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Ski jumping is the only Winter Olympic sport that doesn’t allow women to participate. Leaders in the sport have been trying to gain access to the Olympics for several years in vain.  Last Tuesday a lawsuit was filed against the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee, the group overseeing the 2010 Winter Games, in hopes a Canadian Court will do what the International Olympic Committee refuses to do- allow women to participate in Olympic ski jumping.

Lindsey Van, a University of Utah student, reluctantly has taken on the role of activist when she agreed to be one of 10 plaintiffs from 10 countries who hope their efforts will drag their sport into the 21st century.

I can’t say I’m a huge fan of Title IX-esque opportunities after it helped to speed the departure of a lot of high-quality sports at BYU (amoung other reasons).  But here it makes a whole lot of sense.  Good luck to Lindsey and her crew.

We have an Olympic Park in Park City. Check it out.

Powder hungry students, faculty and staff of the University of Utah can partake in the school’s annual celebration on the slopes of the semester’s end, known as “Ski and Shred Red Day”, on Friday, December 12th at Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort. The event is sponsored by Campus Recreation Services.

Participants wear the school’s color - red - and take advantage of the early snow and a great deal. A Tram and chairs lift tickets is specially priced at $38 for Ski and Shred Red Day participants.

Tickets are now on sale at the University’s Outdoor Recreation Program (2140 E. Red Butte Road, Fort Douglas, Building 650), The Union Front Desk, The Field House, 214 E-HPER and the University of Utah Hospital Gift Shop.

The U’s Outdoor Recreation Program also has ski and snowboard equipment available for rent. More information is available at web.utah.edu/campusrec/outdoor_rec/rentals.html. To reserve equipment or ask questions, call the U’s Outdoor Recreation Program at (801) 581-8516.

The Utah Transit Authority is bumping up its bus service to Salt Lake County ski resorts.

This year, the ski service — which starts Dec. 14 — will include a quicker route from the University of Utah, direct buses to Snowbird and Alta and expanded hours for employee shuttles.

“We’re really doing all we can to get people up the canyon and down the canyon as quickly as [possible] so they don’t have to be in all their gear for long periods of time,” UTA spokeswoman Carrie Bohnsack-Ware said Thursday.

That means U. of U. students will be able to hop on a direct bus, Route 952, to reach canyon shuttles.

“We’re definitely excited about how much easier it will be for students to get to the resorts,” Ski Utah spokeswoman Jessica Kunzer said. “One of our greatest strengths, besides our snow quality, is Utah resorts’ accessibility.”

Canyon buses will be starting farther from the mouths of Little and Big Cottonwood canyons at various park-and-ride lots, such as 2000 East and 9400 South, where there are more spaces. In fact, drivers can see, in real time, how many spaces are available at ski lots, by visiting UTA’s website.

UTA will send more of its Little Cottonwood Canyon buses exclusively to Snowbird or Alta to avoid running return buses that fill up at one resort, leaving no room for tired skiers and boarders at the next stop.

From the SLC Tribune.

I was checking out the Powder Mountain Blog and noticed that a while back they posted about some of the big natural features that top the list of season improvements to the Hidden Lake Terrain Park Area.

They’ve built 2 new features in the Lumberjack zone, the most impressive is a 40 foot plus straight log slide named “the Howitzer”. Basically it’ll pnw3d you. Check it:

Are you man or woman enough to launch the Howitzer this season? This is going to require a special recon trip to Pow-Mow once the snow flies! Check back for the carnage report.

In order to ensure the best skiing experience possible, The Canyons Resort will not be opening on Thursday, November 27th - Thanksgiving Day - as planned.

The unseasonably warm temperatures and below average snow totals during November have given management an opportunity to reevaluate the Thanksgiving Day planned scheduled opening and change the official opening day to Friday, December 5th.

While it’s tough to make a call like this, I think we’ll have another year like the 2003-04 season (if my memory is good) when it was warm like this and then DUMPED right after Thanksgiving and within a week all of the Utah resorts were open. One can hope, right?

Chris Waddell is one of the most decorated ski athletes to ever slide on snow. The fact that he does this from a sit-ski is impressive but the reality that he could out-ski most “able bodied” skiers, myself included, is most impressive.

For his next challenge, the Park City resident will be attemtping to do what no other paraplegic has ever done - climb Mount Kilimanjaro unassisted.

