Podcasts about Little Cottonwood Canyon

The Rod and Greg Show Daily Rundown – Friday, March 28, 20254:20 pm: Terry Jones, Editor of Issues and Insights, joins the program for a conversation about the media's treatment of President Donald Trump.4:38 pm: Homeowners in Little Cottonwood Canyon have filed a lawsuit against the Utah Department of Transportation to try to stop UDOT from using land in their neighborhood to build a road for the controversial gondola project, and their attorney, Brent O. Hatch joins the show to discuss the lawsuit.6:05 pm: Nationally syndicated radio host Glenn Beck joins Rod and Greg in studio for a two-segment conversation about his program and other topics at the top of the headlines.6:38 pm: We'll listen back to Rod and Greg's conversations this week with Rep. Jeff Burton about the changes lawmakers have made to Utah's vote-by-mail system, and (at 6:50 pm) with Victoria Manning of Restoration America on the group's Education Freedom Grades for states.

Latest Utah Avalanche Center forecast, professional skier raising awareness for mental health with new film, Nate Thomas of Parsons Behle & Latimer talks about some of the legal issues surrounding the Park City Ski Patrol Union strike, Utah's first four-season backcountry hut-to-hut system to open this winter, new tech helps Little Cottonwood Canyon manage avalanche dangers, Wasatch County Search and Rescue member Kam Kohler on how to stay safe in the backcountry this winter, Park City resident and former U.S. Ski Team member Megan McJames promotes her new film "Trailblazer," how Summit Land Conservancy preserves Wasatch Back land and Colorado wildlife commission urges officials to continue wolf reintroductions.

Steven Clark enjoyed the ideal skier's lifestyle as a young boy living at the mouth of the Cottonwood Canyons. Today, he's the avalanche safety program manager for the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT). As skiers and riders wind their way up Little Cottonwood Canyon, one of the most avalanche-intensive sections of highway in the world, he's the one leading efforts to help keep us safe. Clark joined this episode of Last Chair from Snowbird to talk about innovative new technology that is helping to keep avalanche safety workers – and all of us on the highway – safe during winter storms.Many of us think about backcountry avalanche safety. Clark himself, when he was young, had the Utah Avalanche Center phone number posted on the family's home phone. But it's doubtful many of us think a lot about avalanches as we travel mountain highways every winter. We think about the plows that clear the roadway for us. But what's up above might be largely out of our minds as we wind up State Route 210 for eight miles towards Snowbird and Alta.In those eight miles from the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon up to Alta, there are 64 identified, named avalanche paths that can impact the highway. While the ski resorts all manage avalanche safety in their boundaries, it's up to UDOT to mitigate the danger on the highway. From howitzers to hand charges, UDOT avalanche safety teams work to keep all highways in the state safe for drivers and residents.For around 75 years military howitzers have played a pivotal role, lobbing shells across valleys to dislodge snowpack before it poses a danger to the highway. In 2007, UDOT began to look at alternatives to lobbing shells through the air. Today, howitzers are being phased out. As an example, in 2023 Alta retired its 105-mm cannon that had fired thousands of rounds of shells since being introduced in the 1950s by avalanche safety legend Monty Atwater.Replacing the howitzers is an array of remotely triggered devices installed on mountainside towers throughout the canyon. Towers from Wyssen Avalanche Control can be remotely activated to drop charges into the snow. Installations from GAZEX™ create a controlled explosion from which the concussive force triggers a slide. UDOT is using both systems, with new installations around Mount Superior will be in operation this season. There are now nearly 90 remotely-activated avalanche mitigation installations in the canyon between UDOT and the ski resorts. The new systems provide yet another level of public safety, eliminating the need to fire shells across the valley or to have avalanche safety workers conduct high-risk operations. In addition, UDOT employs a sophisticated array of avalanche sensors to analyze the snowpack and provide valuable feedback and updates.This episode of Last Chair provides some fascinating insights into the work done behind the scenes to keep us safe as we travel the Cottonwood Canyons to ski and ride. A well-known figure in the Utah snow safety community, Steven Clark is a great example of the dedication of the UDOT team that helps keep us safe.

Steven Clark enjoyed the ideal skier's lifestyle as a young boy living at the mouth of the Cottonwood Canyons. Today, he's the avalanche safety program manager for the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT). As skiers and riders wind their way up Little Cottonwood Canyon, one of the most avalanche-intensive sections of highway in the world, he's the one leading efforts to help keep us safe. Clark joined this episode of Last Chair from Snowbird to talk about innovative new technology that is helping to keep avalanche safety workers – and all of us on the highway – safe during winter storms.Many of us think about backcountry avalanche safety. Clark himself, when he was young, had the Utah Avalanche Center phone number posted on the family's home phone. But it's doubtful many of us think a lot about avalanches as we travel mountain highways every winter. We think about the plows that clear the roadway for us. But what's up above might be largely out of our minds as we wind up State Route 210 for eight miles towards Snowbird and Alta.In those eight miles from the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon up to Alta, there are 64 identified, named avalanche paths that can impact the highway. While the ski resorts all manage avalanche safety in their boundaries, it's up to UDOT to mitigate the danger on the highway. From howitzers to hand charges, UDOT avalanche safety teams work to keep all highways in the state safe for drivers and residents.For around 75 years military howitzers have played a pivotal role, lobbing shells across valleys to dislodge snowpack before it poses a danger to the highway. In 2007, UDOT began to look at alternatives to lobbing shells through the air. Today, howitzers are being phased out. As an example, in 2023 Alta retired its 105-mm cannon that had fired thousands of rounds of shells since being introduced in the 1950s by avalanche safety legend Monty Atwater.Replacing the howitzers is an array of remotely triggered devices installed on mountainside towers throughout the canyon. Towers from Wyssen Avalanche Control can be remotely activated to drop charges into the snow. Installations from GAZEX™ create a controlled explosion from which the concussive force triggers a slide. UDOT is using both systems, with new installations around Mount Superior will be in operation this season. There are now nearly 90 remotely-activated avalanche mitigation installations in the canyon between UDOT and the ski resorts. The new systems provide yet another level of public safety, eliminating the need to fire shells across the valley or to have avalanche safety workers conduct high-risk operations. In addition, UDOT employs a sophisticated array of avalanche sensors to analyze the snowpack and provide valuable feedback and updates.This episode of Last Chair provides some fascinating insights into the work done behind the scenes to keep us safe as we travel the Cottonwood Canyons to ski and ride. A well-known figure in the Utah snow safety community, Steven Clark is a great example of the dedication of the UDOT team that helps keep us safe.

This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on Nov. 23. It dropped for free subscribers on Nov. 30. To receive future episodes as soon as they're live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe to the free tier below:What is this?Every autumn, ski associations and most of the large pass coalitions host media events in New York City. They do this because a) NYC is the media capital of the world; b) the city is a lot of fun; and, c) sometimes mountain folks like something different too, just like us city folks (meaning me), like to get to the mountains as much as possible. But I spend all winter traveling the country in search of ski areas of all sizes and varieties. This is the one time of year skiing comes to me. And it's pretty cool.One of the associations that consistently hosts an NYC event is Ski Utah. This year, they set up at the Arlo Soho, a chic Manhattan hotel. Longtime President Nathan Rafferty asked if I would be interested in setting up an interview station, talking to resort reps, and stringing them together into a podcast. It was a terrific idea, so here you go.Who* Nathan Rafferty, President of Ski Utah* Sara Huey, Senior Manager of Communications at Park City Mountain Resort* Sarah Sherman, Communications Manager at Snowbird* Nick Como, VP of Marketing at Sundance* Rosie O'Grady, President and Innkeeper of Alta Lodge* Jessica Turner, PR Manager for Go Heber Valley* Taylor Hartman, Director of Marketing and Communications at Visit Ogden* Brooks Rowe, Brand Manager at Snowbasin* Riley Elliott, Communications Specialist at Deer Valley* Andria Huskinson, Communications and PR Manager at Solitude* Anna Loughridge, PR Manager for Visit Utah* Courtney Ryan, Communications Manager for Visit Park City* Ryan Mack, VP of Communications for Visit Salt LakeRecorded onOctober 3, 2024About Ski UtahMost large ski states have a statewide trade group that represents its ski areas' interests. One of the best of these is Ski Utah, which is armed with a large staff, a generous budget, and some pretty good freaking skiing to promote (Buckskin, Utah Olympic Park, and Wasatch Peaks Ranch are not members of Ski Utah):What we talked aboutSKI UTAHTopicsWhy NYC; the Olympics return to Utah; why the state is such a great place to host the games (besides, you know, the awesome skiing); where we could potentially see future ski area development in Utah; Pow Mow's shift toward public-private hybrid; Deer Valley's expansion and ongoing snowboard ban; and the proposed LCC Gondola – “Little Cottonwood Canyon is not a great place for rubber-wheeled vehicles.”On Utah skier visits and population growth over timeOn chairlifts planned in Utah over the next three yearsUtah is on a chairlift-building binge, with the majority slated for Deer Valley's massive expansion (11) and Powder Mountain (4 this year; 1 in 2025). But Snowbird (Wilbere quad), Park City (Sunrise Gondola), and Snowbasin (Becker high-speed quad) are also scheduled to install new machines this year or next. The private Wasatch Peaks Ranch will also add two lifts (a gondola and a high-speed quad) this year. And Sundance is likely to install what resort officials refer to as the “Flathead lift” some time within the next two years. The best place to track scheduled lift installations is Lift Blog's new lifts databases for 2024, 2025, and 2026.On expansion potential at Brian Head and Nordic ValleyUtah's two largest expansion opportunities are at Brian Head and Nordic Valley, both operated by Mountain Capital Partners. Here's Brian Head today:The masterplan could blow out the borders - the existing ski area is in the lower-right-hand corner:And here's Nordic Valley:And the masterplan, which could supersize the ski area to 3,000-ish acres. The small green blob represents part of the existing ski area, though this plan predates the six-pack installation in 2020:PARK CITY MOUNTAIN RESORTStats: 3,226 vertical feet | 7,300 skiable acres | 355 inches average annual snowfallTopicsSnowmaking upgrades; the forthcoming Sunrise Gondola on the Canyons side; why this gondola didn't face the opposition that Park City's last lift upgrades did; Olympic buzz in Park City; and which events PCMR could host in the 2034 Olympics.On the Great Lift Shutdown of 2022Long story short: Vail tried to upgrade two lifts in Park City a couple of years ago. Locals got mad. The lifts went to Whistler. Here's the longer version:More Park City Mountain ResortSNOWBIRDStats: 3,240 vertical feet | 2,500 skiable acres | 500 inches average annual snowfallTopicsThe new Wilbere lift; why Snowbird shifted the chairlift line; the upside of abandoning the old liftline; riding on top of the new tram; and more LCC gondola talk.On the new Wilbere lift alignmentHere's where the new Wilbere lift sits (right) in comparison to the old lift (left):On inter-lodgeIf you happen to be at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon when avalanche danger spikes, you may be subject to something called “inter-lodge.” Which means you stay in whatever building you're in, with no option to leave. It's scary and thrilling all at once.Inter-lodge can last anywhere from under an hour to several days.On the LCC gondola and phase-in planAnother long story short: UDOT wants to build a gondola up Little Cottonwood Canyon. A lot of people would prefer to spend four hours driving seven miles to the ski areas. Here's a summary of UDOT's chosen configuration:As multiple lawsuits seeking to shut the project down work through the courts, UDOT has outlined a phased traffic-mitigation approach:More SnowbirdSUNDANCE Stats: 2,150 vertical feet | 450 skiable acres | 300 inches average annual snowfallTopicsThe importance of NYC to the wider skiing world; how the Wildwood terrain helped evolve Sundance; Epkon refugees headed south; parking improvements; options for the coming Flathead terrain expansion; and potential lift switcheroos. More SundanceSundance's new owners have been rapidly modernizing this once-dusty ski area, replacing most of the lifts, expanding terrain, and adding parking. I talked through the grand arc of these changes with the mountain's GM, Chad Linebaugh, a couple of years ago:ALTA LODGEAlta stats: 3,240 vertical feet | 2,500 skiable acres | 500 inches average annual snowfallTopics65 years of Levitt family ownership; Alta's five lodges; inter-lodge; how Alta has kept its old-school spirit even as it's modernized; and an upcoming women's ski event. On Alta's lift evolutionIt wasn't so long ago that Alta was known for its pokey lift fleet. As recently as the late ‘90s, the mountain was a chutes-and-ladders powder playground:Bit by bit, Alta consolidated and updated its antique lift fleet, beginning with the Sugarloaf high-speed quad in 2001. The two-stage Collins high-speed quad arrived three years later, replacing the legacy Collins double and Germania triple lines. The Supreme high-speed quad similarly displaced the old Supreme triple and Cecret double in 2017, and the Sunnyside sixer replaced the Albion double and Sunnyside high-speed triple in 2022. As of 2024, the only clunker left, aside from the short hotel lifts and the long transfer tow, is the Wildcat double.GO HEBER VALLEYTopicsWhy Heber Valley makes sense as a place to crash on a ski trip; walkable sections of Heber; ease of access to Deer Valley; and elevation.VISIT OGDENConsidering “untamed and untouched” Ogden as ski town; “it's like skiing in 2005”; Pow Mow, Snowbasin; accessing the mountains from Ogden; Pow Mow's partial privatization; art on the mountain; and Nordic Valley as locals' bump.  On Powder Mountain size claimsPow Mow has long claimed 8,000-ish acres of terrain, which would make it the largest ski area in the United States. I typically only count lift-served skiable acreage, however, bringing the mountain down to a more average-for-the-Wasatch 3,000-ish acres. A new lift in Wolf Canyon next year will add another 900 lift-served acres (shaded with stripes on the right-hand side below).On Nordic Valley's fire and the broken Apollo liftLast December, Nordic Valley's Apollo chairlift, a 1970 Hall double, fell over dead, isolating the mountain's glorious expansion from the base area. The next month, a fire chewed up the baselodge, a historic haybarn left over from the property's ranching days. Owner MCP renovated the chairlift over the summer, but Nordic will operate out of “temporary structures,” GM Pascal Begin told KSL.com in June, until they can build a new baselodge, which could be 2026 or '27.SNOWBASINStats: 3,015 vertical feet | 3,000 skiable acres | 300 inches average annual snowfallTopicsBreaking down the coming Becker lift upgrade; why Becker before Porcupine; last year's DeMoisy six-pack installation; where is everyone?; where to ski at Snowbasin; the 2034 Olympics plan; when will on-mountain lodging arrive?; and RFID.More SnowbasinDEER VALLEYStats: 3,040 vertical feet | 2,342 skiable acres | 300 inches average annual snowfallTopicsMassive expansion; avoiding Park City; and snowmaking in the Wasatch Back.On Expanded ExcellenceDeer Valley's expansion plans are insane. Here's a summary:More Deer ValleySOLITUDEStats: 2,030 vertical feet | 1,200 skiable acres | 500 inches average annual snowfallTopicsAlterra; Big versus Little Cottonwood Canyons; and Alta.More SolitudeVISIT UTAHTopicsWatching the state's population explode; the Olympics; comparing 2002 to 2034; RIP three percent beer; potential infrastructure upgrades to prepare for the Olympics; and SLC airport upgrades.VISIT PARK CITYTopicsPark City 101; Main Street; the National Ability Center; mining history everywhere; Deer Valley's trail names; Silver to Slopes at Park City; Deer Valley's East Village; public transit evolution; Park City Mountain Resort lift drama; paid parking; and why “you don't need a car” in Park City.On Silver to SlopesThe twice-daily guided ski tour of on-mountain mining relics that we discuss on the podcast is free. Details here.On Park City and Deer Valley's shared borderPark City Mountain Resort and Deer Valley share a border, but you are forbidden to cross it, on penalty of death.* Alta and Snowbird share a crossable border, as do Solitude and Brighton. All four have different operators. I'm not sure why PCMR and Deer Valley can't figure this one out.*This is not true.^^Though actually it might be true.VISIT SALT LAKETopicsThe easiest ski access in the world; why stay in SLC during a ski trip; walkable downtown; free transit; accessing the ski areas without a car; Olympic buzz; and Olympic events outside of the ski areas.What I got wrong* I said that former mayor Michael Bloomberg tried to bring the Olympics to NYC “around 2005 or 2006.” The city's bid was for the 2012 Summer Olympics (ultimately held in London). I also said that local opposition shut down the bid, but I confused that with the proposed stadium on what is now Manhattan's Hudson Yards development.* I said you had to drive through Park City to access Deer Valley, but the ski area has long maintained a small parking lot at the base of the Jordanelle Gondola off of US 40.The robots aren't readyEveryone keeps telling me that the robots will eat our souls, but every time I try to use them, they botch something that no human would ever miss. In this case, I tried using my editing program's AI to chop out the dead space and “ums,” and proceeded to lose bits of the conversation that in some cases confuse the narrative. So it sounds a little choppy in places. You can blame the robots. Or me for not re-doing the edit once I figured out what was happening.The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 78/100 in 2024, and number 578 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

