That fall semester was tough. Then you scrambled home for Christmas. Bought presents as stores were closing on Christmas Eve. You graduate in May and your parents are on your case about starting a career. You need an escape. Enter college ski week. 

Get your shred on, Midwest snowboarders. The seventh annual SO-GNAR Snowboard Camp Tour is hitting seven Heartland ski areas over the next few weeks. Five of the stops are scheduled over the holidays.

The long-range forecast looks good for a snowy Christmas across the Heartland, and that good news couldn’t come at a better time as Midwest ski resorts get ready to celebrate the holiday season.

Snow sports industry leaders and resort executives have said it for years: instead of competing for the same customers, we need to grow the pool. That’s what Burton Snowboards and Jay Peak plan in their new partnership with the Disney Corporation.

A couple of old Midwest standbys, Wilmot Mountain in southern Wisconsin, and Caberfae Peaks in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, celebrate turning 75 this winter.

Vail Resorts announced Thursday they are expanding into the Heartland with the purchase of Afton Alps, near the Twin Cities, and Mt. Brighton near Detroit. The news caught many Midwest ski industry people by surprise.

More and more ski areas are becoming venues for activities appealing to a cross-section of the populace, not just skiers and riders. Nashoba Valley  has a Holiday Festival of Lights, where nothing is needed other than an appreciation of the season.

Many ski resorts across the Midwest were able to open this past weekend, even as far south as southern Indiana where Perfect North Slopes was open.

There was more good news from Le Massif de Charlevoix last week than just the announcement that the Quebec ski and ride area would be open for bonus days on Dec. 8-9.

Midwest-based Peak Resorts has purchased Ohio’s Alpine Valley Ski Area, and in Wisconsin Little Switzerland Ski Area has reopened this season under new ownership after having been closed since 2007.

Wild Mountain, Minn. appears to be the first ski area in America to be fully, 100 percent open for the new season. That’s on top of being the very first area to open for sliders earlier this fall.

It’s the frugal kind of artificial snow but, unfortunately, it’s not available to the entire ski world. Such a pity, because it needs no water, pipelines or compressed air to produce.

A while back I outlined what’s new around Boyne Country in northern Michigan (see story) including more snowmaking and new lifts, but that just scratches the surface. 

Michigan residents who have wanted to give winter sports a try may not find a better offer. Michigan Snowsports Industries Association (MSIA) has a couple of affordable programs to encourage adults and children to give snow sports a try this winter.  

“Come up and ski.” Unfortunately, those words that Jeff Kuller used to end many interviews will no longer be heard.

Midwest extreme skiing and riding cult favorite Mt. Bohemia has lost its triple chairlift until about the end of January, and it couldn’t have come at a worse time, just a couple of weeks before its annual $99 season pass sale.

Most season pass sales have ended for Montana ski areas, but a number of lift ticket deals are still available. Some of the deals include transferable lift tickets or coupons and would make Christmas stocking stuffers. Check them out.

The immediate need for New York, Long Island, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania in the aftermath of Super Storm Sandy is to return to normalcy. The process figures to be protracted. But, what are the implications for mountain travel?

With so much to see and absorb, skiers and riders will have a difficult time knowing where to start and when to stop.

Thanksgiving is typically when many Midwest ski resorts hope to open for the season. A few have already opened, and several are offering discounted overnight packages for early season snowsports enthusiasts ready to kick-start the season.