Mountain High resort closed for day amid heavy snowfall, high winds

WRIGHTWOOD, Calif. (KABC) -- For Southern California's mountain communities, this week's storm is both a blessing and a curse.

The ski resorts are happy to get snow - but it was perhaps just a little too much for this early in the season.

So much snow - accompanied by high winds - fell Wednesday in Wrightwood that Mountain High ski resort had to close for the day.

Resort spokesman John McColly said it's been perhaps 20 years since the area saw this much snow before Thanksgiving.

"It's closed today. Just too much of a storm going on, the winds are too crazy, but hopefully tomorrow on Thanksgiving or at the least by Friday, we could have all the west resort open and maybe the east resort open too," McColly said.

It was a busy day for snowplows - and for stores that sell chains.

Some of the heaviest snow came down during the lunchtime hour.

Some didn't seem to mind. At least one man was seen going out for a jog in the storm. Others were having the first snowball fights of the year.

Natalia Alvarez and her family were visiting from Anaheim, but forgot to heed a key piece of advice the CHP gives travelers: Bring the chains.

The omission forced them to take an extra two hours to drive to a store carrying chains and then figure out how to put them on.

Nevertheless they enjoyed the conditions.

"We have come a few times, but never like this. It's actually really nice," she said.

Mountain High hopes to reopen Thanksgiving morning, weather permitting. Snow Summit also plans to open for the season on Thanksgiving.