Ski season has officially begun, and with the trek to the mountains comes the dreaded “red snake” of canyon traffic. Salt Lake Tribune outdoors reporter Julie Jag tells host Ali Vallarta what transportation solutions we can expect and when, from the Little Cottonwood Canyon gondola to the ski bus. Sign up for the Cottonwood Canyons sticker program. Become a member of City Cast Salt Lake today! It's the best way to support our work and help make sure we're around for years to come. Get all the details and sign up at membership.citycast.fm. Subscribe to Hey Salt Lake, our daily morning newsletter. You can also find us on Instagram @CityCastSLC. Looking to advertise on City Cast Salt Lake? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads. Learn more about the sponsors of this episode:  ICO University of Utah Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on Oct. 17. It dropped for free subscribers on Oct. 24. To receive future episodes as soon as they're live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe to the free tier below:When we recorded this podcast, Norway Mountain's adult season pass rates were set at $289. They have since increased by $100, but Hoppe is offering a $100 discount with the code “storm” through Nov. 1, 2024.WhoJustin Hoppe, Owner of Norway Mountain, MichiganRecorded onSeptember 16, 2024About Norway MountainOwned by: Justin HoppeLocated in: Norway, MichiganYear founded: Around 1974, as Norvul ski area; then Vulcan USA; then Briar Mountain; then Mont Brier; and finally Norway Mountain from ~1993 to 2012; then from 2014 to 2017; re-opened 2024Pass affiliations: Freedom Pass – 3 days each at these ski areas:Closest neighboring ski areas: Pine Mountain (:22), Keyes Peak (:35), Crystella (:46), Gladstone (:59), Ski Brule (1:04)Base elevation: 835 feetSummit elevation: 1,335 feetVertical drop: 500 feetSkiable Acres: 186Average annual snowfall: 50 inchesTrail count: 15Lift count: 6 (1 triple, 2 doubles, 3 handle tows)The map above is what Norway currently displays on its website. Here's a 2007 map that's substantively the same, but with higher resolution:View historic Norway Mountain trailmaps on skimap.org.Why I interviewed himWhat a noble act: to resurrect a dead ski area. I'll acknowledge that a ski area is just a business. But it's also a (usually) irreplaceable community asset, an organ without which the body can live but does not function quite right. We read about factories closing up and towns dying along with them. This is because the jobs leave, yes, but there's an identity piece too. As General Motors pulled out of Saginaw and Flint in the 1980s and ‘90s, I watched, from a small town nearby, those places lose a part of their essence, their swagger and character. People were proud to have a GM factory in town, to have a GM job with a good wage, to be a piece of a global something that everyone knew about.Something less profound but similar happens when a ski area shuts down. I've written before about Apple Mountain, the 200-vertical-foot bump in Freeland, Michigan where I spent my second-ever day on skis:[Apple Mountain] has been closed since 2017. Something about the snowmaking system that's either too hard or too expensive to fix. That leaves Michigan's Tri-Cities – Midland, Bay City, and Saginaw, with a total metro population approaching 400,000 – with no functioning ski area. Snow Snake is only about 40 minutes north of Midland, and Mt. Holly is less than an hour south of Saginaw. But Apple Mountain, tucked into the backwoods behind Freeland, sat dead in the middle of the triangle. It was accessible to almost any schoolkid, and, humble as it was, stoked that fire for thousands of what became lifelong skiers.What skiing has lost without Apple Mountain is impossible to calculate. I would argue that it was one of the more important ski areas anywhere. Winters in mid-Michigan are long, cold, snowy, and dull. People need something to do. But skiing is not an obvious solution: this is the flattest place you can imagine. To have skiing – any skiing – in the region was a joy and a novelty. There was no redundancy, no competing ski center. And so the place was impossibly busy at all times, minting skiers who would go off to start ski newsletters and run huge resorts on the other side of the country.When the factory closes, the jobs go, and often nothing replaces them. Losing a ski area is similar. The skiers go, and nothing replaces them. The kids just do other things. They never become skiers.Children of Men, released in 2006, envisions a world 18 years after women have stopped having babies. Humanity lives on, but has collectively lost its soul. Violence and disorder reign. The movie is heralded for its extended single-shot battle scenes, but Children of Men's most remarkable moment is when a baby, born in the midst of a firefight, momentarily paralyzes the war as her protectors parade her to sanctuary:Humanity needs babies like winter needs skiers. But we have to keep making more.Yes, I'm being hyperbolic about the importance of resurrecting a lost ski area. If you're new here, that part of My Brand™. A competing, similar-sized ski center, Pine Mountain, is only 20 minutes from Norway. But that's 13 miles, which for a kid may as well be 1,000. Re-opening Norway is going to seed new skiers. Some of them will ski four times and forget about it and some of them will take spring break trips to Colorado when they get to college and a few of them may wrap their lives around it.And if they don't ever ski? Well, who knows. I almost didn't become a skier. I was 14 when my buddy said “Hey let's take the bus to Mott Mountain after school,” and I said “OK,” and even though I was Very Bad at it, I went again a few weeks later at Apple Mountain. Both of those hills are closed now. If I were growing up in Central Michigan now, would I have become a skier? What would I be if I wasn't one? How awful would that be?What we talked aboutBack from the dead; the West Michigan snowbelt; the power of the ski family; Caberfae; Pando's not for sale; when you decide to buy a lost ski area; how lost Norway was almost lost forever; the small business mindset; surprise bills; what a ski area looks like when it's sat idle for six years; piecing a sold-off snowmaking system back together; Norway's very unique lift fleet; glades; the trailmap; Norway's new logo; the Wild West of websites; the power of social media; where to even begin when you buy a ski area; the ups and downs of living at your ski area; shifting from renovation to operation; Norway's uneven history and why this time is different; is there enough room for Pine Mountain and Norway in such a small market?; why night skiing won't return on a regular basis this winter; send the school buses; it doesn't snow much but at least it stays cold; can Norway revitalize its legendary ski school?; and why Norway joined the Freedom Pass.  Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewHello Mr. Television Network Executive. Thank you for agreeing to hear my pitch. I understand I have 10 minutes with you, which is perfect, because what I'm proposing will take no fewer than five years, while simultaneously taking 10 years off both our lives. Because my show is called Who Wants to Own a Ski Area?The show works like this: contestants will navigate a series of logic puzzles, challenges, and obstacle courses. These will act as elimination rounds. We can base everyone at an abandoned ski resort, like in The Last of Us, where they will live while games materialize at random. Some examples:* It's 3 a.m. Everyone is sleeping. Alarms blare. A large structure has caught fire. The water has been cut off, but somehow you're standing in a knee-deep flood. Your firefighting arsenal consists of a bucket. You call the local volunteer fire department, which promises you they will “be along whenever Ed gits up here with the gay-rage door keys.” Whoever keeps the building from melting into a pile of ashes wins.* It's state inspection day. All machinery must be in working order. We present each contestant with a pile of sprockets, hoses, wires, clips, and metal parts of varying sizes and thickness. Their instructions are to rebuild this machine. We do not tell them what the machine is supposed to be. The good news is that the instruction manual is sitting right there. The bad news is that it's written in Polish. The pile is missing approximately seven to 20 percent of the machine's parts, without which the device may operate, but perhaps not in a way compatible with human life. Whoever's put-together machine leads to the fewest deaths advances to the next round.* The contestants are introduced to Big Jim. Big Jim has worked at the ski area since 1604. He has been through 45 ownership groups, knows everything about the mountain, and everyone on the mountain. Because of this, Big Jim knows you can't fire him lest you stoke a rebellion of labor and/or clientele. And he can tell you which pipes are where without you having to dig up half the mountain. But Big Jim keeps as much from getting done as he actually does. He resists the adoption of “fads” such as snowmaking, credit cards, and the internet. The challenge facing contestants is to get Big Jim to send a text message. He asks why the letters are arranged “all stupid” on the keyboard. The appearance of an emoji causes him to punch the phone several times and heave it into the woods.* Next we introduce the contestants to Fran and Freddy Filmore from Frankenmuth. The Filmores have been season passholders since the Lincoln Administration. They have nine kids in ski school, each of which has special dietary needs. Their phones are loaded with photos of problems: of liftlines, of dirt patches postholing trails, of an unsmiling parking attendant, of abandoned boot bags occupying cafeteria tables, of skis and snowboards and poles scattered across the snow rather than being placed on the racks that are right there for goodness sake. The Filmores want answers. The Filmores also want you to bring back Stray Cat Wednesdays, in which you could trade a stray cat for a lift ticket. But the Filmores are not actually concerned with solutions. No matter the quickness or efficacy of a remedy, they still “have concerns.” Surely you have 90 minutes to discuss this. Then the fire alarm goes off.* Next, the contestents will meet Hella Henry and his boys Donuts, Doznuts, Deeznuts, Jam Box, and 40 Ounce. HH and the Crushnutz Krew, as they call themselves, are among your most loyal customers. Though they are all under the age of 20, it is unclear how any of them could attend school or hold down a job, since they are at your hill for 10 to 12 hours per day. During that time, the crew typically completes three runs. They spend the rest of their time vaping, watching videos on their phones, and sitting six wide just below a blind lip in the terrain park. The first contestant to elicit a response from the Crushnutz Krew that is anything other than “that's chill” wins.The victor will win their very own ski area, complete with a several-thousand person Friends of [Insert Ski Area Name] group where 98 percent of the posts are complaints about the ski area. The ski center will be functional, but one popped bolt away from catastrophe in four dozen locations. The chairlifts will be made by a company that went out of business in 1912. The groomer will be towed by a yak. The baselodge will accommodate four percent of the skiers who show up on a busy day. The snowmaking “system” draws its water from a birdbath. Oh, and it's in the middle of nowhere in the middle of winter, and they're going to have to find people to work there.Oh, you love it Mr. Television Network Executive? That's so amazing. Now I can quit my job and just watch the money pile up. What do I do for a living? Well, I run a ski area.Hoppe won the contest. And I wanted to wish him luck.What I got wrongI lumped Ski Brule in with Pine Mountain as ski areas that are near Norway. While only 20-ish minutes separate Pine and Norway, Brule is in fact more than an hour away.Why you should ski Norway MountainYou can ski every run on Norway Mountain in one visit. There's something satisfying in that. You can drive off at the end of the day and not feel like you missed anything.There are hundreds of ski areas in North America like this. Most of them manage, somehow, to stuff the full spectrum of ski experience into an area equal to one corner of one of Vail's 90 or whatever Legendary Back Bowls. There are easy runs and hard runs. Long runs and short runs. Narrow runs and wide runs. Runs under the lifts and runs twisting through the trees. Some sort of tree-skiing. Some sort of terrain park. A little windlip that isn't supposed to be a cornice but skis like one, 9-year-olds leaping off it one after the next and turning around to watch each other after they land. Sometimes there is powder. Sometimes there is ice. Sometimes the grooming is magnificent. Sometimes the snow really sucks. Over two to four hours and 20 to 30 chairlift rides, you can fully absorb what a ski area is and why it exists.This is an experience that is more difficult to replicate at our battleship resorts, with 200 runs scribbled over successive peaks like a medieval war map. I ski these resorts differently. Where are the blacks? Where are the trees? Where are the bumps? I go right for them and I don't bother with anything else. And that eats up three or four days even at a known-cruiser like Keystone. In a half-dozen trips into Little Cottonwood Canyon, I've skied a top-to-bottom groomer maybe twice. Because skiing groomers at Alta-Snowbird is like ordering pizza at a sushi restaurant. Like why did you even come here?But even after LCC fluff, when I've descended back to the terrestrial realm, I still like skiing the Norway Mountains of the land. Big mountains are wonderful, but they come with big hassle, big crowds, big traffic, big attitudes, big egos. At Norway you can pull practically up to the lifts and be skiing seven minutes later, after booting up and buying your lift ticket. You can ski right onto the lift and the guy in the Carhartt will nod at you and if you're just a little creative and thoughtful every run will feel distinct. And you can roll into the chalet and grab a pastie and bomb the whole mountain again after lunch.And it will all feel different on that second lap. When there are 25 runs instead of 250, you absorb them differently. The rush to see it all evaporates. You can linger with it, mingle with the mountain, talk to it in a way that's harder up top. It's all so awesome in its own way.Podcast NotesOn Pando Ski CenterI grew up about two hours from the now-lost Pando Ski Center, but I never skied there. When I did make it to that side of Michigan, I opted to ski Cannonsburg, the still-functioning multi-lift ski center seven minutes up the road. Of course, in the Storm Wandering Mode that is my default ski orientation nowadays, I would have simply hit both. But that's no longer possible, because Cannonsburg purchased Pando in 2015 and subsequently closed it. Probably forever.Hoppe and I discuss this a bit on the pod. He actually tried to buy the joint. Too many problems with it, he was told. So he bought some of the ski area's snowguns and other equipment. Better that at least something lives on.Pando didn't leave much behind. The only trailmap I can find is part of this Ski write-up from February 1977:Apparently Pando was a onetime snowboarding hotspot. Here's a circa 2013 video of a snowboarder doing snowboarderly stuff:On CannonsburgWhile statistically humble, with just 250 vertical feet, Cannonsburg is the closest skiing to metropolitan Grand Rapids, Michigan, population 1.08 million. That ensures that the parks-oriented bump is busy at all times:On CaberfaeOne of Hoppe's (and my) favorite ski areas is Caberfae. This was my go-to when I lived in Central Michigan, as it delivered both decent vert (485 feet), and an interesting trail network (the map undersells it):The Meyer family has owned and operated Caberfae for decades, and they constantly improve the place. GM Tim Meyer joined me on the pod a few years back to tell the story.On Norway's proximity to Pine MountainNorway sits just 23 minutes down US 2 from Pine Mountain. The two ski areas sport eerily similar profiles: both measure 500 vertical feet and run two double chairs and one triple. Both face the twin challenges of low snowfall (around 60 inches per season), and a relatively thin local population base (Iron Mountain's metro area is home to around 32,500 people). It's no great surprise that Norway struggled in previous iterations. Here's a look at Pine:On Big TupperI mention Big Tupper as a lost ski area that will have an extra hard time coming back since it's been stripped (I think completely), of snowmaking. This ski area isn't necessarily totally dead: the lifts are still standing, and the property is going to auction next month, but it will take tens of millions to get the place running again. It was at one time a fairly substantial operation, as this circa 1997 trailmap shows:On Sneller chairliftsNorway runs two Sneller double chairs. Only one other Sneller is still spinning, at Ski Sawmill, a short and remote Pennsylvania bump. Lift Blog catalogued the machine here. It wasn't spinning when I skied Sawmill a couple of years ago, but I did snag some photos:On Norway's new logoIn general, animals make good logos. Hoppe designed this one himself:On social mediaHoppe has done a nice job of updating Norway's rebuild progress on social media, mostly via the mountain's Facebook page. Here are links to a few other social accounts we discussed:* Skiers and Snowboarders of the Midwest is a big champion of ski areas of all sizes throughout the region. The Midwest Skiers group is pretty good too.* Magic Mountain, Vermont, an underdog for decades, finally dug itself out of the afterthoughts pile at least in part due to the strength of its Instagram and Twitter presence.* The formerly dumpy Holiday Mountain, New York, has meticulously documented its rebuild under new ownership on Instagram and Facebook.On NeighborsMy 17-year-old brain could not comprehend the notion that two ski areas operated across the street from – and independent of – one another. But there they were: Nub's Nob and Boyne Highlands (now The Highlands), each an opposite turn off Pleasantview Road.We turned right, to Nub's, because we were in high school and because we all made like $4.50 an hour and because Nub's probably had like 10-Cent Tuesdays or something.I've since skied both mountains many times, but the novelty has never faded. Having one of something so special as a ski area in your community is marvelous. Having two is like Dang who won the lottery? There are, of course, examples of this all over the country – Sugarbush/Mad River Glen, Stowe/Smugglers' Notch, Alta/Snowbird, Timberline/Meadows/Skibowl – and it's incredible how distinct each one's identity remains even with shared borders and, often, passes.On UP ski areasMichigan's Upper Peninsula is a very particular animal. Only three percent of the state's 10 million residents live north of the Mackinac (pronounced Mackinaw) Bridge. Lower Peninsula skiers are far more likely to visit Colorado or Vermont than their far-north in-state ski areas, which are a 10-plus hour drive from the more populous southern tiers. While Bohemia's ultra-cheap pass and rowdy terrain have somewhat upset that equation, the UP remains, for purposes of skiing and ski culture, essentially a separate state.My point is that it's worth organizing the state's ski areas in the way that they practically exist in skiers minds. So I've separated the UP from the Lower Peninsula. Since Michigan is also home to an outsized number of town ropetows, I've also split surface-lift-only operations into their own categories:On last winter being very bad with record-low skier visitsSkier visits were down in every region of the United States last winter, but they all but collapsed in the Midwest, with a 26.7 percent plunge, according to the annual Kottke Demographic Report. Michigan alone was down nearly a half million skier visits. Check out these numbers:For comparison, overall skier numbers dropped just six percent in the Northeast, and five percent in the Rockies.The Storm publishes year-round. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 66/100 in 2024, and number 566 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

In this episode, Dawn Rohde shares her harrowing solo adventure up Red Pines Trail in Utah's Little Cottonwood Canyon. Her plan to explore the scenic Maybird Lake area takes an unexpected turn when she loses the trail amid lingering snow and rugged terrain. A thunderstorm rolls in and the conditions become perilous with lightning, hail, and slippery trails. As night falls and the temperatures drop, she shelters by a cliff, wrapped in a space blanket and surrounded by the wilderness and its inhabitants. Listen in as Dawn shares her fight for survival with host Brad Mathewson. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When it comes to the lifestyle of a ski town, Utah is a real pioneer. When High West began distilling in Utah nearly 20 years ago, it was the first ski town distillery in America. Ritual Chocolate followed suit, moving to Utah in 2015. In this episode, Last Chair explores the magic of whiskey and chocolate, and the unique experiences these two Utah companies are offering visitors.Back in season one of Last Chair, we talked with High West founder David Perkins, who told the unique story of how Utah became its home. Today, High West is a must-visit stop in either its Park City or its Wanship locations, and is one of America's most innovative distilleries. The High West brand represents the spirit of the west.So imagine this. When Ritual co-founder Anna Seear came to town, she started envisioning what it would be like to soak cacao nibs in used High West barrels. The distillery was also intrigued. Anna gets used High West barrels and create distinctive Ritual Bourbon Barrel bars. Then she gives the barrels back, and High West uses the chocolatey wooden kegs to create a unique Barrel Select – whiskey up front with a hint of chocolate aroma and taste in the back.There's a lot to learn in this entertaining episode of Last Chair, including a user's guide to enjoying some of the world's most notable whiskey and chocolate.LAST CHAIR GUESTSHolly BoothBeverage Manager, High WestHolly Booth defines her role at High West as a creator and facilitator of memories that revolve around whiskey, cocktails, and adventure, celebrating the spirit of the American West. You can find Holly on the mountain, but she's most at home with a fly rod on Utah's lakes and streams.Anna SeearPresident & Co-Founder, Ritual ChocolateAnna Seear and her partner Robbie Stout didn't know much about chocolate, but they loved it! They started their company in Denver, moving to Utah for a lifestyle change – to be closer to the mountains. You can find Anna and her family skinning up Pine Canyon Road from their Midway home.Cayla GaseauSensory Manager, High WestWhat's a sensory manager? Well, Cayla Gaseau has one of those dream jobs! Her role is to help with tasting each barrel and working with the High West team on whiskeys that might have up to 25 different blends, like Midwinter Night's Dram. You can find her hiking places like Mt. Superior in Little Cottonwood Canyon.WHAT GOES INTO A HIGH WEST COCKTAIL?Holly Booth: “Our job is really to highlight the whiskey – to highlight the beauty of what we distill. Things that we can highlight are already existing within that particular whiskey. And then we kind of build around that.”HOW DO YOU BLEND BOURBON INTO CHOCOLATE?Anna Seear: “We soak our cacao nibs in the bourbon barrels for a few months and got in all those lovely kind of oaky cherry notes,” said Seear. “Then we take the the nibs and make the chocolate, add the sugar and produce our Bourbon Barrel Bar, which has been very popular.”DESCRIBE THE PROCESS OF DISTILLING WHISKEY WITH CHOCOLATE.Cayla Gaseau: “This is one of our Barrel Selects – a single barrel. We took the Ritual chocolate barrel and put in a unique blend of straight bourbon whiskeys between four and nine years old. The majority, though, is around seven years old. We really wanted to highlight the element that cacao complements in bourbon, which is a lot of the vanilla caramel and that deep sweetness. We finished it in this barrel for nine months and then dumped it and went directly to bottle – didn't proof down. I believe it's right around 102 or 103 proof – so a little spicy, but really delicious on the palate.”WHAT'S THE ORIGIN OF THE RITUAL NAME?Anna Seear: “It's a call back to the history of cacao and how it was used in the rituals and ceremonies by the Mayans and the Aztecs and how it was it was truly held in high regard and respected. Chocolate should be appreciated like a fine food.”PULL QUOTE“The synergy between our companies and what we've done in Utah, bears that pioneering spirit that's inherent within Utah.” - Holly Booth HIGH WEST CAMPFIRE OLD FASHIONED2 oz High West Campfire Whiskey.25 oz Simple Syrup (Holly likes sugar in the raw or demerara sugar)2-3 dashes of Angostura BittersOrange & Lemon peel garnish or orange peel & Luxardo cherry garnishEnjoy with a Ritual S'mores barSUGGESTED WHISKEY-CHOCOLATE PAIRINGSCask Series Distillery Select B#35195 - Bourbon Barrel Bar (created in the barrel)Midwinter's Night Dram Act 12 - The Après Chocolate Bar (sparkling white wine and dried raspberries)Campfire Whiskey - S'Mores Bar (just like sitting around the campfire)

When it comes to the lifestyle of a ski town, Utah is a real pioneer. When High West began distilling in Utah nearly 20 years ago, it was the first ski town distillery in America. Ritual Chocolate followed suit, moving to Utah in 2015. In this episode, Last Chair explores the magic of whiskey and chocolate, and the unique experiences these two Utah companies are offering visitors.Back in season one of Last Chair, we talked with High West founder David Perkins, who told the unique story of how Utah became its home. Today, High West is a must-visit stop in either its Park City or its Wanship locations, and is one of America's most innovative distilleries. The High West brand represents the spirit of the west.So imagine this. When Ritual co-founder Anna Seear came to town, she started envisioning what it would be like to soak cacao nibs in used High West barrels. The distillery was also intrigued. Anna gets used High West barrels and create distinctive Ritual Bourbon Barrel bars. Then she gives the barrels back, and High West uses the chocolatey wooden kegs to create a unique Barrel Select – whiskey up front with a hint of chocolate aroma and taste in the back.There's a lot to learn in this entertaining episode of Last Chair, including a user's guide to enjoying some of the world's most notable whiskey and chocolate.LAST CHAIR GUESTSHolly BoothBeverage Manager, High WestHolly Booth defines her role at High West as a creator and facilitator of memories that revolve around whiskey, cocktails, and adventure, celebrating the spirit of the American West. You can find Holly on the mountain, but she's most at home with a fly rod on Utah's lakes and streams.Anna SeearPresident & Co-Founder, Ritual ChocolateAnna Seear and her partner Robbie Stout didn't know much about chocolate, but they loved it! They started their company in Denver, moving to Utah for a lifestyle change – to be closer to the mountains. You can find Anna and her family skinning up Pine Canyon Road from their Midway home.Cayla GaseauSensory Manager, High WestWhat's a sensory manager? Well, Cayla Gaseau has one of those dream jobs! Her role is to help with tasting each barrel and working with the High West team on whiskeys that might have up to 25 different blends, like Midwinter Night's Dram. You can find her hiking places like Mt. Superior in Little Cottonwood Canyon.WHAT GOES INTO A HIGH WEST COCKTAIL?Holly Booth: “Our job is really to highlight the whiskey – to highlight the beauty of what we distill. Things that we can highlight are already existing within that particular whiskey. And then we kind of build around that.”HOW DO YOU BLEND BOURBON INTO CHOCOLATE?Anna Seear: “We soak our cacao nibs in the bourbon barrels for a few months and got in all those lovely kind of oaky cherry notes,” said Seear. “Then we take the the nibs and make the chocolate, add the sugar and produce our Bourbon Barrel Bar, which has been very popular.”DESCRIBE THE PROCESS OF DISTILLING WHISKEY WITH CHOCOLATE.Cayla Gaseau: “This is one of our Barrel Selects – a single barrel. We took the Ritual chocolate barrel and put in a unique blend of straight bourbon whiskeys between four and nine years old. The majority, though, is around seven years old. We really wanted to highlight the element that cacao complements in bourbon, which is a lot of the vanilla caramel and that deep sweetness. We finished it in this barrel for nine months and then dumped it and went directly to bottle – didn't proof down. I believe it's right around 102 or 103 proof – so a little spicy, but really delicious on the palate.”WHAT'S THE ORIGIN OF THE RITUAL NAME?Anna Seear: “It's a call back to the history of cacao and how it was used in the rituals and ceremonies by the Mayans and the Aztecs and how it was it was truly held in high regard and respected. Chocolate should be appreciated like a fine food.”PULL QUOTE“The synergy between our companies and what we've done in Utah, bears that pioneering spirit that's inherent within Utah.” - Holly Booth HIGH WEST CAMPFIRE OLD FASHIONED2 oz High West Campfire Whiskey.25 oz Simple Syrup (Holly likes sugar in the raw or demerara sugar)2-3 dashes of Angostura BittersOrange & Lemon peel garnish or orange peel & Luxardo cherry garnishEnjoy with a Ritual S'mores barSUGGESTED WHISKEY-CHOCOLATE PAIRINGSCask Series Distillery Select B#35195 - Bourbon Barrel Bar (created in the barrel)Midwinter's Night Dram Act 12 - The Après Chocolate Bar (sparkling white wine and dried raspberries)Campfire Whiskey - S'Mores Bar (just like sitting around the campfire)

This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on Oct. 11. It dropped for free subscribers on Oct. 18. To receive future episodes as soon as they're live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe to the free tier below:WhoAndy Cohen, General Manager of Fernie Alpine Resort, British ColumbiaRecorded onSeptember 3, 2024About FernieClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, which also owns:Located in: Fernie, British ColumbiaPass affiliations:* Epic Pass: 7 days, shared with Kicking Horse, Kimberley, Nakiska, Stoneham, and Mont-Sainte Anne* RCR Rockies Season Pass: unlimited access, along with Kicking Horse, Kimberley, and NakiskaClosest neighboring ski areas: Fairmont Hot Springs (1:15), Kimberley (1:27), Panorama (1:45) – travel times vary considerably given time of year and weather conditionsBase elevation: 3,450 feet/1,052 metersSummit elevation: 7,000 feet/2,134 metersVertical drop: 3,550 feet/1,082 metersSkiable Acres: 2,500+Average annual snowfall: 360 inches/914 Canadian inches (also called centimeters)Trail count: 145 named runs plus five alpine bowls and tree skiing (4% extreme, 21% expert, 32% advanced, 30% intermediate, 13% novice)Lift count: 10 (2 high-speed quads, 2 fixed-grip quads, 3 triples, 1 T-bar, 1 Poma, 1 conveyor - view Lift Blog's inventory of Fernie's lift fleet)Why I interviewed himOne of the most irritating dwellers of the #SkiInternet is Shoosh Emoji Bro. This Digital Daniel Boone, having boldly piloted his Subaru beyond the civilized bounds of Interstate 70, considers all outlying mountains to be his personal domain. So empowered, he patrols the digital sphere, dropping shoosh emojis on any poster that dares to mention Lost Trail or White Pass or Baker or Wolf Creek. Like an overzealous pamphleteer, he slings his brand haphazardly, toward any mountain kingdom he deems worthy of his forcefield. Shoosh Emoji Bro once Shoosh Emoji-ed me over a post about Alta.

... and perhaps you've heard... the National Register is declaring Little Cottonwood Canyon as a Historic Climbing Area.  After the official announcement in a couple hours... local officials will celebrate.... with a hike. This is the first time a recreational climbing area... has received an historic designation. Joining us live... Julia Geisler... Executive director of the Salt Lake Climbers Alliance.

This is Derek Miller, Speaking on Business. Today, we're thrilled to feature Snowpine Lodge, a historic gem in Alta, Utah. Originally built in the 1800s, it's been transformed into a luxurious retreat while maintaining its rich heritage. Whether you're a local or a visitor, Snowpine offers an unforgettable mountain experience. General Manager Bill Babis joins us with more. Bill Babis: Nestled at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon, Snowpine Lodge is a welcoming retreat, whether you're in need of a relaxing staycation or have family visiting from out of town eager to experience the stunning mountain scenery. We were honored to receive the 2024 Best of Beehive Staycation award, which reflects our commitment to making every guest feel at home. This fall, we'd love for you to come up and rent our e-bikes to explore the vibrant colors of Alta's trails. While you're here, check out our Gulch Pub, enjoy regular live music, savor fine dining at Swen's, and experience the rejuvenating services at Stillwell Spa. With year-round activities and cozy accommodations, Snowpine Lodge is the perfect place to unwind and enjoy the best of Utah's natural beauty. We're proud to be part of this community and invite you to create lasting memories with us. Derek Miller: Don't miss out — visit SnowpineLodge.com, follow them on social media, or call today to book your staycation at Snowpine with a special Utah locals' rate. Experience the best of Alta, right in your backyard! I'm Derek Miller with the Salt Lake Chamber, Speaking on Business. Originally aired: 9/5/24

Believe it or not Oktoberfest activities are underway, weekends at "The Bird"!  Sarah maps out some NEW family fun up Little Cottonwood Canyon!

