Snowfall brings out winter fun for folks on Mt. Charleston

Heavy snowfall and warnings to visitors of hazardous driving conditions didn’t deter crowds of locals from grabbing cold-weather gear and snow toys for a Saturday of winter fun on Mt. Charleston.

Ralph Sgamma, 72, put his last-minute Christmas shopping off a few more hours and escaped to the snow for some leisurely cross-country skiing.

“That’s the good thing about cross-country skiing. One, it’s cheap because you don’t have to pay to ski, two, you set your own pace, and number three is you’re out there alone a lot of the time,” Sgamma said, removing his narrow, white skis from his feet and tying them together with a blue rubber band.

“It’s fabulous that we live in such a big city and have this beautiful spot here for us,” he said.

Emily Maloy recently moved to the Las Vegas Valley from Maryland with her husband and seven children and said her family is at home in the snow.

Her kids, ages 1 to 15 years old, bounded through the nearly a foot of snow that had built up between the parking lanes of the Spring Mountains visitor center about 10:30 a.m. Saturday.

“This is our first year in Vegas, but in years past we sled every Christmas Eve,” Maloy said.

Wyatt Maloy said the family had tried to visit an area at the top of the mountain about 9:30 a.m., but most of the parking lot was still covered in snow. What few spaces were not snowed in were already taken, he said, as his kids slid around the parking lot on purple and neon green sleds behind him.

Metro police officers, Mt. Charleston firefighters and forest rangers were parked sporadically along Kyle Canyon Road, directing traffic away from closed picnic areas and turning people away at snow-covered parking lots.

The shallow snow was also perfect for one Las Vegas couple and their pair of black and white Corgis dogs, Ajax and Virgil.

“I’m originally from Northern Minnesota so the highest I’ve seen is 13 feet,” said 31-year-old Jayme Neverton, who has lived in the Las Vegas Valley for 5 years. Virgil was just under a year old and had never seen snow, she said, smiling down on the short-legged, perky-eared pup.

“He’s skeptical,” said 30-year-old Alex Neverton, as Virgil’s curious eyes darted in every direction. “He’s not sure yet. We’re about to find out how he likes it.”

The younger dog appeared to be acclimated in no time and both corgis tugged at their leashes as their owners talked.

Elevations above 8,000 feet — including the Mt. Charleston Ski Resort — saw 10 to 15 inches of snow between Friday evening and just before sunrise Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.

“It tapered off pretty quickly below that,” said weather service spokesman Todd Lericos.

The town of Mt. Charleston, which sits about 1,500 feet lower than the ski resort, only saw 1.5 inches overnight, Lericos said.

“The main push for all that snow is through us now and is over Arizona,” Lericos said.

He said Mt. Charleston will see waves of snow showers throughout the day before a cold front moves into the valley Saturday night.

Temperatures in the Spring Mountains dropped to about 26 degrees early Saturday and will likely reach the mid-30s by the afternoon. The high temperature in the town of Mt. Charleston will only be in the mid-20s on Christmas Day.

Contact Kimber Laux at klaux@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283. Follow @lauxkimber on Twitter.