"The best is yet to come and babe, won't it be fine?

You think you've seen the sun, but you ain't seen it shine

Wait till the warmup's under way

And wait till you see that sunshine day ...

You ain't seen nothin' yet."

-- Frank Sinatra,

"The Best Is Yet To Come"

Spring skiing offers the wildest of paradoxes: ice and slush, sun and snow. It's those refreshing sets of contrasts that make playing in snow during the warm weather so fun.

Along those lines, Nordic skiing locally seems to be holding together quite well given the late date.

My weekly advisory on Nordic conditions from Bob Marvinney tells me the Pine Tree State Arboretum remains good, despite spring's vagaries.

He passed me a note from Donald Witherill of Readfield who said, "I was able to ski anywhere in the fields; snow coverage is still very good overall. I used waxless skis, but skate skis would have been fine as well, probably best from mid a.m. to early p.m. I'm guessing it will be decent for about one more week if current weather conditions continue. I was out there at noontime and saw nobody else."

Check the temps and know your wax.

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Shawnee Peak had planned to close this weekend, but they sent out an advisory this week saying "the weather, snow and sun is all too much for us. We want to stay open. But, we're still a business and we need to know that you want us to stay open."

Fair enough. So they want people to buy lift tickets for the weekend of April 5-6 in advance.

They need to sell 300, with their Friday deadline extended through this morning.

If they don't sell enough tickets -- at a recession-friendly $15 each -- they'll return your money.

Go to http://www.shawneepeak.com/docs/Shop_Online/page18.html or call

Or, you might be able to sign up while watching today's 1st annual America's Mattress Race.

Yeah: Decorate any twin, full, double, queen or king mattress and race it down their special track for prizes. Strip it down first, though, would ya?

The entry fee is $5 per mattress. Up to four people can ride. You can't use skis or sleds. Mattresses can be placed or wrapped in tarps for more zip.

Major kudos for originality over at Shawnee.

(Speaking of Shawnee, I stumbled across some cool archival photos from the 1960s and earlier at http://www.mainememory.net/bin/SwishSearch?Keywords=ski%20lift)

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It's also worth congratulating Boyne for coming through on the first of its promised upgrades -- a major one.

Sunday River is preparing to install the first "chondola" in the Northeast -- a $7.2 million hybrid lift that combines gondola cars and six-person chairs.

Skiers, snowboarders and summer guests will use it to get from the South Ridge Base Area to the summit of North Peak, a location from which six of Sunday River's eight peaks will be directly accessible.

"The chondola will play an integral role in the expansion of four-season resort amenities and allow for foot passenger access to the mid-mountain Peak Lodge," according to a news release from the Michigan-based resort company.

The high-speed detachable six-person chairlift with gondola cabins at regular intervals is manufactured by Doppelmayr and should be open next ski season, pending state approvals.

For skiers and snowboarders, a trip previously requiring two lift rides will be reduced to one. That's a tangible improvement.

It's also innovative, in that the lift could help the resort offer 12-hour skiing on North Peak and South Ridge as soon as next season. Any 12-hour skiing would be serviced by the chondola and incorporate the mid-mountain Peak Lodge.

"This is much more than a ski lift. It will transform how Sunday River interacts with guests in all four seasons. The transformation will be seen at all levels of the Resort in coming years. This is just the beginning," Dana Bullen, Sunday River general manager, said in a news release.

Next up: New North Peak trails will be cut from the summit; $1.7 million will be invested in snowmaking equipment, including new Boyne Low-E fan guns; $1.4 million will be invested in resort condos and hotels; and new bike and walking paths will be constructed to connect base areas and lodging properties.

In all, Boyne says it will sink $14 million in upgrades into Sunday River this summer.

The big unanswered question: How long will it take lifties to figure out how to load it? Some sliders will need to remove their boards to enter the tram cars, while others opt for the chair ride. Could be an interesting scene in the loading area during holidays.

But by most anecdotal accounts, this will be the first new aerial lift to be built at a Maine ski area in at least a decade. Nice work.

Bob Mentzinger is a former ski patroller who can be reached at rmentzinger@centralmaine.com