This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on June 26. It dropped for free subscribers on July 3. To receive future pods as soon as they're live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe to the free tier below:WhoJD Crichton, General Manager of Wildcat Mountain, New HampshireRecorded onMay 30, 2024About WildcatClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Vail ResortsLocated in: Gorham, New HampshireYear founded: 1933 (lift service began in 1957)Pass affiliations:* Epic Pass, Epic Local Pass, Northeast Value Pass – unlimited access* Northeast Midweek Pass – unlimited weekday accessClosest neighboring ski areas: Black Mountain, New Hampshire (:18), Attitash (:22), Cranmore (:28), Sunday River (:45), Mt. Prospect Ski Tow (:46), Mt. Abram (:48), Bretton Woods (:48), King Pine (:50), Pleasant Mountain (:57), Cannon (1:01), Mt. Eustis Ski Hill (1:01)Base elevation: 1,950 feetSummit elevation: 4,062 feetVertical drop: 2,112 feetSkiable Acres: 225Average annual snowfall: 200 inchesTrail count: 48 (20% beginner, 47% intermediate, 33% advanced)Lift count: 5 (1 high-speed quad, 3 triples, 1 carpet)Why I interviewed himI've always been skeptical of acquaintances who claim to love living in New Jersey because of “the incredible views of Manhattan.” Because you know where else you can find incredible views of Manhattan? In Manhattan. And without having to charter a hot-air balloon across the river anytime you have to go to work or see a Broadway play.* But sometimes views are nice, and sometimes you want to be adjacent-to-but-not-necessarily-a-part-of something spectacular and dramatic. And when you're perched summit-wise on Wildcat, staring across the street at Mount Washington, the most notorious and dramatic peak on the eastern seaboard, it's hard to think anything other than “damn.”Flip the view and the sentiment reverses as well. The first time I saw Wildcat was in summertime, from the summit of Mount Washington. Looking 2,200 feet down, from above treeline, it's an almost quaint-looking ski area, spare but well-defined, its spiderweb trail network etched against the wild Whites. It feels as though you could reach down and put it in your pocket. If you didn't know you were looking at one of New England's most abrasive ski areas, you'd probably never guess it.Wildcat could feel tame only beside Mount Washington, that open-faced deathtrap hunched against 231-mile-per-hour winds. Just, I suppose, as feisty New Jersey could only seem placid across the Hudson from ever-broiling Manhattan. To call Wildcat the New Jersey of ski areas would seem to imply some sort of down-tiering of the thing, but over two decades on the East Coast, I've come to appreciate oft-abused NJ as something other than New York City overflow. Ignore the terrible drivers and the concrete-bisected arterials and the clusters of third-world industry and you have a patchwork of small towns and beach towns, blending, to the west and north, with the edges of rolling Appalachia, to the south with the sweeping Pine Barrens, to the east with the wild Atlantic.It's actually pretty nice here across the street, is my point. Even if it's not quite as cozy as it looks. This is a place as raw and wild and real as any in the world, a thing that, while forever shadowed by its stormy neighbor, stands just fine on its own.*It's not like living in New Jersey is some kind of bargain. It's like paying Club Thump Thump prices for grocery store Miller Lite. Or at least that was my stance until I moved my smug ass to Brooklyn.What we talked aboutMountain cleanup day; what it took to get back to long seasons at Wildcat and why they were truncated for a handful of winters; post-Vail-acquisition snowmaking upgrades; the impact of a $20-an-hour minimum wage on rural New Hampshire; various bargain-basement Epic Pass options; living through major resort acquisitions; “there is no intention to make us all one and the same”; a brief history of Wildcat; how skiers lapped Wildcat before mechanical lifts; why Wildcat Express no longer transforms from a chairlift to a gondola for summer ops; contemplating Wildcat Express replacements; retroactively assessing the removal of the Catapult lift; the biggest consideration in determining the future of Wildcat's lift fleet; when a loaded chair fell off the Snowcat lift in 2022; potential base area development; and Attitash as sister resort.   Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewSince it's impossible to discuss any Vail mountain without discussing Vail Resorts, I'll go ahead and start there. The Colorado-based company's 2019 acquisition of wild Wildcat (along with 16 other Peak resorts), met the same sort of gasp-oh-how-can-corporate-Vail-ever-possibly-manage-a-mountain-that-doesn't-move-skiers-around-like-the-fat-humans-on-the-space-base-in-Wall-E that greeted the acquisitions of cantankerous Crested Butte (2018), Whistler (2016), and Kirkwood (2012). It's the same sort of worry-warting that Alterra is up against as it tries to close the acquisition of Arapahoe Basin. But, as I detailed in a recent podcast episode on Kirkwood, the surprising thing is how little can change at these Rad Brah outposts even a dozen years after The Consumption Event.But, well. At first the Angry Ski Bros of upper New England seemed validated. Vail really didn't do a great job of running Wildcat from 2019 to 2022-ish. The confluence of Covid, inherited deferred maintenance, unfamiliarity with the niceties of East Coast operations, labor shortages, Wal-Mart-priced passes, and the distractions caused by digesting 20 new ski areas in one year contributed to shortened seasons, limited terrain, understaffed operations, and annoyed customers. It didn't help when a loaded chair fell off the Snowcat triple in 2022. Vail may have run ski resorts for decades, but the company had never encountered anything like the brash, opinionated East, where ski areas are laced tightly together, comparisons are easy, and migrations to another mountain if yours starts to suck are as easy as a five-minute drive down the road.But Vail is settling into the Northeast, making major lift upgrades at Stowe, Mount Snow, Okemo, Attitash, and Hunter since 2021. Mandatory parking reservations have helped calm once-unmanageable traffic around Stowe and Mount Snow. The Epic Pass – particularly the northeast-specific versions – has helped to moderate region-wide season pass prices that had soared to well over $1,000 at many ski areas. The company now seems to understand that this isn't Keystone, where you can make snow in October and turn the system off for 11 months. While Vail still seems plodding in Pennsylvania and the lower Midwest, where seasons are too short and the snowmaking efforts often underwhelming, they appear to have cracked New England – operationally if not always necessarily culturally.That's clear at Wildcat, where seasons are once again running approximately five months, operations are fully staffed, and the pitchforks are mostly down. Wildcat has returned to the fringe, where it belongs, to being an end-of-the-road day-trip alternative for people who prefer ski areas to ski resorts (and this is probably the best ski-area-with-no-public-onsite lodging in New England). Locals I speak with are generally happy with the place, which, this being New England, means they only complain about it most of the time, rather than all of the time. Short of moving the mountain out of its tempestuous microclimate and into Little Cottonwood Canyon, there isn't much Vail could do to change that, so I'd suggest taking the win.What I got wrongWhen discussing the installation of the Wildcat Express and the decommissioning of the Catapult triple, I made a throwaway reference to “whoever owned the mountain in the late ‘90s.” The Franchi family owned Wildcat from 1986 until selling the mountain to Peak Resorts in 2010.Why you should ski WildcatThere isn't much to Wildcat other than skiing. A parking lot, a baselodge, scattered small buildings of unclear utility - all of them weather-beaten and slightly ramshackle, humanity's sad ornaments on nature's spectacle.But the skiing. It's the only thing there is and it's the only thing that matters. One high-speed lift straight to the top. There are other lifts but if the 2,041-vertical-foot Wildcat Express is spinning you probably won't even notice, let alone ride, them. Straight up, straight down. All day long or until your fingers fall off, which will probably take about 45 minutes.The mountain doesn't look big but it is big. Just a few trails off the top but these quickly branch infinitely like some wild seaside mangrove, funneling skiers, whatever their intent, into various savage channels of its bell-shaped footprint. Descending the steepness, Mount Washington, so prominent from the top, disappears, somehow too big to be seen, a paradox you could think more about if you weren't so preoccupied with the skiing.It's not that the skiing is great, necessarily. When it's great it's amazing. But it's almost never amazing. It's also almost never terrible. What it is, just about all the time, is a fight, a mottled, potholed, landmine-laced mother-bleeper of a mountain that will not cede a single turn without a little backtalk. This is not an implication of the mountain ops team. Wildcat is about as close to an un-tamable mountain as you'll find in the over-groomed East. If you've ever tried building a sandcastle in a rising tide, you have a sense of what it's like trying to manage this cantankerous beast with its impossible weather and relentless pitch.We talk a bit, on the podcast, about Wildcat's better-than-you'd-suppose beginner terrain and top-to-bottom green trail. But no one goes there for that. The easy stuff is a fringe benefit for edgier families, who don't want to pinch off the rapids just because they're pontooning on the lake. Anyone who truly wants to coast knows to go to Bretton Woods or Cranmore. Wildcat packs the rowdies like jacket-flask whisky, at hand for the quick hit or the bender, for as dicey a day as you care to make it.Podcast NotesOn long seasons at WildcatWildcat, both under the Franchi family (1986 to 2010), and Peak Resorts, had made a habit of opening early and closing late. During Vail Resorts' first three years running the mountain, those traditions slipped, with later-than-normal openings and earlier-than-usual closings. Obviously we toss out the 2020 early close, but fall 2020 to spring 2022 were below historical standards. Per New England Ski History:On Big Lifts: New England EditionI noted that the Wildcat Express quad delivered one of the longest continuous vertical rises of any New England lift. I didn't actually know where the machine ranked, however, so I made this chart. The quad lands at an impressive number five among all lifts, and is third among chairlifts, in the six-state region:Kind of funny that, even in 2024, two of the 10 biggest vertical drops in New England still belong to fixed-grip chairs (also arguably the two best terrain pods in Vermont, with Madonna at Smuggs and the single at MRG).The tallest lifts are not always the longest lifts, and Wildcat Express ranks as just the 13th-longest lift in New England. A surprise entrant in the top 15 is Stowe's humble Toll House double, a 6,400-foot-long chairlift that rises just 890 vertical feet. Another inconspicuous double chair – Sugarloaf's older West Mountain lift – would have, at 6,968 feet, have made this list (at No. 10) before the resort shortened it last year (to 4,130 feet). It's worth noting that, as far as I know, Sugarbush's Slide Brook Express is the longest chairlift in the world.On Herman MountainCrichton grew up skiing at Hermon Mountain, a 300-ish footer outside of Bangor, Maine. The bump still runs the 1966 Poma T-bar that he skied off of as a kid, as well as a Stadeli double moved over from Pleasant Mountain in 1998 (and first installed there, according to Lift Blog, in 1967. The most recent Hermon Mountain trailmap that I can find dates to 2007:On the Epic Northeast Value Pass versus other New England season passes Vail's Epic Northeast Value Pass is a stupid good deal: $613 for unlimited access to the company's four New Hampshire ski areas (Wildcat, Attitash, Mount Sunapee, Crotched), non-holiday access to Mount Snow and Okemo, and 10 non-holiday days at Stowe (plus access to Hunter and everything Vail operates in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan). Surveying New England's 25 largest ski areas, the Northeast Value Pass is less-expensive than all but Smugglers' Notch ($599), Black Mountain of Maine ($465), Pico ($539), and Ragged ($529). All of those save Ragged's are single-mountain passes.On the Epic Day PassYes I am still hung up on the Epic Day Pass, and here's why:On consolidationI referenced Powdr's acquisition of Copper Mountain in 2009 and Vail's purchase of Crested Butte in 2018. Here's an inventory all the U.S. ski areas owned by a company with two or more resorts:On Wildcat's old Catapult liftWhen Wildcat installed its current summit chair in 1997, they removed the Catapult triple, a shorter summit lift (Lift F below) that had provided redundancy to the summit alongside the old gondola (Lift A):Interestingly, the old gondy, which dated to 1957, remained in place for two more years. Here's a circa 1999 trailmap, showing both the Wildcat Express and the gondola running parallel from base to summit:It's unclear how often both lifts actually ran simultaneously in the winter, but the gondola died with the 20th Century. The Wildcat Express was a novel transformer lift, which converted from a high-speed quad chair in the winter to a four-passenger gondola in the summer. Vail, for reasons Crichton explains in the podcast, abandoned that configuration and appears to have no intentions of restoring it.On the Snowcat lift incidentA bit more on the January 2022 chairlift accident at Wildcat, per SAM:On Saturday, Jan. 8, a chair carrying a 22-year-old snowboarder on the Snowcat triple at Wildcat Mountain, N.H., detached from the haul rope and fell nearly 10 feet to the ground. Wildcat The guest was taken to a nearby hospital with serious rib injuries.According to state fire marshal Sean Toomey, the incident began after the chair was misloaded—meaning the guest was not properly seated on the chair as it continued moving out of the loading area. The chair began to swing as it traveled uphill, struck a lift tower and detached from the haul rope, falling to the ground. Snowcat is a still-active Riblet triple, and attaches to the haulrope with a device called an “insert clip.” I found this description of these novel devices on a random blog from 2010, so maybe don't include this in a report to Congress on the state of the nation's lift fleet:[Riblet] closed down in 2003. There are still quite a few around; from the three that originally were at The Canyons, only the Golden Eagle chair survives today. Riblet built some 500 lifts. The particularities of the Riblet chair are their grips, which are called insert clips. It is a very ingenious device and it is very safe too. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, You'll see a sketch below showing the detail of the clip.… One big benefit of the clip is that it provides a very smooth ride over the sheave trains, particularly under the compression sheaves, something that traditional clam/jaw grips cannot match. The drawback is that the clip cannot be visually inspected at it is the case with other grips. Also, the code required to move the grip every 2 years or 2,000 hours, whichever comes first. This is the same with traditional grips.This is a labor-intensive job and a special tool has been developed: The Riblet "Grip Detensioner." It's showed on a second picture representing the tool in action. You can see the cable in the middle with the strands separated, which allows the insertion of the clip. Also, the fiber or plastic core of the wire rope has to be cut where the clip is inserted. When the clip is moved to another location of the cable, a plastic part has to be placed into the cable to replace the missing piece of the core. Finally, the Riblet clip cannot be placed on the spliced section of the rope.Loaded chairs utilizing insert clips also detached from lifts at Snowriver (2021) and 49 Degrees North (2020). An unoccupied, moving chair fell from Heavenly's now-retired North Bowl triple in 2016.The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 44/100 in 2024, and number 544 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

The CEO of University of Utah Health Plans, Chad Westover, joins Clint Betts and Garrett Clark for this episode of the Silicon Slopes podcast. They cover some big topics like the Little Cottonwood Canyon gondola issue, solutions to the rapid rise of housing costs, improving air quality, and local politics. With experience in D.C.'s political arena, Chad is running for election to the Utah House of Representatives with a focus on air quality and local wellbeing. They talk about making it possible for Utahns to stay in Utah and fighting against high housing prices, as well as planning for the influx of people the future winter Olympics may bring. Tune in to learn more about Chad's plans for the future of this beautiful state! "What I've learned is that people want to be heard. The people's voice is important...I think it's fundamental to listen first, then to act second."If you enjoyed this episode and want to support us, please follow our show, leave a review, and share it with your friends. Check out our YouTube channel and subscribe so you don't miss a Silicon Slopes Live video. Let us know in the comments if you have any questions.  Our website: https://www.siliconslopes.comShow links: https://www.motionops.com  Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/silicon-slopes-the-entrepreneur-capital-of-the-world/id1698150372Spotify Podcasts - https://open.spotify.com/show/2ZdYnWYKPXOqH2fgJ2UJ2N?si=5890c63a145a4a3e  Social:Twitter - https://twitter.com/siliconslopesInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/siliconslopes/LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/silicon-slopes/YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8aEtQ1KJrWhJ3C2JnzXysw  Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/silicon-slopes-the-entrepreneur-capital-of-the-world/id1698150372Spotify Podcasts - https://open.spotify.com/show/2ZdYnWYKPXOqH2fgJ2UJ2N?si=5890c63a145a4a3e 

The $521 million Little Cottonwood Canyon gondola proposal will require 22 towers and span eight miles from the bottom of the canyon to the base of Alta. Malcolm Swope got in touch with Students For The Wasatch and others to learn about the impacts.

  Emergency crews are responding to Little Cottonwood Canyon on a report of skiers trapped in an avalanche. Dave and Debbie break the story live as updates come through. According to officials, three skiers were involved in the avalanche and two remain unaccounted for. Search and rescue operations remain ongoing. Kevin Eubank from the KSL Weather Center breaks down the specific dangers of spring avalanches, Craig Gordan, Forecaster for the Utah Avalanche Center shares what is known so far. 

I will be welcoming Jerry to the show. Jerry writes “I lived deep in Provo Canyon, in Utah, in a camper trailer with thousands of square miles of forest right behind where I lived. The first month and a half I lived there was peaceful. One day it felt like I was being watched and I had a bad feeling almost like I was sick. I fell asleep that night and woke up suddenly in the middle of the night. I had 2 “Wyze” cameras set up inside my trailer (Later I faced one outside so I could see what was happening, although they avoided the infrared light) that recorded 24/7 and they also have night vision but a crappy microphone for audio recording. So when I woke up I immediately felt like I was being watched and that something was wrong. I checked the recording on my phone from the camera as I just had a feeling that something woke me up. I looked at the recording from my cameras on my phone and there was a big BANG as if something slapped the side of my trailer thus waking me up. The video titled “Attack1” shows what I saw and what happened and you can hear me wake up from it. I was trying to justify what the bang was but something felt off so I stayed up all night and A LOT more happened. “attack2”, “attack3”, and “attack4” videos are all from that night some being very violent. the camera microphone is very cheap so you will need to turn the volume all the way up to hear what it sounded like and it still was louder in person. The cameras record clips when a sound is loud enough or when it detects motion. At that time the cameras were both inside my trailer recording the inside. The creatures were just outside my door that night and if I had opened my door I would have seen them. I was scared stiff in my bed trying to be silent and I was just frozen to say the least. I heard whistling and quick “whooops” coming from behind my trailer where some bushes were and also from the side and front of my trailer as I lay there all night not being able to move, breathe, or make a sound. My cat was very curious as to what was going on as you can see in the videos and you can tell where the sasquatch was standing from where my cat is. Once the sasquatch hit the trailer my cat would get scared and run back to me in my room. I could hear the sasquatch run away but only the first 3 steps as they left. then BANG they came back to hit the trailer again later in the night. I could hear the whistling and whooping throughout the night. The next day I quickly left my trailer with my camera once the light came out and Very quickly took pictures in the directions where I had heard the whistling and whooping. It took me some time to look at the pictures but when I did I was shocked once I zoomed in and studied the pictures. There was a BIG one hiding next to a house showing his teeth at me and this photo was taken from behind my trailer. Also, the black one hiding in the bushes was taken from the front of my trailer. In both photos, they are both about 200 yards away and the pictures were taken with a 1080p Sony camera which is why the zoomed-in photos are a little grainy. Now those videos are from 1 night, and the photos from the morning right after. I included pictures of both areas without the sasquatch for comparison as well. Yes, there were some tracks and I have some photos if you want them. I only stayed there as I was hoping the attacks would stop but after a month of trying they became bolder and bolder and I had to abandon the trailer, take what I could carry and my cat to my car while looking down at the ground so that I wouldn't see one in person (seeing one in person with my eyes would have been way too much for my mind). Yes, I saw a HUGE male sasquatch, through the night vision camera and I have never been more scared in my life. this email would be a book if I wrote all that happened during that month and I am shaking while writing this and I feel sick. I included a video of a possible sasquatch on my landlord's roof that has his arm reaching down and he pulls it up as he lifts his face towards the camera as if he hates it. His face is lit up by a light and infrared light which is why I think his face looks like it is glowing. It was also raining and it appears that there is a water droplet that moved and then the infrared becomes stronger on its face and that's when you see his arm move up and face turn up. I am curious what you think about this video. there is another picture that appears to show a brownish female sasquatch and her arm standing to the left of what I think is the big one but I admit it is not the best photo. There is also a photo of a possible dogman but it is a long exposure. I heard sounds I can't describe, my windows were ALL covered so I put my phone under the blanket covering the window and took the photo. I hope it's not what it looks like but I figured I would include it and you can make up your own mind about it. I NEVER went back to the trailer to get my stuff. but that's a long story I can tell you over the phone. As much as I love the mountains I have never been back to any of them since. I was a Boy Scout and lived for camping my whole life. I grew up and lived right next to Little Cottonwood Canyon and spent most of my life exploring, camping, and hiking in the mountains and all over Utah and it makes me cry that it has been ruined for me. I have so much more to tell you that I can't write out but people need to know what can happen and that these creatures are real and to be careful. Once I got a little vocal about what was happening with my landlord, the other tenants, and my family (sometimes showing some of them just some of the pictures and videos I have) The other tenants moved out of the mountains 3 days later, my family thought I needed help, and the landlord KNEW (I have theories about him) about these things and then he also ended up moving around the time my lease was up (I had paid in full for 6 months upfront). Anyway, I am a bit worked up typing this as the PTSD from this is still there, although I am doing much better now and I can communicate much better in person and explain so much more in a way that makes better sense as it is hard to convey 40 days ish of being tormented and scared to death through a shortish email. Also, the aftermath of what can happen when you are vocal with the wrong people that “I had/have A LOT of evidence of these creatures”. I feel that this needs to be shared so others do not make some of the mistakes I made hopefully or at least get this off of my chest with people who know this is real. I apologize if this message does not make much sense and I hope to talk to you and go through what has happened to me while being trapped and tormented deep in Provo Canyon. People need to be warned and I need to get this message out of what can happen.” https://sasquatchchronicles.com/sc-ep1046-three-months-in-hell/

Complaints from Utah Royals opponents have America First Credit Union playing defense. Host Ali Vallarta and executive producer Emily Means break down the controversy and a rattling history. Plus, will more funding to enforce canyon traction laws lead to better outcomes, or more hype for the proposed gondola up Little Cottonwood Canyon? This and more in a midweek news roundup chock-full of local shoutouts. Resources and references: Millcreek Common climbing wall opens Soccer fans debate meaning of 'America First' on Royals team jersey; Gov. Cox weighs in [KUTV] America First, Invoked by Trump, has a complicated history [NPR] A Short History of ‘America First' [The Atlantic] Are traction laws enforced in the Cottonwood Canyons? It's complicated. [Salt Lake Tribune] Crashes strand Alta, Snowbird skiers in Little Cottonwood Canyon [Salt Lake Tribune] Plan B Vending Machine at the University of Utah Crossroads Urban Center food pantry foods of the month Consider becoming a founding member of City Cast Salt Lake today! It's the best way to support our work and help make sure we're around for years to come. Get all the details and sign up at membership.citycast.fm. Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter. You can find us on Instagram @CityCastSLC and Twitter @CityCastSLC. Looking to advertise on City Cast Salt Lake? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads. Learn more about the sponsors of this episode: CRUDE Microbiome-friendly Skincare Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tucked into the end of a box canyon in Little Cottonwood Canyon in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah; Alta is known for steep chutes and deep powder - an old-style ski town focused on the skiing and the people who ski there. Scott Urtel has guided for Wasatch Powderbirds, and for Ski with Kim for a decade. He is currently the lead training officer for the Alta Ski Patrol, and skis this mountain pretty much every day of the season. Our Favs Best Hotel - Goldminers Daughter Best Apres - The Peruvian or an Alta bomb at the Goldminer's Daughter? Best Run - that really depends on the day and the snow - pick a chute Thank you to the Grits Band for the music @ Copyright 2024 Morgan Global LLC --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john--morgan/message

Rod Arquette Show Daily Rundown – Friday, March 15, 20244:20 pm: Town of Alta Mayor Roger Bourke joins Rod for a conversation about the town council's decision to support a resolution against the Utah Department of Transportation plan to build a gondola in Little Cottonwood Canyon.4:38 pm: Utah Senate President Stuart Adams joins the program to discuss the Utah Education Association's opposition to a new tax-plan voters will take up in November that amends the Utah constitution away from mandating income taxes go directly to education.6:05 pm: Ingrid Jacques, USA Today Columnist, joins the program to discuss a recent visit by Kamala Harris to a Minnesota abortion clinic that Jacques describes as “cringe.”6:20 pm: Fred Fleitz, Vice Chair of the Center for American Security at the America First Policy Institute joins Rod to discuss his piece for American Greatness about the European elite's fearmongering about Donald Trump and why he says the must stop.:38 pm: Shawn Teigen, President of the Utah Foundation, joins Rod to discuss his op-ed piece in the Salt Lake Tribune about how schools can help feed hungry children.6:50 pm: Sarah Pettit of Associated Foods joins Rod to discuss how you can help support the Utah Food Bank's Feed Utah 2024 food drive that takes place tomorrow.

