Thanks to the cold temperatures, the Camden Snow Bowl will be opening a week ahead of schedule, with Dec. 17 the first day of operations on the hill. For hours and ticket prices, visit camdensnowbowl.com.

"The recent cold temperatures along with our equipment upgrades have allowed us to get a lot of snow on the ground quickly," said Landon Fake, in a news release. "Already we've gotten in 75 hours of snowmaking, allowing us to open a week ahead of our target date. We usually aim to open at the start of the Christmas holiday," he said, "but conditions so far have been favorable and we're ready."

To supplement the man-made snow, the mountain got six inches of natural snow during the past week. Fake says that often when it's raining on the immediate coastline, it snowed three miles inland at the Snow Bowl.

"For optimal snowmaking conditions, we need temperatures between 10 and 20 degrees," Fake said. "We can make snow up to about 27 degrees depending on humidity, wind, and the temperature of the water. This weekend we got in 60 continuous hours with good temperatures; last year, even in January, the longest spell we had was about 36 hours, and much of that was in marginal conditions. We're relieved and excited to be off to an early start."

Fake reports that once there was snow on the ground, season pass sales picked up again. He noted that customers have been in this week purchasing Christmas gifts in the form of passes and gift certificates. The Snow Bowl has arranged for its season passholders to receive half-price tickets at six mountains in Maine.

The Snow Bowl's 80 staff members and volunteers met Sunday, December 4,for orientation in preparation for the season. The Ski Patrol, working with the Camden Fire Department, completed two evacuation drills on the chairlift earlier in the fall.

When the ski area opens Saturday, the mountain will run the double chairlift and the beginner carpet lift. Four groomed trails with a base of 8-18 inches will be open and, he said, "depending on the condition of the natural snow, we'll try to get a couple of others open with ‘all natural’ conditions."

Season-long instructional programs at the Snow Bowl kick off on December 26, with Christmas vacation camp for high school and younger skiers. Race programs have already begun, with pre-season training launching earlier in the fall.

The Camden Snow Bowl is a community ski area owned and operated by the Town of Camden. In conjunction with local volunteers, the municipal ski area provides free and reduced priced recreation and programming to more than 500 youth in 17 area schools.