The Buzz: Ski Area News

5/5/08 Lift served skiing is finally finished in the northeast; Sugarloaf, Sugarbush and Wildcat went through the weekend. You can still "earn your turns" in parts of VT/NH/ME if you so choose. This has been a strange season in the east no matter how you try to spin it; dreadful conditions in the Mid-Atlantic and South for most of the season contrasted heavily with awesome conditions in the north...We're still skiing in the west, notably A-Basin in Colorado, looking at a tentative closing date of June 5th. In Utah the usual suspects Deer Valley and Alta/Snowbird are still in excellent shape. In Oregon, it's still snowing from time to time at Timberline Lodge, which should be all set for an amazing summer ski season.

4/18/08 Good news in the midwest, Lutsen still has luts of snow (sorry) and is open for one final weekendt...in the northeast, Jay Peak is the only resort we can find that is absolutely 100% open, while Sugarloaf has the most total terrain open. Wildcat is the other big player, operating every trail except Hairball. All three have excellent spring conditions. Other than Jay, the Loaf, and the Cat, a surprisingly high number of ski areas are turning lifts, although they're a bit mushy and this will be the final weekend for most. Whiteface reopened Wednesday and will remain open through Sunday. Even places that are not traditionally open this late are still cranking, namely Okemo and sister resort Sunapee. Stratton is opening for the weekend, Stowe continues to be open and will be doing a canned food drive/discounted ticket deal on Sunday. Southernmost open is Mount Snow, still skiing on 62 trails. We expect that to drop drastically by the time they close, which has now been officially announced as April 27th. You know that I'm not a shill for any ski resort, and I don't hesitate to point out duds or problems. By the same token, we gotta report the good stuff: There's still some terrific skiing out there, and the on-mountain lodging deals (Stowe, Mount Snow) are nothing short of fantastic. Wildcat is doing a fund raiser this weekend for a stricken employee. If you ski there, please put a few bucks in.

4/14/08 The season is done at most ski areas around the USA. In a lot of cases, it's lack of interest, not lack of snow. Still a lot of skiing in the west, stalwarts like Arapahoe Basin have better conditions now than they did in December. In the midwest, Ski Brule is open, and it seems Lutsen plans to reopen on the weekend. In the east, record snows in parts of Vermont and New Hampshire resulted in a super season that could extend into May in some areas. Wildcat and Sugarloaf will likely be the last standing; Okemo and Killington are slated to be done after this coming weekend. Jay Peak got another couple inches overnight. Mount Snow is a bit of a wildcard, no official announcement yet but it'll come down to a battle between snow reserves, sunlight, and not enough business. Stay tuned, we'll try and do a more thorough update prior to the weekend.

4/1/08 We wish this news were "April Fools" but regret that it is not: Okemo Mountain Resort has been the target of a criminal efforts to gain access to credit data by infiltration of its computer network at Okemo Mountain Ski Area. Okemo believes the intruder gained potential access to credit card data including cardholder names, account numbers and expiration dates. Okemo says that its computer system was improperly accessed by an outside party for a 16 day period between February 7, 2008 and February 22, 2008. Affected consumers potentially include those who used their credit cards at Okemo during such dates as well as those who did so from January through March of 2006....Times have changed...Remember when you paid you paid your seven bucks and they stapled a ticket to your winter coat? Hopefully the perp will be nailed on this.

3/31/08 Great snow continues in parts of the country. Pac NW biggies Timberline in Oregon and Summit at Snoqualmie in Washington both added another foot to their slopes over the weekend...Utah resorts like Alta and Pow Mow got a couple inches, as did Loveland and A-Basin in neighboring Colorado...in the south, the operating plan at Arizona Snowbowl is to be open Thursday - Sunday this week, (April 3 - 6) and if the turnout is good, will do the same on April 10 - 13...in the midwest, lots of open terrain, monster midwesterners Boyne and Lutsen still turning the lifts. Favorite Ski Brule is fully open daytime hours, and offering limited service Wed, Fri & Sat nights til 8:30 pm...The experience in parts of New England this past weekend was nothing less than incredible. Places like Stratton, Magic, and Bromley, also known as the "Golden Triangle" in south/central Vermont, hosted the best skiing of the season. Unbelievable. What skiers experienced this past weekend was NOT spring skiing by any stretch of the imagination, rather January-type temperatures and Colorado-type powder...Okemo has added another week, the gentle giant will be open until April 20th.

3/26/08 News from the northeast, the once-mighty Killington has announced that it will remain open until April 20th, which is about a week longer than previously scheduled. We say "once mighty" not because Killington isn't a terrific ski area, but because K-Mart fans used to able to count on skiing right into May. In New Hampshire, Attitash will also be open about a week later than usual thanks to the gobs of natural snow, tabbing April 13th as their closing day.

3/25/08 As the season winds down in the upper midwest we can easily report that it's one of the best in a long time. Minnesota's Lutsen is 100% open, and will probably stay close to 100% right up to the scheduled closing of April 12th. In Wisconsin, Granite Peak is firing on all cylinders on its 700' vert; small but mighty Whitecap is also at 100%. Recent heat closed the southern WI resorts, and then of course it snowed again, and again, and again...but alas, you'll have to head north. Michigan is in the same situation, the metro day trip ski areas are done for the season, but don't tell the operators on the UP. They're still going strong; Bohemia, Brule and Big Powderhorn are all 100% open. Brule plans to be open until April 13th, Powderhorn until the end of March, and Bohemia ain't saying. Gotta love those guys. Moving south a bit, Boyne is still serving up great skiing with 3/4 of its terrain open. Right around there is the line of demarcation, because down at Caberfae they're all buttoned up for the season.

