but colder temperatures.

What he doesn’t want to see is what he’s seen at times in the past: High atmospheric pressure building and blocking storms for a month or more at a time.

“The only thing I’m hoping for is we don’t get a high pressure ridge that could set in,” he said. “Right now, the storm door appears to be open. You just get the right storm, and you’ll get 3 feet of snow in a few days.”

Other ski areas in the West are dealing with a lack of snow. Mt. Shasta Ski Park and Willamette Pass ski area near Eugene remain closed, although Mt. Bachelor near Bend is open.

This year is a change from last year at Mt. Ashland when a record 128,625 people visited, compared with an average of 68,957, according to Abigail Coombs, ski area marketing coordinator. And last year was the fifth-snowiest there, with 331 inches of snow. The record, 473 inches, was set in 1983.

Coombs said some employees are pursuing other employment, while others are standing by.

“We have a good group hanging on,” she said Friday.

She herself will be manning the office front desk, in addition to her normal duties.

“We need to slow down a little bit and preserve our resources,” she said. “It’s the ski industry. You kind of know your life, and your job depends on snow.”

Matthews, the shop owner, said the story was more than skiers going without, but one that included workers going without, but also sticking together and keeping hope alive.

“You’re looking at a lot of people whose lives are changing,” he said. “Those people definitely are needing some compassion.”