RED LODGE — Ashley Ostdahl, in a pink knit cap and oversized white and brown checked parka, sat on the deck of the ski lodge at Red Lodge Mountain Resort trying to text on her cell phone.

The 19-year-old and her boyfriend had driven eight hours from Minot, N.D. to Billings for Thanksgiving and a weekend of snowboarding at Red Lodge. She was trying it for the first time, not counting a run down a Minot sledding hill last winter.

“I’m just a beginner,” she laughed.

It was 11 a.m. Friday and her wrists were already sore, making texting a little more difficult. Still, she felt like she was snowboarding well.

“The second time down the hill went a lot better than the first,” she said.

Red Lodge opened to the public on Friday with more snow that it has seen in 13 years, bringing in record crowds. More than 1,200 skiers and snowboarders were on the mountain getting in their first runs of the season.

Looking up at Grizzly Peak, Jeff Schmidt, Red Lodge Mountain Resort’s new general manager, admired the snow. Enough had fallen in October to allow the resort to open runs from the top of the mountain to the bottom.

“The best (snowfall) in many years,” Schmidt said. “We’re just really excited.”

“There’s a good buzz,” added Jeff Carroll, the resort’s director of sales and marketing.

Longtime Red Lodge skiers Jim and Jeri Kyner and Barbara and Howard Marquadt were delighted with the snow and the early opening of the resort’s upper runs.

“The snow’s surprisingly good,” Howard Marquadt said.

Both Jim Kyner and Howard Marquadt have been skiing for 62 years. They enjoyed having such a robust and early opening to their ski season. Even if they had to share it with several hundred others.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many people this early in the season,” Marquadt said. “I mean, this is a Christmas crowd.”

Both couples noted the change in management at the resort. The interior of the lodge had been painted and employees were overtly friendly, they said.

“The service has been great,” said Cathie Osmun, a Red Lodge resident.

But, she added, she didn’t want to take way from the efforts made by the previous managers to keep the resort open.

Jeri Kyner agreed.

“We’re just so appreciative of everything they’ve done,” she said.

The resort has about 22 inches of snow at the base, about half of it manufactured, Schmidt said. One of the chal-lenges of operating a resort under 10,000 feet elevation is being at the mercy of the weather.

“You can’t control Mother Nature,” he said.

Still, he’s hopeful this season will prove to be as successful as last year when the resort saw attendance grow 20 per-cent.

Dewey Schwahn, 14, and his brother, Keithen, 16, are optimistic. The two are from Powell, Wyo., and are season pass holders. Taking a break from snowboarding for lunch, they said they were having the best opening day ever.

“It’s awesome,” Dewey said. “The jumps are sweet.”

“We weren’t expecting much,” said Keithen Schwahn. “We were pretty surprised.”

Contact Rob Rogers at rrogers@billingsgazette.com or at 406-657-1231.