Archive for November, 2007

Skiing vs. Global Warming

Written on November 16th, 2007 at 11:00 am by Bill
Filed Under: Ski News

We don’t like skiing on dirt - unless it involves excessive drinking, the fourth of July and girls in bikinis - because that sounds like fun.

To keep us from skiing on dirt year-round, ski resorts everywhere are going green. It’s a positive public relations move, it’s a positive move for the environment, and it’s a positive move for the long-term health of the ski industry.

As ski resorts struggle to open by Thanksgiving this year, there is more and more talk about the probable current and future affects of global warming as it relates to skiing. If you live in a ski resort community, you would be hard-pressed to go the month of November without hearing someone bring the topic up.

As of mid-October of this year, there were 61 ski resorts that purchase green energy (solar power, wind power, wave power, geothermal power, etc.) to power their ski lifts and other operations:

Of these 61 resorts, 28 are offsetting 100 percent of their energy use through the purchase of renewable energy credits (RECs). All tolled, these 28 resorts are purchasing 292, 853,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of green energy and their purchases result in the avoidance of 427,596,000 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2). This is the equivalent of planting nearly 17 million trees or avoiding more than 169,000 round-trip flights between New York and San Francisco.

Green Power Program Continues to Snowball [NSAA.org]

Although those are definitely great numbers, there is definitely room for improvement. We would like to recognize those 28 resorts that have gone the distance and offset 100% of their energy use with green power:

Calif: Alpine Meadows, Boreal Mountain, Soda Springs, Sugar Bowl; Colo: Aspen Highlands, Aspen Mountain, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Buttermilk, Copper Mountain, Crested Butte, Keystone, Snowmass, Vail Mountain, Wolf Creek; Maine: Shawnee Peak, Sugarloaf/USA, Sunday River; Minn.: Buck Hill; Mont. : Moonlight Basin; N.H.: Mount Sunapee; Nev: Heavenly; Ore.: Mt. Ashland; Vt.: Middlebury Ski Bowl, Okemo; Stratton Mountain Wyo.: Grand Targhee, Jackson Hole

Green Power Program Fact Sheet [NSAA.org]

Let’s hope that more ski resorts join the 100% green power club soon - come on, everyone is doing it!

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More Ski Resort Openings… More Ski Resort Delays

Written on November 16th, 2007 at 07:00 am by Bill
Filed Under: Ski News

We have some ski resorts departing on time and we have MANY ski resorts delayed.

No, this is not the arrival and departure monitors at the airport on Thanksgiving Day, rather, it is the state of the ski world as the snow gods haven’t been kind thus far.

First the good news, opening today:

• Grand Targhee Resort, Idaho
• Killington Resort, Vermont
• Okemo Mountain Resort, Vermont
• Solitude, Utah

Now the bad news… these ski resorts have pushed back their openings, most are shooting for Wednesday, November 21st to open up just in time for the Thanksgiving ski crowds:

• Alta, Utah
• The Canyons, Utah
• Heavenly, California
• Kirkwood, California
• Park City Mountain Resort, Utah
• Steamboat, Colorado
• Taos, New Mexico (Dec. 14)
• Vail, Colorado

As always, double check with your ski resort before you head up as the status may have changed. Enjoy your flight… I mean skiing… I mean delays.

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Ski Dubai — Igloo in the Desert

Written on November 14th, 2007 at 07:00 am by Bill
Filed Under: Featured, Ski Vacations

Unless you have been living in a snow cave, you know that Dubai is the new "it" place. And as every "it" place should have --- Dubai has 110 degree heat AND skiing.

If you are cool enough to ever visit Dubai, then you are probably cooler than us.

Dubai is located in the United Arab Emirates. For the geographically challenged skiers out there, the U.A.E. is situated on the Persian Gulf with neigboring countries: Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar, and across the gulf is Iran. Ski Dubai is a indoor ski resort at the Mall of Emirates, currently one of the largest malls in the world.

A 5 minute quad chairlift ride climbs 25 stories and dumps you at the top of this ice cube in the sand. Surprisingly, the run is longer than you would think and has a decent pitch, especially at the top.

A lift ticket costs about $75 for an all day pass or $40 for 2 hours. All tickets include all of your ski or snowboard gear and cold weather clothing (Ski Dubai's air temperature is kept right about freezing).

