Colorado Gets Dumped On!

This little guy named Guinness is buried at Echo Mountain, the closest ski area to downtown Denver 35 miles away. The area got 38 inches in the recent storm that blanketed the entire state. For more snow totals at individual resorts, click on Colorado Ski Country. We're buried out here! Photo by Marc Moline

Win a trip to Crested Butte

Today Crested Butte launched a “Double Dog Dare You” campaign on Facebook to celebrate the new ski season.

Become a friend at facebook.com/gcbta, explain in 50 words or less why you should be selected to visit Crested Butte this winter, and submit a photo of yourself enjoying a snowsport. The winner will receive three night’s lodging at The Ruby of Crested Butte bed and breakfast, four lift tickets from Crested Butte Mountain Resort ski area and a $100 gift certificate for Django’s Restaurant & Wine Bar, located at the ski base. The campaign ends November 23, and travel must take place before the ski season ends on April 4, 2010.

Good luck!

Women ski jumpers not to be recognized at Olympics

Even if the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee puts on an event for female ski jumpers, the International Olympic Committee won't recognize the results or give medals, according to published reports. Furthermore, it would likely ruin any chance of Canada holding another Olympics. The IOC is awaiting the outcome of an appeal of a B.C. Supreme Court finding in July that Vancouver didn't have to put on an event even though the court found the IOC was discriminating against the jumpers.

Bachelor Jesse First Rider at Loveland

Jesse Csincsak (center), the snowboarder from Breckenridge who was on The Bachelorette last season, is one of the first to board the lift on opening day at Loveland ski area in Colorado. Ladies, you know where to find him! Photo by Jack Dempsey.

Loveland Opens First in North America

It's a hot race every year. Loveland and Arapahoe Basin in Colorado, two of the highest ski areas in the country, always have a friendly rivalry going to see which area will open first. This year, Loveland wins, opening on Oct. 7, the earliest opening date in 40 years! With an 18-inch base, there's top-to-bottom coverage off Chair 1. Arapahoe will open two days later on Oct. 9. "A-Basin congratulates Loveland for being the first to open," said Leigh Hierholzer, spokesperson for the Basin. "It's nice to see our neighbor take the crown this year, but we will be back in the race for the 1010-2011 ski season."

Get a Spouse and Season Pass at Keystone

Get him to say "yes" with a new incentive: two season passes for this year at Keystone, Breckenridge and Arapahoe Basin. If you stage the wedding at Keystone between Nov. 30 and the same time next year, the resort will hand you two complimentary passes in its Wedding Pass Promotion. In addition, you'll get a free night with Champagne, discounted lodging rates for wedding guests, and a change to have Executive Pastry Chef Ned Archibald design your wedding cake. Ned is famous for his unique and delicious pastry designs. Keystone has some awesome venues for weddings like Keystone Ranch, The Summit House at the top of Dercum Mountain, and my favorite, Ski Tip Lodge. What a romantic place to honeymoon—heck, I'd get married there even without the promotion! Find out more at keystoneresort.com.

Women's Ski Clinics

Chicks on Sticks
2009/10 Ski Season

Academics are taking a second look at new research showing that boys demand, and get, teachers’ attention more than girls in grade school through grad school. But remove the boys from the classroom, and girls are more likely to participate in discussions, to achieve more and to hold themselves in higher self-esteem, the studies show.

The concept also has proven effective in ski schools. The trend toward all-women ski classes is snowballing in the ski industry.

Chicks on Sticks, Babes on Boards, Thelma & Louise on Skis— call them what you may—participants of these clinics know a good thing when they ski it.

All-women classes remove the pressure to ski like men. Women learn at their own pace, in their own way. Dancing with the mountain rather than attacking it becomes a unified goal. Men like to Rambo down the mountain while women take it slower, concentrating more on technique. With everyone sharing the same objectives and strategies, the class becomes an ideal learning environment. It breeds success.

Former Telluride Ski School Director Annie Vareille Savath said all-women classes work because most women are not as confident about their athletic ability as men. “In coed classes, women tend to ski defensively, and lose quality,” Vareille Savath said. “But competition on the same level pushes them to be better and builds confidence.

“In Women's Week, we show women how to accomplish goals, how to recognize and deal with fears and to coordinate mind and body,” Vareille Savath said. “What they learn skiing, they carry throughout their lives. It’s better than psychotherapy.”

Women-only programs owe much of their success to the quality of instruction. Ski schools select the crème de la crème of their fully-certified women instructors who are well-versed in the latest teaching methods and equipment technology, and capable of setting examples in a non-condescending way. Their skiing definitely presents a visual, achievable model.

A male instructor for these specialized classes just won’t do. Feedback questionnaires from participants who’ve completed women’s clinics indicate they prefer the women-taught-by-women format. The presence of even a single male is like having a “gal” go out for beers with the guys after bowling. It’s just not the same!

Besides mastery of skills and building confidence, women come for the sheer fun of it. A spirit of camaraderie sets these clinics apart. The multi-day seminars can be a slumber-party-sorority-house-Girl Scout-camp rolled into one great getaway. “Let’s Do Lunch” takes on a whole new meaning: Picture a sun-drenched mountaintop deck where new friends celebrate their skiing breakthroughs over a bottle of wine.

FOR A LIST OF RESORTS WITH WOMEN'S PROGRAMS, CLICK HERE:
http://bit.ly/2tLDat