3/24/08 The season is certainly closing with a "feast or famine" situation in the east. New England resorts that aren't making a lot of noise but offering outstanding conditions include Bromley and Pico in Vermont, Black Mt and Cannon in New Hampshire, and Berkshire East in Massachusetts come to mind. Each is reporting excellent mid-winter type conditions, with the snow at Pico being the best seen there in years. We had reporters at Bromley, Pico, Black, Stratton and Mount Snow this past weekend, and each had nothing but raves about the conditions, the coverage, and the number of trails open. Unfortunately the metro area day-trip ski spots, such as Nashoba Valley, are done for the season. But from what we've seen a bit farther north, take our advice and RUN -- don't walk -- to the mountains for some of the finest late March conditions we've ever seen...move south a bit, and it's nowhere near as good. NY metro area Mountain Creek has packed it in for the season, DC metro area Wintergreen has done the same...two surprises in Pennsy, Camelback still has almost all of its terrain open. Elk has dropped a few trails, but otherwise is offering some decent snow. If anything, this season was reminiscent of the early 1970s in the banana belt, that is to say, dismal. But again, if easterners don't high tail it to New England next weekend, they're missing out.

3/17/08 A little early to get too excited, but it appears that some resorts in the northeast are planning to stay open much later than usual. Sugarloaf USA has announced that it will remain open into May. No word yet from some of the other usual suspects. Other than Killington, which used to stay open into May, but not this year...Alta just got hit with another 7" of snow...in Colorado, Loveland reports more snow off and on, overnight totalling 3"...in the Mid-Atlantic, an otherwise forgettable season is winding down with a series of memorable rainstorms. A lack of snow in the New York metro area has been brutal for the daytrip resorts...on the opposite side of the country, Timberline Lodge is positively buried; 17" in the last couple days and snow continues to fall right now. We don't often push products for ski areas hawking specials, but the $99 spring pass deal at Timberline is simply too good to miss!

3/13/08 It's all over but the counting...American Bode Miller unofficially wins his second overall World Cup crown! With two races left in the season, Didier Cuche still had a mathematical chance of beating Miller but announced that he will not race in Saturday's slalom in Bormio. Miller finished ahead of Cuche in the super-G on Thursday to increase his overall lead to 191 points. Since just 200 points are left on the table, Cuche would theoretically need to win both upcoming events and have Miller tally no points in order to take the globe. Because Cuche is a speed specialist (he won the Downhill title this year) it would be more or less impossible for him to catch Miller. So, rather than beat up his body on a race that won't mean anything for him, Cuche will sit it out, in effect handing the globe to Miller (not to belittle Miller's part in any way, trust me). The World Cup season is grueling -- they're all tired -- Miller may in fact sit out one of the races. In any event, once the races are done, Miller will be the overall champion. It's a remarkable feat, and with two overall titles (his first came in 2005) Bode has to be regarded among the all-time greats. It also raises serious questions about the functionality of the U.S. Ski Team, whose highly paid executives work in lavish buildings while the skiers have to pay their own freight. Miller has done without the US Ski Team's "backing" this season, and done very well...Meanwhile Lindsey Vonn's second place in the Super-G puts her in the same position as Bode was prior to Cuche's withdrawal from the slalom. Maria Riesch is 197 points behind with a max of 200 possible points for her, which means that the German star needs to win both events while Vonn comes up empty. It just ain't likely. But don't feel too badly for Maria; she took 6th in today's Super G, which gave her the Super G title globe for the season...Summary: We'll soon have the first American male/female overall world's champions since 1983.

3/10/08 A terrific ski season continues throughout the west and upper midwest. Things have turned quite bleak in part of the east -- which still has the country's highest density of ski areas and skiers -- so don't underestimate the impact this market will have on the ski industry overall. Places like Mount Snow VT were decimated by weekend rains; trail count dropped from 107 to 64. Some, like Mountain Creek NJ seem to be letting things play out and generally wind down. The silver lining is that some ski areas have resumed snowmaking; from Wintergreen VA to Camelback PA, the deal seems to be that they draw a healthy number of skiers and they can bank on continued crowds. It's sort of a "build it and they will come" approach, and we're frankly very glad to see it. New York's state-operated Belleayre has some snow guns on today. Regulars are hoping that ski area can remain open into April as usual. Conditions last week across Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine were fantastic, this week's cold following weekend rain has resulted in conditions that are much less so. Emphasis on much.

3/9/08 Bode Miller and Lindsey Vonn held onto their leads in the overall World Cup standings today; they're vying to be the first Americans to win the men's and women's titles since Phil Mahre and Tamara McKinney did so in 1983. Miller sat out a slalom race in Slovenia, possibly due to minor injuries, but Didier Cuche also sat out and Benny Raich DNF'd, so no impact on Bode's lead. Maria Riesch parlayed a first place finish in the super combined at Crans-Montana, Switzerland to pass Nicole Hosp in the overall and make a slight dent in Vonn's lead. Overall standings as of now:

MEN FIS WC Overall
Miller Bode USA 1387
Cuche Didier SUI 1218
Moelgg Manfred ITA 855
Ligety Ted USA 798

WOMEN FIS WC Overall
Vonn Lindsey USA 1263
Riesch Maria GER 1106
Hosp Nicole AUT 1085
Goergl Elisabeth AUT 992
Schild Marlies AUT 980

3/3/08 The good news continues for US skiers on the FIS World Cup circuit; Bode Miller has pulled to almost 200 points ahead of Didier Cuche in the overall standings. Miller did so with a 2nd place in the GS in Norway. Lindsey Vonn still has first place in the women's overall standings...have to report on one of our favorite big "little" areas in New York State, Ski Plattekill had a fantastic weekend with trails 100% open and conditions that simply can't be beat.