If you would rather not shell out for the $75 lift ticket --- let alone a few grand for airfare, hotel, food, etc. --- then I suggest you watch the following video to get the full Ski Dubai experience:

That "Angle Station" brings back fond memories of the old gondola at Park City Ski Area. Anyway, if you ever purchase a home on the new Palm Islands, then surely, you will find yourself making some turns at Ski Dubai.

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Where’s the Snow?

Written on November 13th, 2007 at 10:24 pm by Bill
Filed Under: Ski News

Every year the goal around here is to be skiing rather than watching football on Thanksgiving Day. T-minus eight days until turkey day and it is not looking good for most skiers.

It is the middle part of November and there is little to no snow falling anywhere. Only a handful of ski resorts are open and most of those probably shouldn’t be.

To date, Colorado has 7 resorts open (Arapahoe Basin, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, Keystone, Loveland, Winter Park and Wolf Creek). Open in California are Mammoth Mountain and Boreal. Lake Louise is open in Canada. Back East we have Mount Snow, Sugarloaf and Sunday River open for business.

Most of these early openings are a complete joke and are just a marketing ploy in order to promote the fact that they opened so early. For instance, Boreal (in Lake Tahoe) dropped the ropes on Monday with only one trail open and a 3 inch base.

Many resorts had scheduled openings over the coming week and now have to push those dates back with little or no snow on the horizon. Nervousness is beginning to set in at ski resorts across the U.S. and Canada as the all important Thanksgiving weekend approaches.

We seriously hope that we are not stuck watching the Packers play the Lions on a Thursday in the near future.

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Broke with Nowhere to Ski

Written on November 11th, 2007 at 02:47 pm by Bill
Filed Under: Ski News

Last January in France a combination of fresh snow and winds created high avalanche dangers over much of the French Alps. This resulted in at least 5 deaths and a handful of other incidents.

One of those other accidents occurred at the Haute-Savoie resort of les Contamines-Montjoie and although reported by Pistehors.com at the time it passed almost without notice. Three skiers aged in their 20s, two from the Paris area and one local from St Gervais took the Croches chair and despite a local bye-law banning off piste skiing when the avalanche risk is high, posted at the bottom of the lift, launched onto the slopes of the Tierces where they triggered an avalanche. The slide caught two of the skiers and also hit a woman skiing on the open Tierces run. No-one was hurt but the lift company (the SECMH) who is responsible for piste safety chose to lodge a complaint with the prosecutor for reckless endangerment.

The three defendants, who claimed ignorance of the local regulations (in truth who reads the small print at the bottom of ski lifts?), were fined 500 euros each, ordered to pay for publication of the sentence in a local paper and, perhaps hardest of all given the good early season conditions, banned from skiing in France for a period of 12 months.

[Avalanche starters get year ski ban]

500 euros!!! We lived in Paris last year so we know that 500 euros is a lot more than 500 dollars. But as bad as the 500 euro fine is, the 1 year ban from skiing has got to hurt the worst.

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Bryon Friedman - As Cool as Greg Oden?

Written on November 11th, 2007 at 01:55 pm by Bill
Filed Under: Ski News

Athlete blogs are becoming as trendy as naming your baby Madison.

Joining other popular athletes such as Greg Oden, Carmelo Anthony and Donovan McNabb, U.S. Ski Team member Bryon Friedman now has an official athlete blog on Yardbarker. Bryon Friedman’s blog will be updated with stories, photos and videos as he travels the world skiing and playing guitar.

Bryon joins 22 other popular athletes that currently have blogs on Yardbarker as athletes realize what sports fans really want—an inside look at their day to day lives. As most of the athletes are from the NBA, NFL and other mainstream sports, it is good to see Bryon representing the world of skiing.

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Free Skiing at Park City, Deer Valley, The Canyons

Written on November 11th, 2007 at 11:59 am by Bill
Filed Under: Ski News

Let’s face it, you’re a cheapskate and you love an expensive sport. You just shelled out $550 for The North Face Sedition ll Stretch Jacket because you needed a sixth ski jacket in your arsenal but you drink box wine because paying for the bottle is unnecessary excess.

Here is a deal for you… FREE SKIING! If you fly into Utah, you can ski the same day you arrive for free at any of the three Park City resorts: Park City Mountain Resort, Deer Valley, and The Canyons. With lift tickets at these resorts approaching $80/day, this deal is definitely worth looking into if you are planning a ski trip to Utah.

