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The guys from Snow Visual just stopped by our booth at SIA to show off their new business taking satellite photographs of ski resorts around the country. So far, they have A-Basin, Vail, Beaver Creek, Loveland, Copper, Breckenridge and Heavenly. Squaw is coming soon! Check out Heavenly here>
I just climbed up from the basement, after waxing my Spatulas so I can get up a little speed in all this new snow. It was the first time I waxed my skis in, oh maybe… 8 years. I used to wax and tune all the time when I was living on the East Coast, but once I moved out west, perfect bases didn’t seem as important. Slathering a coat of wax on my skis reminded me of the instructional articles that I wrote for REI.com this fall on waxing and base repairs. Waxing your own skis is pretty simple and it saves you money and puts you in touch with your equipment. All you need is an iron, some wax, a plastic scraper and something (like a big rubber band) to hold the brakes back. Try to warm your skis up first, the warmer the bases, the better the wax will adhere. Check out the articles for details.
The weather has been good to Lake Tahoe this week. Two feet of snow have fallen on the mountains, blanketing the icy layer. NOAA is calling for another two feet by tomorrow night, just in time for Robb Gaffney’s “ski the book” Squallywood clinic on Saturday. I’ll be watching footage from the day at the party on Saturday evening and reporting back here on it. Next up is SIA. One of the coolest things on the radar isn’t a new ski or jacket, but a new packaging and shipping system that is being presented to the snow sports industry at SIA. The system reduces the amount of material used for shipping skis, boards and accessories to dealers and consumers (no more little goggle in a big box syndrome) and uses renewable, recyclable materials, like corn-based packing peanuts to protect goods. More to come on this on day one of the show (Tuesday, January 29th).
Squaw Valley got over six feet of snow in the last week and I got out skiing on five incredible powder days in a row! Some of the best runs were first tracks down Broken Arrow, lapping of Rock Garden as it filled in each run and following Robb Gaffney to deep secret stashes off of Far East. Unfortunately, we got some rain followed by cold temperatures on Thursday, so things have glazed up a bit. During the storm, I also managed to finish up my pre-press writing assignments for the SIA SnowPress Show Daily, the daily magazine that reports on the annual ski show in Vegas. This will be my fifth year reporting from Vegas on all of the newest trends in ski gear. Look for daily updates here on what’s new in skiing and riding for 2008-09 when I hit the floor January 28-February 1. Check out my clips from past years for an idea of what’s to come >>
The North American Ski Training Center will offer a free half-day womens clinic at Northstar on January 8th called “Ski with the LUNA Chix.” Meet at 9:00am at the top of the gondola for a half day of and instruction with elite female instructors. Longer clinics are also available. For more info, call 530.582.4772 or go to skinastc.com.
Winds and snow rolling into Squaw this afternoon! Heavy snow is supposed to start early Friday morning. See what’s going on in Squaw in this video >>
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Exit Strategy: The Movie
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