Not everyone on the road Friday morning was heading for their local shopping center.

Skiers and boarders headed up to Blue Mountain for the opening day of the ski area’s 40th anniversary season.

Die-hards have been waiting for this day since the ski areas closed last season, watching the weather or seeking snow elsewhere.

“We’ve been holding our breaths since last May,” Wendy Demjanick of Barnesville said.

Demjanick and her friends, who call themselves the Blue Mountain tailgaters, haven’t missed many opening days at Blue. But they said this is about as early as they get.

The skies were blue and the sun was shining at Blue Mountain, which took advantage of two weeks of cold weather to blow enough snow to get ready for Black Friday.

Blue opened its lifts at 8:30 a.m. and planned to be open until 10 p.m.

They had five of their 39 trails open, a strong showing for late November in Pennsylvania. They weren’t the first area in Carbon County to open, however. Big Boulder beat them to it last weekend.

The tailgaters said it was one of the earlier opening days at Blue that they can remember, including recent years like 2008 and 2011.

“We hardly ever miss the opening day,” Kathy Kehley said.

It may have been Black Friday, but shopping was far from the minds of the skiers and boarders who made the trip. Jake Purnell was enjoying his Thanksgiving break from Susquehanna University, and didn’t expect to have an opportunity to get out his snowboard.

“I never go Black Friday shopping. I prefer being on the mountain to most things, to be honest,” he said.

Purnell was on the snow recently — he flew to New Zealand over the summer to enjoy winter in the Southern Hemisphere. But with a busy college schedule, he had to take advantage of opening day.

“Nobody could go today, so I decided to come on my own,” he said. “And I’m super excited.”

Everyone was happy to mark the end of the long offseason. John Hickey of Scranton said he’s been getting ready for the season by watching ski movies like “The Maltese Flamingo.” He was one of the first skiers on the snow Friday morning.

“I was here early and it wasn’t crowded at all. It’s a very typical first day,” Hickey said.

Payton Sussick and Kennedy Jamicky are both Blue Mountain employees, but their season hasn’t begun yet. They came out to check out the first day at the mountain that Sussick called a second home.

“I think it’s going to be a great year. Starting off with the cold temperatures, they can blow a lot of snow and make some good features,” Sussick said.