Although the ski season is nearly half over, Penn State skiers and snowboarders are looking forward to a solid eight more weeks of hitting the slopes, assuming that the recent cold snap continues.

Ski Club President Jennifer Rubritz (senior-advertising) said despite the warm weather, the club has grown by 200 people.

"Even though we might have to travel farther for snow, we are having a great time," Rubritz wrote in an e-mail message. The club recently skied at Mont Tremblant, Canada, and is also planning a trip to Killington, Vt., at the end of January.

Snowboard Club President Kyle Barnoff (senior-petroleum engineering) is hopeful that the current cooling trend will continue so that his team will get a chance to attend Nationals in Winter Park, Colo.

The ski team, which has been to Nationals for the past two ski seasons, has been more impacted by the warmer weather. Marcus Fowler (junior-history), a three-year member of Penn State's ski team, said the weather has hurt the team more than other skiing clubs because all of its races are scheduled in the Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia regions.

Although the club's first two races have been canceled, at least some of the season should be salvageable, Fowler said.

Perhaps hardest hit by the recent mild winter has been area resorts, which include Blue Knob All Seasons Resort and Tussey Mountain. Typically, the prime ski season runs from December until March, and already half of that short span has passed with no major snowfalls in the area.

However, now that colder weather has blown in, Blue Knob, which is located near Altoona, is making the best of the situation. Temperatures have been below freezing every night and the resort's snow machines have been working overtime. Marketing director Tim Lyons said that, although the majority of the resort's 34 trails remain closed, the seven trails that reopened yesterday are in good condition.

Lyons said the resort has suffered financially from the poor weather.

"Every day that we're not open it hurts," he said. The holidays are traditionally an important time for the resorts, and Lyons said that, because of warm conditions, "we had to cut out part of Christmas this year."

Tussey Mountain has experienced a similar loss of revenue, yet general manager Dave Fahrenbach remains optimistic.

"If we get a couple of big storms here in February, everyone will forget about early December," he said.

Still, the warm weather has taken a toll on Tussey Mountain. The resort only reopened Wednesday after being closed since early December. Fahrenbach said a closed resort is hard on everyone, including the staff.

"We had 150 people who expected to be working in December and January who haven't been called in," he said.

The recent cooling trend is expected to continue into the coming weeks, according to AccuWeather.com.