2/28/08 Coming into the homestretch for this season, let's see what we got...The west and Pac northwest have simply been phenomenal. From north to south, Big Sky to Taos, we're seeing some of the best conditions in years. Epic. Things started slowly in Utah and Colorado but by late December it was already like February. Enough said...Midwest has a bit more of a dividing line; anything south of the Great Lakes has been spotty but overall, decent skiing. In the upper midwest, forget about it. If you can't find great skiing across Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan this year, you'll never find it. Boyne for example, is like a miniature Colorado. It's simply been outstanding...In the east and southeast, we're about ready to sum up the season this way: The "Banana Belt" syndrome has returned. In case you didn't know, that's a derisive term that was coined by New England resort operators as places like Hunter, Camelback and Great Gorge were built. Fearing that the metropolitan area resorts would skim customers, established New England operations pooh-poohed conditions at their new competitors. Anyway, enough history lesson. The point is that this season most New Egland areas are enjoying one of the finest snow seasons in years, while the New York metro area resorts are struggling with conditions that range back and forth from ice to mush, with very little in between. In recent years this was not the case, as the NY areas more or less mirrored whatever was going on in New England, albeit a slightly milder version.

2/22/08 Impressive win for Austria’s Christoph Gruber in FIS World Cup competition at Whistler Mountain, his first victory of the season, and 5th of his career. Runner up was teammate Hannes Reichelt, while Slovenia’s Ales Gorza came in 3rd for his first World Cup podium. The podium was an impressive sweep for the Fischer ski brand. Bode Miller skied off the course after hurting his hip, but Benjamin Raich could only whittle down part of Miller's overall lead, now at 67 points....SNOW is the word in the northeast, much needed in some parts after last weekend's thaw situation. Places that took a hit like Elk and Mount Snow are rebounding nicely...areas in the far north -- Wildcat, Stowe, Sugarloaf etc -- took a hit but have so much snow piled up, even Monday's torrential rains didn't dent it. Looking for a good skiing weekend across the country.

2/21/08 FIS World Cup is underway at Whistler-Blackcomb in Canada. Bode Miller remains atop the mens overall standings, about 90 points ahead of Benny Raich. Meanwhile Lindsey Vonn is tied for the womens overall standings with Austria's Nicole Hosp. Vonn and Hosp are about 100 points ahead of Germany's Maria Riesch.

2/20/08 a 13-year-old Glastonbury CT boy died Tuesday morning after skiing into a tree at Keystone Resort in Colorado. Kenneth Joyce had been skiing on the Diamondback trail; cause of death was classified as deceleration blunt force trauma to the chest due to skiing into a tree. Joyce was wearing a helmet when the accident occured.

2/13/08 Grim news from most of the east coast, where yesterday's light fluffy snow turned to non-solid precipitation overnight...still snowing at the northernmost resorts such as Jay Peak, Cannon, Saddleback and the like are being dumped on, while the precip at venues like Belleayre, Mount Snow, Elk etc. is "wintry mix" at best...cold temps returning overnight, so the New England resorts should be in fine shape for Feb. school vacation business.

2/12/08 Great news from Sestriere this weekend from the World Cup scene...American Lindsey Vonn (neé Kildow) moved to the top of the women's overall leaderboard with a win in the downhill competition. Vonn, in case you didn't know, learned to ski at tiny Buck Hill just outside of St. Paul, MN. Imagine that, the best female skier in the world right now is from Minnesota. Lindsey proves that you don't need to live in Colorado or Switzerland to excel, you just have to work hard...with Vonn on top of the women's standings, and Bode Miller atop the men's, this is the first time two USA skiers have topped the standings since who knows when.

2/8/08 Stevens Pass in Washington State closed due to too much snow! The highway is buried under an avalanche, and the resort expects to be closed tomorrow as well...Crystal Mountain had most of its upper terrain closed yesterday due to heavy snows, but is open today. The snow may put a damper on that, as it is snowing heavily around Rainier...in Utah, Deer Valley was pounded yesterday...Colorado, Vail Pass is under deep snow and we're told road conditions are quite difficult at the tunnel...New York's Ski Windham cranked up the snow guns today, first time weather has permitted in quite a while....Vermont's Stratton and Okemo both re-joined the ranks of 100% open terrain today...

2/7/08 The story in the east today is feast or famine. Mid-Atlantic? Famine. New England? Feast. And everything in between....Southern Vermont's Mount Snow dropped the ropes on all of their trails this morning -- 100% open with a foot of new snow everywhere....same story in the White Mountains; Wildcat opened the infamous Hairball trail to bring the tally to 100%....in New York's Catskills, snow is finally falling again at Belleayre, which has managed to keep most of its terrain open anyway...in Pennsy, leader Elk Mountain has weathered the weather and reports all but one trail (Lehigh) open. Fortunately the cold is well on its way and the rest of the east should be in excellent shape by next week...conditions in the west continue to be stellar, most notable are recent snowfalls at Arizona Snow Bowl of 11", New Mexico's legendary Taos of 19", and Utah's Powder Mountain, with 31" of fresh. After my recent runs in Utah I can tell you this is one of the best ski seasons in a looongg time.

