PENINSULA, Ohio — Ski season unofficially begins in many mountainous states at the winter solstice, but in Northeast Ohio, things are just getting underway.

Brandywine Ski Area opened on Monday and its sister site, Boston Mills Ski Resort, opened last Friday to a brisk business, said Thomas Conti, marketing manager.

“With everything going on in the world right now — people are working from home, kids are learning remotely from their houses — there's not really an opportunity to get outside as much as there used to be,” Conti said.

Boston Mills and Brandywine sit on the edge of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park about two miles apart. They’re owned by Colorado-based Vail Resorts, which also owns Alpine Valley and Mad River Mountain ski resorts in Ohio.

Although there’s no snow on the ground, the slopes at both resorts are great for skiing right now, Conti said.

“It's probably the hardest thing for people who don't ski very often to understand — we make 90 to 95% of our snow at the resort,” he said. “Making our own snow helps insulate us from the unpredictability of Mother Nature.”

The snow-making process is simple. When it’s cold enough to freeze, the resorts shoot water into the air from “snow guns” situated on top of the hills, and it freezes.

“We're essentially just recreating Mother Nature's act of making snow,” he said. “At the resort right now we have about a three- to four-foot base of snow and that is like packed, solid snow, like four feet high,” he said.

That ability could be counted as a blessing for the industry this year.

With the pandemic in full swing, most businesses where people gather are severely restricted. Ski resorts are among those likely to survive because they allow people to enjoy time with friends and family while maintaining social distance.

“The great thing about skiing is it's a socially distanced sport by nature,” Conti said. “It involves wide open spaces. It involves hills and slopes. So it's the perfect activity for COVID.”

There’s no guarantee skiing is completely safe, but the act of skiing has the potential to be, health experts said. It’s the choices people make while interacting with the public that can expose them to COVID-19.

To keep skiers as safe as possible, Boston Mills and Brandywine require masks and reservations and are limiting the number of people on-site at a time, Conti said.

To that end, the sale of Ohio Pass, which offers season-long access to all of Vail’s Ohio resorts, was ended early this season, he said.

However, skiers who did not purchase passes can still ski. Winter lift tickets are available most days and must be purchased online. Lift tickets also are limited this season, so the sooner in advance people can book their ski days the better, Conti said. Reservations are automatically made when skiers buy the ticket.

A lift ticket is good for the entire day and is honored at both resorts, so you can start the day at Boston Mills and spend the afternoon skiing at Brandywine, he said. No half-day lift tickets will be available this year.

Anyone who holds an Ohio Pass is also required to make reservations online this year.

“We're just trying to make sure that we're limiting the amount of people at the resort,” Conti said. “There is going to be social distancing going on in lift lines and in the lodge.”

For anyone considering skiing for the first time, both Brandywine and Boston Mills are beginner-friendly facilities, he said. The resorts offer lessons, and they also rent all the equipment needed - skis, snowboards, boots, bindings, helmets, and poles.

This season, Brandywine will be open on Mondays starting at 10 a.m., and Boston Mills will be closed every Monday to allow for deep cleaning.

Hours vary the rest of the week at the two resorts, but Boston Mills and Brandywine are open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays in January and February.

Night lift tickets are also available for purchase online, enabling skiers to hit fully lit slopes from 3 p.m. until closing for a reduced price at both resorts.

Brandywine also offers a Polar Blast Tubing Park. Check the website for specific hours.

Boston Mills is located at 7100 Riverview Road in Peninsula. Brandywine and the Polar Blast Tubing Park are located at 1146 West Highland Road in Sagamore Hills.