Dust off your snow skis, both Black Hills ski resorts plan to open the slopes this weekend.

Mystic Miner Ski Resort at Deer Mountain opened its Blizzard Tube Park and beginner slopes Thursday and planned to remain open through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. Joe Hamm of Mystic Miner said the remainder of the resort’s slopes will open Dec. 5.

Terry Peak Ski Area will open as planned today, and workers were focusing on its Stewart Slope. They hoped to have enough snow to open that run and the upper half of the Little Phil run today. The Stewart chairlift will be open but the Snow Carpet lift remains closed for now. Hours of operation there are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“We’re making snow whenever possible and staying optimistic,” Terry Peak’s marketing director Linda DeRosier said.

Cooler temperatures prevailed Tuesday and Wednesday to enable the local resorts to open as planned. November’s warmer temperatures not only decreased the natural snow on Terry Peak and Mystic Miner, but also slowed down snow making efforts.

“The optimal temperature for making snow is 28 degrees and below,” DeRosier said. “A couple good days of those temperatures is all we need to be ready.”

Getting the time and conditions necessary to cover the slope did not seem likely to happen earlier in the week. As of Monday, Nov. 23, the National Weather Service forecast for Lead indicated highs of 44 and 39 degrees Tuesday and Wednesday and 53 for today. Colder-than-expected temperatures combined with natural snowfall made snow making possible.

“We had little flurries (Sunday),” Joe Hamm of Mystic Miner said. “If it stays cold, it should be good enough to make some more snow.”

Hamm and his crew watched the temperatures carefully during the week before the scheduled opening.

“The temperatures at night are great and we’re not getting up above the mid-40s during the day. We can hold snow at that point,” he said.

Safety is the primary concern and, without enough snow coverage to ensure safe conditions, Terry Peak would not have been able to open as scheduled.

This possibility didn’t stopped winter sports enthusiasts from buying passes, though.

“Our season pass sales ended on Oct. 31 and it was one of our best sales years ever,” DeRosier said.

The higher temperatures haven’t slowed purchases of ski and snowboard equipment, either. Nick Wittman, manager of Edge Sports in Rapid City, said he has seen sales equal to 2008.

“Our outerwear sales are a bit down, but we’ve had pretty good sales in hard gear, the skis and boards and such,” Wittman said.

The sales that Wittman has witnessed were not only at Edge Sports’ annual “shred swap” held in October but at the ski swap held at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in early November.

“Those were the biggest lines I have ever seen at ski swap,” Wittman said.

Buying new winter gear won’t change the weather, however.

“Our general manager says it will take about 50 hours of snow making to have Stewart Slope open,” DeRosier said.

For Hamm and Mystic Miner, natural snow is always best.

“You need 18-20 inches (of snow) for your base,” Hamm said. “We can make five days of snow and ski it out in two days. Fifteen to 16 inches is OK, but you really need that natural base,” he said.

Although opening the ski slopes remained in danger, Hamm said there was not much concern about the tube park being unable to open.

“We don’t need as big of a base for the tube park. Man-made snow is ideal. You aren’t really running it out, just packing it down,” he said,

For Wittman and those he calls “the cold people,” the ski season couldn’t come soon enough.

“A lot of people are excited for the season. The hardcore people, the cold people, really want to ride,” he said.