At long last, skiers anxious to hit the slopes may have just hit pay dirt.

For weeks, unseasonable temperatures along with the absence of snow have conspired against skiers eager to get their fix on the mountain.As evidenced by today's brisk temperatures, it appears that's all about to change, much to the delight of Blue Mountain Ski Area near Palmerton.Even with temperatures far from conducive for skiing, visitors continued to turn out at the ski area, said Heidi Lutz, director of sales and marketing.Lutz said as of Monday afternoon that 19 of the 39 trails were open, and added that the ski area continues to make snow at every opportunity."We are going to have a little bit of a cold spell coming up," Lutz said. "The warmer weather has not been conducive to making snow."Despite that, Lutz said the ski area which opened in mid-December has "still had a good number of visitors.""Today (Monday) has been busy because people still had off," she said. "We're going to be trying to open tubing this weekend."In between, Lutz said Blue Mountain attempts to interact with visitors through its use of social media."We do a lot with social media," she said. "We try to get right back to people so that they can have interaction with Blue Mountain."For more information, visit

www.skibluemt.com, or view its Twitter and Facebook pages.