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If any more proof was needed that Utah is, indeed, “The Place” (as some guy who preached and favored multiple brides once said), Brighton is opening. And opening day should be as sweet as arriving in the promised land after wandering in the desert for months. The ski area clocked up more than 40 inches of snow over the past week. The bounty will be accessed Brighton’s Explorer, Majestic, Crest Express and Snake Creek Express lifts beginning at 9:00 a.m. Lift tickets will cost $45 for a day pass and $38 for a half day.

In addition to hitting Brighton on opening day and changing your life (you’ll finally be skiing! word!), you can also help put a smile on someone else’s face. The resort is offering half price lift tickets to anyone who brings a non-perishable food donation for the Utah Food Bank. Bring some canned corn, ski for half price and slay powder. Sounds good to us.

Thanks Freeskier Mag!

Alta is planning on opening for the season on Friday, November 21st.  In addition, the ski area will open for two days this weekend — Saturday and Sunday, November 15th and 16th.

The weekend skiing will offer Collins, Sunnyside and Sugarloaf lifts along with Goldminer’s Cafeteria, Albion Grill, Watson Shelter, Alta Ski Shop, Alta Sports and Alta Java.

Settled Snow Depth: 28″
Snowfall (Past 12 hrs): 0″
Snowfall (Past 24 hrs): 2″
Snowfall this Season: 68″

Is this the Sundance Film Festival for you? X-Dance for one insane week each winter hosts the world’s top action sport filmmakers and athletes, along with cutting-edge bands and DJs and key figures from the entertainment industry in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Everyone gathers to celebrate action sports culture at the annual X-DANCE Action Sports Film Festival. Launched in 2001 and coinciding each year with the Sundance Film Festival, X-DANCE showcases the year’s top action sport films, followed by post-screening Q&A’s with filmmakers and athletes.  This year’s festival is from Janurary 16-20, 2009.

X-DANCE also features open forum panels with athletes, filmmakers, industry figures and icons from the action sports world, plus special screenings, privately sponsored parties and a legendary Closing Party/Awards Ceremony. With roots in both the core industry as well as the mainstream, no other event on earth harnesses the creative energy of adrenaline culture and brings it together under one roof like the X-DANCE Action Sports Film Festival.

And the deadline is coming….. so get your movies in.

Stein Eriksen Lodge, Utah’s only Mobil Five-Star, AAA Five Diamond property, has announced an ambitious goal to raise $50,000 in the future to aid the Huntsman Cancer Institute’s “Room to Heal” campaign-a campaign set to double the Institute’s space for healing and hope. To achieve the desired contribution, the Lodge has appointed one of its luxurious junior suites as “The Giving Room”-where 10 percent of the total room revenue generated from the suite will be donated to the Huntsman Cancer Institute.

“Stein Eriksen Lodge feels strongly about giving back to the community and designating a ‘Giving Room’ is an exciting opportunity to help a truly worthwhile cause and organization,” said Russ Olsen, chief executive officer at Stein Eriksen Lodge. “The Lodge strives for excellence in providing guests exceptional service and the Huntsman Cancer Institute is dedicated to excellence in patient care.”

The Huntsman Cancer Hospital expansion will double inpatient capacity from 50 beds to 100 and will double existing imaging and radiation treatment facilities and operating rooms. It will house the new Blood and Bone Marrow Transplant and Myeloma Program and expanded Cancer Learning and Wellness Centers. It will also accommodate expanded clinical trials and enhance patient access to promising new treatments.

By the Lodge pledging a $50,000 contribution, the Huntsman Cancer Hospital will reserve a patient room in the new expansion as the Stein Eriksen Lodge room. The Lodge plans to incorporate decorative elements to reflect the Lodge’s alpine history.

“Expansion has long been part of our vision for Huntsman Cancer Institute,” said Jon M. Huntsman, Huntsman Cancer Institute’s founder and principal benefactor. “We have worked hard to donate or raise the funds necessary to proceed with this great project. Most of the cancer cases undertaken here are acute or more advanced than can be effectively treated at even the finest community hospitals. Patients are coming to the Institute from Utah, the country and the world with hopes that the specialized technology and the latest developments from our research and clinical trials will save their lives. Expansion is critical to our having ample treatment rooms and hospital beds that will allow their hopes to be fulfilled.”

In addition to proceeds raised from “The Giving Room,” Preferred Hotel Group, of which Stein Eriksen Lodge is a member, will contribute a donation to the Institute, and, every night that the “The Giving Room” is occupied from May 1 through Aug. 31, 2009, the Ueberroth Family Foundation will donate matching funds collected from “The Giving Room”. Starting this December, the Lodge will kick off an Employee Giving program, whereby employees may make payroll deductions to help the Lodge achieve the $50,000 donation goal and information regarding “The Giving Room” will be featured in all guest rooms so guests can choose to support the Lodge efforts and request the room for future stays. Additional ongoing promotions will also take place at Stein Eriksen Lodge throughout the upcoming year.

