Local skiers are dreaming of a shiny, white Christmas

Going downhill Muxworthy's Wednesday Night Adult Race League opens Jan. 2 at Bristol Mountain. The league is a seven-week season with skill levels ranging from beginner to masters national champion. Cost is $15 per race or $70 for the season. Call (585) 586-9390. Masters of state The New York Masters ski series attracts the state's top amateur racers nearly every weekend beginning Jan. 6 at Swain Ski Center. There are also stops at Bristol (Jan. 20, Feb. 22 and March 10), Brantling (Feb. 9), Hunt Hollow (Feb. 16) and Swain (Feb. 24). For more, go to: www.nymasterz.com X marks on Swain The popular Big Air competition -- jumps on skiboards, snowboards and skis -- will kick off the fourth annual New York Winter X Games Feb. 1-3 at Swain. There will also be 'cross events in skiboarding, snowboarding and skiing as well as mountain biking down a ski slope. For more, click on: www.xtremesports.com Getting on board The USA Snowboarding Association's Western New York series starts Jan. 12 and 13 at Windham Mountain in the Catskills. There are stops at Brantling (Jan. 26-27), Hunt Hollow (Feb. 9-10) and Swain (Feb. 10). Call 244-9584 or visit: www.usasa.org

By Gary Fallesen
Democrat and Chronicle

(Dec. 13, 2001) Greg Sarkis grew up on Bristol Mountain, skiing each winter as soon as the hill his father built was white with snow.

''Normally, the day after Thanksgiving we're skiing,'' says Sarkis, 41, a frequent national champion masters skier who lives in Honeoye Falls.

This year, Sarkis was at the movies the day after Thanksgiving. He might as well have stayed in the dark.

''I'm suffering quietly,'' Sarkis says in the midst of our spring-like winter. ''You can't even jump in the car for five hours and find anything. It's ugly. My buddies out West call me and tell me how great the snow is.''

An e-mail arrived here at the Paragraph Factory the day after Thanksgiving from aptly named Snowbird, Utah, boasting about 100 inches of snow in 100 hours. Rochester was a mere 99.9 inches behind.

''Winter doesn't start until Dec. 21,'' says one local ski shop owner, trying to put on a happy face despite a possible 10-percent drop in Christmas sales of clothing.

''People don't ski around here until after Christmas.''

Dan Fuller, the man who now runs Bristol Mountain Winter Resort in South Bristol, Ontario County, says he won't sweat the slow start -- unless it continues into the holiday week.

Swain Ski & Snowboard Center general manager Jon Gorton agrees, saying, ''Until Christmas, we're not overly concerned.'' But, he adds, in the last 20 years ''this is only about the third year we haven't opened the day after Thanksgiving.''

It is especially grim when compared to last year. By this date in 2000, Bristol was enjoying its 20th day of skiing -- on the way to a record 143 days of being open.

A record number of skiers and snowboarders hit the slopes last winter nationwide, thanks mostly to heavier-than-normal snowfall. A study by the National Ski Areas Association says 57.3 million people went downhill in 2000-01, an increase of 9.8 percent and more than the old record of 54.6 million in 1993-94. New York resorts claimed as much as 15-percent increases in skier visits, according to Fuller.

Snowfall was also up 10 percent in the United States (71 percent in the northeast) allowing ski areas to be open for an average of 130 days.

Fifi Steinrotter, owner of Brantling Ski & Snowboard Center in Sodus, Wayne County, says last winter spilled over into this ski season. Preseason sales were up.

Business could go downhill fast, though. ''If we don't get going for a while, people might wait a little (next year),'' Steinrotter says.

It's a sometimes vicious cycle.

''It's a lot like farming,'' says Sarkis, whose father, Fritz, owned the land where Bristol Mountain stands from 1963 to '81. ''You're very vulnerable to whatever Mother Nature sends you.

''My father suffered through rain at Christmas for many years.''

This winter's ski season could be affected by two other events: the Olympics and Sept. 11.

Winter Games: Fuller says Olympic years raise ''general awareness'' about the sport. People think, ''Maybe I'll learn to ski this year.''

Steinrotter adds that TV viewers ''see how nice the surroundings are in the winter when you can play in the snow and think, 'Let's try it.' ''

9-11: Gorton says his resort in Swain, Allegany County, has received ''more inquiries from ski clubs out of our traditional area, like New York City and New Jersey, looking for two-and three-day trips. They ordinarily go to Europe and Colorado, but this year they're not.''

Steinrotter believes skiers are thinking twice about flying somewhere to schuss. Also, he says, ''families want to do more with their children'' in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. ''Parents want to slow down from that fast track.''

Going downhill is one option -- if there's snow.

Make that when, not if, says Fuller. ''Every year our average snowfall is not too far off (from previous winters). And temperatures are close.''

The snow and cold just hit at different times, he claims.

Winter will start -- eventually. Of course it's never too soon for diehards such as Sarkis, who was last seen killing time at the movies.