Big Bear Mountain Resort gets excellent weather conditions for opening day

BIG BEAR, Calif. (KABC) -- It's opening day at Big Bear Mountain Resort.

It's the day many skiers and snowboarders in Southern California have been waiting for.

Temperatures were in the low 40s for most of the day with a slight breeze, but then the sun was shining with the skies deep blue. Excellent conditions for day one!

Jon Coulson from Sugarloaf got there at 6 a.m.

"I like to be the first guy out here," he said.

Despite getting there super early, Coulson was not one of the first people at the resort.

"I was not; there were people camping out here," he added.

Opening day had a good mix of locals as well as people who drove up from all across Southern California.

"We found out a couple days ago through Instagram when they were actually opening, and I was like, 'So we're going.' We have no choice but to go," Skylar Padilla from Riverside said.

There's only been one snowstorm so far this season, and it wasn't a big snowmaker, but it was good enough to get things started.

"We did see a little bit of snowfall in November, which was helpful. Then right behind that we had a great run of snowmaking; we even had the guns on until 8 a.m.," Justin Kanton, a spokesperson for Big Bear Mountain resort, said.

Kanton says manmade snow can sometimes be better than the kind provided by Mother Nature.

"It's fun to see the snow falling, but it doesn't always come in the density you're looking for. With our equipment and our awesome snowmaking teams, we can dial it up or down depending on what we want to do, so typically we want to lay a heavier layer down for the base, lock it in overnight and then we come with the lighter fluffier stuff that people are enjoying today," he said.

Big Bear Mountain Resort opened Thursday, and Snow Summit opens Friday.