National Ski Council Federation Newsbeat
January 2016
Forest Service Abandons Plan to Take Ski Areas’ Water Rights. Instead of requiring ski resorts to transfer their water rights to the government as a condition of their renewed operating permits, the Forest Service will now require the resorts to prove that there is sufficient water to support skiing now and into the future, according to a final directive published by the government on Wednesday. In 2011, when the U.S. Forest Service sought to transfer the water rights of ski resorts operating on Forest Service land to the federal government, the agency encountered a ferocious backlash from the ski industry that argued that the proposed directive was a heavy-handed approach that would be counterproductive to maintaining a ski area over the long term, and possibly even exceeded federal authority. More.
Forest Service Approves Aspen’s New Lift 1A. The White River National Forest has signed off on a new Lift 1A, which will connect, possibly via a gondola, a redeveloped western base area with a revitalized Ruthie’s restaurant. More. Aspen Daily News via Curbed Ski
Quebec’s Mont-Sainte-Anne Turns 50. A jewel of the Côte-de-Beaupré region northeast of Québec City celebrates a half century of operation this season. Mont-Sainte-Anne, well known to skiers in Québec and across Canada, will host festivities this winter to honor its 50th anniversary. Mont-Sainte-Anne first opened on January 16, 1966 with 10 trails and four lifts, including the first gondola in eastern Canada. More. First Tracks!!
Snowbird Opens Long-Awaited Refuge Atop Hidden Peak. Two years in the making and decades in planning, Utah’s Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort unwraped a special Christmas gift to its guests Dec. 26 when it officially opened its new building atop Hidden Peak. More. First Tracks!!
Snowbird Asks to Expand. Officials with Utah’s Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort are asking the Utah County Board of Adjustment to approve plans to build two new ski lifts and a zip line on privately owned land in Mary Ellen Gulch, in upper American Fork Canyon. More. First Tracks!!
Sweden is Housing Refugees at World’s Most Northerly Ski Area. In an effort to house the 160,000 refugees admitted to Sweden this year, the country has turned to Riksgränsen, a ski area far above Sweden’s Arctic Circle. Because the ski season at Riksgränsen runs from February to June, the ski area now houses 600 refugees, mainly from Syria and Afghanistan, who will be holed up at the resort as they wait for news of their asylum requests. While the sun never rises in Riksgränsen at this time of year and temperatures are brutally cold, the ski hotels offer shelter, food, and security for people fleeing violence. More. Curbed Ski
Buy Your Own Colorado Ghost Town for $1 Million. If you’ve ever fancied living the life of an eccentric billionaire but only had $1 million to work with, the town of Uptop is for you. This 42-acre parcel in the Southern Rockies of Colorado, with views of the Spanish Peaks, holds a well-preserved ghost town full of history from some of the earliest days of the state. More. Curbed Ski
Teen Donates Ski Resorts’ Lost and Found to the Homeless. Corrinne Hindes, age 15, of Walnut Creek, California, founded Warm Winters to collect jackets, gloves, and hats from the unclaimed lost-and-found at ski resorts and distribute them to the homeless. So far, her non-profit has collected 10,000 items of warm clothing and delivered them to 6,500 homeless community members. She has created a formal partnership with the National Ski Areas Association and her group is currently working with 17 ski resorts in eight states. More. First Tracks!!
CNL Still Looks to Sell Off Ski Resorts. An Orlando-based real estate investment trust that over the past few years has quietly become the largest ski resort owner in the U.S. is still looking to sell off its ski areas. Skiers visiting destinations like Crested Butte, Okemo, Sugarloaf and Brighton are likely unaware that the mountain they’re skiing is owned by CNL Lifestyle Properties. That’s because CNL has typically leased its resorts back to their previous owners, who continue to operate them following the infusion of CNL’s cash. CNL makes money for its investors via the operators’ lease payments. More. First Tracks!!
New Electrically Heated Skiwear Marries Fashion and Technology. Gyde Supply is bringing technology to skiwear on a whole new level. 38-year-old Tom Nolan had a vision in 2012 when his private equity-backed firm Prospect Brands bought Gerbing, best known for supplying electrically heated garments to motorcyclists the world over: he wanted to marry technology and ski fashion. That vision has been born in Gyde Supply, a new brand of electrically heated clothing aimed at skiers and riders (as well as golfers, ironically, but that’s another story altogether). The company makes jackets, vests, pants, socks and gloves, all heated by Gyde Supply’s patented Microwire technology. More. First Tracks!!
Curbed Ski’s Top 6 Ski Apps to Download This Winter. There are plenty of great apps being released for skiers and riders for Android, iPhone and even the new Apple Watch. Fill your time between runs by seeing where the rest of your crew is riding, tracking what runs you’ve done, looking up lift ticket deals or even checking out backcountry conditions. To let you know exactly which downloads are worth their data, Curbed Ski has put together a primer on the best ski apps this season. More. Curbed Ski
Snow Sports Retail Sales Remain Strong Through October. Ski and snowboard retail trade association SnowSports Industries America (SIA) and The NPD Group – Sports and Leisure Trends have released retail sales numbers for August through October 2015, projecting total market results from data collected from the point of sale systems of more than 1,200 snow sports retailers. More. First Tracks!!