This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on Feb. 9. It dropped for free subscribers on Feb. 16. To receive future pods as soon as they're live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe to the free tier below:WhoCharles Hlavac, Owner of Teton Pass, MontanaRecorded onJanuary 29, 2024About Teton PassClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Charles HlavacLocated in: Choteau, MontanaYear founded: 1967Pass affiliations: NoneClosest neighboring ski areas: Great Divide (2:44), Showdown (3:03)Base elevation: 6,200 feetSummit elevation: 7,200 feet (at the top of the double chair)Vertical drop: 1,000 feetSkiable Acres: 400 acresAverage annual snowfall: 300 inchesLift count: 3 (1 double, 1 platter, 1 carpet – view Lift Blog's inventory of Teton Pass' lift fleet)View historic Teton Pass trailmaps on skimap.org.Why I interviewed himThere was a time, before the Bubble-Wrap Era, when American bureaucracy believed that the nation's most beautiful places ought to be made available to citizens. Not just to gawk at from a distance, but to interact with in a way that strikes awe in the soul and roots the place in their psyche.That's why so many of our great western ski areas sit on public land. Taos and Heavenly and Mt. Baldy and Alta and Crystal Mountain and Lookout Pass. These places, many of them inaccessible before the advent of the modern highway system, were selected not only because they were snow magnets optimally pitched for skiing, but because they were beautiful.And that's how we got Teton Pass, Montana, up a Forest Service road at the end of nowhere, hovering over the Rocky Mountain front. Because just look at the place:Who knew it was there then? Who knows it now? A bald peak screaming “ski me” to a howling wilderness for 50 million years until the Forest Service printed some words on a piece of paper that said someone was allowed to put a chairlift there.As bold and prescient as the Forest Service was in gifting us ski areas, they didn't nail them all. Yes, Aspen and Vail and Snowbird and Palisades Tahoe and Stevens Pass, fortuitously positioned along modern highways or growing cities, evolved into icons. But some of these spectacular natural ski sites languished. Mt. Waterman has faltered without snowmaking or competent ownership. Antelope Butte and Sleeping Giant were built in the middle of nowhere and stayed there. Spout Springs is too small to draw skiers across the PNW vastness. Of the four, only Antelope Butte has spun lifts this winter.Remoteness has been the curse of Teton Pass, a fact compounded by a nasty 11-mile gravel access road. The closest town is Choteau, population 1,719, an hour down the mountain. Great Falls, population 60,000, is only around two hours away, but that city is closer to Showdown, a larger ski area with more vertical drop, three chairlifts, and a parking lot seated directly off a paved federal highway. Teton Pass, gorgeously positioned as a natural wonder, got a crummy draw as a sustainable business.Which doesn't mean it can't work. Unlike the Forest Service ski areas at Cedar Pass or Kratka Ridge in California, Teton Pass hasn't gone fallow. The lifts still spin. Skiers still ski there. Not many – approximately 7,000 last season, which would be a light day for any Summit County ski facility. This year, it will surely be even fewer, as Hlavic announced 10 days after we recorded this podcast that a lack of snow, among other factors, would force him to call it a season after just four operating days. But Hlavic is young and optimistic and stubborn and aware that he is trying to walk straight up a wall. In our conversation, you can hear his belief in this wild and improbable place, his conviction that there is a business model for Teton Pass that can succeed in spite of the rough access road and the lack of an electrical grid connection and the small and scattered local population.The notion of intensive recreational land use is out of favor. When we lose a Teton Pass, the Forest Service doesn't replace it with another ski area in a better location. We just get more wilderness. I am not against wild places and sanctuaries from human scything. But if Teton Pass were not a ski area, almost no one would ever see it, would ever experience this singular peak pasted against the sky. It's a place worth preserving, and I'm glad there's someone crazy enough to try.  What we talked aboutWhen your ski area can't open until Jan. 19; the tight-knit Montana Ski Areas Association; staffing up in the middle of nowhere; a brief history of a troubled remote ski area; the sneaky math of purchasing a ski area; the “incredibly painful” process of obtaining a new Forest Service operating permit after the ownership transfer; restarting the machine after several years idle; how Montana regulates chairlifts without a state tramway board; challenges of operating off the grid; getting by on 7,000 skier visits; potential for Teton Pass' dramatic upper-mountain terrain; re-imagining the lift fleet; the beautiful logic of surface lifts; collecting lifts in the parking lot and dreaming about where they could go; why Teton Pass' last expansion doesn't quite work; where Teton Pass' next chairlifts could sit; the trouble with mid-stations; the potential to install snowmaking; the most confusing ski area name in America, and why it's unlikely to change anytime soon; a problematic monster access road; why Teton Pass hasn't joined the Indy Pass; and mid-week mountain rentals.Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewThis may have actually been the worst possible time in the past several years to conduct this interview, as the ski area is already closed for the winter, leaving inspired listeners with no realistic method of converting their interest into immediate support. And that's too bad. Unfortunately, I tend to schedule these interviews months in advance (we locked this date in on July 24). Yes, I could've rescheduled, but I try to avoid doing that. So we went ahead.I'm still glad we did, though I wish I'd been able to turn this around faster (it wouldn't have mattered, Teton Pass' four operating days all occurred pre-recording). But there's a gritty honesty to this conversation, taking place, as it does, in the embers of a dying season. Running a ski area is hard. People write to me all the time, fired up with dreams of running their own mountain, maybe even re-assembling one from the scrap heap. I would advise them to listen to this episode for a reality-check.I would also ask anyone convinced of the idea that Vail and Alterra are killing skiing to reconsider that narrative in the context of Teton Pass. Skiing needs massive, sustained investment to prepare for and to weather climate change. It also needs capable marketing entities to convince people living in Texas and Florida that, yes, skiing is still happening in spite of a non-ski media obsessed with twisting every rain shower into a winter-is-disappearing doomsday epic.That doesn't mean that I think Vail should (or would), buy Teton Pass, or that there's no room for independent ski area operators in our 505-resort ecosystem. What I am saying is that unless you bring a messianic sense of purpose, a handyman's grab-bag of odd and eclectic skills, the patience of a rock, and, hopefully, one or more independent income streams, the notion of running an independent ski area is a lot more romantic than the reality.What I got wrongI said that “Teton Pass' previous owner” had commissioned SE Group for a feasibility study. A local community volunteer group actually commissioned that project, as Hlavac clarifies.Also, in discussing Hlavic's purchase of the ski area, I cited some sales figures that I'd sourced from contemporary news reports. From a Sept. 11, 2019 report in the Choteau Acantha:Wood listed the ski area for sale, originally asking $3 million for the resort, operated on a 402-acre forest special-use permit. The resort includes three lifts, a lodge with a restaurant and liquor license, a ski gear rental shop and several outbuildings. Wood later dropped his asking price to $375,000.Then, from SAM on Sept. 17, 2019:Former Teton Pass Ski Resort general manager Charles Hlavac has purchased the resort from Nick Wood for $375,000 after it had been on the market for two years. Wood, a New Zealand native, bought the ski area back in 2010. He and his partners invested in substantial upgrades, including three new lifts, a lodge renovation, and improvements to maintenance facilities. The resort's electrical generator failed in 2016-17, though, and Wood closed the hill in December 2017, citing financial setbacks.While the original asking price for Teton Pass was $3 million, Wood dropped the price down to $375,000. Hlavac, who served as the GM for the resort under Wood's ownership, confirmed on Sept. 6 that he had purchased the 402-acre ski area, located on Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest land, through a contract-for-deed with Wood's company.Hlavic disputes the accuracy of these figures in our conversation.Why you should ski Teton PassThere's liberty in distance, freedom in imagining a different version of a thing. For so many of us, skiing is Saturdays, skiing is holidays, skiing is Breckenridge, skiing is a powder day in Little Cottonwood Canyon. Traffic is just part of it. Liftlines are just part of it. Eating on the cafeteria floor is just part of it. Groomers scraped off by 9:45 is just part of it. It's all just part of it, but skiing is skiing because skiing is dynamic and fun and thrilling and there's a cost to everything, Man, and the cost to skiing is dealing with all that other b******t.But none of this is true. Skiing does not have to include compromises of the soul. You can trade these for compromises of convenience. And by this I mean that you can find a way to ski and a place to ski when and where others can't and won't ski. If you drive to the ass-end of Montana to ski, you are going to find a singular ski experience, because most people are not willing to do this. Not to ski a thousand-footer served by a double chair that's older than Crocodile Rock. Not to spend $55 rather than drive down the per-visit cost of their precious Ikon Pass by racking up that 16th day at Schweitzer.Among my best ski days in the past five winters have been a midweek powder day at 600-vertical-foot McCauley, New York; an empty bluebird weekday at Mt. Baldy, hanging out above Los Angeles; and a day spent ambling the unassumingly labyrinthian terrain of Whitecap Mountains, Wisconsin. Teton Pass is a place of this same roguish nature, out there past everything, but like absolutely nothing else in skiing.Podcast NotesOn closing early for the seasonHere is Hlavac's Feb. 8 letter, addressed to “friends and patrons,” announcing his decision to close for the season (click through to read):On Sleeping GiantAnd here's a similar letter that Sleeping Giant, Wyoming owner Nick Piazza sent to his passholders on Jan. 12:We are disappointed to announce that this latest winter storm mostly missed us. Unfortunately, we are no closer to being able to open the mountain than we were 2-3 weeks ago. We have reached a point where the loss of seasonal staff would make it difficult to open the mountain, even if we got snow tomorrow. For these reasons, we feel that the responsible thing to do is to pull the plug on this season.With a heavy heart we are announcing that Sleeping Giant will not be opening for the 23/24 winter season.We would like to thank everyone for their support and patience as we battled this terrible weather year.  We will be refunding all season pass holders their money at the end of January. This will happen automatically, and the funds will be returned to the payment method used when purchasing your season pass.***For those that would like to roll over their season pass to the 24/25 Winter Season, we will announce instructions early next week.***We have heard from some of our Season Pass Partner Mountains who have shared that they will be honoring our season pass perks, for those of you choosing to rollover your pass to 24/25. Snow King, 3 Free Day Lift Tickets with either a season pass or their receipt; Ski Cooper, 3 Free Day lift tickets; Bogus Basin, 3 Free Day lift tickets; and Soldier Mountain, 3 Free Day lift tickets.Additionally, please note that if you received any complimentary passes for the 23/24 season, they automatically carry over to next season. The same applies for passes that were part of any promotion, charity give away, or raffle.Should you have any questions about season passes please email GM@skisg.com.While we are extremely disappointed to have to make this announcement, we will go lick our wounds, and - I am confident - come back stronger.Our team will still be working at Sleeping Giant and I think everyone is ready to use this down time to get to work on several long-standing projects that we could not get to when operating. Moreover, we are in discussions with our friends at the USFS and Techno Alpine to get paperwork done so we can jump on improvements to our snow making system in the spring.I would like to thank the whole Sleeping Giant team for the hard work they have put in over the last three months. You had some really unlucky breaks, but you stuck together and found ways to hold things together to the very end. To our outdoor team, you did more in the last 9 months than has been done at SG in a generation. Powered mainly with red bull and grit. Thank you!It's never pleasant to have to admit a big public defeat, but as we say in Ukrainian only people that do nothing enjoy infallibility.  We did a lot of great things this year and fought like hell to get open.After we get season pass refunds processed, we plan to sit down and explore options to keep some of the mountain's basic services open and groomed, so snowshoers and those that wish can still enjoy Sleeping Giant's beauty and resources.We hope this will include a spring ski day for season pass holders that rollover into next year, but there are several legal hurdles that we need to overcome to make that a possibility. Stay tuned. Sincerely,NickOn Montana ski areasWe discuss Montana's scattered collection of ski areas. Here's a complete list:On “some of the recent things that have happened in the state” with chairlifts in MontanaWhile most chairlift mishaps go unreported, everyone noticed when a moving Riblet double chair loaded with a father and son disintegrated at Montana Snowbowl in March. From the Missoulian:Nathan McLeod keeps having flashbacks of watching helplessly as his 4-year-old son, Sawyer, slipped through his hands and fell off a mangled, malfunctioning chairlift after it smashed into a tower and broke last Sunday at Montana Snowbowl, the ski hill just north of Missoula.“This is a parent's worst nightmare,” McLeod recalled. “I'm just watching him fall and he's looking at me. There's nothing I can do and he's screaming. I just have this mental image of his whole body slipping out of my arms and it's terrible.”McLeod, a Missoula resident, was riding the Snow Park chairlift, which was purchased used from a Colorado ski resort and installed in 2019. The chairlift accesses beginner and intermediate terrain, and McLeod was riding on the outside seat of the lift so that his young son could be helped up on the inside by the lift attendant, who was the only person working at the bottom of the lift. McLeod's other 6-year-old son, Cassidy, was riding a chair ahead with a snowboarder. McLeod recalled the lift operator had a little trouble loading his older son, so the chair was swinging. Then he and his younger son got loaded.“We're going and I'm watching Cassidy's chair in front of me and it's just, like, huge, violent swings and in my mind, I don't know what to do about that, because I'm a chair behind him,” McLeod recalled. “I'm worried he's gonna hit that next tower. And it's like 40 feet off the ground at that point. As that's going through my head, all of a sudden, our chair smashes into the tower, the first one, as it starts going up.”He described the impact as “super strong.”“And just like that, I reach for my son and he just slips from my arms,” McLeod said.He estimates the boy fell 12-15 feet to the snow below, which at least one other witness agreed with.“I'm yelling like ‘someone help us' and the lift stops a few seconds later,” he said. “But at the same time, as Sawyer is falling, the lift chair just breaks apart and it just flips backwards. Like the backrest just falls off the back and so I'm like clinging on to the center bar while the chair is swinging. My son is screaming and I don't know what to do. I'm like, ‘Do I jump right now?''”The full article is worth a read. It's absurd. McLeod describes the Snowbowl staff as callous and dismissive. The Forest Service later ordered the ski area to repair that lift and others before opening for the season. The ski area complied.On Marx and Lenin at Big SkyHlavic compares Teton Pass' upper-mountain avalanche chutes to Marx and Lenin at Big Sky. These are two well-known runs off Lone Peak (pictured below). Lenin is where a 1996 Christmas Day avalanche that I recently discussed with Big Sky GM Troy Nedved took place.On the evolution of Bridger BowlHlavic compares Teton Pass to vintage Bridger Bowl, before that ski area had the know-how and resources to tame the upper-mountain steeps. Here's Bridger in 1973:And here it is today. It's still pretty wild – skiers have to wear an avy beacon just to ski the Schlasman's chair, but the upper mountain is accessible and well-managed:On Holiday Mountain and TitusI compared Hlavic's situation to that of Mike Taylor at Holiday Mountain and Bruce Monette Jr. at Titus Mountain, both in New York. Like Hlavic, both have numerous other businesses that allowed them to run the ski area at a loss until they could modernize operations. I wrote about Taylor's efforts last year, and hosted Monette on the podcast in 2021.On Hyland HillsHlavic talks about growing up skiing at Hyland Hills, Minnesota. What a crazy little place this is, eight lifts, including some of the fastest ropetows in the world, lined up along a 175-vertical-foot ridge in a city park.Man those ropetows:On Teton Pass, WyomingThe Teton Pass with which most people are familiar is a high-altitude twister of a highway that runs between Wyoming and Idaho. It's a popular and congested backcountry skiing spot. When I drove over the pass en route from Jackson Hole to Big Sky in December, the hills were tracked out and bumped up like a ski resort.On Rocky Mountain HighHlavic notes that former Teton Pass owners had changed the ski area's name to “Rocky Mountain High” for several years. Here's a circa 1997 trailmap with that branding:It's unclear when the name reverted to “Teton Pass.”The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 10/100 in 2024, and number 510 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

On the second episode of our Salt Lake City series, we look into the Little Cottonwood Canyon proposed Gondola. Join us as we interview Julia Geisler, the executive director of the Salt Lake Climber's Alliance, on her organization's opposition to the UDOT project. 

The spirit of the 2002 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City still resonates across the state. This July, there will be more cause for excitement as it's anticipated that the International Olympic Committee may name Salt Lake City-Utah as the 2034 host for the Winter Games. To learn more, Last Chair gathered in the Governor's Mansion to hear from Utah Governor Spencer Cox, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, and SLC-UT 2034 Board Chair Catherine Raney Norman.One of the key assets of Utah's candidacy is its robust winter environment as home to the Greatest Snow on Earth™. Every venue from 2002, across all sports, has been in continual use. Resorts, including Park City Mountain, Deer Valley Resort, and Snowbasin Resort, are expected back again.Through its candidacy, Utah has enjoyed strong public support – over 80%! Elected officials from small venue communities, up through the state legislature and governor, have forged a strong partnership to bring the Games back, with the accompanying benefits of bringing communities together.Both Governor Cox and Mayor Mendenhall have been visionaries who are looking to the benefits to their state and community. Governor Cox grew up on a farm in Fairview, Utah, and talks about the small ski hill near his home. Mayor Mendenhall reflects back on her memories of growing up near Little Cottonwood Canyon and working the switchboard at Snowbird. Both are now outdoor enthusiasts who embody the spirit of the state.With a background in air quality and environment advocacy work, the mayor started as an activist and learned quickly that she could be more impactful as an elected official. After six years on the City Council, she ran for mayor and won. She was just inaugurated for a second term. “Being the mayor is just the greatest gig – especially in Salt Lake City in the state of Utah at this time. We have so much good happening. And the Olympics in 2034 is one of those big things.”Now in the third year of his first term, Governor Cox has announced he'll run again in 2024. “It's been a wild ride from the farm to the governor's mansion in Salt Lake City. But we feel very fortunate to be able to serve the state.”Catherine Raney Norman is a four-time Olympic speed skater who still holds some U.S. records. She grew up in Wisconsin, but has long lived in Utah. She and her family are enthusiastic skiers. In her role as board chair, she has brought a distinct athlete vision to her leadership.Here's a sampling from a riveting conversation on Last Chair with Utah leaders about the benefits of the Games and how they view the importance to the state and its communities.Governor Cox, thank you for the invitation to the mansion. Tell us a bit about it?This is the Kearns mansion – Thomas Kearns was a young man who came out here to seek his fortune. He hit the motherlode – a silver mine in Park City. He came down with his amazing wife, he married a seamstress from Park City, and they built the first orphanage in Utah, which is amazing – St. Ann's orphanage, same architect, beautiful building. Then, he helped build the Cathedral of the Madeleine. They were so generous. This house was built in 1902.Catherine, you not only competed as an Olympic athlete, but you also rose up early on as a leader amongst your peers.I've spent a lot of my pre-post and athletic career advocating for athletes across the Olympic and Paralympic Movement, and have been so fortunate to stay involved in sport in many different ways, from coaching to administration to fundraising, and to now being able to help serve our community and our people here in Utah as the chair of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games.Mayor, there are 11 Utah ski resorts within an hour's drive of downtown Salt Lake City. What do you see as the assets of your city as a ski town?I think it's something you have to experience. People come here to ski, and they end up not leaving. They say, ‘we're going to come spend four months or six months, get some great experience on the mountain, then go back wherever we came from.' They don't leave. And it's because you can actually call it a ski town. We're the capital city of the fastest-growing state in the nation, the state has the strongest economy. I'm giving the governor's talking points now, but more than 16 years running, we're doubling our downtown population. We have incredible sports, culture, recreation, and amenities. You can walk out of this Governor's Mansion and be on a foothill trail in the wilderness up in City Creek Canyon, or other places in ten minutes. The proximity to the ski resorts and to year-round recreation is just phenomenal. So we are both an urban capital, a growing city, a strong economy, lots of cultures celebrating our diversity, and a ski town.Governor, what importance does the Olympic and Paralympic Movement bring to you?I love the idea of hope at a time when institutions are being torn apart, really important institutions, politically and otherwise, not just here, but all across the world. And as we start to become a little more selfish as human beings and focus internally, this reminds us of the best of us and that there are other people of different backgrounds, and it brings us together. It's one institution that has survived some of the worst parts of history. I just watched Boys in the Boat and the Olympics in Germany at that time and, the impact that those Games had on the world as we were heading into a World War and all of these difficulties that had post 9-11 when Utah was at the forefront. So I love that idea of hope and kind of unifying, bringing people together.Mayor, how does the city feel about the possibility of another Winter Games to your community?What we experienced in 2002 is still with us every single day. As Salt Lakers, as Utahns, we have a growing population. We've added 20% more people to Salt Lake City proper since we hosted the Games last, and we still have over 80% support in the state of Utah for hosting a future Games. What that says is that even people who've come here who maybe hadn't been born yet (in 2002) feel and they get the Olympic spirit, it's in our DNA as Utahns. And that ability to bring the global community together – we will ensure that it does have a long-standing daily positive impact for generations to come after 2034.Governor, how has Utah's penchant for service and volunteerism helped?One of the things that that Cat, the mayor and I love to talk about is how the volunteers came out of the woodwork for that Olympics the first time – the Olympic movement had never seen anything like that. had to turn volunteers away. It's ingrained in people. We lead the nation in volunteerism and giving back. That combination of us participating together, not just something we watched or saw, but we experienced – that makes a big difference and has really helped us to unify.Mayor, you had the honor of dedicating a brand new airport in the past few years?Our New SLC is one of the busiest airports in the Americas in the Delta system. We have 26-million passengers a year. When this airport is completed, we'll be able to host 34-million passengers a year through Salt Lake City. The amount of direct and connecting flights is ever-increasing, and it's the newest airport in a couple of decades. It's an incredible, beautiful space, and we're proud of it. It's just minutes away from the...

