It was one of the snowboarding tenants to get access to the resort back when they were fighting for resort access. Public lands, public access.

They usually stay fulling operational through mid-April and then stay open for a couple of more weekends. Staying open is more a function of Spring in the Valleys diverting people's attention to other things. Makes it hard to keep a resort fully operational with full staff if there aren't people coming to the resorts.