HUFF HILLS - The car turned south onto a gravel road just as James Taylor came on the radio.

It was warm for a February morning, enough so the driver had the window cracked to feel the breeze. It's nice to be able to do that in North Dakota in winter.

The last few days had been delightful, actually. A false spring had set in and hung around long enough so that people with motorcycles put oil in their machines and freed them from the confines of the garage. People without motorcycles left their coats in the closet and cracked the window when they drove their cars.

The first three days of February in Bismarck each reached 50 degrees, including a record-breaking 56 on Thursday. It almost got there again Friday, and the driver of the car on that gravel road was thinking warm thoughts.

But, as he continued up into the hills, he began to shrug off those notions of spring. James Taylor was on the second verse, the one where the Berkshires are covered in snow. And, up ahead, just over the highest of the hills, was the pale sun. It was the color of a poached egg and hung in the southern sky. A winter sun.

And then there was the snow.

Ribbons of it unfurled to the base of the Huff Hills Ski Area. The chairlift hummed and the yelps and hollers of skiers and snowboarders echoed through the trees.

The ski area is very much open for business.

Despite the abnormally high temperatures, Huff Hills is looking good. It is reporting a base of 10 to 20 inches, with five runs open. Both the blue and green lifts are operating, as is the beginner lift.

"We are really handling the warm quite well," said Andy Beck, Huff Hills' mountain operations manager. "The groomers have been able to turn out a good snow surface each morning. I think a lot of people thought we would have been closed or the snow would have been really icy, but it's not."

Beck said the ski area's base of man-made snow holds up better than natural snow because it's more dense.

Skiers and boarders from Horizon Middle School - on an annual field trip Friday morning - had good things to report about the runs.

"It's a lot better than I thought it would be," snowboarder Katie Valer, 15, said. "It's a little icy in some spots, but it's still good."

Chad Miller, one of the area's snow-makers, said they've had a successful year at Huff Hills, despite the recent warm temperatures. It's still just the beginning of February, he pointed out, so there's plenty of winter ahead for the region.

Most of the folks heading down the hills Friday wore just sweatshirts or fleece jackets. This weekend would be a good time for some comfortable riding.

And, by the way, it appears winter is in the immediate forecast. The National Weather Service predicts a high today of 44, but that will drop to the upper teens for Sunday and Monday. There's also a chance of snow tonight and Monday.

Beck said the crew at Huff Hills will make more snow this weekend if weather permits. And, as long as temperatures drop below freezing at night, the area's snowpack can recover.

Huff Hills is open Thursdays through Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call 663-6421 or check out the area's Web site at http://www.huffhills.com.

(Reach Tony Spilde at 250-8260 or tspilde@ndonline.com.)