The ski season is due to get underway in Alberta and Vermont on Friday with three ski areas set to open for their 21-22 runs.
There's not much snow about yet though and Killington in Vermont (pictured above on Wednesday) will be using entirely machine-made snow to open, taking advantage of recent low temperatures.
In Canada two Banff ski areas, Norquay and Lake Louise will also open, again with very limited terrain initially. Lake Louise says it will have one run, Wiwaxy, open for the first weekend.
A third Albertan ski area, Nakiska, the closest to Calgary, is scheduled to open on Saturday.
Seven other North American areas have opened already, all in California and Colorado. However two of these, Boreal and Palisades Tahoe (formerly Squaw Valley), say they won't be re-opening this weekend as hoped as rain and warm temperatures have badly depleted the remaining snow from a big fall a fortnight ago. Mammoth is staying open daily but has reduced what it has open.