2/5/08 We refer to this sport as "skiing" and "to ski" and whatnot. That sort of leaves out the snowboarders. Personally, I could care less, but it seems some are trying to reinvent the lexicon to be more inclusive. This has given rise to "Ski & Board Resorts" and all sorts of other hoo ha. (Hoo ha, in case you didn't know, is the stuff that comes out of horses when you feed them peanuts. The resort industry will claim it's peanut butter, but it isn't.) Anyway, the term I'm hearing more and more is "sliding." This is supposed to be a politically-correct word to cover everything you can possibly do at a ski area. Ski, snowboard, monoski, ski-bike...it's all...sliding. Well I don't buy it. I've been skiing since 1972, and I ain't about to start sliding....today is Election day, and these professional politicians are the best we can do. Sad.....also sad what is happening up and down the east coast; rain is oblitering some excellent ski conditions from the past couple days. Fear not, cold is on the way and will have us in good shape for the big President's Week vacation blitz.

2/4/08 Hey folks, I've been touring ski areas in Utah and have been lax in updating...biggest news is old news by now, that of Bode Miller eclipsing Phil Mahre's record for most World Cup wins by an American, with a victory in the combined at Kitzbuhel...if you missed seeing the video of Bode's run in the downhill at Kitzbuhel, it's really something -- Miller went into a hard righthander way too hot, left the piste and actually skied on the fence for about 30 feet. On the fence. Both skis. I've never seen anything like it....the other, more chilling news from Kitz was Scott Macartney's serious crash at the finish line. Scotty Mac is recovering, but concern remains because this is the sort of event that can be career-changing. We've got an embedded view below if you haven't seen it....so anyway, a week later Bode took the overall lead in the Men's World Cup standings...and now strengthened it with a win in yesterday's Super Combined at Val d'Isere....as for our regular resort news, we'll fill you in over the next few days on happenings around the country, but I can report with extreme confidence that ski conditions throughout the west are simply stunning...so much snow has piled up in Utah that Deer Valley actually had a small avalanche in-bounds yesterday! We're actually hearing reports of minor slide in-bounds in a few places, and it continues to snow....Lake Tahoe resorts were inundated again; the region hasn't seen snows like this since the year of the ill-fated Donner party...news in the east is a mixed bag, resorts continue to pile up manmade despite yo-yoing temperatures.

Here's that video of Scotty Mac, in case you haven't seen it. This brings home the point that ski racers really do put it all on the line...

1/14/08 Big news on the east coast today is that winter is making a comeback, although not yet a strong comeback in parts of the mid-Atlantic region. Snow is falling across New England, but largely skipped the Poconos and Southern New York. Even so, the guns are on at areas all up and down the eastern seaboard. High altitude resorts like Belleayre in NY and Wintergreen in VA were able to fire up the compressors yesterday....moving further east, headlines across Europe are touting Bode Miller's repeat win on the famed Lauberhorn Downhill in Switzerland. The win puts Miller at a tie with Phil Mahre for most lifetime wins (27) in FIS World Cup Competition. It also moves Bode into second place for this season's overall standings, 79 points behind Benny Raich. In Downhill standings, Bode is now just 1 point behind leader Didier Cuche. Odd how this is barely noticed by the major American press.

1/10/08 Word from Arapahoe Basin is that the Montezuma Bowl lift opens tomorrow. In case you weren't aware, this is "backside" terrain at the Basin that has been "open" for years, but requiring a hike out to Keystone. Now with a new chair servicing 1100' vert, back country enthusiasts can return to the top of Lenawee in just 9 minutes. Intermediates will access the terrain via a few groomed cruisers; a nice complement to the front side. And if you want to "talk the talk," call it 'Zuma.

1/9/08 Well it's finally happened, Vail has just smashed through the $90 level for a single day adult lift ticket. Vail and sister resort Beaver Creek are now at $92 to experience the experience. I guess that makes Aspen a bargain at a mere $89.

1/7/08 More snow this weekend in Utah...Snowbasin was positively blanketed, Alta too...big warmup has hit the midwest and east, but even so it doesn't compare to the "blowtorch" we had last year...Is this ski area news? Well I guess so, technically it is a ski area, it's just that you and I can't afford the lift ticket. Montana's ultra-exclusive Yellowstone Club is on the market. This place was put together a couple years ago by a husband and wife team of bazillionaires. Problem is they no longer enjoy marital bliss, and the "resort" is being dumped because of the pending divorce. The whole shebang was put together through ill-advised land swaps with the US Forest Service, and resulted in all sorts of environmental woes -- which tend to be standard procedure when the USFS makes land swaps with ski areas. Sorry, it's true. Think about it...does it make any sense that we have a government agency that does questionable land swaps to create an enclave for the super-wealthy, and then they deny public access to what was our land? If you ever want to learn more about how these ski area land swaps -- and the phony clocktower villages that come with them -- are not in the public's best interest, I recommend a book called Downhill Slide: Why the Corporate Ski Industry is Bad for Skiing, Ski Towns, and the Environment by Hal Clifford. If you're interested in what goes on behind the scenes at bigtime ski resorts, this book is fascinating.

