Editor’s note: This is the first story in an occasional series on the business of sports in Central Oregon.

It’s a weekday morning during Christmas break, and in the rental department at Skjersaa’s ski and snowboard shop in Bend, the racks are all but bare.

“At this point we have one pair of skis left, and you need to be really tall and heavy to use them,” Jeremy Nelson, who owns Skjersaa’s, said with a laugh.

The rest of the available ski and snowboard gear had been rented.

This, of course, is good news in an area like Central Oregon that relies on winter sports to boost the local economy.

Few times are as crucial to the snow-sports industry as the weeks surrounding the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

Hoodoo Ski Area, for instance, says that about a third of its season’s revenues come from the two-week holiday period, when workers and students often have ample time off to go swooshing down a mountain.

“It’s THE most important time,” states Matt McFarland, general manager of Hoodoo. “It’s a critical time for us to be at our best and have our staff trained and have the mountain looking good.”

So far this season, the weather has cooperated for the region’s snowriders and the businesses that cater to them. A steady dose of snow through Christmas has provided Mt. Bachelor ski area and Hoodoo bases that far surpass those of 2012.

“Conditions have been amazing,” says Andy Goggins, Mt. Bachelor’s communications director. “With over 17 feet of snowfall so far this year, we’re already over half our annual average with another five months to go (in the ski and snowboard season).”

Mt. Bachelor opened its summit with 360-degree on Dec. 13, earlier than any season in Bachelor’s history, Goggins says.

And McFarland says Hoodoo currently has its deepest base of snow in 12 years.

A solid base tends to pique interest in snowriders, McFarland explains. Follow that with a relatively cool, dry spell like the one the region is experiencing now, and the ski slopes should teem with skiers and snowboarders.

The perfect weather conditions could not come at a better time.

“It’s going really well,” McFarland says. “The crowds have been pretty good. Any business can complain and wish they had more business, but we’re doing well. The people are up here having fun. Truthfully, no complaints.”

The benefits are not limited to the slopes.

Dozens of businesses in Central Oregon rely on snow to boost their bottom line.

Eurosports in Sisters is one such business, renting everything from skis and snowboards to snowshoes and goggles.

Hoodoo was open for only three days in December 2011, recalls Brad Boyd, owner of Eurosports, which suffered with the ski and snowboard crowd for the lack of snow. Boyd says such years have to be “calculated in” with a business such as his, even if heavy snow comes later in the ski season.

“Even though Bachelor or Hoodoo can have great snow, if it doesn’t come when people are off and in the mood to go skiing, it doesn’t matter,” Boyd says simply. “We saw that last year at Hoodoo.”

This year has been a different story.

“We’re happy, we’re busy and it’s a good thing,” Boyd says.

At Skjersaa’s, sales are up by 15 percent to 20 percent over what Nelson deemed an awful December in 2011.

After all, the right amount of snow at the right time can be the difference between success and slow business.

“To have the snow conditions that we have now is just fantastic,” Nelson says. “This is a perfect setup for this year. All that snow prior to Christmas, good powder through Christmas, and then now to have a slight dry spell of a week or whatever with some high pressure and sunshine? It makes us look like heroes.”