THOMPSONVILLE -- Snow is falling, temperatures are dropping and that means the snow guns are in full swing at Crystal Mountain Ski Resort in Benzie County.  The 129 guns were fired up Thursday evening and staff say they plan to keep them running as long as Mother Nature cooperates.

"As  long as the temperature stays at 28 and below we'll run them 24 hours a day all the way to Christmas if we could...These conditions for this time of year are pretty good.  We'd always like a little colder temperatures but we'll take what we can get this time of year," says vice president of mountain operations, Michael Call.

As long as temperatures don't rise and the humidity stays low, the snow guns stay on, which means the resort is planning on opening their slopes next weekend.

"The weekend of the 11th and 12th....We open almost entirely on man made base.  We love getting the lake effect snow like we're getting now and we're supposed to get more of that.  That will help but we still really need that man made base to have enough to open," says Call.

Once they do open, resort staff are expecting a large rush of skiers and snowboarders from all around the state.

"It's pretty early but our advance books are looking pretty good this early in the season," says Call.

Even though the snow moved in a little later this year compared to last year, call says it's their snow machines that help keep things moving along.

"This is predicted to be an El Nino year which they say if it's an El Nino year it's warmer than normal.  That's why we invest so heavily in our snow making equipment because we have to plan for those year when the weather is not as good as it was for instance last year," says Call.

Here is a list of other ski resorts that plan to open in the next few days:

Boyne mountain in Boyne Falls plans to open next Wednesday, December 9th.  Boyne Highlands in Harbor Springs also plans to open their slopes next Wednesday.

Nubs Nob in Harbor Springs says they're planning on opening next weekend.  Shanty Creek Resorts are also planning on next weekend just like Caberfae Peaks in Cadillac.