BEND, OR -- After a long, dry summer, Mount Bachelor is getting a little taste of winter this week. "We’ve had rain, we’ve had fog, we’ve had snow, we’ve had wind, and snow levels have really dropped towards almost the base of the mountain, right now. So you’re seeing white-capped Mt Bachelor," says Bachelor's Lauren Burke. 

It’s great for the impending ski season. Not so much for summer operations at the bike park, which are supposed to continue through this weekend. Little Pine will be open Thursday, with access to lower mountain trails only, "If we can get some sun on the upper mountain and start to work on some of those trails, then we’ll do our best to open the upper mountain throughout the weekend, as conditions allow," Burke tells KBND News, "But the forecast still looks pretty wintry for the next few days." Visitors should check conditions on Mt. Bachelor's website before heading up to the mountain. 

This early snow isn’t expected to move up opening day of the snow season, scheduled for the day after Thanksgiving, "As we know, weather is extremely variable, especially in that early season. So, we’re still targeting that November 24th date, and as that timeframe gets closer, we’ll have a better idea of what operations look like."

That opening will occur amid ongoing construction of the new Skyliner Express lift, "We plan on opening here at our West Village area with Pine Marten, potentially Little Pine, or vice versa. And then as we get snow and snow-making across the mountain, we’ll continue to open more lifts. But in terms of Skyliner’s scheduled opening, it is scheduled to open in mid- to late December, right now."