Once again it’s Scholarship Day at Steamboat Resort in Colorado. The annual opening day is usually limited operations, and all lift tix are priced at $25. Your pass is not valid today, Steamboat Pass, Max Pass or otherwise, you gotta buy a ticket. But it’s all for a good cause, proceeds benefit the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club Scholarship Fund. The gondola and Heavenly Daze will open tomorrow for regular season operations…FIS World Cup Nordies are in Ruka, Finland this coming weekend for the season opener. Competition in Men’s and Women’s XC and Nordic Combined, with the guys making their second stop on the Ski Jumping tour following the opener last weekend in Wisla, Poland. Last time I checked Ruka looks like a mix of fog, snow, sleet, and snow, so it should be ideal when events kick off on Friday…on to World Cup Alpine, Superstar run at Killington looks positively fabulous for the womens tech events this weekend. Snow is deep, netting is up, finish area in place — it’s a thing of beauty. Non-cup fans headed to Kmart found the Snowden quad spinning this morning in addition to the usual North Ridge. Mountain Ops planning to have the Canyon quad on line for the weekend, so things are shaping up nicely in central Vermont…Photo above taken at Caberfae Peaks Michigan this morning; they’ll kick it off Friday, also Saturday & Sunday with a couple chairlifts and five runs…back to Vermont where Stratton opened today; they’re going top-to-bottom with the gondy, pair of chairs and a carpet.