This map shows trails at the Mt. Ashland Ski Area, which is expected to open Thursday for the first time this season. The Ariel chair lift taking skiers to the summit may not be open by then, according to Andrew Gast, ski area general manager.

Enough snow has finally fallen that Andrew Gast, general manager of the nonprofit Mt. Ashland Ski Area, is confident that skiing will open for the season there on Thursday.

“I think everyone’s stoked to get out there,” Gast said Monday, as crews readied chairlifts, marked area boundaries and groomed slopes.

A weekend storm piled up snow, and heavy snow was expected Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service in Medford. Forecasters on Tuesday were predicting 12 to 24 inches of snow Tuesday morning through Wednesday night for the Mount Ashland elevation, according to the NWS website.

“I’m feeling pretty good,” Gast said. “It’s pretty white. It’s busy. Every snowcat I own is out on the hill.”

Snowcats have plows that can push snow and tillers that can tear apart the snow and lay it down again as “corduroy.” The ski area has five snowcats, two of them new.

The road to the ski area was topped with packed snow on Monday. Snow was 19 inches deep on the mountain’s lower slopes, but only a half-foot deep up higher, where wind blew it away.

Gast expects all lifts but the Ariel chairlift to the summit to be operational on Thursday, though things could change.

He had hoped that the ski area would have opened a month ago, on Dec. 9 — the target date for opening day — but lack of snow delayed the start of the ski area’s 60th year. As it is, Thursday marks 60 years to the day that the ski area opened.

Mt. Ashland calls the first day of the season “Day Onesie,” and guests who arrive wearing any one-piece style of clothing can win prizes. The first 60 guests in the lift lines will receive a commemorative 60th anniversary neck tube, the ski area said in a news release Monday announcing opening day.

About 200 employees have been waiting to get to work.

“We’re going to have our whole staff here,” Gast said. “We’re in the process of recalling employees.”

Some workers may have moved on and found other jobs, he said. Applications for a range of jobs are being accepted. Positions include cafe cook and cashier, lift attendant/operator, lodge cleaning/maintenance crew, parking lot attendant, ski/snowboard instructor, terrain park attendant and ticket/retail cashier.

Lines on Thursday might be a little longer than usual for a weekday because it’s opening day and more visitors than typical for a weekday might show up, according to Gast.

“Saturday is probably going to be busier,” he said.

Season passes cost up to $624, daily lift tickets up to $74:

• Season passes are $624 for people 20-69; $574 for ages 13-19; $314 for ages 7-12; $50 for seniors and children 6 and younger. Passes for college students are $424.

• Lift tickets for people 13-69 years old to ski 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. are $67 weekdays, $74 weekends and holidays. The price for them to ski noon to 4 p.m. are $60 weekdays, $67 weekends and holidays.

• Lift tickets for children 7-12 years old to ski 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. are $57 weekdays, $64 weekends and holidays. The prices for them to ski noon to 4 p.m. are $50 weekdays, $57 weekends and holidays.

• Children 6 and under, and people 70 years and older, ski free.

• Lift tickets for the Sonnet beginner lift are $10 weekdays, $15 weekends for people 7-69 years old.

• Lift tickets for twilight skiing from 3 to 9 p.m., once it is offered, are $26 for people ages 13-69, $20 for children 7-12 years old.

• Lift tickets bought one to nine days in advance are discounted 10%. Tickets bought 10 days or more in advance are discounted 20%.

More information is available at mt.ashland.com. Call 541-482-2897 to reach the ski area’s business office and inquire about season passes.