By Bob Williams

DENVER, Colo. Jan. 18 (World Wide News) -- Ski resorts across the country could experience their best season in years – and the season isn’t even in full swing!

Thanks to a weak U.S. dollar, warm winter in Europe and a bonanza of snow in the West, American ski resorts are primed for one of the best seasons ever.

Although major snowstorms have thus far avoided ski resorts here in the East, operators have a positive outlook this season because of constant snow throughout the rest of the country.

“All in all, if things layer together nicely, we could see a record year,” said Michael Berry, president of the National Ski Areas Association, based here in Denver.

The Sierra Nevada Mountains on the California-Nevada line have seemingly been buried in snow for the past two weeks, and resorts in Colorado and Utah recently had five feet of snow.

The U.S. ski industry is coming off a year in which it reported 56.8 million skier-days, a dip from a record 57.6 million the year before.

A skier-day is defined as one person buying and using a lift ticket for at least half a day.

Most resorts do not release skier numbers until later in the season, but the heavy snow – and television coverage of the endless storms – may already be bringing out more people.

“People in the major markets in the East or Texas or Florida see all this snow and say if I am going to go, this may be the year,” said Anna Olson, a spokeswoman for the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Wyoming.

CALLING ALL KIDS – Mount Sunapee ski resort in Newbury, N.H., will once again host a qualifier for the Sports Illustrated for Kids Next Snow Search. The qualifier will be held this Saturday, Jan. 22. Next Snow Search is a quest to find the nextreme generation of skiers and snowboarders. Now in its second season, the event for kids aged 9-13 (born between 1991 and 1996) is the first of its kind to offer an all-mountain, all-equipment, all-person snowsports competition where style, attitude and personality are as important as one’s skill level.

SAVE AT SUGARBUSH – The Sugarbush ski area in Warren, Vt., is dedicating Wednesdays to women. Women’s Wednesdays is a special program designed around women’s learning styles and offers participants a unique three-hour clinic from 9:30 to 12:30, 50 percent off day care and 30 percent off the Micro and Mini Bear children’s programs. The clinic runs every Wednesday to March 30 with the exception of Feb. 23.

SKELETON SCHOOL – Looking for a winter thrill? Try hurtling headfirst down an icy track at 80 miles per hour, holding onto an object that’s not much bigger than a skateboard – minus the wheels.

It’s called skeleton, it’s an Olympic sport, and some people actually think it’s fun.

Outside Magazine’s January issue provides details on three places where you can learn how to do it: Lake Placid, N.Y., where a six-day certification course will run you $850, (518) 523-1842; Park City, Utah, where a half-day course is $150 and four-day certification is $500, (435) 658-4208; and Calgary, Alberta, in Canada, where a two-hour beginner class is $25 and a three-day course is $250, (403) 247-5490.

Face helmets are not optional.

SHORT SCHUSSES – Ski Magazine named Jeb Boyd, Snowsports Director of Loon Mountain in Lincoln, N.H., one of the nation’s 100 Best Ski Instructors. Boyd is one of only 19 instructors from New England named on the list . . . . OP Girls Learn to Ride returns to Jiminy Peak in Hancock, Mass., this Saturday. OP Girls Learn to Ride is a unique way for girls and women ages 8 and up to learn to snowboard together. . . . The Jeep King of the Mountain Series (www.jeepsports.com) will bring the world’s finest ski and snowboard racers and a record prize purse -- $75,000 -- to Vermont’s Mount Snow ski resort this coming weekend for the next leg of the Skiing and Snowboarding World Championships.