VEGAS RESIDENTS HAVE BEEN finding refuge at Lee Canyon for generations, during both summer and winter. The ski area officially opened in 1963 with a special use permit from the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, but people have been skiing here in the Spring Mountains since the 1930s. In the ’40s, a short rope tow and warming hut helped people get into the hills, but Lee Canyon’s popularity has surged in recent years due to the overall growth of outdoor recreation and Las Vegas’ rise in popularity as an outdoors destination. That surge has been more notable in the rock-climbing world but has extended to the snow-sliding side of things as well. With a new lodge built in 2019, the base area is nice but not gaudy. There are no hotels or fancy shops in these parts, just a cafeteria, a coffee shop and a bar serving up nachos and live Bob Dylan covers (good ones too). About 70 percent of the clientele is Las Vegas residents. Many in this base of loyal patrons regularly work the swing shift on the Strip and come up for a few runs before work. Others are fami-lies taking advantage of the resort’s push toward family-friendly programming. “People come here to escape, to get back to nature,” Lee Can-yon Marketing Director Jim Seely says. “[This place] grounds you from the craziness of the world, the craziness of Las Vegas. It’s great to have this to get you back to what’s important.” Of the remaining 30 percent, some are Californians who’ve made the drive with Lee Canyon as their destination and others are tourists of different stripes, including a healthy contingent of people from warm climates who come to the snow for the novelty of it. It’s a mixed bag, and we fit right in. Carrying ski gear through the casino at 7 a.m., the bedraggled patrons looked at us with fear, loathing and a strong sense of confusion. THAT EVENING, the Friday night dissonance between moun-tains and desert is palpable. Our Uber driver doesn’t believe us when we tell her it snowed all afternoon in the mountains. We try to do as the locals do—hitting up a Korean barbecue place Seely had recommended, followed by a walk around the Arts District during its monthly community festival. But it’s not long before we’re funneled back into the Vegas tourist shuffle. Fremont Street is mayhem. Thousands of people of every shape and size move like cattle, all carrying yard-long fluorescent drinks, transfixed by the laser light show overhead. Deafening music spills out from everywhere, as the masses fork over cash to pose for pho-tos with shirtless musclemen in bowties and showgirl temptresses in heels, thongs and huge feather headdresses. The mood in the Golden Nugget poker room is more subdued. After an hour, I look down at a pair of queens between my thumbs and emerge from the casino $100 richer. I’m one of the few to walk out a winner. It’s tempting to try and turn that hundred bucks into much more, but we have an early morning coming up and there’s snow in the forecast. 070 The Ski Journal
The Ski Journal Volume 16, Issue 2: Page 70
