Six-pack and more for Big White

Big White is building a new 6 person express chair that will improve the resort's uphill capacity to 28,000 riders/hour. Run upgrades, summer grooming, a new "Magic Carpit" lift, and a new 70 million gallon water reservoir are also in the works this summer.

Grandi and Forsyth back next season

World Cup veterans Thomas Grandi and Allison Forsyth will be returning for another go-round next season.

Doug Coombs

Skiing legend, R.I.P.

A memorial fund to help his wife and child has been set up here.

Whistler expansion

Whistler Mountain plans to add a new high speed chair, the Piccolo Express in time for the 2006/2007 winter season. The new lift will provide access to 1,000 acres of awesome terrain in the Flute and Piccolo area.

Sun Peaks to expand

A new quad chair and expanded terrain are in the works for next year at Sun Peaks.

3x for Grandi

Third 3rd place finish in a row for Grandi!

Record skier visits in Colorado

2005/06 is shaping up to be yet another record year for skier visits. Colorado is on track to top 12 million skier visits.

A record 5.2 million visitors hit the slopes from Jan 1. through Feb. 28, a 5 percent increase from the same period last year, according to Colorado Ski Country USA, the trade group for 25 of the state's ski resorts. In the first part of the season, the group reported a record 3.1 million visits.

Also of note:

While an individual skier visit typically brings in average revenue of about $70 [U.S.], that figure generally is about three times higher for a so-called destination skier, according to RRC Associates, a ski-industry research firm in Boulder.

Those skiers spend more money than local skiers because they stay overnight, shop in stores and eat more meals in restaurants. They are also more likely to take ski lessons and rent equipment.

In all, skiers contribute about $2.5 billion a year to Colorado's economy, according to Colorado Ski Country USA research.

B.C., despite having similar population numbers to Colorado, and despite the fact that its resorts are easier to access than Colorado's, gets about half the skier visits that Colorado gets. This is almost exclusively due to the fact that Colorado has significantly more destination ski resorts with which to attract long-haul skiers.

Big improvements to New Zealand ski resort

New Zealand's Mt. Ruapehu ski resort has announced that it will spend NZ$30 million over the next two years into upgrading the mountain’s facilities. The resort plans to add two 6-seat high speed express chairlifts and one 4-seat high speed express chairlift.

Thomas 3rd, Michael 4th

Congratulations to Thomas Grandi and Michael Janyk who finished third and fourth in a World Cup slalom in Japan today. This is Grandi's third World Cup medal of the year.

UPDATE: Another third place finish for Grandi!