So get an early morning flight into Salt Lake City and ski the rest of the day for free (30 to 40 minute drive from the airport to Park City). Make sure you read all of the conditions and fill out the online form before you go. The deal is good for the 2007-2008 season on these dates: Respective resort opening - 12/24/07, 1/2/08 - 2/14/08, and 3/24/08 - respective resort closing 2008.

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Ski Swap Banner Crime on the Rise

Written on November 10th, 2007 at 05:58 pm by Bill
Filed Under: Ski News

Normally, a story such as this would have slipped by under the radar here at Snow Nation, but then we read the comments and it makes us laugh.

Apparently, in Sandy, Oregon, the local Sandy High School Ski Team has an annual ski swap to raise money for the upcoming season. This year they had a banner measuring 3 feet by 10 feet stretched between two trees at an intersection. Well, at some point earlier this week, the banner went missing.

Here is the story: Ski Swap banner missing [The Sandy Post]

What caught our eye was the lone response in the comment section by a user who calls herself Amanda:

“stupid kids think their funny. its not, bring it back.”

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves Amanda. So if you happen to know where this 30 square feet of goodness is hiding, please call the Sandy, Oregon police (or Amanda) at your earliest convenience.

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We Shall Call It Aspen!

Written on November 10th, 2007 at 05:14 pm by Bill
Filed Under: Ski News

Apparently they’re all out of ski resort names. Wait, just checking… yep, all out.

So when you run out of ski resort names, how do you name your new resort? Well you go back to the start of the alphabet and duplicate.

A developer in Utah is attempting to incorporate a town and name it Aspen. Eventually Aspen, Utah will strive to be everything that its’ Colorado counterpart is, including skiing, shopping, hotels, condos, golf courses and a mountain community.

The property that could become Aspen, Utah is located just outside of Heber City in the Wasatch Mountains, near the mouth of Daniels Canyon. The developer, Dean Sellers, owns approximately 68% of the 8,366 acres.

So, will another ski resort really be added to the Wasatch Back? Sellers believes in the idea and Ski Utah wouldn’t mind either:

Jessica Kunzer, spokeswoman for Ski Utah, the marketing company owned and operated by the Utah Ski and Snowboard Association, says bring it on.

“We feel like we’re in very healthy cycle,” Kunzer said. “We feel the more the merrier.”

There’s so much potential for skiing in Utah’s mountains that none of the ski resorts would feel threatened by the advent of another, Kunzer said.

“We have opened our arms to all of our expansion,” she said.

An Aspen for Utah? Developer submits plan… [Deseret Morning News]

It is one thing to talk about the potential for another resort; it is another thing for it to be successful.

Of coarse Utah can support another ski resort… if it is a good one. Ultimately, the quality of the mountain and the skiing experience will make a new mountain a success or a failure.

As Sellers says in the article, “I know land,” oh yeah, well, we just don’t think you know skiing.

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PCMR Installs Canon IP Network PTZ cameras

Written on November 10th, 2007 at 04:32 pm by Bill
Filed Under: Ski News

Slacking off at your 9 to 5 just got better. Thanks to recently installed Canon IP Network PTZ cameras at Park City Mountain Resort, you can whisk your mind away from your TPS Reports and instead view high-quality live streaming video directly from the mountain.

Not so long ago, the best on-mountain experience from your desk chair was habitually clicking refresh every 12 seconds on a static web cam that updated every 3 minutes. No longer…

Five years ago, Park City mounted two static cameras on the mountain to give its website visitors a first-hand look at snow conditions. Today, there are network cameras stationed year-round. The original static cameras were replaced with Canon IP Network PTZ cameras streaming video at approximately 3-4 frames-per-second, but that can go up to 10 frames-per-second for near broadcast quality.

“We currently have two cameras on the mountain that are hardwired to our LAN and another two on the base area that use our point-to-point wireless system,” explained Eric Hoffman, Interactive Marketing Manager for Park City Mountain Resort.

[Advanced Imaging Pro]

We can only speculate that other leading resorts will soon adopt similar or even better technology so that you can feel like you are at the resort even when chained to your desk at work. Lets hope so because our “Powder Day” screensaver just isn’t cutting it.

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