FIS World Cup Alpine Ski Racing Season is Underway

If you are an alpine skier and a fan of World Cup racing it has been exciting to be here lately.  For the past week the US SKi Team has been training in Vail on the race courses at Golden Peak created thanks to a multi-million dollar investment by Vail Resorts and Ski and Snowboard Club Vail.

Bode Miller, Lindsay Vonn, Sarah Schleper, and nearly 50 other athletes have been in town creating a pre-ski season buzz that culminated in the "unvailing" of this year's US Ski Team in Lionshead last night.  It was a loud and ehtusiastic crowd that saved its wildest cheers for the introductions of Miller and Ted Ligety on the men's team, and true local Schleper as well as long-adopted local Vonn of the women's team.


The 2010/2011 US Men's Alpine Ski Team

In addition to Vonn and Schleper, Glenwood Springs, CO native Alice McKennis was also named to the Women's A Team, and Vail Valley locals Hunter Schleper and Abby Ghent were named to the Men's and Women's Development teams respectively.


Local heroine Sarah Schleper greets the crowd in Vail Square


After the success of the US team at the Vancouver Olympics, we are all really excited to see what this season has in store.  We get a close up look at the Men's team in a few weeks as the World Cup makes its annual stop in Beaver Creek for the Birds of Prey Downhill and a series of other races from December 3rd through December 5th.  It is always thrilling to watch these racers, so if you have never seen a World Cup race in person you should make a point of coming out this year - you'll just be another year older next year if you wait!

In the meantime, you can keep tabs on the team this year thanks to Universal Sports TV and http://www.universalsports.com/. Click here for their broadcasting schedule.

See you on the hill!

(photos in this post taken by Kristin Anderson, kanderson@vaildaily.com)

Vail Resorts Does it Again

Vail Resorts has just recently announced the addition of Northstar-at-Tahoe to its portfolio of ski areas.  This marks a further foray into the Lake Tahoe ski biz for the company as it already owns and operates Heavenly, which straddles the California-Nevada Border.

For the avid skier, what really matters here is that Northstar now joins the list of ski areas accessible via the Epic Pass, the three year-old brain child of Vail Resorts which has democratized ski area access in the Central Colorado Rockies.  In addition to Northstar, an Epic Pass holder has unlimited access to Vail, Beaver Creek, Keystone, Breckenridge, Arapahoe Basin, Heavenly and, in a sidebar to the Northstar deal, Sierra-at-Tahoe.

The Epic Pass is on sale through tomorrow, November 7, 2010, at the low price of $629 and represents the single most amazing value, in my humble opinion, for the North American resort skier.  And now, for anyone addicted to social media, Vail has added a component to the Epic Pass that allows you to track and post your play on the mountain and to connect with friends on the hill at the same time to meet for lunch or to share a great run. Check out Epic Mix for more info.

Locals here in the Vail Valley have mixed emotions about Vail Resorts.  Some recognize the circumstances that have forced the ski industry in the US to go corporate and consolidate over the last 15 years, while others lament the loss of the feel that Vail and Beaver Creek had in the 80's and early 90's where it seemed the old Vail Associates was at least as concerned with having fun as it was with trying to make running ski areas turn a profit.

Regardless of your opinion on this divide, in my 12 years of living here the one thing I believe cannot be disputed is that the company ploughs a great deal of money every year into upgrading the on mountain experience, and into opportunities such as Heavenly and now Northstar to expand recreational opportunities for its client base.

At Vail Mountain this season, a new high speed quad will open that replaces the legendary triple Chair 5 coming out of Sun Down Bowl.  This link, http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid38497924001?bctid=620249486001, provides some outstanding footage of the work to install the new chair.

So get those skis and boards tuned up, grab an Epic Pass (quick!), and get busy planning this winter's trip.  April will be here before you know it and you don't want to look back and think of what you should have or could have been doing to play on the snow!