1/6/08 More lift news, this time from Magic Mountain in southern Vermont. A grip failed on one of the chairs this weekend, the chair slid back into another. Nobody was seriously hurt, and everyone on the lift was evacuated safely and professionally by the Magic staff. It's going to put a dent in what has been shaping up as a "comeback" season for this oft-troubled classic ski area. Hopefully they can recover in the next few days, and be ready when cold weather returns to New England next week.

1/3/08 Grim news from Austria concerns a lift accident on the Jungfraubahnen Interlaken near Kleine-Scheidegg (that's the Eiger/Monch/Jungfrau region). One person killed, three injured. Other passengers had to be lowered to the ground as high winds preempted the use of helicopter evac.

1/2/08 Good news all over. Checking in around the country: Summit at Snoqualmie is positively buried. Ogden Canyon resorts in Utah like Powder Mountain finally got hammered. Modest Ski Cooper in Leadville CO is firing on all cylinders. In the midwest, things are looking great at places like Ski Brule, which is 100% open. In the south, Snowshoe WV has a bit more than half of its terrain open, with plenty of lifts cranking. Mid Atlantic, Camelback PA has all but a handful of runs open. Look for the pending cold spell to help ratchet up trail counts.

12/30/07 Recovery from last week's rain has been fairly decent throughout the east, although some areas have a lot less terrain open than they'd like. But hey, it's a LOT better than last year. Inside tip folks: the White Mountains of NH are experiencing Colorado-like conditions in some places.

12/29/07 More World Cup downhill news from Bormio is that Bode Miller has another win...Austrian Andreas Buder finished second, and Jan Hudec of Canada was third. Marco Sullivan of Squaw Valley finished a respectable 12th. Miller is now 3rd overall. Interesting to watch the US Ski Team comment on Bode's win as if it's their own...Resi Stiegler's crash was pretty severe; she'll be out at least two months.

12/28/07 World Cup News from Lienz, Austria where Julia Mancuso finished second in GS competition, her third straight podium. This puts Super Jules in second place behind teammate Lindsey Vonn in the WC Women's Overall. Denise Karbon of Italy won the event; she's unbeaten in GS this season...word is that Resi Stiegler was injured; no details yet.

12/25/07 Merry Christmas!

12/21/07 Rains loom for the east coast...stay tuned

12/13/07 It's "southern" New England's turn to get belted, and that includes central NY and northern PA, Catskills, Poconos, etc....Windham, Hunter, Belleayre etc. are reporting heavy snows...and it isn't limited to that area, as a quick call to Killington reports that the mighty-K is being pasted as well...season gets into full swing tomorrow, although those of us who've been on the slopes will tell you we're already in mid-season form. What I mean is, tomorrow and Saturday is pretty much opening day for those who've yet to open. This means the "little guys" in New England, like Black Mountain and Dartmouth Skiways in New Hampshire. In Utah, the massive Powder Mountain opens Saturday; Colorado's Ski Cooper opens tomorrow. Even New Jersey's Hidden Valley plans to open Saturday. If they do, it'll be another ski area returning from near-death status, and we'll be extremely glad to see it happen.

12/12/07 One word: SNOW. in Lake Tahoe, Sugar Bowl, Northstar-at-Tahoe, Boreal, Squaw Valley USA, Alpine Meadows and Mt. Rose are firing on all cylinders. Diamond Peak is scheduled to open tomorrow, and Homewood is set for Saturday....In Colorado, Aspen/Snowmass has received over 50 inches of snow this month...looking south, Durango Mountain Resort has had epic snowfalls; nearly a foot this past weekend fell on what was already 4' of pow...just over the border in New Mexico, Taos has more snow and more mountain than it can handle; 4-5 feet of coverage means they'll be 100% open by Christmas, assuming they can inspect, prep, groom, etc. in time. Folks, if you're headed to Taos, it'll be the best early skiing in years. Taos Ski Valley will open this Friday, December 14th. The mountain will open top to bottom on both the front-side and in Kachina. Steeper terrain will open as soon ropes are set up and avalanche control work is complete.

12/10/07 Biggest news from the weekend on the U.S. ski scene has to be the World Cup Women's Downhill race held on the popular Ruthie's Run at Aspen. After a rough weather start on Friday complete with injuries, drama and finger-pointing between coaches and the FIS, the race was held amid fog and falling snow on Saturday. Only 30 of the 56 entrants were able to finish. Top podium went to Canada's Britt Janyk, who felt she had an advantage due to the wet snow and poor visibility. Janyk trains at Whistler-Blackcomb, so she had every reason to believe she had a better handle on the wet and heavy. Austria's Marlies Schild and Renate Goetschl finished second and third, followed by the USA's Lindsey Vonn. Julia Mancuso finished a respectable 16th. Janyk now leads the downhill standings, with Vonn in second...the other big news is the early season conditions in New England, which are nothing short of "epic" considering it is still early December. Personally made some runs at Bromley, Okemo and Stratton and am pleased to report generally outstanding conditions at all three. Conditions on the west half of Bromley, the south face at Okemo and the lower mountain at Stratton were all excellent. Bromley in particular presented a couple of trails that can only be described as equivalent to a good day at Alta. How about that...certainly a buzz all over New England...checking in with Jackson XC, a Europe-like trail network in NW New Hampshire, they already have 48 km of tracked trails, and another 20 km of untracked! It is so nice to hear, considering they failed to open for the Christmas holidays last year...good news in Colorado, snows and aggressive snowmaking have enabled both A-Basin and Loveland to add more terrain....in Utah, steady snows continue to build; check the webcams at Snowbasin for some good visual...in California, things are progressing nicely. Squaw Valley, for example, has 7 lifts running today...southwest is shaping up nicely too. Arizona Snow Bowl in Flagstaff has decent cover so far and plans to open with the next storm. This operation still has trouble dealing with resistance to the snowmaking plans. If you'd like to help, check out this website" ReclaimThePeaks.com.

