AUBURN — The snow dance: the last bastion of hope for a desperate subset of high school athletes hoping that Mother Nature soon blesses them with the ability to ply their trade.

“It worked last year,” Edward Little Nordic ski coach Dan Campbell said. “We had a bad stretch of weather (for skiing) at the beginning of January last year. The week after, the kids did a snow dance and we were set for the rest of the winter. I think we need to get the kids to do that again.”

Unfavorable weather patterns have left the tri-country area (and most of the state) bare of snow, which has been the unfortunate story of the early season for skiers across all ranks. For high school racers, in both downhill and cross country disciplines, it’s been particularly tough.

“Just when you think Mother Nature is cutting us a break, the weather hammers you again,” Campbell said.

Edward Little’s Nordic team has been able to train, if not under normal circumstances.

“We haven’t been affected as bad as some other teams, for sure,” Campbell said. “We’re very fortunate that we have such a supportive school system and administration. They take care of us, and the Auburn Ski Association helps us out, and we’ve able to travel to different places where there is some snow.”

The EL team (and others) has deals in place at Jackson and Breton Woods, New Hampshire, and at Sugarloaf, to ski for free or reduced rates on what trails they have available for training purposes. Area teams have also been able to sneak in some training at Black Mountain of Maine around that area’s preparations for the U.S. Cross Country Skiing Championships.

“The kids on the team know me, and they know that if there’s snow out there, we’ll find it and we’ll be skiing,” Campbell said.

The Leavitt Hornets’ Nordic squad went all the way to Fort Kent during school vacation in search of white gold. They found it, briefly.

“We were the only ones there for most of the week,” coach Dustin Williamson said. “Monmouth got there later in the week. It was pretty good skiing, except for one day, when it rained. But the snow came back quickly. It was definitely worth the trip.”

Williamson has been around the sport most of his life, as either a competitor or a coach, and he said this stretch has been one of the worst he can recall.

“Even last year, we had a slow start as well, but at least we had a little bit of snow here and there, and we were able to get on the trails a little bit. There’s just nothing out there right now.”

The Telstar Relays, scheduled for Jan. 7, have been canceled. Big races at Sugarloaf and at Camden have also been axed from the schedule, and the weather pattern hasn’t afforded teams too many reasons to smile.

“You usually expect to do a good portion of dry-land training in December, anyway,” Williamson said. But if this keeps up, we’ll be the best running team at states.”