17 October 2016 — Small but mighty Buck Hill Minnesota has added two synthetic ski slopes AND a couple of synthetic tubing lanes, because you know when Minnesotans aren’t actually cold, they like to pretend they are. Buck Hill (photo above) is that suburban ski area where Lindsey Vonn got her start…Appears that not all is well in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a German resort community and popular stop on the World Cup tour. Seems that Garmisch Mayor Sigrid Meierhofer sent a plea to the Vice President of Upper Bavaria’s government Maria Els yesterday, calling for help with “massive problems” caused by refugees. Police are saying that refugees “are in charge of the town.” I imagine this will be resolved one way or another prior to January 16, when the World Cup media circus rolls in for the Kandahar…Vermont’s venerable Stowe Resort says their new Spruce Peak village center is now complete and ready for the season. The $90 million project began some 13 years ago. For those unfamiliar, Spruce Peak is the section across the street from the regular Mt. Mansfield side that most skiers are familiar with…Wisconsin’s Wilmot Mountain should be completely revitalized by the time lifts start spinning this winter; big cash infusion from Vail Resorts has three new lifts that should add almost 50% more uphill capacity. They’ve also completely re-done the lodge and re-graded all of the learning terrain…elsewhere in Wisconsin, Madison/Dane County adding snowmaking to the Elver Park XC area, they’ll have coverage on 1.5k this winter…New Mexico’s Angel Fire Resort gearing up for its 50th anniversary season. Right now they’re working on some trail widening and other work to eliminate choke points on the hill.