The spirit of the 2002 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City still resonates across the state. This July, there will be more cause for excitement as it's anticipated that the International Olympic Committee may name Salt Lake City-Utah as the 2034 host for the Winter Games. To learn more, Last Chair gathered in the Governor's Mansion to hear from Utah Governor Spencer Cox, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, and SLC-UT 2034 Board Chair Catherine Raney Norman.One of the key assets of Utah's candidacy is its robust winter environment as home to the Greatest Snow on Earth™. Every venue from 2002, across all sports, has been in continual use. Resorts, including Park City Mountain, Deer Valley Resort, and Snowbasin Resort, are expected back again.Through its candidacy, Utah has enjoyed strong public support – over 80%! Elected officials from small venue communities, up through the state legislature and governor, have forged a strong partnership to bring the Games back, with the accompanying benefits of bringing communities together.Both Governor Cox and Mayor Mendenhall have been visionaries who are looking to the benefits to their state and community. Governor Cox grew up on a farm in Fairview, Utah, and talks about the small ski hill near his home. Mayor Mendenhall reflects back on her memories of growing up near Little Cottonwood Canyon and working the switchboard at Snowbird. Both are now outdoor enthusiasts who embody the spirit of the state.With a background in air quality and environment advocacy work, the mayor started as an activist and learned quickly that she could be more impactful as an elected official. After six years on the City Council, she ran for mayor and won. She was just inaugurated for a second term. “Being the mayor is just the greatest gig – especially in Salt Lake City in the state of Utah at this time. We have so much good happening. And the Olympics in 2034 is one of those big things.”Now in the third year of his first term, Governor Cox has announced he'll run again in 2024. “It's been a wild ride from the farm to the governor's mansion in Salt Lake City. But we feel very fortunate to be able to serve the state.”Catherine Raney Norman is a four-time Olympic speed skater who still holds some U.S. records. She grew up in Wisconsin, but has long lived in Utah. She and her family are enthusiastic skiers. In her role as board chair, she has brought a distinct athlete vision to her leadership.Here's a sampling from a riveting conversation on Last Chair with Utah leaders about the benefits of the Games and how they view the importance to the state and its communities.Governor Cox, thank you for the invitation to the mansion. Tell us a bit about it?This is the Kearns mansion – Thomas Kearns was a young man who came out here to seek his fortune. He hit the motherlode – a silver mine in Park City. He came down with his amazing wife, he married a seamstress from Park City, and they built the first orphanage in Utah, which is amazing – St. Ann's orphanage, same architect, beautiful building. Then, he helped build the Cathedral of the Madeleine. They were so generous. This house was built in 1902.Catherine, you not only competed as an Olympic athlete, but you also rose up early on as a leader amongst your peers.I've spent a lot of my pre-post and athletic career advocating for athletes across the Olympic and Paralympic Movement, and have been so fortunate to stay involved in sport in many different ways, from coaching to administration to fundraising, and to now being able to help serve our community and our people here in Utah as the chair of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games.Mayor, there are 11 Utah ski resorts within an hour's drive of downtown Salt Lake City. What do you see as the assets of your city as a ski town?I think it's something you have to experience. People come here to ski, and they end up not leaving. They say, ‘we're going to come spend four months or six months, get some great experience on the mountain, then go back wherever we came from.' They don't leave. And it's because you can actually call it a ski town. We're the capital city of the fastest-growing state in the nation, the state has the strongest economy. I'm giving the governor's talking points now, but more than 16 years running, we're doubling our downtown population. We have incredible sports, culture, recreation, and amenities. You can walk out of this Governor's Mansion and be on a foothill trail in the wilderness up in City Creek Canyon, or other places in ten minutes. The proximity to the ski resorts and to year-round recreation is just phenomenal. So we are both an urban capital, a growing city, a strong economy, lots of cultures celebrating our diversity, and a ski town.Governor, what importance does the Olympic and Paralympic Movement bring to you?I love the idea of hope at a time when institutions are being torn apart, really important institutions, politically and otherwise, not just here, but all across the world. And as we start to become a little more selfish as human beings and focus internally, this reminds us of the best of us and that there are other people of different backgrounds, and it brings us together. It's one institution that has survived some of the worst parts of history. I just watched Boys in the Boat and the Olympics in Germany at that time and, the impact that those Games had on the world as we were heading into a World War and all of these difficulties that had post 9-11 when Utah was at the forefront. So I love that idea of hope and kind of unifying, bringing people together.Mayor, how does the city feel about the possibility of another Winter Games to your community?What we experienced in 2002 is still with us every single day. As Salt Lakers, as Utahns, we have a growing population. We've added 20% more people to Salt Lake City proper since we hosted the Games last, and we still have over 80% support in the state of Utah for hosting a future Games. What that says is that even people who've come here who maybe hadn't been born yet (in 2002) feel and they get the Olympic spirit, it's in our DNA as Utahns. And that ability to bring the global community together – we will ensure that it does have a long-standing daily positive impact for generations to come after 2034.Governor, how has Utah's penchant for service and volunteerism helped?One of the things that that Cat, the mayor and I love to talk about is how the volunteers came out of the woodwork for that Olympics the first time – the Olympic movement had never seen anything like that. had to turn volunteers away. It's ingrained in people. We lead the nation in volunteerism and giving back. That combination of us participating together, not just something we watched or saw, but we experienced – that makes a big difference and has really helped us to unify.Mayor, you had the honor of dedicating a brand new airport in the past few years?Our New SLC is one of the busiest airports in the Americas in the Delta system. We have 26-million passengers a year. When this airport is completed, we'll be able to host 34-million passengers a year through Salt Lake City. The amount of direct and connecting flights is ever-increasing, and it's the newest airport in a couple of decades. It's an incredible, beautiful space, and we're proud of it. It's just minutes away from the...

Brad Rutledge from Wasatch Backcountry Alliance joins O₂ Utah executive director David Garbett to discuss the proposed gondola in Little Cottonwood Canyon. The two review the gondola's potential environmental impact, examine alternative solutions, and discuss what the public can do to ensure the Legislature does not fund the project.

In this episode: Sean explains the history and background behind backcountry alpine skinning and skiing. Sam shares their experiences from visiting Africa and his service mission. Digressions include banter about a porcupine, what Pittsburg is actually good for, and finding a $100 bill in the Serengeti.Watch the visual podcast on LSI's YouTube channel! Connect with the LSI team by following us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, or by finding us at LSIWINS.com!

KSL's Top Story: Crews plan to shut down Little Cottonwood Canyon overnight for avalanche control... after a day that has seen several slides across the region.  That's as another blast of cold, wintry weather heads our way this weekend.  We have multiple reports to get you where you need to go safely... beginning with KSL NewsRadio's Aimee Cobabe. 

Following the update on current backcountry conditions, we review the forecasted storm coming in this weekend. It's been changing every few hours and I'm still not really sure what to expect. Either way, we need the moisture and every little bit helps! With our mountains hovering around 80% of average snow water equivalent, we have room for opportunity! In part two this week, Jack and I chat with Carl Fisher from local non-profit Save Our Canyons. Carl is the outgoing Executive Director and has been with the organization for about twenty years. Along with chatting about conservation issues in the Wasatch, Carl gives us some important background information about the current Gondola project in Little Cottonwood Canyon. He informs us about corruption, greed, and cronyism that has driven development in our mountain range. Please give the full episode a listen and send us a DM with your thoughts.As Carl is leaving the Wasatch, we want to say thanks as backcountry skiers for all his hard work in protecting our favorite playground. Carl and his family are generously matching all new member dues to Save our Canyons up to $2,000. To become a member, follow this link. 

At DoorGrow, we have organized our clients into Tribes to provide them with connections, community, and support. In today's episode, property management growth experts Jason and Sarah Hull quickly talk about the importance of having these kinds of connections and being socially active as a property management entrepreneur. You'll Learn [01:16] Why we created DoorGrow Tribes [03:08] Find people on your same path [04:54] The neighbor strategy [06:04] In-person events for property managers Tweetables “You go faster together.” “It's really surprising to me how many property management business owners do not know anybody else that does property management.” “You need somebody you can look up to somebody that's ahead of you.” “The in-between moments at conferences, events where you get to connect with people, make friends are probably the most impactful.” Resources DoorGrow and Scale Mastermind DoorGrow Academy DoorGrow on YouTube DoorGrowClub DoorGrowLive TalkRoute Referral Link Transcript [00:00:00] Jason: It's really surprising to me how many property management business owners do not know anybody else that does property management. [00:00:07] They don't really have a relationship or friendship. They're not connected.  [00:00:13] All right. Welcome DoorGrow property managers to the DoorGrow show. If you are a property management entrepreneur that wants to add doors, make a difference, increase revenue, help others impact lives, and you are interested in growing in business and life, and you're open to doing things a bit differently, then you are a DoorGrow property manager. [00:00:33] DoorGrow property managers love the opportunities, daily variety, unique challenges, and freedom that property management brings. Many in real estate think you're crazy for doing it. You think they're crazy for not, because you realize that property management is the ultimate, high trust gateway to real estate deals, relationships, and residual income. [00:00:53] At DoorGrow, we are on a mission to transform property management business owners and their businesses. We want to transform the industry, eliminate the BS, build awareness, change perception, expand the market, and help the best property management entrepreneurs win. I'm your host, property management growth expert, Jason Hull, the founder and CEO of DoorGrow, along with Sarah Hull, co owner and COO of DoorGrow. [00:01:16] Now let's get into the show. All right, today's topic, we were chatting about what we should talk about, and we're about to head out on a trip. Where are we going?  [00:01:25] Sarah: We are going to Salt Lake City, Utah. And what are we doing? We're doing a tribe event with our clients.  [00:01:31] Jason: Okay. She's excited.  [00:01:33] Sarah: I am so excited. This is our first one. We're kicking it off live.  [00:01:36] Jason: All right. So we've organized our clients into tribes because we've got this awesome, amazing mastermind, and we wanted people to be able to get to know each other because this Is really important. The in between moments at conferences, events where you get to connect with people, make friends are probably the most impactful and maybe even profit evoking in like instances in interactions that you have at the entire event a lot of times. And so we want to really facilitate those for our clients and get them connected and get them creating some relationships. So we're going to be doing something fun. We are. Yeah. So what's the agenda? Why don't we tell them?  [00:02:15] Sarah: Yeah. So we're just hanging out. We're spending a full day together. So our clients decided where we were going. We had all of our clients submit their ideas for a location and then what we're doing when we're there, like some sort of activity. And then everyone voted and this was the one with the most votes. So off we go. So we are going hiking in Little Cottonwood Canyon.  [00:02:37] Jason: Okay. Yeah. And I hear it's beautiful. So it's going to be awesome. So we're going to see that. Everybody's going to be mixing a little bit of business in there and we're going to be having some good conversations and my intention while I'm there is just to benefit everybody that shows up as much as I can as coach. Right. And I'm sure that's Sarah's goal as well.  [00:02:56] And we've got to go catch a flight. So we're going to keep this really brief. It's going to be a short episode. So, why is it important to have a tribe or to have friends or to have connections in your industry as an entrepreneur?  [00:03:08] Sarah: Oh, it's so important, and in fact, studies have shown that this is arguably the most important thing that you can do so that you can be successful in your business and in your growth and in your life is just be connected to other people who are working on similar things and like on a similar path and they're growth minded. And a lot of people unfortunately don't have that. [00:03:34] So we provide that in our mastermind.  [00:03:37] Jason: A lot of you have heard the phrase, they say that you're the sum of the five people that you spend the most time with, and I think this is true in property management, your business and your relationship with your business will be the sum of the five property management business owners that you are the most connected to. [00:03:53] And so somebody they can also support. You know, you need these relationships. You need somebody you can look up to somebody that's ahead of you, and we definitely have people that are ahead of others in our mastermind, and then you want people that are on the same path as you, because a lot of the people, like if you've got 200 doors and you're trying to hang around people with a thousand doors, yes, you'll learn some stuff. [00:04:12] But also the game's changed. And the things that you need to do right now to grow your business are different than how they grew their business probably 10, 20 years ago, some of these guys or gals, right? And so you need to be doing what's current. And a lot of times they're watching you to see what the next thing is or they use you as the guinea pig. [00:04:30] They don't want to make big sweeping changes or mistakes. Small companies, you're more nimble. You get to experiment. You get to do cool new things. And we do a lot of cool new things at DoorGrow with our clients. And so you need at least five friends. And it's really surprising to me how many property management business owners do not know anybody else that does property management. [00:04:51] They don't really have a relationship or friendship. They're not connected. And we've been focused on this strategy of the neighbor strategy. Which you can check out by going to neighborstrategy. Com. If you'd like to get access to this free training, it's really cool. And it gets you connected to your neighbors. [00:05:07] And it helps you both make more money and get each other more business. It's a no brainer. It's one of our favorite growth strategies. And we've got two of our clients are in the Salt Lake area and they've been handing business back and forth to each other. One does focus on more on focuses more on short term, one focuses more long term and they've been feeding each other business using this neighbor strategy. [00:05:30] And it's not just sending business back and forth. It's a little bit deeper than that. And I teach you how to convert cold leads that might come in that you can field for or give to other people into a 90 percent close rate, warm lead. And so check this training out. You want to give this to all of your neighbors, get them to do it, and you're going to make a lot more money and they're just going to feed you business. [00:05:49] Warm leads, 90 percent close rate, easy stuff to close. Really cool. So go out and get some neighbors and maybe join the DoorGrow mastermind and get into our tribe groups and start coming to our events and make some connections. Anything else we need to say about it?  [00:06:04] Sarah: I don't think so. I think we're excited about all of the things that we're doing cause we're rolling out a couple of different styles of events. [00:06:11] Of course we're keeping our main one, our DoorGrow live. We're going to do that once a year. It'll be every May. So mark your calendars. It'll be every May. And then in the meantime, in the interim, like for our clients, we want to provide an opportunity for at least once a quarter for us to get together, like in person. [00:06:28] So the DoorGrowLive will always be an Austin. The tribe events, it's like once a quarter, we have the opportunity to just get some face time and get some time around each other. [00:06:38] And I feel like every time we do an event like this, the group that attends, they're just so bonded and it's like awesome to see. So we did an event back in. April and then in May we had our DoorGrow live and a lot of the people who attended our April event also attended DoorGrow live and they were like their own little like pod of people. [00:06:59] They were messaging each other like in the old group and. Because you just get so like, comfortable around each other and it allows you to really like create a relationship and a connection that's not on the screen because that's like the thing now everybody's like, "Oh, I like, this is how I socialize with people is on a screen," that it's not like genuine real connection. [00:07:19] Like it's very different when you're like face to face with someone and you can. Like feel their energy. That's really hard. Unless you're Roya Mattis, that's really hard to do through a screen.  [00:07:29] Jason: Cool. All right. So make sure you start getting around some property managers and get connected to some business owners because as entrepreneurs, we kind of isolate. [00:07:38] We feel alone a lot of times, especially in the early stages of our entrepreneurial journey. Eventually you realize the fastest way forward is to be connected. It's masterminds, it's coaches. It's getting connected with other people. It's allowing other ideas. It's not all available on YouTube and reading a book and stuff you can just do on your own. [00:07:57] Right? You go faster together. So let's get together. So that's our message today. And until next time to our mutual growth, check us out at DoorGrow.com. We would love to support you and your growth and move you through the DoorGrow code. If you go there, there's a free training. If you click the pink button on the homepage and you can learn all about what we do, how it can help you grow, book a call with our team and watch a whole bunch of testimonials and case studies of people that are scaling the shit out of their businesses. So we'll talk to hopefully you soon because you deserve this and you should be moving your business forward and should stop feeling frustrated, tired, and drained by your business. This should be fun. You should be making a lot of money. All right. That's enough. Talk to you soon. [00:08:39] Bye everyone. [00:08:40] you just listened to the #DoorGrowShow. We are building a community of the savviest property management entrepreneurs on the planet in the DoorGrowClub. Join your fellow DoorGrow Hackers at doorgrowclub.com. Listen, everyone is doing the same stuff. SEO, PPC, pay-per-lead content, social direct mail, and they still struggle to grow!  [00:09:07] At DoorGrow, we solve your biggest challenge: getting deals and growing your business. Find out more at doorgrow.com. Find any show notes or links from today's episode on our blog doorgrow.com, and to get notified of future events and news subscribe to our newsletter at doorgrow.com/subscribe. Until next time, take what you learn and start DoorGrow Hacking your business and your life.

This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on Dec. 11. It dropped for free subscribers on Dec. 18. To receive future pods as soon as they're live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe to the free tier below:WhoShaun Sutner, snowsports columnist for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and Telegram.comRecorded onNovember 20, 2023About Shaun SutnerShaun is a skier, a writer, and a journalist based in Worcester, Massachusetts. For the past 19 years, he's written a snowsports column from Thanksgiving to April. For the past three years, he's joined me on The Storm Skiing Podcast to discuss that column, but also to talk all things New England skiing (and beyond). You should follow Shaun on social media to stay locked into his work:Why I interviewed himLast month, I clicked open a SNOWBOARDER email newsletter and found this headline slotted under “trending news”:Yikes, I thought. Not again. I clicked through to the story. In full:Tensions simmered as disgruntled Stevens Pass skiers, clutching their "Epic Passes," rallied against Vail Resorts' alleged mismanagement. The discontent echoed through an impassioned petition, articulating a litany of grievances: excessive lift lines, scant open terrain, inadequate staffing, and woeful parking, painting a dismal portrait of a beloved winter haven.Fueled by a sense of betrayal, the signatories lamented a dearth of ski-ready slopes despite ample snowfall, bemoaning Vail Resorts' purported disregard for both patrons and employees. Their frustration soared at the stark contrast to neighboring ski areas, thriving under similar conditions.The petition's fervor escalated, challenging the ethics of selling passes without delivering promised services, highlighting derisory wages juxtaposed against corporate profiteering. The collective call-to-action demanded reparation, invoking consumer protection laws and even prodding the involvement of the Attorney General and the U.S. Forest Service.Yet, amidst their resolve, a poignant melancholy pervaded—the desire to relish the slopes overshadowed by a battle for justice. The signatories yearned for equitable winter joys, dreaming of swift resolutions and an end to the clash with corporate giants, vowing to safeguard the legacy of snow sports for generations to come.As the petition gathered momentum, a snowstorm of change loomed on the horizon, promising either reconciliation or a paradigm shift in the realm of winter recreation.The “impassioned petition” in question is dated Dec. 28, 2021. In the nearly two intervening years, Vail Resorts has fired Stevens Pass' GM, brought in a highly respected local (Tom Fortune) who had spent decades at the ski area to stabilize things (Fortune and I discussed this at length on the podcast), and installed a new, young GM (Ellen Galbraith), with deep roots in the area (I also hosted Galbraith on the podcast). Last ski season (2022-23), was a smooth one at Stevens Pass. And while Skier Mob is never truly happy with anything, the petition in question flared, faded, and went into hibernation approximately 18 months before Snowboarder got around to this story. Yes, there were issues at Stevens Pass. Vail fixed them. The end.The above-cited story is also overwritten, under-contextualized, and borderline slanderous. “Derisory wages?” Vail has since raised its minimum wage to $20 an hour. To stand there and aim a scanny-beepy thing at skiers as they approach the lift queue. Sounds like hell on earth.Perhaps I missed the joke here, and this is some sort of snowy Onion. I do hate to call out other writers. But this is a particularly lazy exhibit of the core problem with modern snowsports writing: most of it is not very good. The non-ski media will humor us with the occasional piece, but these tend to be dumbed down for a general audience. The legacy ski media as a functioning editorial entity no longer exists. There are just a few holdouts, at newspapers across the country, telling the local story of skiing as best they can.And in New England, one of the best doing his best to produce respectable snowsports writing is Shaun Sutner.What we talked aboutNew England resort-hopping; how to set and meet a season ski-days goal; Brobots hate safety bars; the demise and resurgence of Black Mountain, New Hampshire; why Magic Mountain works; what it means that Ski Ward was the first ski area in America to open for the 2023-24 ski season; the Uphill New England pass; why Vail and Alterra still offer free uphill access at all their New England ski areas; how to not be an uphill A-hole; the No Boundaries Pass; which passes New England's remaining big independent ski areas could join; the proposed Stowe-Smuggs gondola connection; when development benefits the environment; could Vail buy Smuggs?; the Little Cottonwood Canyon gondola; finally replacing the Attitash triple; Vail's New England lift-building surge; Boyne goes bonkers in New England; the new Barker lift at Sunday River; the West Mountain expansion at Sugarloaf; the South Peak expansion at Loon; New England's chairlift renaissance; Black Quad at Magic; a Cannon tram upgrade; Berkshire East's first high-speed lift; Wachusett lift upgrades; and Quebec's secret snow pocket.Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewSutner and I have this conversation every Thanksgiving week, which is when his column launches. I think I need to start scheduling it earlier, because I haven't been able to turn this around so fast the past two seasons. Here are excerpts and links to his first few columns of the 2023-24 ski season:Nov. 23Snow sports: Ski resort lift upgrades should boost industry in New EnglandThe most despised lift in New England ski country is no more.The ponderously slow, sometimes treacherous summit triple chair at Attitash that has long been a staple of hardcore Massachusetts skiers and snowboarders, is gone."No one ever thought this was ever going to really happen," Brandon Swartz, general manager of the Mount Washington Valley classic ski area in Bartlett, New Hampshire, told me. "I just couldn't be more excited to help build the lift that no one ever thought was going to get built."Whether the old summit lift's swift new replacement, the high-speed detachable Mountaineer quad, will be ready for Christmas week as Colorado-based owner Vail Resorts expects, is yet to be seen as Attitash is still furiously working on it in the eighth month of the project. But it's the most welcome ski-lift replacement in our region in decades, I think, finally providing convenient access to the passel of glorious snaking steep and challenging intermediate runs from the top in half the 16-18-minute ride time of the old 1986 triple. Read more…Nov. 29'It was shocking and beautiful': Trip to Argentina, Antarctica memorable for Lunenburg's RiddleThis wasn't Riddle's first time tackling demanding backcountry terrain in forbidding terrain, nor is this the first time I've written about him, having chronicled his previous trips to Chamonix in the French Alps and Norway. Riddle is the guy who got me into alpine touring – the Alpine-Nordic hybrid that involves hiking up mountains on skis with climbing skins affixed to the bases and then removing the skins and locking down the boot heels for the descent – seven or eight years ago. He's also won the Wachusett Mountain pond skim contest three times, leading to word on the street that he's been banned from taking that coveted title ever again.But this adventure was of a bigger order of magnitude than his previous ventures into big mountains. Read more…Dec. 6New BOA ski boot hopes its unique fit will provide a leg up on competitionNo, it's not named after a boa constrictor, though it does wrap around your foot kind of like a snake.BOA stands for "boot opening adjustment" and it's the trademarked brand name of the company that has made the lace and wire and dial adjust-based closure systems since 2001 and adapted them to snowboard and race bike boots, Nordic gear, ice and in-line skates and other applications,Now BOA has brought the system to Alpine ski boots. Oversized protruding knobs and an intricate wire system go over the forefoot instead of buckles and wrap the instep and can make micro-adjustments in either direction – tighter or looser. Proponents say they just fit better, while skeptics point out they're a bit heavier and their durability still hasn't been proven on a wide scale yet for the Alpine version. Read more…His column lands every Wednesday through spring.What I got wrongAbout Magic Mountain, VermontI said that Magic was out of business for “five years.” The best info I can find (on New England Ski History), suggests that the ski area closed following the 1990-91 season, and didn't re-open until December 1997, which would put the closure at closer to six-and-a-half years.About the Indy PassI referred to Erik Mogensen as the “Indy Pass founder.” He is the pass' current owner, but Doug Fish, who has joined me on the podcast many times, founded the product.About SaddlebackI didn't hear Sutner correctly when he asked if Saddleback was “a B corporation,” which is a business that “is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on factors from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials.” I thought he'd asked if they were owned by a larger corporation, and my answer reflects that understanding (but does not answer his question), as I go into the history of Arctaris Impact Fund's purchase of Saddleback. The only ski area that has achieved B Corporation certification, as far as I know, is Taos.About words being hardI described Vail and Alterra as “big, corporate conglomerations.” Which, I'm sorry.About there being too many things in this world to keep track ofI forgot the name of Spruce Peak at Stowe when describing the ski area's connection point with Smugglers' Notch. Which is funny because I've written about it extensively over the past several months, skied there many times, and in general try to remember the important components of prominent ski areas.About my personal calendarI said that I skied at Big Sky “last year.” I meant “last season,” as I actually was there in April 2023.On time being fungibleI said that Magic's Black Quad has been sitting in the ski area's parking lot for “about four years.” This is inaccurate for a couple different reasons. First, the lift – Stratton's old Snow Bowl lift – came out in 2018 (so more than five years ago). I don't know when Magic took delivery of the lift. At any rate, installation began several years ago, so it's not accurate to say that the lift has been “sitting in the parking lot.” What I meant was that it's taken Magic a hell of a long time to get this machine live, which no one can dispute.Podcast NotesOn motorcycle helmet lawsWe briefly discuss the almost universal shift to wearing helmets while skiing in the context of motorcycle helmet laws, which are not as ubiquitous as you'd suppose. Only 18 states require all riders to wear helmets at all times. The remainder set an age limit – typically 18 or 21. Three states – Iowa, Illinois, and New Hampshire – have no helmet law at all.On non-profit ski areasErik Mogensen, owner of Entabeni Systems and Indy Pass, is leading the coalition to find a new owner for Black Mountain, New Hampshire. He's said many times that around a quarter of America's ski areas need “another ownership solution.” He expanded on this in SAM a few weeks back:I think about 25 percent of the non-corporate ski areas in North America need another ownership solution. That doesn't necessarily mean that it needs to be nonprofit. There are a lot of liabilities in having a group of volunteers or board of directors try to run a ski area from a nonprofit status. I'm definitely a capitalist, and there can be issues with nonprofits that I don't think we've solved yet in skiing.If we look at the nonprofits that have run very well, Bridger Bowl and Bogus Basin particularly, they focused around running the ski area as a for-profit business with a nonprofit backend, if you will.I've also seen a lot of ski areas struggle with trying to run the nonprofit model. So I don't necessarily believe that a nonprofit model is something that we should copy and paste. But I do believe it's a front runner that needs to be adjusted and adopted. And we do need a solution for the 25 percent. It's very hard to make some of areas commercially viable on their own.On the “unfriendly” lift attendants at Ski WardI recently gave Ski Ward some positive run, highlighting the fact that they were the first ski area to open in America in 2023. It was a cool story and they deserved the attention.However, I have a conflicted history with this place, as Sutner and I joked on the podcast. I had one of my worst ski experiences ever there, mostly because the lift attendants – at least on the day of my visit – were complete a******s. As I wrote after a visit on Feb. 1, 2022:Ski Ward, 25 miles southwest, makes Nashoba Valley look like Aspen. A single triple-chair rising 220 vertical feet. A T-bar beside that. Some beginner surface lifts lower down. Off the top three narrow trails that are steep for approximately six feet before leveling off for the run-out back to the base. It was no mystery why I was the only person over the age of 14 skiing that evening.Normally my posture at such community- and kid-oriented bumps is to trip all over myself to say every possible nice thing about its atmosphere and mission and miraculous existence in the maw of the EpKonasonics. But this place was awful. Like truly unpleasant. My first indication that I had entered a place of ingrained dysfunction was when I lifted the safety bar on the triple chair somewhere between the final tower and the exit ramp and the liftie came bursting out of his shack like he'd just caught me trying to steal his chickens. “The sign is there,” he screamed, pointing frantically at the “raise bar here” sign jutting up below the top station just shy of unload. At first I didn't realize he was talking to me and so I ignored him and this offended him to the point where he – and this actually happened – stopped the chairlift and told me to come back up the ramp so he could show me the sign. I declined the opportunity and skied off and away and for the rest of the evening I waited until I was exactly above his precious sign before raising the safety bar.All night, though, I saw this b******t. Large, aggressive, angry men screaming – screaming – at children for this or that safety-bar violation. The top liftie laid off me once he realized I was a grown man, but it was too late. Ski Ward has a profoundly broken customer-service culture, built on bullying little kids on the pretext of lift safety. Someone needs to fix this. Now.Look, I am not anti-lift bar. I put it down every time, unless I am out West and riding with some version of Studly Bro who is simply too f*****g cool for such nonsense. But that was literally my 403rd chairlift ride of the season and my 2,418th since I began tracking ski stats on my Slopes app in 2018. Never have I been lectured over the timing of my safety-bar raise. So I was surprised. But if Ski Ward really wants to run their chairlifts with the rulebook specificity of a Major League Baseball game, all they have to do is say, “Excuse me, Sir, can you please wait to get to the sign before raising your bar next time?” That would have worked just as well, and would have saved them this flame job. For a place that caters to children, they need to do much, much better.On Uphill New EnglandWe go pretty deep on the purpose and utility of the Uphill New England pass, which allows you to skin up and ski down these 13 ski areas:On the Granite Backcountry AllianceSutner also mentions the Granite Backcountry Alliance, which is a group that promotes backcountry skiing in New Hampshire and Western Maine. Here's the group's self-described mission:New Hampshire and Western Maine are blessed with a rich ski history that includes a deep heritage of backcountry skiing from Mt. Washington's Tuckerman Ravine to the many ski trails developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) of the 1930's (some of which still remain today). The celebration of the sport of skiing is embedded in the culture of the area.While backcountry skiing's resurgence has captivated a new user base, it is also now a measurable, undeniable force in the industry and is the fastest growing segment of the sport. The demand is strong but the terrain in New Hampshire and Western Maine is limited by the tree density, glade supply, and legal access to the forests and mountains.GBA resolves to improve the playing field for backcountry skiers. Creating and developing ski glades, however, is not the only objective of the group. Improving the foundation of the sport is critical to future success, such as creating partnerships and collaboration with public and private landowners, education regarding safety and ecological awareness, and creating a unified culture – one that respects the land and its owners and does not permit unauthorized cutting.We are part of a movement of human-powered activities that is the basis for an emerging outdoor economy. We believe this movement has broad implications on areas like NH's North Country and it can develop with committed folks like yourself .  It's the last frontier!  So join us by stepping up to support the cause; the ability to organize is a powerful tool to steward our own future.On the proposed Stowe-Smuggs gondola connectionI wrote a bit about the proposed gondola connection between Stowe and Smugglers' Notch earlier this year:Seated just a half mile from the top of Smuggs' mainly intermediate Sterling Mountain is the top of Stowe's Spruce Peak. Skiers had been skating between the two resorts for decades. Why not connect the two mountains – both widely considered among the best ski areas in New England – with a fast, modern lift? A sort of Alta-Snowbird – or at least a Solitude-Brighton – of the East? Two owners, one interconnected ski experience.“We have the possibility of creating what we think will be a very unique ski and riding experience by connecting these two resorts,” said Stritzler. “I don't believe in marketing this way, but all you have to do is do trail counts and acreage and elevations, and pretty soon you get to the conclusion that if you can offer Smugglers' guests the opportunity to also take advantage of what Stowe has to offer, and you can offer the two in some kind of combination through a connecting lift, well, now suddenly you're not quite so nervous about all the consolidation taking place, because you've got something to respond with.”Here's the proposed line:Smuggs later withdrew their plans amid a cool reception from state officials. Resort officials are recalibrating their strategy in backrooms, they've told me, re-analyzing the project from an economic-impact point of view. More to come on that.On the Little Cottonwood Canyon gondolaWithout question, the most contentious ski-related development in North America right now is the proposed Little Cottonwood Canyon gondola, which would essentially remove most cars from a cluttered, avalanche-prone road and move the resort base area down below the major snowline. Various protest groups, however, are acting as though this is a proposal to bulldoze the mountains and replace them private mud baths for billionaires. Personally, I think the gondola makes a hell of a lot of sense:But every time I write about it on Twitter, a not-immaterial number of perfectly sane individuals advises me to f**k off and die, so I'd say there's some emotion invested in this one.On the Attitash triple replacementSutner and I go pretty deep on Attitash swapping out its Summit Triple chair for a brand-new high-speed quad. I also discussed this extensively with Attitash GM Brandon Swartz on a recent podcast episode (starting at 6:12):On Ski Inc.We touch briefly on Ski Inc., a fantastic history of the modern ski industry by the late Chris Diamond. If you like this newsletter, Ski Inc. and its sequel, Ski Inc. 2020, are must-reads.On Wachusett's liftsWe discuss Wachusett's proposed upgrade of the Polar Express from a high-speed quad to, perhaps, a six-pack. Here's the trailmap for context:On Wachusett's blocked expansionDespite its immense popularity, Wachusett is probably stuck in its current footprint indefinitely, as Sutner and I discuss. A bit more context from New England Ski History:As the 1993-94 season progressed, Wachusett pushed forward with its expansion plans, requesting to cut two new trails, widen Balance Rock, install a second chairlift to the summit, expand the base lodge, and add 375 parking spots. The plans were met with environmental, archaeological, and water quality concerns. …In August 1995, environmentalists located a stand of 295-year-old oak trees where Wachusett had planned to cut a new expert trail. Though the Crowleys quickly offered to adjust plans to minimize impact, opposition mounted. Plans for the new trail were abandoned a few months later. …In the spring of 1998, Wachusett proposed a scaled back expansion that avoided the old growth forest and instead called for the construction of a snowboard park consisting of two trails and a lift. Around this time, environmentalists announced the discovery of bootleg ski trails on the mountain. The Sierra Club quickly called for the state to terminate Wachusett Mountain Associates' ski area lease, despite not knowing who did the cutting.So, yeah, 99 problems, Man.On two Le Massifs (de Charlevoix and de Sud)So apparently there are two Le Massifs in Quebec, which would have been handy context to have when I wrote about the larger of the two joining the Mountain Collective last year. That Le Massif – Le Massif de Charlevoix – is quite the banger, with 250 inches of average annual snowfall and a 2,526-foot vertical drop on 406 acres:Massif de Sud is still a nice little hill, with 236 inches of average annual snowfall and a 1,312-foot vertical drop, but on just 127 skiable acres:On The Powell MovementSutner mentions an upcoming column he'll write about The Powell Movement podcast. It really is a terrific show, and covers the parts of the ski industry that I ignore (so, like, most of it). Check it out.The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 108/100 in 2023, and number 493 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