For more information on “The Giving Room” and Stein Eriksen Lodge, contact Sarah Myers at (435) 645-6451 or smyers@steinlodge.com.

Mountain Sports International (MSI) is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Subaru Freeskiing World Tour (FWT). The largest and longest running competitive Big Mountain Freeskiing tour in the history of the sport, the FWT features an unprecedented six stops including a Freeskiing World Tour Qualifier (FWTQ). With $20,000 cash per World Tour stop, the FWT boasts over $100,000 total tour payout.

“This year’s Subaru Freeskiing World Tour is loaded,” said MSI Winter Sports Director and announcer Dak Williams. “The prize purse has almost doubled, and so has the viewership for our live webcasts. We have the best freeskiing athletes on the planet, and every year more up-and-comers are discovered on our tour. This is where the best come to compete.”

2009 Freeskiing World Tour Schedule of Events
Subaru Telluride Freeskiing World Tour Qualifier, Telluride, CO. February 5-8
Subaru US Extreme Freeskiing Championships, Crested Butte, CO. February 19-22
Zermatt, Switzerland. TBA*
Subaru US Freeskiing Nationals, Snowbird, UT. March 10-15
Subaru North American Freeskiing Championships, Kirkwood, CA. March 19-23
Subaru Freeskiing World Championships, Alyeska, AK. April 8-12

Registration for the FWT sells out in record time each year. Athletes are urged to register early to avoid disappointment. Registration for the Snowbird event will begin on NOVEMBER 13, 2008, at 12:00 NOON MST. To register please log onto www.freeskiingworldtour.com.

The Subaru Freeskiing World Championships at Alyeska, Alaska, is invite-only and will not be an option at time of registration. Registration for this event and the Zermatt, SUI, event will take place at a later time and will be announced with advanced notice.

For a complete list of pre-qualified athletes please log onto www.freeskiingworldtour.com. Pre-qualified athletes still NEED TO REGISTER to guarantee a spot. Athletes are pre-qualified based on results and overall point’s standings.

Coming off a breakthrough year in live webcasting technology, MSI will again be satellite broadcasting from all four North American world tour stops. Live coverage of the best freeskiing in the world can be viewed from the comfort of your desk chair.

In addition to live video, MSI’s content creation team will also be producing and posting same-day world class photography on its newly redesigned website, www.freeskiingworldtour.com and media partners www.powder.com and www.skipressworld.com

It’s no secret that with the economy the way it is there are a lot more that will be in need of the basics this winter. Alta is teaming up with the Westminster ski team in efforts to provide coats for Catholic Community Services (CCS) in Salt Lake City.

For over 60 years, Catholic Community Services of Utah has empowered families and individuals of all races and religious backgrounds to realize their full potential by supplying the basic necessities of life–food, clothing and shelter.

Alta invites our community at large to bring new or gently used, clean winter coats of all sizes up to the ski area this coming Saturday, November 15 from 10 am- 4 pm, and Sunday, November 16 from noon- 4 pm.

Westminster ski team members will be in the Wildcat Ticket Office to accept the donations. The first 500 donating individuals* will be given a day of skiing at Alta, good any time during the 2008-09 season.

Plan to shop the ski sale scheduled the same weekend at the Alta Ski Shop and pick up your Alta season pass while you are helping the less fortunate.

*Ski passes issued to donors of clean coats in good or new condition only. Limit one-day pass per individual.

I found this on Snowbird’s YouTube channel and figured in anticipation of Brighton opening this Wednesday and Solitude this coming Friday that the past is a good place to visit today. 

For those that were at Snowbird on opening day, this should bring back some memories.

Did I mention it is snowing again?

I love the little girl on this video, who with enthusiasm and pure joy says “If you haven’t skied Alta you haven’t learned to ski!”

Well, perhaps I’d change “learned to ski” a bit but she’s not far from the truth. In fact, the skiing here in Utah is life changing and Alta is considered by many the epicenter of Utah powder skiing.

Hitting Alta on a deep powder day is often indescribable by many, but this short video is a good attempt to capture what that girl feels for Alta.

Well, another notch on the ski pole, Snowbird day 2 in the books. Started out the day on the tram, posting a few pics from my cell phone. After breaking in my legs to idea of skiing, (Sure, I could have done some pre-season training, but I thought that sitting at my computer trying to become the greatest blogger of all time took precedence), loosening up the boots a little, I settled into a bluebird day of skiing. I took my camera around and took some pictures of the day. Hope you like.

Snowbird Lift Line

Smiles were found all around.

Sun, and some trees.

Happy Snowboarders

Creekside Grill

Getting Some Sun

Mr. Cool.

I am having a baby in a few months... Thought this was funny.

There is an old saying: There are two types of people, those that don't know the difference between Ariel and Helvetica, and those that despise Ariel. Love the Snowbird typography...

Snowbird Employee

Snowbird opened yesterday to thousand of smiling faces, today even more people headed up the canyon for the early season snow.

This post is coming from my iPhone, on the mountain. Love the 3G at 11,000 feet. More pics to come….