December 2024 – January 2025

 Forest Service Budget Challenges Threaten Avalanche Center Operations Nationwide. Looming federal budget cuts have forced the Forest Service to institute a hiring freeze this fall for seasonal employees right as many avalanche centers are getting ready to bring on their winter workforce of experts. More. SnowBrains

Park City Mountain Resort Ski Patrol Goes on Strike. Nearly 200 members of the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association went on strike over wages and benefits. Vail Resorts says wages have increased for ski patrollers by over 50% over the past four seasons. The Park City resort remains open with patrol leaders from Park City Mountain and other resorts. More. Deseret News

The Remaking of Deer Valley Begins with Lifts, Terrain, Second Village. This winter, the Wasatch Range resort will sneak-peek the new East Village area by opening three new chairlifts and 300 acres of terrain just off U.S. 40 below Park City. The new base will offer a second entrance to Deer Valley’s slopes and trails, hopefully reducing traffic around downtown Park City where the original base area is located. More. SnoCountry

Powder Mountain Begins Transformation into Public-Private Resort. The grand experiment is underway at Powder Mountain in northern Utah, as the 2024-2025 season opens with four new chairlifts, a portion of the mountain roped off for homeowners only, a longtime season pass cap lifted, and February weekends restricted to season pass holders. More. SnoCountry

Alterra Mountain Company Closes on Arapahoe Basin. Alterra Mountain Company closed the purchase of Arapahoe Basin in Colorado in November, expanding Alterra’s portfolio to 18 mountain destinations. A-Basin president and COO Alan Henceroth, who has been with the resort for 36 years, will continue to lead the resort and oversee daily operations with his longtime team. More. SAM

Red River, Ski Santa Fe Debut New Lifts On New Mexico Mountains. Two of northern New Mexico’s winter mountains put in chairlifts this summer to replace a pair of workhorses that had been hauling skiers and riders out of the base areas for decades. More. SnoCountry

9 Ski Areas Seniors Can Ski for Free. If there is one perk to aging, it‘s got to be free skiing. Growing older certainly is proving to have its benefits, with some resorts across North America offering free ski passes to those who meet their definitions of “Senior” or “Super Senior.” Ed. Note: Palisades Tahoe also offers free skiing to 80+ skiers.  More. SnowBrains

The World’s First 100% Aluminum Skis are Here and the Benefits are Substantial. Ski design has undergone a remarkable evolution, from early hickory planks to the advanced composite technologies of today. The latest innovation, however, comes in the form of skis milled entirely from aerospace-grade aluminum. More. SnowBrains

Industry Legend Klaus Obermeyer Just Turned 105 and He Looks Better Than Ever. “The longer you ski, the longer you live” is the motto of Klaus Obermeyer, a legend in the skiing world who embodies both the pioneering spirit and the heartfelt passion that defines the sport. More. SnowBrains

Did You Know There Used to Be an Unconventional Ski Area in the Suburbs of Atlanta, GA? For a few years in the late 1970s, Atlanta, Georgia, offered an unexpected twist for thrill-seekers: the Vinings Ridge Ski Area. Far from the powdery peaks of traditional ski resorts, Vinings Ridge operated on a synthetic surface due to the warm climate, making it a unique, year-round attraction. More. SnowBrains

December 2022 – January  2023

Important Precedent Set in Oregon Ski Area Ruling. Recreational use law was successfully used as a defense against a plaintiff seeking $1.5 million in a parking lot slip-and-fall claim against Hoodoo Ski Area in Oregon. Recreational use statutes limit the liability of landowners if they make their land available for recreation free of charge. More. SAM

Tahoe MegaResort Opens in Time for Snowmageddon. Palisades Ski Resort and Alpine Meadows Ski Resort in the Lake Tahoe area are now one giant MegaResort, thanks to the opening of the base-to-base gondola between the neighboring ski areas. The two resorts, owned by Colorado’s Alterra Mountain Company, have become the second largest single ski destination in the country. More. Connectcre via Ski Racing Media

Steamboat Resort Unwraps ‘One-of-a-Kind’ Wild Blue Gondola.  With snow falling, Steamboat Resort opened the Wild Blue Gondola on Saturday, Dec. 24, just in time for Christmas. The debut was complete with a red bow on the first car, a ribbon cutting, a jingle of bells, and a long line of people waiting to board. More. Vail Daily via Ski Racing Media

Owners of Mountain High and Dodge Ridge (CA) Purchase China Peak. China Peak Mountain Resort has been sold to Mountain High Resort and Dodge Ridge, Calif. All three are also existing partners on the Indy Pass and Powder Alliance.  More. SAM

Mont-Sainte-Anne Ski Resort (Quebec) to Reopen Jan. 8 After Dec. 10 Shutdown Over Gondola Cabin Disconnect. The Régie du bâtiment du Québec (RBQ) has authorized the reopening of four of the resort’s five lifts that were shut down after a gondola fell to the ground last month. Though nobody was injured in the incident, the resort has been closed since Dec. 10. More.  CBC/Radio-Canada

Tree Falls on Park City Mountain Chairlift, Employee Killed. A Park City Mountain staff member was killed Jan. 2 after falling from the chairlift they were riding. A tree fell on the line of the Short Cut chairlift, unseating the employee who fell at least 25 feet to the ground, according to a Vail Resorts spokesperson. The staff member was working at the time of the incident. More. SAM

Indy Expands Colorado Foothold with Echo Mountain, Granby Ranch. The coalition now has four partner areas in Colorado, including Sunlight Mountain and Bluebird Backcountry, and is up to 121 downhill and Nordic resorts total across the U.S., Canada, and Japan. More. SAM

Indy Pass Adds Four Northeastern Nordic and Alpine Resorts. The Indy Pass has added four Northeastern Alpine and Nordic ski areas, making for 21 total participating ski areas in the Eastern region. Included are Peek ‘n Peak in New York and Tussey Mountain, Pa., on the Alpine side, and cross-country areas Catamount Outdoor Family Center, Vt., and the Rangeley Lakes Trail Center in Maine. More. SAM

Mt. Bachelor Biomass Boiler to Provide Cleaner Heat, Reduce Wildfire Risk. Powdr-owned Mt. Bachelor in Oregon will install a new wood energy facility to provide heat for four of its base area buildings using a modern biomass boiler fueled by the byproducts of forest management and wildfire fuel reduction activities within the surrounding Deschutes National Forest. Mt. Bachelor anticipates the new facility will reduce the resort’s propane consumption by roughly 150,000 gallons annually and reduce CO2 emissions by nearly 1,000 tons per year.  More.  SAM

Ski California Debuts Updated Digital Mountain Safety Guide. Ski California has debuted an updated digital version of its Mountain Safety Guide. Designed by the association and its member resorts in California and Nevada, the new version is a play off the group’s existing Mountain Safety Guide.  More. SAM

Fourteen New Chairlifts to Ride This Winter. There are a lot of new lifts, and even some expanded terrain, coming online this winter. Here’s what you can look forward to as you click into your planks at ski resorts across North America. More. Ski

The 10 Best—and Worst—Ski Resorts For Parking. An overview of parking requirements at the worst offenders this winter. More. Outside

Ed. Note: The following two articles list some of the same resorts but also some different ones.

The 10 Best Ski Resorts in North America for Seniors. The number of seniors on the slopes has reached epic proportions. In 2020-21 seniors accounted for 16.1% of skier visits, totaling 59 million, while a record 10.5 million seniors participated in the sport, according to the National Ski Areas Association. More. Travel + Leisure via Google Alerts

The Top 9 Resorts in the U.S. for Seniors. According to the National Ski Area Association (NSAA), the median age of snow sports participants has been gradually increasing. Additionally, over 16% of all participants are now seniors. These seniors are proving that there is no age limit for winter fun, and you don’t have to fly south when the weather turns cold. More Snowbrains via Google Alerts

New to the Market, Peak Skis Is Bringing Innovation to the Slopes. Developed by professional ski racer Bode Miller, Peak Skis is shaking up the industry with design technology that put Miller on podium after podium throughout his racing career. More. Ski

How to Wax Your Own Skis In 4 Easy Steps. Mere mortals can, in fact, learn to maintain their skis at home (and save money in the process). More. Ski

The Art of Charcuteski: Craft an On-mountain Dining Experience with the Skis That Got You There. Picture this: You’re at your favorite resort, and there’s bluebird skies above as you clip out of your skis, wedge them into the snow, and start layering on stacks of salami, cheese wedges, heaps of crackers and punchy pickled vegetables. This, my friends, is charcuteski. More. Tahoe Daily Tribune via Ski Racing Media

81-Year-Old Cross-Country Skier Odd Osland Still Finds Joy on the Trails. Norwegian transplant Odd Osland is at home in Minnesota’s Nordic ski community. Odd Osland is an elite skier who still competes across North America. More. Star Tribune via Ski Racing Media

The Hidden History of Skiing in the West. Skiing in the U.S., as we think of it now, came from Europe in the late 1800s by way of Scandinavian immigrants, who used skis as a mode of transportation. They also liked to have a good time in the long, dark mountainous winter, founding ski jumping hills at places like Howelsen Hill, in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and Ecker Hill, near Parleys Summit, in Utah. More. Deseret News via Google Alerts.

 July 2022

You’ll be charged to visit Europe from 2023. The EU has announced the launch of its long-awaited visa waiver scheme, ETIAS, to debut in May 2023. While ETIAS is not the same as a visa — it is quicker, done online, and requires no biometric information — there is still a procedure and a cost to acquiring it, rather like the United States’ scheme, ESTA.  More. CNN via NSCF Facebook Page

US Will End Covid-19 Testing Requirement for Air Travelers Entering the Country. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has lifted its requirement for travelers to test negative for Covid-19 before entering the US. More. CNN via Inntopia |Destimetrics

Why Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt Say Hotel Prices Are Only Going Up. Despite high inflation, a softening economy, and fears of a recession, the hotel industry is not seeing any slowdown. More. CNBC via Inntopia |Destimetrics

ICYMI: Indy Pass Hits 100 With Eight New Resort Partners. The Indy Pass will now offer two free days of skiing, riding, and cross-country skiing at 100 resorts for winter 2022-23 with the addition of eight new partners—five alpine and three cross country—in the Upper Midwest, New England, and the Pacific Northwest. More. SAM

Le Massif Joins Mountain Collective. Le Massif de Charlevoix has signed a three-year agreement with the Mountain Collective, according to Radio Canada. Le Massif is the first eastern Canadian ski area to join the pass coalition, which includes 22 other properties across North America. More. SAM

Park City Mountain Lift Upgrades Blocked. The Park City Planning Commission granted an appeal of a previous decision to approve two Park City Mountain (PCM) lift upgrades. More. SAM

Suicide Six (VT) to Change Name. Vermont’s Suicide Six ski area will retire its name this summer due to its negative connotation. A new name has already been determined and will be announced in the coming weeks. More. SAM

Windham Mountain (NY) Announces Purchase of Local Landmark for Employee Housing. The investment will provide housing in the winter primarily for international employees as well as part-time staff looking for accommodations on weekends. Rooms in the new facility will be available for employees of local businesses in the summer months. More. SnowBrains

Snowstorm Dumps on Ski Resort in Africa. A snowstorm just hit Afriski Mountain Resort in Lesotho, southern Africa June 22-24, dropping at least three inches of fresh snow on the resort. Afriski is the only skiing resort in Lesotho, located 10,006 feet above sea level, operating in Southern Africa near the northern border of Lesotho and South Africa. It is one of only three ski resorts in southern Africa. More. SnowBrains

Jon Weisberg, editor of Seniors Skiing, Passes. Weisberg, who spoke at the 2018 NSCF Annual Meeting at Zermatt Utah Resort, passed away on June 3 at the age of 78. Link to his obituary on the Seniors Skiing website. Storm Skiing Journal