BETHEL – Thursday’s snowstorm was icing on the cake for Maine’s 21 Nordic ski areas. Many opened earlier than normal after last week’s big snow dump.

Dave Carter and Susan Isham were ecstatic about the season’s early start after the first measurable snow of the season fell on Dec. 3.

Carter and his wife, Anne, own and operate Carter’s X-C Ski Centers in Bethel and Oxford. She opened the Oxford business on Dec. 3 and he opened the Bethel center two days later.

Isham is director of Nordic skiing for Sunday River Cross-Country Ski Center in Newry, which opened on Dec. 8.

“I was going to wait until Dec. 15, but the snow’s just getting better and better,” Dave Carter said Thursday morning at his Bethel business. “Most years, we open by Christmas, but last year, by Jan. 7, I was skiing on powder, what I consider good skiing. And then, after the Valentine’s Day storm, we had more than enough snow.”

“This is the best one it’s been in four years and maybe even more,” Isham said of the early season start. “Opening day brought out new skiers taking lessons because the conditions are so good. I’m ready for the nor’easter this Sunday. … They’re just saying that we’re going to get dumped on.”

The early snow brought enthusiastic cross-country skiers out in droves.

“I’ve had skiers everyday, but last weekend was the biggest, with 35 or so skiers. We got about a foot in that first storm and it’s really incredible snow, some of the best I’ve ever seen. It’s very, very solid snow, so we’re able to ski on nearly all of our trails,” Carter said.

Mike Cooper of the Bethel Inn Ski Touring Center, which opened on Dec. 8, also reported a spike in skier calls. The inn has groomed and tracked trails throughout the resort.

Tom Gyger at Five Fields Farm in Bridgton said Thursday that they have as much snow now as they had all winter last year.

Lost Valley Touring Center in Auburn is opening this weekend due to early snows, then for good on Dec. 21.

Scott Bevins of Pineland Farms in New Gloucester said the area opened Wednesday and is grooming 19 kilometers of trails.

“For early December, the trail conditions are terrific!” Bevins said Thursday in a report. “We have been fortunate to host many skiers to date and are looking forward to a busy snowy season ahead.”

Black Mountain of Maine in Rumford, which normally opens the day after Christmas, is opening on Saturday, Dec. 22. It’s hosting a two-day snowmobile racing event this weekend.

Titcomb Mountain’s Nordic center in Farmington is scheduled to open the same day.

According to Ski Maine Executive Director Greg Sweetser, Rangeley Lakes X-C Ski Trails and the Sugarloaf/USA Outdoor Center in Carrabassett Valley have deep snow and midwinter conditions.

“Aroostook County centers are reporting some of the deepest snowpack in Maine, with up to 2 feet of snow in the woods,” Sweetser said. “With the current weather outlook forecasting frequent winter storms, Nordic center operators are looking forward to a busy season.”

“A lot of people don’t realize it, but we have some of the best skiing snow in the country. Maine is a good place to go cross-country skiing, if not the best in the Northeast. We’re a good snow state, we really are,” Carter added.