SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. • Last year was feast, and this year — so far — has been famine when it comes to snow. And the ski resorts are hungering for it.

Not that using the 2010-11 season to compare is fair. Resorts across Colorado set records for snowfall. Breckenridge had 504 inches; Vail had 510; and Arapahoe Basin ended its season on the Fourth of July.

During the busiest week of the season — between Christmas and New Year — only a few measly inches fell at Breckenridge, Keystone and Copper Mountain. Hills buried by snow last season saw rocks poking through, waiting to cause big-bucks damage to skis and snowboards.

And everywhere, the snowmaking equipment got a workout.

Keystone Resort encompasses more than 3,000 acres of terrain for skiers and snowboarders. At Christmas 2010, it had 115 inches of snow and everything was open. At Christmas 2011, the snow total was 47 inches with a little more than one-third of the terrain open.

"I think the thing we are fighting now is the hangover in perception," said Laura Parquette, a spokeswoman for Keystone. "Last year you had an incredible snow year, and now people all of a sudden expect that. They forget it was a record year."

In ski seasons, it's still early. Heavy snowfall can continue into April.

"The snow's going to happen, it's just a matter of when," said Dan Sherman of Ski.com. "If this is your first time skiing, you might be a little put off. But if you're a regular skier, you know sometimes you're going to have waist-deep powder and other days, not so much."

SNOW CANNONS WORKING OVERTIME

Just before Christmas at Keystone, I rode a lift over hills dotted with rocks and vegetation. Hoses from snow cannons trailed along some runs where the machines worked furiously to make what Mother Nature had not yet provided. The same site greeted me at Breckenridge, where many of the "black" trails were not yet open.

Big resorts such as Keystone, Breckenridge and Vail have ample snowmaking equipment. Some snow guns are portable and can be moved to where they're needed; others are fixed. But even the ones that can be moved still need air and water capability. And all of the resorts concentrate their first snowmaking on terrain for beginner and intermediate skiers.

"Every mountain has the base core slopes that they start with first, and unfortunately for the expert skiers, that's not going to be expert terrain," Parquette said.

Two factors work in favor of western resorts when it comes to snowmaking: Dry air and cold temperatures. Both help the quality of manmade snow and help preserve it. Resorts in the eastern United States must fight a freeze-and-thaw cycle more often.

But even with the manmade snow, skiers who head out to favorite runs without checking terrain status online or on the giant trail maps at resort bases can find ropes with bright orange twists indicating trails that are closed for lack of snow.

Officials at most of the resorts were quick to point out that most of their beginner and intermediate terrain — green and blue runs — was open. But much of the expert terrain of steeper trails, bowls and chutes, was not. That meant the expert skiers and riders were forced to share the other terrain, making for crowded conditions and longer lift lines. And when a one-day lift ticket during the holidays runs more than $100, the complaints came.

GLOOMY EARLY NUMBERS

Day after day, the Denver television stations showed long strings of zeros in the bottom-screen scroll reporting snow totals. USA Today ran a story about the slow-to-come snow. So did the Denver Post and many other ski-country media outlets.

At Ski.com, the snow report lists total snowfall for the past 24 and 72 hours for ski resorts across the country and the world. In early January, the report showed another series of zeros for Colorado and Utah. Montana and Wyoming resorts were faring better, and at resorts in the eastern United States it was hit-and-miss.

Until more terrain opens at more resorts, some lift operators, snow patrollers and groomers don't have work. There's no need for patrolling or grooming on trails that aren't open yet.

Flatlanders like me don't complain too much about the snow in the western United States. There are mountains, and there is snow. Compared to the Midwest, how do you complain? But even flatlanders wonder where some of the resorts get their measurements.

Early one morning two days before Christmas, we saw only a dusting of snow. Breckenridge claimed to have measured 5 inches. So did Keystone. Of course, all the resorts take their official measurements at places where they are apt to record the most generous amounts, even if the snow seems paltry to the people on the lifts.

At Breckenridge, the resort got bashed on its Facebook page for fencing off one area near a terrain park and having ski patrollers use fake radar guns to scare some skiers and snowboarders into slowing down. All the Breckenridge responses on Facebook were about how the combination of the huge holiday crowds and little snow meant they were taking measures they would ordinarily forego.

The resort said the fence mostly was used to ease congestion on the 4 O'Clock Trail, one of the most heavily trafficked at Breckenridge.

Those complaints on Facebook, Sherman said, seem to be more the exception than the rule. He downplayed the notion of skiers angry over the lack of snow. Sherman heard an interview in Aspen of one Midwesterner who was asked about the lack of snow.

"And he said it's still better than any skiing he had at home," Sherman recalled.

KEEPING BUSY, WAITING FOR SNOW

Sherman and Parquette agree that many visitors to destination resorts like Vail, Breckenridge or Keystone still will find plenty to do.

"In Aspen, I know, people are skiing in the morning and then walking around town in the afternoon and enjoying the mountain," Sherman said.

Tubing, snowmobiles, ice skating, snowshoeing, sleigh rides and shopping are available almost everywhere. But just like skiing, it will cost. A day out on a snowmobile will run from $150 to $200. An hour of tubing is about $25. And shopping — well, the sky's the limit there.

"For our destination guests, this is their couple of days on the snow for the year so they are not going to ski from 8:30 to 4. They're always looking for something else to do, so we highlight the off-slope activities," Keystone's Parquette said. "Maybe even people who might come for four days jut to ski and board, they don't have as much hike-to terrain so they take a day off and enjoy another aspect of our resort."

And none of the resorts is panicked. Resorts typically get huge snowfall in January, February, March and sometimes even April.

But until it does start falling in Colorado, California and Utah, Sherman would recommend skiers head to Big Sky, Mont., or Jackson Hole, Wyo., where the snow has been plentiful in the early season.

"It's Colorado, and it's winter," Parquette said. "We're going to get snow. We will keep making snow. But we know Mother Nature will bring us some."

For the pessimists certain the snow will skip many of their favorite resorts this year, Sherman urges them to take heart. He recalled that in December, North American resorts were getting decent early snow but Europe — home of the World Cup ski races — had nary a flake.

"But now you can see that Europe is doing just fine, and that happened really in a two-week period. So things turned around very quickly for Europe, and we're hoping it will do the same in the United States."