This week’s snow was the best present Maine’s ski areas could get. The snowmakers have done a great job getting trails open but even the most powerful system can’t match a huge snowstorm that drops from 9 to 30 inches of snow over the entire area.

And that was just the first storm this past week. The rain was confined mostly to the coast, The higher mountains received snow with 30 inches at Saddleback and Sugarloaf. The snowmaking will continue, but the new snow has speeded up the process, and if temperatures stay seasonal, we’ll have plenty of skiing for the vacation. All of the state’s ski areas should be open for the holidays, and you can check conditions by going to www.skimaine.com.

Another website to visit is the Ski Museum of Maine (www.skimuseumofmaine.org) or the museum itself in Kingfield. The museum now has a store with some interesting items on line. The posters for Maine Skiing Heritage days are available. It’s too late to order them for Christmas, but you can pick them up at the museum. You can also give the gift of membership ($25 for an individual) with information on the website. With membership comes the museum newsletter, “Snow Trail,” a quarterly publication featuring the history of skiing in Maine.

The most recent issue of “Skiing Heritage” had interesting news for Maine skiers. This is the bi-monthly Journal of the International Skiing History Association. The November-December issue lists the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame class for 2012 and a member of the Maine Ski Hall of Fame class of 2010 is included. Kirsten Clark will be honored at the induction banquet slated for April 13, 2013 in conjunction with the annual meeting of ISHA at Vail, Colo.

In 13 years on the U.S. Ski Team, Kirsten compiled the best record of any Maine Alpine racer, earning12 U.S. titles, eight World Cup Podiums, including one downhill victory, and a World Championship silver medal. The Raymond native skied out of CVA and Sugarloaf, and represented the U.S. in three Olympics. The rest of the class includes early freestyler Wayne Wong and more recent freestyle champion, Jeremy Bloom, snowboarder Craig Kelly, PSIA leader Horst Abraham, and ski-area developer Hans Geier. Wong has been a frequent visitor to Maine as a regular at the old Celebrity Cup at Sugarloaf and more recently at the Moonlight Charity Challenge at Shawnee Peak.

The ISHA Newsletter also listed the ski areas around the country where seniors ski free. In Maine, Camden Snowbowl and Saddleback offer free skiing after age 70, Big Rock, Black Mountain and Lost Valley after 75, and Mt Abram and Shawnee Peak after 80. Most areas have senior rates either for day tickets or season passes. The best way to check those is on ski area websites.

An email last week contained sad news that will surely be in the next issue of “Skiing Heritage.” Dick Needham, editor in chief of SKI magazine, died of complications from open heart surgery. Directing the magazine through its heyday years in the 70s and 80s, Dick was instrumental in creating Skiwee due to his interest in children’s skiing. His stint of more than 20 years made him the longest serving editor in the 73 years of SKI’s history. He was also editor of the newsletter “Inside Tracks” and “Skiing Heritage.”

Needham’s contributions to the sport through his writing and editing are too many to list here, but his passing marks an important time in the history of our sport. His generation was the last to have seen modern skiing all the way through, from wood skis and rope tows to today’s skis of steel, titanium and Kevlar and mega resorts. Those of us who had the privilege of working with him through the years saw his passion for the sport, his fairness as an editor, and felt his friendship. He was one of ski writing’s giants and will be sorely missed.

Among the tributes that followed his passing ,Warren Miller summed it up best, “In Dick Needham, the skiing community has a lost a good friend.”

By now, SKI has had five issues in the current season starting with the equipment issue, followed by the resort issue and onto whatever features the editorial staff deems appropriate. As usual, the equipment issue focused on wider skis and didn’t list a single race ski. This reflects their western bent since moving their headquarters from the East to Colorado years ago. Here is the East where we ski most of the time on groomed runs, race skis are still a good choice and my favorites.

Naturally, the resort issue lists the top 30 from the West and breaks out the East separately. Number one in the East is hardly surprising. Mont Tremblant with its wonderful walking village and three mountain faces is tough to match. The rest of the top five are Sunday River, Smuggler’s Notch, Sugarloaf and Stowe. Depending what you’re looking for, those are solid choices.

What I found more interesting was in the November issue, the “Ten Best Mountains You’ve Never Skied.” It so happens that I have skied half, and two are right here in the East, one in Maine, Saddleback. Burke over in Vermont is the other in the East. Both are fine ski mountains and it’s nice to see them recognized.

Finally, be sure to wish those lifties Merry Christmas as you use the lift the next two or three days. Merry Christmas.

Dave Irons is a freelance writer who lives in Westbrook.