Approaching this vacation, the outlook was good. We had a little warm weather this past week, but the ski areas had laid down enough man-made snow to go with the abundant natural snow to still offer plenty of skiing.

When the holiday period got under way Friday night, every area was offering skiing on all trails and lifts in operation. Some may wonder why man-made snow with all the snow we have had this season. Ski areas need to have a solid base and man-made snow holds up better through a thaw than natural snow, which can shrink rapidly. That’s why we have seen snow guns going even with several feet of natural snow. It’s insurance and the fact that the recent warm up had little effect on the skiing terrain available tells us it.

With the skiing assured, we can expect all of the events scheduled for the week to go as planned. High school skiers will go for state titles this week at Big Rock and Sunday River to cap their seasons.

The event we focused on a week ago helps to kick off the vacation up at Sugarloaf this afternoon when the Maine Ski Heritage Classic will have skiers on vintage equipment in vintage ski wear. That will be followed by a silent and live auction at the Sugarloaf Inn at 4 p.m. The funds generated will go to the Ski Museum of Maine and the Maine Ski Hall of Fame.

An offshoot of the museum is Scott Andrews “Schuss Boom and Bust,” a slide show on the history of Maine skiing. This show is being presented all over the state with one scheduled for the Loaf this week. The schedule for these presentations can be found on the museum Web site, www.skimuseumofmaine.org. Sugarloaf has events all week long, including competitions in both snowboarding and skiing, fireworks and torchlight parades, and special activities for children. Next Saturday is the annual CVA Raffle and Auction, one of the school’s major fund-raisers.

Among the activities at Saddleback is the annual Ski Patrol dinner along with plenty of family activities.

Shawnee Peak has a busy schedule with NASTAR 2/15-16 and 2/10-21 and the 21st Annual Family Festival on Thursday.

In addition to high school racing Sunday River has a week full of events from family and children’s activities to aprs ski parties. The full schedule has as many as a half dozen items each day.

Lost Valley has their usual Snow Camp activities with contests and racing. The Thursday night racing has been busy with more teams this year. There will be a rail jam on the 22 and the usual Friday night bands.

Don’t overlook the cross country centers. either. Carter’s in Oxford has a winter carnival on the 19 and the Bethel Inn on the 21.

Mt. Abram is looking for a busy week and, of course, will be open daily instead of the usual Thursday-Sunday operation. To find details of the activities above and even more at other ski areas as well, check the Web sites. You can go to www.skimaine.com and link to any of Maine’s Ski areas. New Hampshire area schedules can be found at www.skinh.com.

Skiing on a smaller scale

Naturally, I receive plenty of e-mails and releases from various ski areas and associations, but one that has become a regular is a bit surprising. It isn’t in our region of big mountains and big hills, but I am always fascinated when I receive e-mails from Powderhouse Hill in South Berwick. This area, owned by the town and operated by volunteers, announced last Sunday that they had 156 skiers on Saturday and 146 on Sunday, all happily riding their 800-foot rope tow.

The release lamented the recent thaw which had turned the snow wet and the freeze that turned it to hard pack. The town doesn’t have a groomer capable of grinding up the hard stuff, so skiers will have to put up with some firm conditions until more snow falls or warm temperatures soften the surfaces. They are starting a campaign with “Groomer Days” to raise money to purchase a grooming machine. On those days during vacation, revenue will be dedicated to the purchase of a groomer. Of course, it’s going to take quite a few days at $5 per lift ticket.

Now most of us are not going to travel to South Berwick to ski, but their story is interesting, and to some degree could be the beginning of many of our smaller ski areas and even some of the giants. Sugarloaf was started by a ski club, and Sunday River actually had its origins at a small hill on Vernon Street in Bethel. Spruce Mountain in Livermore is a community rope tow area and Titcomb is town-owned and operated by a ski club. Baker in Bingham, Eaton in Skowhegan and the Camden Snowbowl are all small community areas operated by clubs and communities.

These areas will all be busy this vacation week with kids, families and club members. Some will have special events and races. All will bustle with skiers enjoying the outdoors and to think that little Powderhouse Hill is right where most of these areas started, some many years ago, is fascinating. It’s also great to see a community where neighbors get together to run there own ski area. I always read their e-mails with enthusiasm, always remembering my own first experience with rope tows. Whether it’s a rope tow in your community or one of Maine’s bigger resorts, this is shaping up to be a great week for skiing, so get out there and enjoy it.

Dave Irons is a freelance writer who live Westbrook.