With one week to go before the Christmas vacation, ski areas are making snow whenever conditions permit.

Here at home some natural snow has helped snowmakers in a rush to open as much terrain as possible for the holidays. Cold temperatures have allowed areas to pile up the man-made snow, and the outlook is positive to continue improvements for the next week. Most areas in Maine were either open or shooting for this weekend.

Shawnee Peak opened last weekend, with skiing only on the Pines, and closed during the week to build up for this weekend when they opened for the season. Last weekend was Tin Mountain Roundup where skiers who brought three cans of food got their lift ticket for $15. The result was over 1,000 cans for the Bridgton Food Pantry. A learn-to-ski-free offer for Dec. 23-24 drew the maximum of 150 potential skiers, and Melissa Rock said the offer would be repeated at some future date.

At Sugarloaf, Bill Swain said more trails were being added daily, and they expected the half pipe to be open this weekend. Early in the week, 30 trails were open. The Tin Mountain Roundup netted 1,495 cans of food two weeks ago.

Students at CVA have their own drive, simply going door to door and asking donations. It always does well.

Sunday River’s Roundup brought in 2,000 cans from 600 people who bought $20 lift tickets. The food will go to the Bethel Food Pantry. Alex Kaufman said the resort had been making snow every day for the first two weeks of December and would have six peaks this weekend and all eight for Christmas.

Their “Go With the Flow” program has received recognition as a positive way to get the safety message out. Skiers are reminded to keep their speed in line with skiers around them. This is important in novice and learning areas as well as at trail intersections. Going with the flow is even more important in the early season when limited trails have skiers with a wide variety of ability levels sharing the same runs. It’s a good way to think about our skiing habits.

Lost Valley was all set to open this weekend with Dec. 22 pegged as the date to begin the season. When I spoke with Connie King, she told me this weekend would depend on which side of the rain-snow line wound up on Friday. The area will be closed Christmas Day.

Saddleback now has a fully completed base lodge, and Patricia Carrier said the new fireplace is lit, and that new room is extremely popular. Round-the-clock snowmaking since Dec. 3 had 10 runs ready for this weekend. More trails and at least four lifts are expected to this vacation. Tin Mountain Roundup will run right through Christmas. Skiers have a choice of $5 off a lift ticket with three cans of food or a $5 gift certificate good later if someone wants to donate but not ski now. Sunday is Maine Day with a $25 lift ticket for Maine residents.

Other mountains opening this weekend included Eaton, Mt. Abram, and Titcomb with Black Mountain scheduled for the 26th.

Let the games begin

On the competition front, we learned that Dave DiGravio, a CVA grad from Farmington, has been named to the U.S. Ski Team. The 19-year-old hopes to make the Olympic Freestyle team as a mogul skier. That means the Sugarloaf school could have five grads in the games with Bode Miller, Kirsten Clark, Seth Wescott, and Emily Cook along with DiGravio.

Clark told me after her fifth-place finish at Aspen that her knee was fine. There was still a little discomfort, but nothing that would interfere with her skiing.

The Raymond native was optimistic about her chances going into this weekend’s downhill and super-G in France. The next series of speed events begins Jan. 13 with four downhills, three super-Gs and a super combined through the 29th.

Watch for the results of all these competitors to get an idea how thing shape up for the games in February. Locally, things are in great condition as we approach the vacation. Have a Merry Christmas, and we’ll see you on the slopes.

Dave Irons is a freelance writer who lives in Westbrook.