Host: Taylor Morgan Salt Lake City and Sandy City have filed a lawsuit against the Utah Department of Transportation’s decision to build a gondola in Little Cottonwood Canyon. KSL Reporter Carter Williams joins the show to walk us through what he’s found out about the lawsuit.

Host: Taylor Morgan The Federal Reserve leaves interest rates unchanged The Federal Reserve announced that it will leave interest rates unchanged. Greg McBride, Chief Financial Analyst with Bankrate, joins the show to discuss how this affects consumers with credit card rates, mortgage rates, and more. Lawsuits against Little Cottonwood Canyon gondola decision Salt Lake City and Sandy City have filed a lawsuit against the Utah Department of Transportation’s decision to build a gondola in Little Cottonwood Canyon. KSL Reporter Carter Williams joins the show to walk us through what he’s found out about the lawsuit. Ranked choice voting vs. approval voting The Utah State Legislature is looking to replace ranked choice voting with approval voting for the municipal alternative methods pilot program. Nate Allen, Executive Director of Utah Approves, joins the show to explain how approval voting works and why it might be a good option for Utahns. What does volunteerism look like in Utah? The number of people volunteering in their communities has gone down nationwide, following a steady decline over the past decade. A.J. Nielsen, Community Engagement Coordinator with Volunteers of America’s Utah division, joins the show to discuss why there are fewer volunteers and what Utahns can do to pick up the pace of volunteer efforts across the state.

It's early season at Alta. OpenSnow forecaster Evan Thayer has left his meteorological screens in the hotel and is bashing his way down some fresh powder under the Collins chair. Life is good. If there is anyone we tens of thousands of Utah skiers owe a ‘thank you' to, it would be Thayer, a weather nerd who hadn't really planned his career path this way, but is thankful his former powder alert email list has turned into life as Utah's snow forecaster.The tools we have today to forecast weather are quite remarkable. The data availability and the scientific knowledge to analyze it are stunning. And that's what Thayer does every morning, beginning at 4:00 a.m., crunching numbers, studying maps and putting out a meaningful forecast by the time we're packing the SUV with skis at 7:00 a.m.Thayer is making his third appearance on Last Chair here in season 5. He was the episode 3 guest in the debut season of the podcast back in December 2019.In this episode, Thayer dives back into his past, growing up with a passion for weather going to CU-Boulder to study and ski, and finding his way to the Greatest Snow on Earth here in Utah.It's an insightful episode that explores his past and the popular weather app OpenSnow.Well, Evan, how was your birthday at Alta?Every early season I like to do a little staycation in Little Cottonwood Canyon. So I had a little birthday staycation at Gold Miner's Daughter. I knew there was a big storm coming. I knew I could get a room for a reasonable rate. And rather than deal with getting up early and getting up the canyon, it's kind of nice to wake up to fresh snow up there in Little Cottonwood Canyon, roll out of bed, get some breakfast, and just trundle out to the lifts.Were you a weather nerd as a kid?I was always a weather nerd. I was the kid who, back in the days prior to having internet, would set a cooking timer so I could run inside from playing with my friends and see the local on the eights on the old Weather Channel because that's when you could see the local radar.You were in the early group of forecasters when OpenSnow was formed. How has it evolved?It's grown a lot. It started as mostly three regions, and now we have, I don't know, 15 to 20 forecasters around the world writing daily snow forecasts. We've grown the product itself to have all sorts of different maps and overlays and different features you can use. Last year we launched Forecast Anywhere, which was a huge undertaking, but it allows a user to click on any point in the world and get the same quality forecast that you would get for, say, Park City or Alta. For any point in the world. You can see an hour-by-hour forecast for the next ten days.How has that expanded the usage?We have evolved as an app where I think traditionally it was all about powder – it was all about skiing. And if you ask me what I care about, what's the most important to me? I'll still say powder and skiing. But people are using the app now for all sorts of different things in the summer. They're using it for their hiking trips. We have trail estimated trail conditions that tell them whether it's a muddy trail, a snowpacked trail, or a dry trail. So if you're planning biking trips, hiking trips or backpacking trips, you can use it for that. We have smoke overlays. So in wildfire season, and how that's going to affect the air quality. We are working to forecast that to make sure you have, again, all the information you need to get out and enjoy nature.OK, what about the whale?That's a great question. The whale is unknowable. All I know is that they installed that on April 1st, 2022, after that moment, it started snowing and it felt like it never stopped. So I can't explain it. So I'm not going to question it. I'm just going to accept that there's a higher power in that whale and just go with it.How can you take advantage of modern forecasting along with the depth of knowledge of weather gurus like Evan Thayer? Take a listen to this episode of Last Chair.

It's early season at Alta. OpenSnow forecaster Evan Thayer has left his meteorological screens in the hotel and is bashing his way down some fresh powder under the Collins chair. Life is good. If there is anyone we tens of thousands of Utah skiers owe a ‘thank you' to, it would be Thayer, a weather nerd who hadn't really planned his career path this way, but is thankful his former powder alert email list has turned into life as Utah's snow forecaster.The tools we have today to forecast weather are quite remarkable. The data availability and the scientific knowledge to analyze it are stunning. And that's what Thayer does every morning, beginning at 4:00 a.m., crunching numbers, studying maps and putting out a meaningful forecast by the time we're packing the SUV with skis at 7:00 a.m.Thayer is making his third appearance on Last Chair here in season 5. He was the episode 3 guest in the debut season of the podcast back in December 2019.In this episode, Thayer dives back into his past, growing up with a passion for weather going to CU-Boulder to study and ski, and finding his way to the Greatest Snow on Earth here in Utah.It's an insightful episode that explores his past and the popular weather app OpenSnow.Well, Evan, how was your birthday at Alta?Every early season I like to do a little staycation in Little Cottonwood Canyon. So I had a little birthday staycation at Gold Miner's Daughter. I knew there was a big storm coming. I knew I could get a room for a reasonable rate. And rather than deal with getting up early and getting up the canyon, it's kind of nice to wake up to fresh snow up there in Little Cottonwood Canyon, roll out of bed, get some breakfast, and just trundle out to the lifts.Were you a weather nerd as a kid?I was always a weather nerd. I was the kid who, back in the days prior to having internet, would set a cooking timer so I could run inside from playing with my friends and see the local on the eights on the old Weather Channel because that's when you could see the local radar.You were in the early group of forecasters when OpenSnow was formed. How has it evolved?It's grown a lot. It started as mostly three regions, and now we have, I don't know, 15 to 20 forecasters around the world writing daily snow forecasts. We've grown the product itself to have all sorts of different maps and overlays and different features you can use. Last year we launched Forecast Anywhere, which was a huge undertaking, but it allows a user to click on any point in the world and get the same quality forecast that you would get for, say, Park City or Alta. For any point in the world. You can see an hour-by-hour forecast for the next ten days.How has that expanded the usage?We have evolved as an app where I think traditionally it was all about powder – it was all about skiing. And if you ask me what I care about, what's the most important to me? I'll still say powder and skiing. But people are using the app now for all sorts of different things in the summer. They're using it for their hiking trips. We have trail estimated trail conditions that tell them whether it's a muddy trail, a snowpacked trail, or a dry trail. So if you're planning biking trips, hiking trips or backpacking trips, you can use it for that. We have smoke overlays. So in wildfire season, and how that's going to affect the air quality. We are working to forecast that to make sure you have, again, all the information you need to get out and enjoy nature.OK, what about the whale?That's a great question. The whale is unknowable. All I know is that they installed that on April 1st, 2022, after that moment, it started snowing and it felt like it never stopped. So I can't explain it. So I'm not going to question it. I'm just going to accept that there's a higher power in that whale and just go with it.How can you take advantage of modern forecasting along with the depth of knowledge of weather gurus like Evan Thayer? Take a listen to this episode of Last Chair.

Salt lake City and Sandy have filed a joint lawsuit that claims UDOT did not complete enough studies on environmental impact before recommending the gondola in Little Cottonwood Canyon.

Salt Lake City and Sandy have filed a joint lawsuit that claims UDOT did not complete enough studies on the environmental impact of the Little Cottonwood Canyon gondola. Deputy Director Salt Lake City Public Utilities Jesse Stewart says a large part of this comes down to the responsibilities of water providers.

KSL's Top Story:  There’s another lawsuit related to the Gondola up Little Cottonwood Canyon.  This time, Sandy and Salt Lake City allege UDOT didn’t look closely at water impacts.  KSL Newsradio’s Aimee Cobabe has the details. 

Back in 2002 Snowbird and Alta didn't host events for the Winter Olympics... but could that change in 2034? Snowbird Resort President Dave Fields joins Jeff to discuss the new bid and if this could impact the proposed gondola in Little Cottonwood Canyon.

UDOT decal, tire prechecks help drivers beat backups in Big, Little Cottonwood Canyon (2:58), Wasatch County manager: Heber Valley temple application received no preferential treatment (6:06), Utah Avalanche Center forecaster Craig Gordon discusses this upcoming winter season, cautions hazards, and what to expect (8:31), Mountain Mediation Center Communications Coordinator Nicole Wozniak and Rev. Elizabeth McVicker of Park City Community Church have details on next Community Conversation (20:39), Park City Ski Swap recap with Jana Dalton, Park City Ski and Snowboard Development Director (30:45), Summit County on-street parking ban starts Nov. 15 (39:01), and Heber Valley Chamber Executive Director Dallin Koecher talks about what's happening around Heber City. (40:17)

The Utah Department of Transportation received more than 35,000 comments about its plans to build a gondola in Little Cottonwood Canyon. According to one count, more than 60% of commenters opposed the idea.

This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on Sept. 29. It dropped for free subscribers on Oct. 6. To receive future pods as soon as they're live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe to the free tier below:WhoDave Fields, President and General Manager of Snowbird, UtahRecorded onSeptember 18, 2023About SnowbirdClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Powdr Located in: Snowbird, UtahYear founded: 1971Pass affiliations:* Ikon Pass: 7 days, shared with Alta, no blackouts* Ikon Base Plus Pass: 5 days, shared with Alta, holiday blackouts* Ikon Base Pass: 5 days, holiday blackouts* Mountain Collective: 2 days, no blackouts* Altabird: unlimited accessClosest neighboring ski areas: Alta (1 second), Solitude (:39), Woodward Park City (:39), Brighton (:42), Park City (:47), Deer Valley (:55) - travel times vary dramatically depending upon weather and time of day and year.Base elevation: 7,760 feet (at Baby Thunder)Summit elevation: 11,000 feet (at Hidden Peak)Vertical drop: 3,240 feetSkiable Acres: 2,500Average annual snowfall: 500 inchesTrail count: 140 (35% most difficult, 38% intermediate, 27% beginner – this is the official breakdown by trail name; anyone who has skied Snowbird knows that the count is closer to 99% Oh S**t, 1% for mortals)Lift count: 14 (1 tram, 6 high-speed quads, 4 doubles, 3 conveyors)Why I interviewed himSince I've skied hundreds of ski areas and I write about them incessantly, people often ask me which one is the best, or at least which is my favorite. It should be a hard question to answer. Nothing else in America delivers the drama of Big Sky, the energy of Palisades Tahoe, the aura of Aspen-Snowmass, the sprawl of Vail Mountain. How could I possibly choose a winner? But it is not a hard question to answer. Because the answer is Snowbird and Alta. And nothing else comes close. Not in Utah. Not in Colorado. Not in Tahoe. Not up and down the Rockies. Not in Alaska. Not in BC. Yes, I'm including Whistler. There is no better skiing.One lift to the top. Three thousand feet of sustained pitch. Five hundred inches of snow – on average. Last season, 838. That's more snow than the Poconos have tallied in every winter since the Lincoln Administration, combined. And all of it like a bag of cottonballs, so light it's a wonder the stuff doesn't float off into the sky. The terrain: vast, varied, labyrinthian, mesmerizing, scarcely groomed. Trees like Narnia, spaced for loping pow turns, chained one to the next by snow meadows smooth and ever-rising. Big open bowls. Chutes stacked off The Cirque like weapons arrayed along an armory wall. Hidden Peak. Mineral. Baldy up top. Alta through the gate. Amazing.That such a place exists at all is a stunning confluence of a dozen natural phenomena. That this snowy freefall sits not in some sawtoothed Alaskan range 600 miles from the nearest road, but 34 miles – half of it interstate – from a major international airport is one of the most amazing facts that I'm aware of. And I've witnessed human birth. Twice.Snowbird is so good that it's hard to imagine how we'd think about great ski areas if it didn't exist. Like contemplating the best basketball player if there'd been no Michael Jordan, or arguing over the best way to light a room prior to the invention of lightbulbs. Whatever you think of as the attributes of a great ski area - and by that I mean the skiing, not the shopping or the apres or the wacky tire-tube races - Snowbird transcends them all.Of course, Alta, as a brand and as an organized ski hill, was there first (by 33 years), and it shares Snowbird's every attribute, with a bit more soul and a bit more snow and a bit less flash and lift-served vert. Part of the Snowbird mystique is proximity to – and the direct connection with – its atmospheric neighbor. If Snowbird stood alone on some Utah steppe, perhaps it would not be so easy to notch the mountain above its peers. But the interplay of the two, their vastness and mystery, their videogame-like tap-dancing between realms, their surreal Cloud City patina, creates, in their fusion, the best version of skiing that we have.What we talked aboutLiving through 838 inches of snow; what happens when hundreds of employees have to spend the night to make sure the mountain can open; why Alta gets more snow than Snowbird; assessing Snowbird's new tram cars and related upgrades; why Snowbird didn't build an all-new tram; catastrophe installing the new tram cars; “I've never had an ocean-liner tracker on my phone until this came to pass”; dealing with disappointment; reminiscing on the mysterious pre-Olympics Utah; the legacy of Snowbird's former longtime GM, Bob Bonar; the transition from independent resort to member of Powdr; “I'm amazed at how quickly the marketplace has changed” from a multi-mountain pass point of view; why Snowbird didn't join the Mountain Collective for its inaugural season in 2012; why Snowbird and Alta joined the Ikon Pass as one combined “destination”; why Snowbird didn't follow Alta off the Ikon Base Pass and whether they'll reconsider that decision; how much we can really blame the Ikon Pass for LCC crowding; why the Altabird pass soared in price for 2023-24; Snowbird's “Freeloader” Pass; reflecting on Fast Tracks two years in; why the tram is excluded from Fast Tracks and whether that will continue to be the case; the potential for a Fast Tracks season pass at Snowbird (which Copper and Killington already sell); breaking down the proposed Little Cottonwood Canyon Gondola; “the highway only works as well as the worst car and bus in it”; why this lift would be the least-impactful solution to LCC traffic; paying for the gondola; how the gondola would alter the calculus of canyon closures; “the more people learned about gondola and how it works, the more they supported it”; the current state of the proposed Mary Ellen Gulch expansion; upgrading Wilbere to a new lift on a new line; potential to develop more green terrain at Snowbird; potential for a six-pack lift at Snowbird and where it could go; and phasing out the howitzers.      Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewFrom 1992 to 2002, Utah recorded around 3 million skier visits per winter, plus or minus a couple hundred thousand. Then the Olympics hit. And the world was like, “Damn.” Like aliens had landed and shown them how to teleport. Or turn pinecones into pterodactyls. Or something else that would be as amazing as seven giant ski areas that all average 300-plus inches of fluffy light snow per winter being situated two sitcoms' drive-time from a major airport.By the 2005-06 ski season, four years after the Games, Utah skier visits crested 4 million for the first time. Which seemed amazing until the Ikon Pass landed for the 2018-19 season, the same winter that Utah skier visits (coincidentally or not), blew past 5 million for the first time. Setting aside the Covid-shortened 2019-20 ski season, they just kept accelerating, hitting an astonishing 7.1 million skier visits last winter.Whether you blame the Olympics or the megapasses or the fact that Utah's population has grown by more than a million people (a 50 percent surge) over the past two decades, the state's ski areas – and only 14 are public facilities that can manage any kind of volume – are getting crushed.Luckily, unlike Washington, where a surging population has no choice but to deal with traffic or drive to Idaho, Utah has no shortage of potential solutions to its high-altitude cluster. Deer Valley recently outlined plans to nearly triple in size. A proposed passenger train could thin traffic on Park City's cluttered roads. And the Utah Department of Transportation recently ruled that a gondola from the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon to the base of Snowbird and Alta was its preferred option to combat the untenable traffic on State Route 210.The gondola would be eight miles long and run high over the road, skirting the firing squad of 50 avalanche paths that run through the canyon. The highway has “the highest uncontrolled avalanche hazard index of any major highway in the world,” University of Utah professor Jim Steenburgh told KSL News Radio in April. Snowbird is in favor of building the gondola. So is Alta. Here's an overview:And a little explainer video:Just about anywhere else in the world, the gondola would be viewed for what it is: a rational solution to an untenable traffic problem. But this is U.S. America, and the lift has instead been recast as an existential threat to both the natural and manmade worlds. I can't even mention it on Twitter without sending a dozen Brobots into fits of feral rage. It's weird. SR-210 would never be built today – the most disruptive possible thing humans can build into the wilderness is a paved road. But this avalanche-prone, congested scar of concrete has been strangely lionized as the only acceptable conduit to the end of the canyon, while the gondola, a light-footprint machine with 22 towers that would run high above the rich natural environment on the canyon floor, is demonized.That's the reality that Snowbird officials are dealing with coming off a record snow season. In our conversation, Fields goes deep into this project, which is unquestionably the most controversial in U.S. American skiing. He has thoughts for the buses-will-fix-it crowd, for the environmental-doomsday crew, for the fiscal hawks fretting over the cost. I could write a book on this, but Fields makes a compelling argument to just build the damn thing.Questions I wish I'd askedI've always been curious why the Peruvian lift terminates where it does, rather than hoisting skiers up to High Baldy Traverse, or even making a turn up Baldy itself. The answer, I'm sure, is some combination of wind and desire to preserve a high-altitude hike-up experience. But that tunnel cutting over to Mineral couldn't have been cheap, and I'd like to hear the story behind how they landed on that configuration.What I got wrongI said that Snowbird had secured approval for the proposed Mary Ellen Gulch expansion from the U.S. Forest Service, but that approval actually came from the Utah County Board of Adjustment.Why you should ski SnowbirdSnowbird is the closest thing I've found to a perfect ski area. For capable skiers. Don't bother if you're a groomer god, or if you haven't skied - or don't like to ski - powder or bumps, or if carving Chip's Run with half the population of Texas doesn't sound fun (it isn't). I say that not to be an a-hole, but because I don't want you to be disappointed. Snowbird is only fun if you're a very good skier. And by that I mean a very good skier on ungroomed terrain. Because the mountain doesn't groom much. And if you're not so good, but you think you are, well, the mountain will have some news for you.It will have a message for you, regardless. This place is savage. Respect the double-blacks. Because Man do they mean it. There is no bailout on The Cirque, no cat-track oopsie-doodle exit. Move too far the wrong way and find yourself staring down Wilma's or Mach Schnell, sheer cliffs disguised as ski trails, mandatory airs between you and your ride home. Chip's is safe, but wander 50 yards off-trail and try not to miss the “Cliffs Ahead” signs. Because when Snowbird says “cliffs” they mean like 100-footers. And don't ski alone into the trees – tree-well safety bulletins were practically invented for this place.Please excuse me here. I'm usually allergic to tough-guy talk. But this place can kill you if you're not careful. Once, a few years back, a group of us skied off Black Forest and into Organ Grinder, a swatch of wooded snowfields skier's right off the Gad 2 lift. Organ Grinder, on the map, is a single run, a line arcing through Niehues whites. On the ground it is a multi-sheathed arsenal of fierce chutes stacked along a wooded face. After gliding through easy trees, we emerged at the top of one of these, a shot tilted at the approximate angle of a rocket launch. A four- or five-foot drop, a half-dozen steep turns to a wall of trees. Then the terrain cinched shut. The only exit a shot between trees and rock walls. Point and go.The run is a single black diamond.But put all that aside for a moment. Snowbird, and especially Snowbird together with Alta, should be the aspirational capstone for any skier driven to master this quirky sport. The vastness and quality and challenge of the terrain is absolutely unmatched anywhere in America. The two ski areas together are twice as large as Jackson and half as groomed as Palisades, with more and better snow than Whistler. And easier to get to than all of them. So go there. Just wait until you're ready.Podcast NotesMiscellany on items discussed in the podcast:On Jackson Hole's tramTo lend context to our discussion around Snowbird's tram upgrade, we talked quite a bit about Jackson Hole's $31 tram project, which stretched from 2006 to ‘08. I could try to explain it myself, or you could just watch this series of videos:On Powdr's portfolioSnowbird is one of 10 ski areas owned by Park City-based Powdr:On the Mountain CollectiveFields said that one of his regrets was not joining the Mountain Collective's inaugural class in 2012. The founding four were Alta, Jackson Hole, Aspen, and Palisades Tahoe. The pass cost $349 for two days at each ski area.On the varying Snowbird/Alta access on Mountain Collective and IkonOne of Mountain Collective's selling points is that rather than combining Snowbird and Alta days, as Ikon Pass does, the pass gives you two days at each, with no blackouts. As Alta, Aspen, and others have backed out of the Ikon Base Pass, the Mountain Collective has become a potent Ikon Pass Base Base, with most of the pass' top ski areas and a substantially lower price.On rope-drop days on Mineral BasinI don't know if this is inspiring or hilarious or horrifying:The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing all year long. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 79/100 in 2023, and number 465 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Want to send feedback? Reply to this email and I will answer (unless you sound insane, or, more likely, I just get busy). You can also email skiing@substack.com. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