12/5/07 Clipper system moving through the Mid-Atlantic ought to help everything from Ober Gatlinburg to Snowshoe today. Virginia's Wintergreen should be cranking lifts this weekend...Big snows in Maine added nicely to the bases at Sunday River and Sugarloaf. Western Maine's Shawnee will be opening this weekend...Vermont resorts continue to drop the ropes on trails at a rate we haven't seen this early since December of 2003. That was the last time Okemo entered the second weekend in December with a count of 80 trails. Now, they aren't there today, but they should come close this by Friday. Family-oriented Bromley has five different routes from the summit (two that split up into different trails). Doesn't sound like much but the past couple seasons they had only managed one route by this time....over in New Hampshire, problems at Wildcat, where a lack of electrical power should be resolved by the weekend...parts of Pennsylvania got a nice dusting; 6" af fresh and a lot of snowmaking will enable Elk Mountain to open on Friday...New Jersey weighs in -- looking good for opening this weekend at Mountain Creek; skiers are taking a wait-and-see approach with the ill-advised switcheroo. Creek is trying to move the edgy youth crowd to "South," where the trails don't suit the park'n'pipe crowd, and moving the old-schoolers to "Vernon," where the infrastructure doesn't suit anybody. If nothing else, Intrawest resorts across the country have perfected the art of far-flung parking lots and converted school buses. That's what people want when they go skiing, isn't it?....calling on the midwest, Michigan's Ski Brule is serving nice snow on 9 runs; Boyne will be reopening with outstanding conditions on Friday...tough sledding continues in some parts of Colorado; Arapahoe Basin basically has the Lenawee face/Dercum's route open, along with a couple offerings down by the lodge. We need a snow dance, folks!...I know that some of you are still looking for gear, and no, it's not too late (but you should've been out at the ski swaps a month ago). Anyway, if you're put off by the price of new equipment -- I know I am -- there are quite a few dealers of used stuff that I can recommend without hesitation. In Utah, I like SkiTrucks, which is located at the fairgrounds. In Colorado, I recommend Recycled Sport in Frisco. It's an eclectic mix of anything and everything ski related; I just love the place. In the east, Galactic Snow Sports in Harrisonburg, VA has some terrific prices with decent skis starting around $40. Skitrucks and Galactic are well known for shipping around the world and are highly recommended, while Recycled is one of those places you simply have to stop in and visit....we'll be on the slopes for a few days; next update will be Monday morning. Peace...

12/3/07 Good news out of Colorado is that snow has finally settled in places like Monarch, Steamboat, Loveland, Aspen in a big way, but cover is thin in other areas...Utah hasn't been quite as forunate thus far, but the snow has fallen at a few of the key players, Snowbasin up in Ogden Canyon is looking better and better, while Brighton's webcam is slowly painting more and more of the scene white in Big Cottonwood Canyon...parts of New England are being absolutely pasted today. Rejuvenated Mount Snow has been dropping ropes steadily as the day goes on...just when you thought there was light at the end of the tunnel in the snowboards vs. skiing schism, some boneheads at Burton (a snowboard manufacturer) put out a contest to promote "poaching" the four remaining greats, Taos, Alta, Deer Valley, Mad River Glen, also known as the Mount Rushmore of ski areas. They've even made a video of some uncouth creeps wreaking havoc through a crowd of innocent beginner skiers at Deer Valley. Lottsa class, Jake. And they wonder why they aren't wanted! To top it all off, the intelligentsia at Burton claims that snowboard bans are unconstitutional. The only bright spot in the video is when they show the words NO SNOWBOARDS etched in glass at the Alta ticket window.

11/30/07 The Bird and the Cat open today. We're talking about Snowbird in Utah's Little Cottonwood Canyon, and Wildcat in New Hampshire's Pinkham Notch. The Bird will open with a mix of terrain on natural and manmade stuff, while the Cat has cobbled together a single route off their old triple...also in NH, Sunapee opens today...tough news on the World Cup circuit, where men's points leader Aksel Lund Svindal is likely out for the season following a horrific crash yesterday while practicing at Beaver Creek...New England skiers looking forward to a potential winter storm on Sunday...people have been asking about our indemnified bindings list elsewhere on this site. No information forthcoming from the US Ski Retailers as of yet, but we've cobbled together information as we've been able. Hey, when all else fails, just call your local ski shop.

11/28/07 Well we're gearing up for the "real" start of the season, which is to say, Alta will be checking in on Friday. While that's always good to hear, it's got some bad news attached. According to the resort..."Traditionally Alta opens with more snow than we have today. Mother Nature hasn't given us much snow lately, but the tireless efforts of our snowmaking, grooming and mountain crews have us ready to open this Friday, November 30, with the Collins and Sunnyside detachable lifts." Folks, if you need a translation: Lean snow so far in the Wasatch, and Colorado hasn't kicked off like last year either...BUT in the east, things are MUCH better than last year...New York's Belleayre has been quietly adding to their roster of open trails and lifts...Connecticut's Mohawk Mountain turned the guns on this week, and a bunch of the mid-Atlantic resorts have the fan guns going as well. As long as that part of the country avoids the "January Blowtorch Effect," it'll be a great season.

