DEARBORN COUNTY — Temperatures below freezing were the late Christmas present ski operators most wanted, just in time to keep their profits from sliding downhill.

        The first wave of sustained cold weather hit this week, allowing Ohio and Indiana ski operators to finally press the start buttons on snow-making machinery that sat idle most of December.

The lift at Perfect North Slopes in Lawrenceburg totes skiers to the top of the hill Thursday. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

        Unseasonably warm weather through December meant a later-than-usual opening, but there's still time for business to heat up this ski season, said area slope operators.

        “It's one of the latest starts I can remember,” said Chip Perfect, co-owner of Perfect North Slopes, which opened Wednesday for its 22nd ski season.

        “I would have preferred if it had come a week before Christmas,” Mr. Perfect said Thursday of the first winter cold spell. “But we've been doing this for a long time and we find that it tends to average out.”

        Thousands of skiers glided the fresh powder Thursday at Perfect North, near the Indiana state line in Dearborn County. Ohio's seven ski slopes, all aided by snow machines that operate effectively once temperatures dip below 28 degrees, also opened this week.

        Mr. Perfect said 70 percent of his ski slopes were covered with manufactured snow — by this weekend all the slopes will be opened — and more than 2,000 skiers daily are taking advantage of them.

        “In just three days this week we went from grass to having open ski areas,” he said.

        Scott Crislip, business manager at Snow Trails in northern Ohio's Richland County, said his staff was getting nervous as the unseasonably warm weather continued past Thanksgiving.

        “It wasn't a panic, but there was some concern,” he said.

        At another Richland County slope — Clear Fork in Butler — ski manager Werner Seidel said, this has been the latest opening for the resort in at least a decade.

        “We've been sitting here and feeling really nervous,” he said.

        Fresh from gliding down a Perfect North slope, Shannon Ansari of Terre Haute, Ind. said she's grateful for the belated mercury dip because she and her children can sail the snowy hillside.

        “We were worried that we wouldn't be able to come this year,” said Ms. Ansari.

        Ryan Healy said he spent much of December monitoring a weather radar Web site, hoping to spot the season's first substantial cold front.

        “I was getting a little anxious,” the Kings Mills 15-year-old said, “but now it's great.”

        The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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