1 December 2016 — Not sure what happened to November, kind of went by like an express train. First off want to say — Ski Bum Stickers are here! A lot of folks have followed our team through various incarnations of this website and have been waiting for stickers for a while now. If you sent a request, fear not, they’ll be on the way soon. If you haven’t, drop your name and address in an email to sticker@skibum.net and we’ll get one off to you…gloom and doom in the east, but not all is melted away! Of particular interest is the fact that somewhat troubled Burke Mountain in northeast Vermont is opening tomorrow. The resort is in some sort of government receivership after a Quirky adventure with EB-5 funding and some alleged nefariousness. Well in spite of that they’ve been hammering the snow guns, built up whales that weathered the rains, and they’re pushing it around and opening tomorrow. This is especially surprising since Burke has never really stood out as a snowmaking powerhouse. Not sure how it will all work out in the future, but at least tomorrow it will shine….in California Homewood Resort has announced December 9 as opening day, but that is by no means cast in stone; weather and conditions permitting, etc…New Yorkers take note of the Windham Mountain photo above; On December 18th, dress as Santa from head-to-toe, and get a free lift ticket for the day. Santas will also receive one additional midweek non-holiday lift ticket voucher. Space is limited and pre-registration is required. Donations will be given to the local food pantry at Hope Restoration Church in Windham, NY. Now that’s cool…FIS World Cup news, the men kick off the speed season in Val d’Isere this weekend while the women are headed for Lake Louise. We’re looking forward to some terrific coverage courtesy NBC; they’ll offer mens coverage begins Friday at 1 p.m. ET on NBCSN with the super-G, coverage of the mens downhill on Saturday at 5 p.m. ET on NBC, and giant slalom Sunday at 5 p.m. ET on NBCSN. They’ll have womens action streaming on websites and live on Universal HD through the weekend, topping it off with a presentation of the downhill Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN. Steve Schlanger will call the action from Lake Louise, while Steve Porino will be in Val d’Isere. Porino will be joined in the booth by none other than Mr. Bode Miller! So we’re certainly looking forward to all of this. Porino is a terrific broadcaster and personality is probably well-suited to riding whatever fence Bode decides to ski on. Now if that doesn’t satisfy your need for frozen speed, NBCSN will also present FIL Luge World Cup coverage from Lake Placid this Saturday at 9:30 p.m…of course I’m only reporting this for those of us who won’t make it out to the slopes this weekend. This is certainly a great option!
Photo above courtesy Windham Resort NY