On December 5th, Paralympian Chris Waddell will speak at the Eccles Center in Park City about his successful ski racing career, and his upcoming historic climb of Mount Kilimanjaro this coming March.

But his newly created outreach program, Nametags, will be the main topic of discussion.

“Nametags are also known as stereotypes,” explains Waddell. “By talking about our differences, we are breaking down barriers that only divide us as a community.”

Having been paralyzed nearly half of his life, Waddell understands how people use stereotypes and put up barriers towards people who are different from themselves. His goal is to show people that honoring our differences can offer the world a better future.

Waddell hopes his summit of Mount Kilimanjaro will provide a counterpoint to common misconceptions regarding the twenty-one million disabled people in the United States. He will use an off-road handcycle for the climb, propelled entirely by arm power.

Check out Waddell’s strategy for summiting, photos and details at www.one-revolution.com. Waddell intends on making a documentary film, book and television series about the climb.

For ticket and other info about the even on December 5 check out www.ecclescenter.org.

Deer Valley Resort kicks off its winter ski season with the excitement of the Deer Valley Celebrity Skifest on December 6 and 7, 2008. The invitational ski event pairs former Olympic ski legends with television and film celebrities for a weekend of skiing, live music and fundraising for the environmental group Waterkeeper Alliance, which supports and empowers Waterkeeper member organizations to protect communities, ecosystems and water quality.

“It’s always a thrill to start our ski season with a celebration,” says Deer Valley Marketing Director Coleen Reardon. “We celebrate the arrival of winter, the start of a new season, the excitement of hosting celebrity guests to ski our mountain, and the satisfaction of helping out a non-profit organization we feel strongly about: the Waterkeeper Alliance.”

The Deer Valley Celebrity Skifest will include giant slalom races on both Saturday, December 6 and Sunday, December 7 on Deer Valley’s Birdseye run. The competition will be televised by CBS on Sunday, December 21, 2008 at 5 p.m. (EST) following NFL Football. The public is invited to watch the ski racing portion of the event adjacent to the Birdseye ski run. A Pro-Am race will be held Saturday, December 6 at 1 p.m., with the final race taking place on Sunday, December 7 at noon.

Some of the best-known legends of U. S. skiing will compete in this year’s event, including Steve Mahre, Phil Mahre, Tommy Moe and Deer Valley’s own Ambassador of Skiing Heidi Voelker. Celebrities scheduled to attend at this time include: Larry David, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Matthew Modine, Scott Wolf, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Gloria Rueben, Ian Ziering, Joe Pantoliano, Rob Morrow, Patrick Warburton, Neil Patrick Harris, Dylan Bruno, Camyrn Manheim and David Conrad.

Enjoy these pictures from last year’s event.

Although Eric posted about the various Thanksgiving meals at the resorts, I just got this in my inbox about a ski and stay package over Thanksgiving to the Alta Lodge.

Lucky skiers will find Thanksgiving time at Alta Ski Area satiating their appetites for early skiing during the holiday weekend.

Families make the annual retreat to the Alta Lodge for an extended weekend of skiing and relaxing. It’s easy to plan a holiday get-away with a four-day package that includes free lodging, breakfasts and dinners for children ages 18 and under who stay in the same room with their parents. The package also includes three days of lift tickets for two adults and is priced at $2,126 or $1,538 for one adult. Children’s lift tickets are priced separately.

This year’s Thanksgiving dinner will include an appetizer, insalata di mare with herb aioli; butternut squash soup with sweet red pepper puree; tossed green salad with goat cheese, toasted pecans and passion fruit vinaigrette; roasted turkey with pan gravy, apricot and wild rice dressing, lingonberries, mashed potatoes and roasted root vegetables and traditional pumpkin pie.

Makes me hungry just typing it!

Here at Alta today. It’s pretty fun for early season and with how the snow has or hasn’t been falling. The alta team has done a great job at delivering good coverage so your pretty little bases won’t get wrecked. Oh and it’s nice snagging some wifi from the goldminers daughter to try out this iPhone blog app from wordpress.

The snow is definitely fun to ski when it warms up. I mean really folks a fun day skiing is better then a fun day at work. I am very impressed with Alta’s green initiatives by keeping their ticket system electronic and making their passes reusable.