22 December 2016 — Santa paying an early visit coast to coast, arguably the biggest present being the return of Laurel Mountain PA from the Island of Misfit Toys yesterday, lifts spinning, skiers and boarders gliding down the hill for the first time in about a decade, laughing all the way ho ho ho…seriously now, kudos to Seven Springs and the Commonwealth for making this happen…apparently Santa sped off to Vermont, where Stratton dropped ropes over at the Sun Bowl a day ahead of schedule…and the elves did not forget Oregon’s Anthony Lakes skiers, enjoying 100% of terrain as of this morning…they must’ve dropped some magic over the Rockies as well, Arapahoe Basin opening up the Montezuma Bowl this morning…and in Michigan, Caberfae opening South Peak today, that puts them at 100% open, photo above…back to Colorado for a moment, daughter Ally giving me glowing reports from Keystone yesterday. She’s got the Keystone/A-Basin pass that locals tend to buy, a bargain for just a few hundred dollars. Anyway Keystone is serving up some excellent conditions right now. Ski Bum intel: Aim for the Pika parking lot if you get there early enough…FIS World Cup update, just heard the Ladies’ GS cancelled yesterday in Courcheval has been rescheduled for Dec 27 in Semmering; they’ll run a pair of GS and put a bow on 2016 with a slalom on the 29th. Men meanwhile are in Madonna d’Campiglio today (no guarantees I spelled that correctly) where it appears that Marcel Hirscher is notching another win. Competition is still underway…whoa! Looks like Henrik Kristoffersen just punched Hirscher off the top spot by a third of a second. Update to follow.

Photo above courtesy Caberfae Peaks.