A Salt Lake City bookstore received bomb threats this week over an all-ages drag storytime event. Lead producer Emily Means joins host Ali Vallarta to talk about it — because we think more people should be. Plus, we break down a potentially interesting development in the Little Cottonwood Canyon gondola saga as well as what's going on with the ski bus this winter. Listen to our conversation with Tara Lipsyncki about “the new normal” for drag shows. Attend the next Central Wasatch Commission meeting. Comment on the Utah Transit Authority's long-range transit plan by Sept. 30. Need to talk to someone? Check out Westminster University's community clinic. Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter. You can find us on Instagram @CityCastSLC. Looking to advertise on City Cast Salt Lake? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More than fifty years ago, there was a proposal to build a gondola from the base of Little Cottonwood Canyon to Snowbird Ski Resort. What if it was the right idea all along?

This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on Sept. 7. It dropped for free subscribers on Sept. 14. To receive future pods as soon as they're live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe for free below:WhoMike Solimano, President and General Manager of Killington and Pico Mountains, VermontRecorded onSept. 5, 2023About KillingtonClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Powdr CorpLocated in: Killington, VermontYear founded: 1958Pass affiliations: Ikon Pass: 5 or 7 combined days with PicoReciprocal partners: Pico access is included on all Killington passesClosest neighboring ski areas: Pico (:12), Saskadena Six (:39), Okemo (:40), Twin Farms (:42), Quechee (:44), Ascutney (:55), Storrs (:59), Harrington Hill (:59), Magic (1:00), Whaleback (1:02), Sugarbush (1:04), Bromley (1:04), Middlebury Snowbowl (1:08), Arrowhead (1:10), Mad River Glen (1:11)Base elevation: 1,156 feet at Skyeship BaseSummit elevation: 4,241 feet at Killington PeakVertical drop: 3,085 feetSkiable Acres: 1,509Average annual snowfall: 250 inchesTrail count: 155 (43% advanced/expert, 40% intermediate, 17% beginner)Lift count: 20 (2 gondolas, 1 six-pack, 5 high-speed quads, 5 fixed-grip quads, 2 triples, 1 double, 1 platter, 3 carpets - view Lift Blog's inventory of Killington's lift fleet)About PicoClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Powdr CorpLocated in: Mendon, VermontYear founded: 1934Pass affiliations: Ikon Pass: 5 or 7 combined days with KillingtonReciprocal partners: Pico access is included on all Killington passes; four days Killington access included on Pico K.A. PassClosest neighboring ski areas: Killington (:12), Saskadena Six (:38), Okemo (:38), Twin Farms (:38), Quechee (:42), Ascutney (:53), Storrs (:57), Harrington Hill (:55), Magic (:58), Whaleback (1:00), Sugarbush (1:01), Bromley (1:00), Middlebury Snowbowl (1:01), Mad River Glen (1:07), Arrowhead (1:09)Base elevation: 2,000 feetSummit elevation: 3,967 feetVertical drop: 1,967 feetSkiable Acres: 468Average annual snowfall: 250 inchesTrail count: 58 (36% advanced/expert, 46% intermediate, 18% beginner)Lift count: 7 (2 high-speed quads, 2 triples, 2 doubles, 1 carpet - view Lift Blog's inventory of Pico's lift fleet)Why I interviewed himImagine if the statistical bureaus of nations operated like ski areas - the countries just threw around numbers with no basis in measurable reality. China could say it was bigger than Russia, U.S. America could claim more territory than Canada, and North Korea could say it was bigger than all of them combined (hell, it probably does).This is the world one steps into when trying to ascertain the size of New England ski areas. Mt. Abram claims 450 acres. Middlebury Snow Bowl brags on “600-plus acres of woods and glades,” which would make it larger than Sugarbush, the Alterra-owned mega-resort that undersells itself with a 581-acre tally. Here's what the aliens would see if they were to match our internet boasts up to measurable reality:Did Middlebury Snowbowl acquire the air rights over its mountain? Is Mt. Abram built like Istanbul, with several ancient ski areas buried beneath the modern foundation, giving us a vast ski labyrinth to explore?This strategy probably worked better when most skiers' mode of resort comparison was “scanning a bunch of brochures at a rest area.” It's harder to maintain when every human carries a device equipped with a map of planet earth in their pocket at all times. But ski areas keep fibbing anyway.Which is probably why, several years ago, Killington started measuring itself like a Western ski area: draw a border around the property – that's your skiable terrain. Oh, and we'll no longer yell at you for skiing in the woods, which is technically “terrain” even if the underbrush is too thick for anything larger than a chipmunk to navigate.Some of you would like me to challenge statistical inconsistency across the ski industry as a main feature of this newsletter. But I prefer to just make fun of it. If Mt. Abram wants to be the Baghdad Bob of New England skiing, well, what else are you going to do for attention when you're across the street from Sunday River, whose annual lift-upgrade budget exceeds the GDP of Australia?But until the North Conway Treaty of 2038, at which the ski areas of North America will collectively agree upon a universal statistical standard based upon actual measurements, I'm just going to take their word for it (sort of). Here's a list of New England ski areas from largest to smallest, by skiable acreage, according to the ski resort's own claims (I excluded Middlebury Snowbowl and Mt. Abram, which more accurately measure out at 110 and 170 acres, respectively):Anyone who's spent any amount of time skiing New England knows that something feels off with this list. Sugarbush, Stowe, and Jay – three of the dozen or so New England ski areas with reliable glades – ski as big as anything in the East. All three feel substantively larger than Stratton or Mount Snow. And neither Bolton Valley nor Black Mountain of Maine ski on the scale of Cannon or Waterville Valley.But no one is disputing that top line. Killington is the largest ski area in New England. You can quibble about the vertical drop – the gut of Killington is the 1,650-ish-foot K-1 face. To scoop up the full 3,000-plus feet requires a rarely-skied meander down to the Skyeship Base at US 4. Mt. Ellen at Sugarbush (2,600 vertical feet), Madonna at Smuggs (2,150), FourRunner at Stowe (2,046), the single chair at Mad River Glen (1,972 feet), and Sugarloaf's spectacular 2,820-foot face all deliver more sustained steep skiing than The Beast.But there's nothing else in the East on Killington's scale, the massive overlapping network of six peaks rolling in all directions from the frantic hub. It's one of the few ski areas, East or West, where I ever truly feel lost. There's something brilliantly scattershot about it, something feral and boundless and enigmatic, as though 16 small ski areas had been stapled together by someone who's never skied. There are insane traverses and endless flats, riotously steep trees and bumps all over, long groomers that you think lead back to the same lift you just exited, but instead seem to deposit you in New Hampshire. There are trails on the far fringe that feel abandoned on even the busiest days, where you suspect without being able to prove it that you've been transported to an alternate dimension of groomed forever-down, or at least back to a time before the Ikon Pass gave every skier on the eastern seaboard an annual allotment of Killington lift tickets.It all works somehow. This great machine, howling like an armor-plated Mad Max rig, a cobbled-together war machine screaming across the winter plains. It feels like it should fall apart, disintegrate by the combined forces of speed and volume. But it carries on, the growling, supercharged id of New England winter, The Beast a gloss well-earned.What we talked aboutWhat's behind Killington's run of June closings; building the Superstar Glacier; why “The Beast” returned; how Killington pulled off the 2022 World Cup with a wildly warm November; what happened to October openings; early- versus late-season energy; whether social media makes the spring skiing party seem bigger than it is; Pico's massive, multi-year snowmaking evolution; “Pico's probably not worth what one detachable lift costs on its own” – the hard math of lift upgrades; Powdr Corp's long-term commitment to Pico; Pico's private mid-week mountain rentals; the new K-1 lodge; falling in love with skiing on a Magic Mountain powder day; when you start as chief financial officer and the parent company informs you that they may not be able to make payroll the following month; Killington's rowdy transition from American Skiing Company to Powdr Corp to present-day calm; why Powdr Corp had such a tough time adapting to New England, and how the company finally did; online absurdities; the evolution of Powdr Corp; a Killington base village, on the way at last; why the village took so long to permit; “to be a successful village, it can't just be a bunch of condos”; putting pedestrians first; what the village will mean for parking at Ramshead, Snowshed, Vale, and K-1; employee housing; how the village will connect to the resort's lift system; whether we could see a lift from the village up to K-1; why Killington hasn't upgraded Snowshed yet; redesigning Killington Road; fixing Killington's water-quality issues; considering mass transit along Killington Road; priorities for lift upgrades at both ski areas; where Killington could install another six-pack; whether future sixers would have bubbles or D-line tech; why eight-pack lifts are unlikely; the potential for upgrades for the Bear Mountain quad and Snowden triple; what could eventually replace Outpost at Pico; current thinking around the Killington-Pico Interconnect; Fast Tracks two years in; Fast Tracks season passes; the Beast 365 and Ikon Base Pass add-on; and whether Beast 365 passholders are complaining about the dilution of the Ikon Base Pass (spoiler alert: they are).Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewStorm Skiing Podcast #1: Killington & Pico President & General Manager Mike Solimano, was not the first episode I ever recorded, but it was the first one I released. Because, as I wrote at the time, “if you're going to start something like a podcast about Northeast skiing, you really ought to lead off with the most punch-you-in-your-face prominent part of Northeast skiing.” Starting this series with the head of the largest and baddest ski resort in New England injected The Storm with an instant patina of legitimacy, a forked road into journalism from the speculating, self-assured masses endlessly debating ski areas on social media.There are hazards, of course, to going first, especially for a rapidly evolving brand like The Storm. A lot has changed in four years. The podcast sounds better. The Storm's scope has expanded nationwide, embedding each subject in a national, rather than a regional, context. The article accompanying each episode is far richer, with maps and stats and charts that the reader once had to source on their own. And I hope – I'll let the listener decide – that I've improved as an interviewer and as a host.It was time to reset Killington and Pico. But with purpose. My mission, at The Storm's outset four years ago, was simply to make connections with ski area leaders. The podcast episodes were more general-information sessions than conversations tuned to the moment. But almost every podcast on the current schedule is pegged to some tangible development: Keystone (scheduled for the week of Sept. 11), is opening the Bergman Bowl expansion after a one-year delay; Snowbird (Sept. 18), is a big player in the controversial Little Cottonwood Canyon gondola project; Attitash (Nov. 6), is at long last replacing the Summit Triple with a high-speed quad. Even Great Bear, South Dakota – scheduled for the week of Sept. 25 – is planning a new lift and expansion.Killington just announced what is potentially the most transformative project in New England skiing for at least a generation: the approval to build, at long last, a (hopefully pedestrian) base village in the vast basin between Snowshed and Ramshead, a space currently occupied by parking lots sizeable enough to house the population of Ecuador. The East does not currently have anything like this – at least not at the foot of a ski area, where such things ought to be. But the region desperately needs this sort of human-scaled infrastructure.I live in New York City, which means I am surrounded by acquaintances who have the means and desire to ski, but who do not necessarily ski that often. They will frequently petition me for recommendations that sound something like: where can I take my family/group of friends/brunch club skiing for a long weekend that is within driving distance of the city, has somewhere to stay on the mountain, and has food/drinking options within a short walk? And my answer to them is: there is nothing like that here. Go to Park City/Breckenridge/Aspen/somewhere else out West. New England is so preoccupied with preserving their natural environment that most meaningful development is done a several-mile drive from the major ski hills, which of course compromises the natural environment with sprawl, excessive traffic, and parking lots the size of the Mendenhall Glacier.There are some minor exceptions to this: small villages at Stratton and Stowe. Ample slopeside accommodations at Smugglers' Notch and Okemo. But none of these give the skier that sense of place they'll find in Steamboat or Crested Butte or even Vail Village, with its pedestrian walkways paved over what had been wilderness until the 1960s. But who says a new village is a “fake” village, as they're so often framed? A place for people to gather is a place for people to gather, and if we could build such places 2,000 years ago, we can build them today.New England deserves this. Because great ski areas are better when the community doesn't end at the bottom of the lift queue. Because once we build one, others will follow. Because it's a fairly stupid fact that the region of the United States most known for its quaint small towns is without a single quaint ski town (meaning, one that backs up to the ski resort). Because Built America has sprawled out enough, and its time to back up and fill in all the blank space with something better. Because there is no better way for a state preoccupied with preserving its natural environment to build than in dense clusters of life and activity. And because it would be fabulous and because it would work and because I'm tired of telling New Yorkers to fly to Aspen when Killington ought to be able to give them everything they need.Questions I wish I'd askedI wanted to talk a bit about the Woodward park that Powdr has been dropping at Killington each of the past several winters. I also had a few questions about passes: the Pico K.A.'s odd name, the creeping price of the Killington spring pass, whether the Mountain Collective was in play for Killington.What I got wrongAbout the size of PicoI said Pico was about “the size of Cannon or the size of Waterville Valley.” This is kind of true but was also an on-the-fly guess. As is clear from the skiable acreage discussion above, gauging the size of New England ski areas is a little bit of a party game. I think Pico and Waterville are about the same size, but Pico, mimicking Killington's border-to-border measurement philosophy, claims 468 acres. Waterville, which, according to general manager Tim Smith, only counts trail acreage, sits at 265 acres. But both hit right around 2,000 feet of vert. Cannon is a bit higher, at 2,180. Still, I think it was a fair comparison. Here are New England's tallest ski areas, organized by vertical drop:About resumesI said in the intro that Solimano had joined Killington in 2002. He actually started in December 2001, as he clarifies in the interview.About the Ikon Base PassWhen discussing the erosion of the Ikon Base Pass over time, I said that “Alterra had taken mountains off” the pass. That wasn't exactly right or fair. Former Alterra CEO Rusty Gregory told me on the podcast last year that Alterra resisted creating the Plus tier for Ikon Base. But Jackson Hole and Aspen, facing locals' revolts over the pass' impact, insisted on doing something. The Ikon Base Plus, then, was a compromise. Other ski areas have followed since the Base Plus debuted in 2020: Alta and Deer Valley (the latter of which Alterra does own) in 2022, and Taos in 2023. Snowbasin and Sun Valley opted for Base Plus over Base when they joined the coalition in 2022.Still, however we got here, the fact is this: the Ikon Base Pass excludes seven of the pass' most attractive destinations. Unfortunately, passholders at partner resorts that offer an Ikon Base Pass with their top-tier season passes (Sugarloaf, Sunday River, Loon, Killington, Windham, Aspen, Big Sky, Taos [sold out], Alta, Snowbasin, Snowbird, Brighton, Jackson Hole [sold out], Sun Valley, Mt. Bachelor, Boyne Mountain), are not able to upgrade to an Ikon Base Plus or full Ikon Pass. Several leaders of the above-mentioned mountains have confirmed to The Storm that their passholders find this annoying, like getting a year of free Domino's but being told that you can only order salad and sandwiches. No pizza for you. Alta is the pizza on the Ikon Pass. Jackson Hole is pizza. Aspen is pizza. Blue Mountain is a Chicken Ceasar salad. It's nice. It tastes fine. But really everyone wants the pizza.Here's that chart again tracking Ikon Pass partners by tier over time:Why you should ski Killington and PicoOne reason to ski Killington is easy: often, it's your only option. The mountain closed June 1 this year, more than a month after every other resort in the region other than Jay and Sugarbush, which both ran to May 7. On the other end, The Beast has somewhat ceded its rush to open. After six October openings in the eight seasons beginning in 2011, Killington hasn't spun the lifts before Halloween since 2018 (warm falls and Covid haven't helped). But they're rarely beaten to go-live in New England, and seasons that push or exceed 200 days make sure the mountain's expensive season pass is worth it.Pico is funny. If it were anywhere else other than exactly next door to the largest ski area in New England, Pico might be a major ski area. Its 468 acres would make it the largest ski area in New Hampshire. A 2,000-foot vertical drop is impressive anywhere. The mountain has two high-speed lifts. And, by the way, knockout terrain. There is only one place in the Killington complex where you can run 2,000 vertical feet of steep terrain: Pico.The American norm is that skier visits move east-to-west. But I'll get an occasional email from a Rocky Mountain dweller who's visiting family out east, and they want to know where to ski. There are 100 ski areas in New England – more than in Colorado (34), California (30), Utah (18), and Montana (16) combined. How do you sort through all that? If you want my recommendations of what to do with a week, I'd tell you to start with Killington, then move north through Sugarbush, Mad River Glen, Stowe, Smugglers' Notch, and Jay Peak. Then cross the top of New England to Sugarloaf. That's the best of what we've got. But The Beast, the king of them all, is Killington.Podcast NotesMiscellany on items discussed in the podcast:On Killington's historic opening and closing datesKillington has done a nice job documenting these on its website:On the history of the Women's World Cup at KillingtonSince 2016, Killington has acted as the early-season U.S. stop on the Women's World Cup, drawing enormous, raucous crowds. While I don't cover ski racing or competition, I acknowledge the importance of this event to Killington, as an ancillary business, as a celebration of the sport, as a cultural token, and as a showcase of the resort's singular snowmaking firepower. You can sign up for Killington's World Cup updates here.On North Ridge early-season skiingEarly-season skiing at Killington is a novel, inventive, highly orchestrated event. Typically, only three runs are open, and they are lodged on an area called North Ridge near the top of Killington Peak. Skiers park in the K-1 lot, ride the K-1 gondola over brown slopes to the summit, walk across a catwalk (and its many, many steps), and arrive in winter: typically the Rime, Reasons, and East Fall trails, snowy and frantic with fellow early-season lunatics. The concentration of very good skiers tends to be quite amazing, as the Park Brahs are Parking Out Brah – with whatever little knoll they can turn into a feature (plus, usually, a few built on Reason by Killington's parks crew). You lap North Ridge Quad for as long as you can tolerate, but you can't ski back down – there's no snow below East Fall. So you have to hike back up the catwalk, back to K-1, and ride the gondy back down to the parking lot. Here's a diagram:It's less about the skiing, frankly, than about being a part of something unique and joyful. The skiing, however, is sometimes quite good, especially if it's cold enough to leave the snowguns running, refreshing the surface all day long.On Pico's lift fleetPico has one of the oldest lift fleets in New England – the last new lift install was 35 years ago. Strangely, the mountain also has two high-speed quads, both the (historically) problematic Yan detachables (read more on that in the Podcast Notes section here). But, for reasons Solimano details in the podcast, new lifts are unlikely anytime soon. Pico's current state, per Lift Blog:On Powdr Corp's portfolioKillington is one of 10 North American ski areas owned by Park City-based Powdr Corp:On the lawsuit around lifetime season passesWhen Powdr Corp purchased Killington in 2007, the company inherited the largest ski area in New England – and a gigantic anchor in the form of 1,243 “lifetime” season passes distributed by a former owner. Powdr said, “Yeah we're not doing that,” the passholders sued, and Powdr ultimately won. A 2010 synopsis from Legal Blog Watch:Twenty years ago, Killington, Vt., resident Martin Post and his wife, Jill, paid about $3,500 each for lifetime ski passes at Killington Resort. The Posts are happily still alive but, as of May 17, 2010, their passes are not.The Times Argus reports that in May, U.S. Judge Christina Reiss found that the resort's current owners, SP Land Co. and Powdr Corp., which purchased Killington Resort in 2007, were under no legal obligation to honor the passes that were sold in the early years of the ski area as an incentive to attract investors.The class action litigation before Judge Reiss involved 1,243 pass holders -- 342 yearly transferable passes and 901 passes that could be transferred a single time. The plaintiffs alleged that under the wording of the investor passes, the holder is entitled "to the free use of all ski lifts operated by (Sherburne) Killington Ltd. at (Killington Basin) Killington Ski Area so long as the corporation shall operate in that area under an agreement with the state of Vermont." Plaintiffs claimed that the reference to "the corporation" meant any subsequent operator of the ski area, including the new owners, but the court disagreed.Judge Reiss granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment, finding that "the only reasonable interpretation of that language is that it requires Killington Ltd. to provide the designated passholder free use of all ski lifts operated by Killington Ltd. at the Killington Ski Area so long as it operates in that area ... "The term corporation, she wrote, "clearly refers to the named corporations, Sherburne and Killington Ltd." and "reveals no intention to bind Killington Ltd's successors ... To the contrary, Killington Ltd.'s obligations under the passes clearly terminate with its cessation of operations in the area."The plaintiffs have appealed Reiss' decision to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.I'm assuming the plaintiffs lost the appeal, but I can't find any record of it.On New England's 100 ski areasHere's the inventory - collect them all! (let me know if you have):The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 74/100 in 2023, and number 460 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Want to send feedback? Reply to this email and I will answer (unless you sound insane, or, more likely, I just get busy). You can also email skiing@substack.com. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

By now you've probably heard about the gondola, the one that's slated to go up Little Cottonwood Canyon. It's still decades away, but debate over the plan is holding steady at a fever pitch.