11/25/07 It's all big. We start with California, since those resorts are closer to most of us...Southern Cali resorts Big Bear and Snow Summit both opened Saturday...hooray! Also pleased to report that Montana's Big Sky opened Saturday as well, in a big way, with some 860 acres ready for schussing...let's look east...big time weekend at Mount Snow, seems Peak Resorts' efforts are paying off...guns went on at Virginny's Wintergreen, looking to turn the bullwheels in a week or two. Other mid-Atlantic, Jersey's Mountain Creek tested the guns, but warm temps are expected there as the week gets underway.

11/12/07 Couple of items to note, Southern Colorado's Wolf Creek joined the ranks of the open resorts this past weekend, they've got manmade stuff on the Nova lift...in the northeast, Pennsy's Big Boulder and New York's Belleayre have been making snow, and sort-of/kind-of opened with some rails and whatnot, no lifts yet. Belleayre should have a lift going by Friday....biggest news in the east this season has been "who will open first" and although Sunday River did a brief Halloween opening, and Cataloochee and Sugar Mountain opened in the Carolinas, the real winner this season has been Mount Snow, opening this past weekend with three lifts and two different summits and bases open, expanding yesterday to 11 open runs and five lifts! Anyone old enough to remember the 1960s when Sneaux had all sorts of buzz going, really driving the ski industry in the east. Hey, if they can keep this up they're going to have long lines at the lifts again! Seriously, this is exciting for eastern skiers...western skiers don't have a lot to be excited about -- yet. If this rumored La Nina weather pattern takes hold, snow could be a scarce as it was in 04-05, and we sure aren't happy about that. At this time last year, the trails on Colorado's Monarch were a vision of white from Highway 50; this year they look like September mountain meadows.

11/09/07 Add Maine's Sugarloaf to the list, spinning two lifts to service two trails....word is that Mount Snow will open tomorrow, with top to bottom skiing on Standard and a terrain park at Carinthia. This will be Sneaux's earliest opening in nine years...some tough news from the southwest, mighty Taos Ski Valley hasn't seen consistent snowmaking temps thus far, so the New Mexico resort has rescheduled their opening to December 14th. Word is that date will allow them to open in a big way.

11/08/07 We got it going on...in the west, Mammoth, in the east, Woodbury and Sunday River cranked their lifts. New York and Massachusetts are ramping up; snow guns were turned on at Belleayre and Jiminy Peak this morning.

11/07/07 Lots of news today...The mouth of the south, North Carolina's Cataloochee has hollered again y'all, open today with a few hundred feet of vert...this year, however, the southern "Cat" can't quite claim first-to-open in the east honors, as neighboring Sugar Mountain opened earlier in the day...looks like the southeastern slopes will do what their neighbors to the north haven't done, and that's open and stay open, although we do give props to Sunday River for opening a week earlier...ought to be a lot happening in New England this coming weekend, it appears that Mount Snow is planning to open Saturday with an incredible amount of terrain. Not only the usual early season Canyon/Standard route, but also Long John and possibly Snowdance! All we can say is ol' Walt would definitely be proud of the way new owners are restoring sass and luster to this southern VT gem...look for Mammoth Mountain to open tomorrow 11/8, we'll update when it does.

11/04/07 Add Copper to the short list of open resorts, and it seems the big C has the most open terrain. Pretty warm at Loveland, although they do manage to have two routes open...First to open honors in the east go to Sunday River. The Riv loaded skiers up to a chair on Halloween, sending a group of revelers up and down a single slope until it got too sloppy to continue safely. Mount Snow did have free sliding on the Launch Pad for a couple of days, but it was pretty rugged and no lift was turning. Okemo and Stratton entered the snowmaking fray, and Mount Snow has guns cranking this morning on Canyon and Standard...Killington has been going great guns, hoping the snow will stem the tide of bad publicity that's coming out of Sherburne. Err, Killington. Seems some "lifetime pass" holders have been left out in the cold after the resort changed hands, and are now suing to get what they feel is rightfully theirs. Considering these "lifetime" things were initiated in the early 1960s, these must be some fairly old skiers by now. God bless 'em, but me thinks that ship has sailed. The new K-Mart is winning no friends in the racing community, rumor has it that a couple of the New England college programs have shifted to Okemo. Hmmm. Other news from K-Mart points out just how troubled the ski industry is in the northeast these days: The are scaling back operations on their gondola line. This, from the biggest and best in the east! Can you imagine Vail announcing that the Born Free lift won't be running on Tuesdays? Me either.

10/29/07 The annual massive roar in the northeast was heard yesterday as a number of ski areas cranked up the compressors in what might be a record number of resorts vying for "first to open" honors. Sugarloaf, Sunday River, Attitash, Bretton Woods, Sugarbush, Mount Snow, and yes, Killington all have the snow guns (and fans) blasting. In Quebec, Mt. St. Saveur is going great guns too. Seems the only one not in the mix from the usual early northeast snowmakers is Connecticut's tiny Woodbury and New York's (relatively) high altitude Belleayre....rumor has it Mount Snow will take first-to-open honors, supposedly setting up a rail or some other feature on the Launch Pad slope.

