VERNON -- Mountain Creek Resort has announced it will open for ski season starting Wednesday, three days earlier than anticipated.

VERNON -- Mountain Creek Resort has announced it will open for ski season starting Wednesday, three days earlier than anticipated.

With arctic air working its way eastward and expected to begin settling in the region today, the ski resort's management has been cranking up its snowmaking operation and decided on Monday that the time was right to pull the trigger on the start of the winter season.

The ski resort will be open Wednesday and Thursday, noon to 8 p.m., and will expand to a full weekend schedule with Friday and Saturday hours from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Featuring top-to-bottom runs on both Vernon and South peaks, the resort will be open for skiing as well as snowboarding, snow tubing and zipline tours.

Bill Benneyan, president of Mountain Creek, said snowmaking operations through today have been focused on establishing a base for the resort's trails. He indicated that after letting the snow "cure" overnight, snowmaking operators planned to begin pushing the snow out early today to form a foundation on which to continue building.

"Once a base of snow is established, then we can continue making snow and building it right out from tree line to tree line," he said.

The resort had previously set a targeted opening date of Dec. 10, for which it debuted a new snowmaking technology last month capable of operating in temperatures up to 70 degrees. However, a couple of days of rain earlier this month forced it to push back its target date to Dec. 17.

With its planned Wednesday opening, the resort announced Monday it had "beat the clock" on its targeting opening by three days.

"This will be the first time in a number of years where we'll have a traditional December winter starting before the holidays, and right now it looks good right through the New Year -- crisp, cold days and nighttime temperatures in the teens, which is perfect for snowmaking," Benneyan said.

"It looks to be the start of a really strong holiday ski season, and we're excited about that."

Mountain Creek CEO Jeff Koffman echoed those sentiments.

"I'm hoping we have a great winter, not only for us but for the whole (of Vernon)," Koffman said.

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Eric Obernauer can also be contacted on Twitter: @EricObernNJH or by phone at 973-383-1213.