The Utah Department of Transportation has officially greenlit the controversial proposal to build a 22-tower, 8-mile gondola up Little Cottonwood Canyon. Host Ali Vallarta asks Salt Lake Tribune enterprise reporter Julie Jag what this means for the next 10 years of recreating in the canyon — and whether it's still a pipe dream. Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter. You can find us on Instagram @CityCastSLC and Twitter @CityCastSLC Looking to advertise on City Cast Salt Lake? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on Aug. 16. It dropped for free subscribers on Aug. 19. To receive future pods as soon as they're live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe for free below:WhoTravis Crawford, Co-Owner and General Manager of Great Divide, MontanaRecorded onJuly 17, 2023About Great DivideClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Betsy Moran, Shane Moran, Travis Crawford, Rose CrawfordLocated in: Marysville, MontanaYear founded: 1941Pass affiliations: NoneReciprocal partners: 3 days each at Whitefish, Snow King, Mt. Spokane, Bogus Basin, Mount Bohemia, Powderhorn CO, Ski Cooper, SunlightClosest neighboring ski areas: Discovery (2:13), Bridger Bowl (2:19), Montana Snowbowl (2:30)Base elevation: 5,750 feet (at bottom of Wild West)Summit elevation: 7,250 feet (at top of Belmont chair)Vertical drop: 1,500 feetSkiable Acres: 1,500Average annual snowfall: 150 inchesTrail count: 127 (17% expert, 30% advanced, 47% intermediate, 7% beginner)Lift count: 6 (5 doubles, 1 ropetow­­­)Why I interviewed himShould we all have a town bump like Great Divide. At the base: sundecks, steps wound between wooden buildings, bunched lifts rising from the parking lot. Centerpole Riblet doubles, those glorious machines. Up the mountain, a vastness. No fuss. Little grooming. Treed meadows hanging off traverses, flouncing down the incline. Up and over ridges. Narrow cuts through the trees. The kind of place, like Snowbird or Palisades, where runs meld together across broad faces. But without the extreme steepness of those alphas. But enough, pitched just so, a captivating kingdom begging for exploration.There's a homey appeal to a ropetow bump or a Midwestern 300-footer. Like a small-town gas station or a grocer or, as we call convenience stores in Michigan, a “party store.” Hey Fella, we see you there. Welcome. You're part of it. Thanks for it. See ya next time. That's why these places build skiers faster than ants raise pyramids of dirt in your driveway. That sort of casual inclusion invites immersion.It can be tricky to even imagine how such back-slapping could translate to any ski area so large that you can't see the whole thing from the parking lot. Actually achieving it is damn near impossible. Step into the frantic base at Park City or Steamboat or Big Sky or Snowbird and you immediately feel lost in the scale of it, surrounded by tens of millions of dollars worth of high-speed lifts telling you to get the hell out of there as fast as possible. Downhome has a tough time snagging shotgun on a vehicle made to transport 20,000 skiers per day.Great Divide occupies a rare and special place in American skiing: big terrain, tight community. That town-bump energy distilled, preserved, guarded, a launchpad to the rambling terrain above. Montana, of course, is filled with such places: Bridger Bowl and Lost Trail and Maverick and Discovery and Montana Snowbowl and Red Lodge and Turner. Ski areas with the vert and acreage to be monsters, but with the humble lifts and base buildings that communicate the real-life fact of a snowy town square.It is impossible not to love this place. Detach Bro may grumble about the fleet of Riblet doubles. Powder Bro will remind you that Great Divide's 150 annual inches of snowfall is barely a passable week in Little Cottonwood Canyon. Corduroy Bro will wish for more top-to-bottom groomers. But unless your soul has been wrenched from your body by one too many cable news benders, the totality of this place will resonate with you, and leave you full long after you've driven back down the mountain.What we talked aboutWhy Great Divide's skier visits keep going up every year; Great Divide's first-to-open, last-to-close tradition; the art of summertime slope maintenance; how Great Divide manages on just 150 inches per year; the methodical evolution of the ski area; buying the ski area you grew up at; what it means to be a community ski area; the pressure of carrying on a legacy; raising your kids on the mountain; the ownership group that Crawford purchased the ski area with in 2020; the Covid shutdowns and the aftermath; #Goals; modifying centerpole Riblets for MTB operations; Great Divide has two full Riblet lifts sitting in its boneyard – where should they go?; potential expansion; why Great Divide never built the Rawhide Gulch lift that appeared as future construction on old trailmaps; operating a ski area on Bureau of Land Management land and how that differs from operating on U.S. Forest Service land; potential Belmont lift upgrades; how an upgrade to the Wild West lift will allow it to spin faster; a potential new transfer lift; considering a carpet for the beginner area; the history of the unique Rawhide lift; yes, you can outfit centerpole Riblets with safety bars; retrofitting the rest of Great Divide's lift fleet with bars; why the mountain's official trail count has shrunk over the years; the ravages of the pine beetle; fire mitigation; don't ski into that mineshaft; snowmaking and water issues; potential parking additions; a potential new baselodge; Great Divide's $350 early-bird season pass deal and whether they will be able to hold that price; Great Divide's extensive reciprocal lift ticket deals; and the Indy Pass.Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewIn January 2020, Crawford, along with his wife Rose and Betsy and Shane Moran, bought Great Divide from its longtime owners, Kevin and Nyla Taylor. Less than two months later, the world collapsed. Or so it seemed in the moment. And now they owned a ski area, which I guess at the moment probably felt like owning the wagon factory next door to the Model T plant.Three years later, Great Divide just set a record for skier visits for the second consecutive season. The place is working. The Taylors' legacy is secure. Over 35 years, they'd transformed the mountain from a T-bar joint run by a local ski club to the 48th-largest ski area in America. They'd entrusted their life's work to an ownership group that included their daughter, Betsy. Great Divide had survived Covid. Now what?As much as the Taylors achieved, Great Divide is still incredibly raw. The potential to add lifts and terrain is vast. The mountain could use a bigger baselodge, more parking, better snowmaking. Crawford and I discuss all of this. He has ideas. Many will happen. Actualizing each project is a matter of capital, permitting, planning, timing: a new Belmont lift, deeper water rights, an expansion off Rawhide Gulch. Great Divide will not stand still.The question, of course, is how the ski area evolves without shedding its community ethos, its approachability and neighborly gleam. That balance, so hard to attain, is so easy to lose. But Crawford is well-positioned to achieve it. He lives, with his wife and two young kids, on the mountain. His 8-year-old son, he tells us, wakes up on Saturday morning, walks down to the lodge, gears up, and bombs the mountain alone all day long. Spoiling that atmosphere of howdy-get-along would be like tilling up your lawn and planting weeds. He just won't do it.What I got wrongEmbarrassingly, I kept calling the Taylors the “Naylors.” I don't know why. My apologies to Kevin and Nyla Taylor.I kept pronouncing “Helena,” as “Heh-Lain-Ah,” which is how I'd pronounced it since I was like zero years old. But talking to Crawford and other locals made me realize that the correct pronunciation is, “Heh-Leh-Nah.” But everyplace has its micro-regional place-name pronunciations that are impenetrable to outsiders. Have fun with “Muskegon,” “Swartz Creek,” “Frankenmuth,” “Clio,” “Pinconning,” “Roscommon,” “Mackinac,” and “Epoufette” if you're not from Michigan.Why you should ski Great DivideLet's start here: a full-day adult lift ticket for the 2022-23 ski season was $64. That's four cents an acre. Not a bad conversion rate, and worthwhile even if you already have a multi-mountain pass or two tucked in your jacket pocket. And the joint is incredibly easy to get to (well, once you get to the middle of Montana), seated just eight miles off Interstate 15. So situated, Great Divide is a terrific decompression zone as you travel between Whitefish and Big Sky.But go out of your way to get here if you must. The terrain is incredibly fun. Great Divide is not an extreme mountain or an especially snowy mountain, but it is an interesting one, with an appealing balance of semi-technical lines, glades, groomers, and de-stumped meadows that you can bomb with little concern for sharks.Epic and Ikon Pass sales continue to climb. And no wonder why – these are astonishing bargains, punchcards to deep resort rosters that can satisfy any type of skier. This breadth and ease of access is good for skiing. But the passes' popularity likely drives ever-more skiers to a relatively stable number of resorts, fundamentally transforming the experience of skiing the big-mountain West. But there are hacks, a sub-circuit of ski areas that are marketed primarily to locals but deliver terrain and vert that is comparable to – and far emptier than – the better-known ski areas headlining the big passes. Great Divide is one of them. Go get it.Podcast NotesOn Montana's large and underrated ski areasMontana is the fourth-largest U.S. state by area, after Alaska, Texas, and California, but it's home to just 18 alpine ski areas. They may be among the most underrated collection of ski areas in America, however: 12 cover 950 or more acres, and several clock an average annual snowfall of 300 inches or more.On the old proposed Rawhide Gulch liftCrawford and I briefly discuss a proposed-but-never-built lift that would have run up Rawhide Gulch – you can see that on the left hand side of this circa 1993 trailmap, between Jackpot and 4th of July:On the peak that Winter Park will develop I referred to a peak that lay within Winter Park's Forest Service permit area and was slated for development under the ski area's most-recent masterplan. That's Vasquez Ridge, which I broke down in this article last year.On the safety bar on Great Divide's centerpole Riblets The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 69/100 in 2023, and number 455 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Want to send feedback? Reply to this email and I will answer (unless you sound insane, or, more likely, I just get busy). You can also email skiing@substack.com. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on April 20. It dropped for free subscribers on April 23. To receive future pods as soon as they're live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe for free below:WhoTodd Bennett, President and Chief Operating Officer of Deer Valley Resort, UtahRecorded onApril 19, 2023About Deer ValleyClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Alterra Mountain CompanyLocated in: Park City, UtahYear founded: 1981Pass affiliations: 7 unrestricted days on Ikon Pass, five days with blackouts on Ikon Base Pass PlusReciprocal partners: Unlimited Deer Valley season passholders receive one day each at Alta, Brighton, and SnowbirdClosest neighboring ski areas: Park City Mountain Resort (5 minutes), Utah Olympic Park (18 minutes), Woodward Park City (20 minutes), Solitude (1 hour), Snowbird (1 hour), Brighton (1 hour, 8 minutes), Alta (1 hour, 8 minutes) – travel times vary considerably with weather and traffic; if U.S. Americans could summon a worldview that extends beyond their dashboards, they would understand that this entire megaplex could be connected with a handful of gondolas, reducing traffic and emissions in the Wasatch by about 40 billion percent.Base elevation: 6,570 feet at Jordanelle baseSummit elevation: 9,570 feet at top of EmpireVertical drop: 3,000 feet, though this cannot be skied contiguously – the longest high-quality continuous vertical drops are on Bald Mountain, at around 1,750 vertical feet.Skiable Acres: 2,026Average annual snowfall: 300 inchesTrail count: 103Lift count: 27 (1 six-passenger gondola, 14 high-speed quads, 5 triples, 1 double, 1 platter serving private homes, 5 conveyors)Deer Valley's trailmap is a little confusing, as it looks as though you can ski from the top of Empire to the bottom of Jordanelle. The resort sits on a series of adjacent hillocks, however, which you can see on this topographic map on ikonpass.com:Why I interviewed himThere's a version of reality in which Deer Valley is nothing special. A 2,000-ish-acre bump neighboring Park City, which sprawls more than three times as large. A 300-inch bucket of snow standing meekly against the 500-inch-plus dumptrucks stacking up each winter in the nearby Cottonwoods. Three thousand feet of vertical is compelling, but you can't ski it all at once, like you can at Snowbird or Park City. Deer Valley could be the Pico of Utah, a pretty good ski area made average by its address among amazing ski areas.But that's not how we view the place, because that's not what Deer Valley is. Deer Valley is an Alterra flagship, so singular that it is the only one of the company's 16 ski areas excluded from the Ikon Base Pass. The mountain's $2,890 season pass is the most expensive in America. It has landed in the top three of Ski Magazine's reader resort rankings for 25 consecutive seasons.Why? Why is this place so exceptional, so expensive and yet so treasured? Go ahead and list the superficial and the obvious: a fleet of groomers expansive enough to invade Newfoundland, 14 high-speed quads, ski valets, staff to escort your skis onto snow like a prized dachshund. It's still not so obvious why DV is it. The armada of high-speed lifts, once so novel, are standard-issue Wasatch utilities now. Even Alta has them. Every large ski area grooms widely and well. And slopeside ski check is not so rare as to be a differentiator. At least not in 2023. There are lots of fancy ski areas. Sun Valley would gladly throw down in a groom-off. You could coronate the next queen of England in a Snowbasin bathroom stall. And Beaver Creek gives you a warm cookie at the end of the day. Match that, Deer Valley.So there is something more subtle than lifts and grooming going on here. Something that has transcended generations of owners and survived the oft-rough entry into corporate Skidom. The place has an essence. Something as pronounced as Little Cottonwood chest-thumping or parkbrah tumbling over Brighton kickers or party-town Park City. Something fiercely distinct yet hard to define.Have you ever visited the Palace of Versailles? A sprawling and ornate palace rising off 2,500 acres of immaculate grounds a few miles outside of Paris. Built for royals, it is now open to all. To tour the place is to feel both humbled and empowered. Here is this triumph of the human imagination, actualized into a thing too spectacular to comprehend. Yet plain old you can wander and wonder and admire and absorb. And skiing Deer Valley is a little bit like that. Like stumbling into a palace of skiing, unsure what you're looking at, but amazed at the whole scene.What we talked aboutDoubling Deer Valley's average annual snowfall; extending the season and why April 23 will be the last day; what it's like to live among all that snow every single day; where Deer Valley has to do avalanche mitigation; New York ski roots; Vail Mountain in the ‘90s; the vast options for the SoCal skier; how a 20-year career at Disney led to a job running one of America's best ski resorts; how Disney Bro resembles Ski Bro; the making of The Man Behind the Maps: Legendary Ski Artist James Niehues; how the book was born out of luck at Tamarack, Idaho; blowing away expectations on Kickstarter; why Alterra treats Deer Valley differently than its other resorts from an Ikon Pass access standpoint; going deep on Burns Express; why Deer Valley reoriented the liftline uphill and how that's changed the skier flow on the mountain; the thrill of flying towers; the reconfigured Snowflake lift; why Burns is and likely always will be more of a transit lift; auto-down restraint bars are here; you're probably raising the safety bar too early; why Burns got the upgrade before any of Deer Valley's older high-speed quads; Deer Valley's huge base-area redevelopment plans; the higher-capacity lifts that could replace the Carpenter and Silver Lake high-speed quads; employee housing; why a base area development isn't necessarily a play for more skier visits; which lifts could be in line for upgrades next; whether Deer Valley would consider upgrading any of its fixed-grip triples; why there isn't a ski connection between Deer Valley and Park City, even though they meet at Empire; a potential Deer Valley connection with the rising Mayflower resort; the impact of removing Deer Valley from the Ikon Base Pass; the surprising number of daily lift tickets that Deer Valley still sells, even at $250-plus; and why the resort continues to ban snowboarding.Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewDeer Valley spent their offseason planting this beauty on the mountainside:The 190-vertical-foot Doppelmayr high-speed quad was the cornerstone Deer Valley's re-imagined Snow Park beginner terrain. Last year, the small terrain pod looked like this:The old Burns lift, a Yan double that dated to the resort's 1981 opening, ran straight up the fall line. It paralleled the shorter Snowflake lift, which loaded halfway up the trail. A series of magic carpets sat below Snowflake.That's all changed. Old Burns is gone, clearing a beginner-friendly skiway. Deer Valley used parts from Burns to lengthen Snowflake all the way to the base. They then moved the existing carpets looker's left, along the old Burns line. A series of four progression carpets now climb the incline.New Burns serves an entirely different purpose from Old Burns. Rather than simply hauling beginners up Wide West, as the old lift did, it transports them up to the Deer Hollow trail, which they can then ski down to Mountaineer Express to access the Little Baldy Peak pod. Prior to this change, beginners had no easy way to access Little Baldy – they had to either ride the Carpenter high-speed quad to the summit of Bald Eagle Mountain and take the Big Stick and Little Stick trails to Deer Hollow; ride Silver Lake Express and ski down to the Crown Point triple and then up to blue-square Kimberly and green-circle Navigator; or catch a ride over to the Jordanelle ticket office and ride the gondola up. Mostly, they didn't do that, and since that terrain holds less appeal to more advanced skiers, it was largely underutilized.Bennett admitted that New Burns is mostly a transit lift to get skiers up to the Little Baldy terrain. Skiers can lap Gnat's Eye, but it's a narrow and not very interesting trail, and so most don't. But as another brick in Palace DV, the lift accomplishes exactly what it's supposed to. And it's a gorgeous machine:I suspect, however, that Burns is simply an anchor for Deer Valley's far larger proposed redevelopment of its Snow Park Base area. Right now, skiers arrive to parking lots, as they do in most of U.S. America, and walk up to a handful of base buildings and a pair of high-speed quads. It's an bland entrance to a remarkable ski resort:Deer Valley would cover these parking lots with a ski-in-ski-out mixed-use village. Cars would go underground. Retail, restaurants, residences, and rental units would rise above pedestrian streets. Carpenter and Silver Lake would extend into the village, the former replaced by a new high-speed quad or six-pack, the latter by a gondola:Here's a clearer image of where the lifts could sit in relation to their current load points:We're a long way out from this transformation. The estimated project completion date is 2029. But this development would transform Deer Valley, infusing it with a sense of place beyond the trail footprint. The resort happens to reside in Park City, one of the liveliest ski towns in North America. For decades, Deer Valley has ceded streetlife to the municipality. But there's no reason it has to. Like sister resorts Steamboat, Winter Park, Palisades Tahoe, and Crystal, the Wasatch fancypants is evolving into something better connected to the community around it and anchored in the current moment, in which we are at long last deprioritizing the personal vehicle and building people-first places that we can all enjoy.What I got wrongI noted that Park City Mountain Resort was “twice as large” as Deer Valley, but it's actually quite a bit bigger: 7,300 acres to Deer Valley's 2,026 – that's 2.3 times as big.Why you should ski Deer ValleyYes groomers blah blah whatever. Honestly this is not a thing I care about when I travel West. But I do like this:And this:And this:Not so much this, but it's here if you're psychotic:No, it's not Snowbird. But it's Utah. The snow is light and fine. The trail network sprawls. If you can't find something fun in 2,000 acres, the problem is not the mountain. Plus, look again at the trailmap – every peak has like four high-speed lifts stringing you to the top. The potential to rack vert here is amazing.Podcast NotesOn the long seasonBennett and I briefly discussed a Snowbasin tweet calling out skiers for not showing up after the resort extended its season. Here it is:On The Man Behind the MapsIf you're reading this newsletter, there's a better than 80 percent chance that someone has stuffed a copy of The Man Behind the Maps, a tome archiving the trailmap art of James Niehues, into your Christmas stocking at some point over the last four years. Bennett, as it turns out, was the muscle behind the book, reaching out to Niehues and convincing him to compile the work, then pulling together a global network to print and distribute it. If you're not familiar with this work of art, check it out:On Mayflower ResortDid you know that a major new public U.S. ski resort is under construction at this moment? And that this resort will cover 4,300 acres on a 3,200-foot vertical drop served by 18 aerial lifts? And that this resort is exactly next door to Deer Valley? And that this is all amazingly getting absolutely no coverage while a couple of dingbats in Park City spin themselves into a hissyfit over Vail's attempts to upgrade two chairlifts and a considerably larger contingent of dingbats fights the most serious attempt to untangle traffic in Little Cottonwood Canyon in decades by assaulting a gondola proposal as though they were defending the Alamo? It's true. It's called Mayflower. Watch this video full of hyperbole that's clearly made for people who know almost nothing about skiing to see for yourself:That this is actually happening - that we are really about to have a brand-new, major ski resort in an over-skied slice of U.S. America that desperately needs more capacity - is a freaking miracle. Bennett and I don't dig too deeply into this project, but we do discuss it in this context: when Mayflower goes live, there is a very good chance that Deer Valley could operate it. And if that happens, well, no snowboarding Brah. Because Deer Values or something. I'm not a fan of snowboarding bans, but I am a fan of building more ski resorts, so I'll take the win.On the lack of a Deer Valley/Park City ski ConnectionYou can ski between Snowbird and Alta, even though one is owned by Powdr Corp and the other is owned by a clandestine group of snow ninjas. You can ski between Brighton and Solitude, even though one is owned by Boyne Resorts and the other is owned by Alterra. But you cannot ski between Deer Valley and Park City, even if you have an Epic Pass and an Ikon Pass, even though they boundary up to one another on Empire Peak:A patrol shack sits atop Empire, halting all who would pass. Locals call this the “Berlin Wall.” I'm not sure what the sense of it is. Deer Valley has done a pretty solid job of restricting ticket availability. I'm pretty sure the number of folks who would add on a DV ticket just for a few runs is nominal. However, there could be enormous environmental benefits to such a connection. When I was skiing Deer Valley, I had to take a long shuttle ride through congested weekend traffic both ways to ski half a day at Park City. Imagine if I could have eliminated two surface transit trips by simply skiing over the pass? Not that this would have eliminated these shuttles, necessarily, as other folks rode them as well, but if a critical mass of people decided to use skis and already-spinning lifts to move across the megaplex rather than surface transit, that could have a material impact on the town's notorious congestion.And imagine skiing all of this in one go:The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 37/100 in 2023, and number 423 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Want to send feedback? Reply to this email and I will answer (unless you sound insane, or, more likely, I just get busy). You can also email skiing@substack.com. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe