First Tracks! Online Ski Magazine

Park City, UT -Audi FIS World Cup champion Lindsey Vonn was honored by the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association with the Beck International Award, the organization’s highest athlete honor. The USSA also recognized longtime race official John Garnsey of Vail/Beaver Creek, Colo., with its Julius Blegen Award for three decades of service to the sport. The awards were presented in Park City at the annual USSA Congress held last week at the Park City Marriott. USSA GOLD AWARDS Julius Blegen...

Banff (AB), Canada - In March 1928, two young men skied up Healy Creek outside of Banff to what is now Sunshine Village ski resort. They headed for a cabin built by the Canadian Pacific Railroad. The two planned to use this as a break during their journey across the Great Divide. The snow was deep and the two men, Cliff Whyte and Cyril Paris, missed the cabin and slept in a hollow they dug in the snow. They awoke the next day and in poor weather broke a trail over Citadel Pass. They were the...

Snowbird, UT - With its venerable Little Cloud double chair scheduled for replacement this summer by a new high-speed detachable quad chairlift, Snowbird skiers and riders threw a party on Sunday to mark the lift's -- and the resort's -- final day of the 2011-12 winter season. After nearly 32 feet of snowfall this season, skiers and snowboarders clad in bikinis and costumes flocked to the resort to get one last day on the slopes of Utah's Wasatch Mountains this...

Wanaka, New Zealand - New Zealand's ski and snowboard season is rapidly approaching, and a potent early winter storm has started to build bases on both North and South Island slopes. "A decent snow storm in May is not unexpected and certainly what we hope for at this time of year," said Nadia Ellis, Cardrona Sales & Marketing Manager at Cardrona Alpine Resort near Wanaka. "Early snow helps cool the ground temperature which will help a good winter base to form as winter...

Mammoth Lakes, CA -A late ski season and lower than normal snowpack have combined to create a unique opportunity in the Eastern Sierra over the upcoming Memorial Day holiday weekend. Mammoth Mountain will be serving up the best of both summer and winter with skiing and riding on soft spring snow, mountain biking and golf. The final ski and snowboard lifts of Mammoth Mountain's winter season will take place on Monday, May 28, while the Mammoth Bike Park will open for the summer on Saturday,...

Winter Park, CO - The family of a man killed an an in-bounds avalanche in January at Colorado's Winter Park Resort has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against this ski resort's operator. Christopher Norris, the father of two young children from Evergreen, Colo., died as a result of being caught in an avalanche while skiing the Trestle Trees area of Winter Park on January 22. The small avalanche, reportedly 40 feet wide and 60 vertical feet long, started on a rocky outcrop with slope angles...

Burlington, VT - Sugarbush Resort accepted the Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence on Tuesday at the Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility spring conference in Burlington. As part of its ongoing efforts to be responsible stewards of the environment, the Vermont ski and snowboard resort partnered with Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. (VHB), an environmental consulting firm, to develop a long-term water quality remediation plan for the entire resort. The programs have proven...

Stratton Mountain, VT - For anyone still hankering for time on the mountain, Stratton Mountain will host southern Vermont’s final jam of the season on the same snow the pro riders at the U.S. Open rode, so don’t pack those skis and boards away just yet. Snow is stockpiled and features are lined up for the final on-snow event of the season: the 3rd Annual Mountain Mayhem Rail Jam. The winter’s favorite features will make a reappearance under sunny skies for this “park-builder’s...

Eden, UT - A northern Utah ski area, and a substantial chunk of the Ogden Valley, will be auctioned off to the highest bidder on June 1. Wolf Creek Utah Resort, which includes Wolf Mountain, at 1,000 vertical feet the state's smallest ski hill, will be sold at auction along with its 6,845-yard 18-hole championship golf course, events center, Discovery Center, and enough land to subdivide into 850 to 950 residential and commercial lots. All told, the resort's land holdings exceed 3,000...

Crystal Mountain, WA - After all the other ski resorts in Washington State have already called it quits, Crystal Mountain plans to remain open Saturdays and Sundays and Memorial Day for skiing and snowboarding until May 28th or later, conditions permitting. Crystal is now one of seven ski resorts in North America still open. Discounted tickets are being sold for all five lifts still operating weekends from 8:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m.,  including the resort's  Mt. Rainier Gondola. Crystal...

Augusta, ME - Maine Governor Paul LePage presented Saddleback Ski Resort in Rangeley with a 2012 Governor's Award for Business Excellence during a reception held today at the Statehouse Hall of Flags in Augusta. The 22nd annual awards, administered by the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) and sponsored by Fairpoint Communications, recognize companies that demonstrate a high level of commitment to their community, employees and to manufacturing or service...

Honolulu, HI - North American skiers and snowboarders will now be able to avoid tedious transfers in Tokyo and now fly directly to ski resorts on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido aboard new flights announced by Hawaiian Airlines on Wednesday. The airline is set to begin service between Honolulu International Airport and New Chitose Airport in Sapporo, site of the 1972 Olympic Winter Games, on the island of Hokkaido three times per week in November 2012 aboard Boeing 767-300ER wide body...

Whistler (BC), Canada - In a winter that lacked snow across much of North America, resulting in a 15.7% decrease in skier visits in the U.S., Whistler Blackcomb Resort received both snow and visitors. The British Columbia resort this week announced second quarter and fiscal six month results ending March 31, 2012 that resulted in increases in all key metrics, including a 22.6% increase in destination visitors over the latter period when compared with the same period a year earlier. "Over the...

Snowbird, UT - Utah's Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort is hosting a summer sports camp designed for youth ages 10-15, and includes mountain biking, swimming, hiking and climbing with professional coaches. “Snowbird’s Mountain Sports Camp is a great way for kids to learn new skills on a natural playground,” said Maggie Loring, Snowbird Mountain School Director.  “The coaches are excited to inspire the kids to connect with the mountains and teach them fundamental skills they will use...

Park City, UT - America’s most coveted ski and snowboarding lift ticket, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association’s (USSA) Gold Pass, is going high tech to celebrate its 40th anniversary this coming 2012-13 season. The Gold Pass first started in the 1972-73 winter season as a fundraiser for the U.S. Ski Team in a unique partnership with U.S. ski resorts. It has continued to grow in its 40-year history to become one of the largest single fundraising tools to support Olympic skiers and...

Vernon, NJ - In an apparent case of first impression nationwide, Mountain Creek Resort, Inc. has sued its insurance carrier, Everest Indemnity Insurance Company, in an attempt to force the insurer to pay a claim under a weather insurance policy underwritten by the company to the New Jersey ski and snowboard resort. Although this lawsuit appears to be the first of its kind anywhere in the United States, the lack of case law is hardly surprising given the way in which weather insurance...

Great Barrington, MA -Ski Butternut's operations manager, Reuel Sheldon, is retiring after 30 years of service at the ski resort in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts. Sheldon is stepping own after seeing the mountain through many great years and some challenging times, including a life altering injury to the resort's iconic owner, Channing Murdock, in 1994 on the heels of the worst winter on record and a devastating F4 tornado that ripped across the mountain May 29th (Memorial...

Calgary (AB), Canada -Twenty-nine athletes were named to the Canadian Alpine Ski Team on Thursday as Alpine Canada continues its preparations for the 2012-13 World Cup season and the 2013 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships. The squad of 19 men and 10 women features three new additions and nine racers who have recorded World Cup or world championship podiums – including reigning world downhill champion Erik Guay, who has 17 top-three World Cup results. Leaving the men's team is Olympian and...

Kellogg, ID - Idaho's Silver Mountain ski resort is offering skiers and riders one last chance to hit the slopes this season on Sunday...for free. Dave Smith Free Ski Day, sponsored by Dave Smith Motors in Kellogg, also gives moms the chance to play golf for free at Galena Ridge for Mother's Day. Silver Mountain's gondola will start loading guests at 8 a.m. and chair lifts #1 and #2 will turn from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Music, BBQ and beverages will be served at the...

Mammoth Lakes, CA - Some of U.S. Freeskiing’s best athletes, like recently crowned AFP halfpipe World Champion Torin Yater-Wallace and AFP slopestyle World Champion Tom Wallisch, have descended upon Mammoth Mountain’s Unbound Terrain Park for a 10-day intensive training camp alongside the U.S. Ski Team alpine racers at this California ski resort. "Team training camps are essential to athlete training not only for skills, but team building," explained Mike Jankowski, U.S. Freeskiing Head...