10/23/07 Plenty of buzz in New England about who will take first-to-open honors for the season now that ASC is gone and Killington's new operator Powdr Corp. apparently has no such plans to be first. It's definitely a paradigm shift, as the mighty K-Mart used to scoop all the rest but for the occasional sputter from small-but-mighty Woodbury in western Connecticut...a lot of eyes are on Mount Snow as new operator Peak Resorts seems to be taking the opposite approach from Powdr. While Powdr is mired in local controversy and is scaling back operations at K-Mart and Pico, Peak is going great guns -- or should we say, great fans -- at Mount Snow and newly-purchased Attitash. Peak has installed a bunch of new fan guns and insiders say is poised to make the point that there's a new sheriff in town. The wild card in the mix is Belleayre, which takes advantage of its super-high base elevation to usually open in mid-November. The weathermap doesn't look at all cooperative right now, but the 15-day for the northeast shows a distinct possibility of snow circa November 6th or 7th.

10/20/07 First chair honors went to A-Basin for the second straight year, but over the divide, Loveland was hot on their tail with perhaps a nicer pair of trails. After blowing steadily for a week, both received a good dose of snow to top off the manmade and start the base for the rest of the areas. Loveland got a bit more of the natural stuff, and will likely expand the trail count in a day or two....up in the Wasatch, Alta received a healthy dumping, but of course won't open the lifts until November.

10/9/07 YYYEEEESSSSS! While easterners are enjoying record breaking high temps, lift workers at Colorado's Silverton ski area found some fresh pow at the 12,000' level, and made some turns. Elsewhere in Colorado, A-Basin and Loveland have been blowing snow whenever possible, and Loveland is looking real good, with the Catwalk trail all ready, now focusing efforts on Mambo.

10/8/07 More news getting ready for the season...Oregon's Timberline has added a new chair with 8 new trails...neighboring Mount Hood Meadows has done some chair upgrades and -- huzzah -- has made some major improvements to the North Lodge...Montana's Whitefish Resort, which we all know as Big Sky, has updated to chairs to high speed quads, and built a new and better base lodge...Idaho's Tamarack is continuing to build its area full speed ahead, nice new chair opens up more terrain for this year...Colorado's Winter Park has added a new chair and some 600 acres of terrain

10/2/07 Expansion? Expansions! Huzzah! We'll start in the east...Whiteface is a new expert trail and a new intermediate trail, which is said to be 2 miles long. Both should be open this season...Attitash has extended the length of one of its underused chairs at Bear Peak...in the west...Sierra-at-Tahoe is trying to make Huckleberry Canyon part of its inbounds...Squaw Valley has upgraded the Shirley Lift with a detachable six-pack...Homewood Mountain Resort has added a new high-speed, detachable quad, replacing a fixed grip quad...Northstar-at-Tahoe has added four new trails in its Northwest Territory, bringing the trail total to 83 and the resort’s skiable acreage to 2,490.

10/1/07 In case you haven't heard, Colorado's Arapahoe Basin and Ski Loveland have cranked up the annual battle of Loveland Pass. In other words, they've both cranked up the snow guns, and now we get to watch and wait...last year A-Basin turned the bull wheels first, but rumor has it that Loveland is ahead this season. We'll keep you posted...gotta love it!

9/30/07 Boyne USA continues to be in the headlines; they've announced agreements for the purchase of New Hampshire's Loon and Washington's Summit-at-Snoqualmie...Telluride is adding terrain with the announced Black Iron Bowl, about 8 bc runs next to Prospect Bowl, and will require a 10 to 30 minute hike to drop in...Pennsy's Hidden Valley Four Seasons Resort just sold to The Buncher Company, a Pittsburgh real estate developer. It had been owned by the Kettler family since 1983. Terms were not disclosed...JMA Ventures recently finalized the buy out of Alpine Meadows...Big Sky is adding a triple chair to improve access to Bavarian Forest and the Dakota Territories, cranking Big Sky's uphill lift capacity to 25,000 riders per hour, with 3,812 acres of skiable terrain accessed by 21 lifts. The new fixed-grip lift is 3,100' long with a vert of 1,210'. Big Sky sez it'll be an 8 minute ride...

9/20/07 We're starting to see signs of a resurrection at New Jersey's Hidden Valley, which was slated to be shuttered this season. Glad to hear it, we'll keep our ears open this one.

7/17/07 Lots of news to catch up on, and today seemed like a pretty good day to do it, what with four major ski areas making rather important announcements in the past two days. First and most significant: The Canyons, last holdout of the American Skiing Company portfolio, was sold to "Talisker Corporation and Talisker Canyons Finance Co LLC" for $100 million plus some debt assumption and what have you. Thus ASC is kaput, and pundits are rightfully calling it "the end of an era." ASC took a lot of flak for their too-quick expansion, huge debt load, and spotty maintenance. Say what you will -- ASC resorts routinely had higher open trail counts and better conditions than neighboring resorts...on that subject, POWDR Corp announced that ex-ASC property Pico will be closed two days a week, except for holiday weeks...Massachusetts' mighty Berkshire East (aka "the Beast") is now owned exclusively by the Schaefer family, who bought out their remaining partners this week...and now the toughest news of all, Mountain Creek "South" -- formerly known as Great Gorge -- is slated to become a massive terrain park for the 2007-08 season. Racing operations are being moved to Vernon Peak, and the lodge originally designed by Sandy McIlvaine is destined for a make-over, complete with flat screen TVs, video game kiosks, and areas for artistic and musical expression. Huh?

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