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RIPLEY - This holiday season, Nick Sirdenis found one of his presents not under the tree, but on the ski hill.

"We're 100% open, the fresh snow we got the last couple days was a nice little Christmas gift," said the Mont Ripley Ski Hill general manager Friday. "I went out just this morning and took a few runs, it was just incredible. It was beautiful."

Sirdenis is not the only one enjoying the slopes; area ski hill personnel report locals and visitors alike buying passes steadily.

"Up until a couple of days ago, it's been mostly locals," Sirdenis said. "When the Tech students were here, we had a lot of students. We're starting to see today more and more people from outside the area. We ask, 'Where are you from?' and they say 'Oh, we're from Detroit, Chicago, Indiana,' (we also have) a lot of Illinois people. Are they coming up here to ski or to visit? I don't ask that, I just know that they're here skiing."

Sirdenis predicts the rest of the season to be busy as well.

"The way the barometer looks for how much business is going to be, it's looking pretty good so far, we've been busy from day one until now," he said.

Ripley is open extended hours from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. until New Years to accommodate holiday skiers, Sirdenis said. On New Year's Eve, the hill will close earlier and open again from 8 p.m. to midnight for a New Year's Eve skiing party open to all ages, he said.

"We've had from ages seven to 50 or more, whoever wants to ski on that night, we'll be open," he said. "It's $10 for a ticket, even if you have a season pass because it's basically a special and we have all the party favors. It's kind of a fun night."

Mount Bohemia President Lonie Glieberman said business has been good at his hill this December.

"It's been really good, we've been open since Dec. 19 and we're 100% open," he said. "Our season pass sale was 2,652 and last year it was 2,408, so we're up quite a bit."

Eighty percent of the hill's skiers are from out of town, Glieberman said.

The right combination of marketing, word-of-mouth recommendations and snow have allowed Bohemia to start its season on the right note, Glieberman said.

"We've had customers from Indiana, Cincinnati, Virginia," he said. "We got better snow this year than the East Coast so a lot of people from Cleveland, Cincinnati have been coming this way."

Customers are finding that Bohemia offers expert terrain and glade terrain without the crowds of other resorts, Glieberman said.

"Our audience is definitely growing throughout the midwest further and further away," he said. "The growing markets for us are Iowa, southern Ohio and Indianapolis. We're seeing growth from there and we're going to start targeting more aggressively."

Glieberman said he expects the season to be busy, with February traditionally being the hill's busiest time.

The Porcupine Mountains Ski Hill, which is operated by Porcupine Mountain LLC, a company run by the Bohemia owners and operators, is also open and doing well, Glieberman said. For the holiday season, the Porkies will be open every day through Jan. 5.

"They've both been really good and it's good to have snow," he said. "Even with the economy, it's been good so far."

Layla Aslani can be reached at laslani@mininggazette.com.