As in, first to open with lift-served skiing and boarding in the midwestern states — that’s small but mighty Wild Mountain in Taylors Falls, Minnesota. Lifts spun at Wild on Sunday, and as you can see in the photo above, the locals were more than ready…also got word that Wolf Creek Colorado opened Sunday on natural snow; they’ll be on a weekends-only schedule until further notice…back east, Mount Snow throws its hat in the ring this coming Saturday. Sneaux will also be weekends-only for the time being. Not totally certain what the lift/trail set up is going to be; I have a feeling it will involve some up-and-down loading with the North Face open but not certain…Snowshoe West Virginia enjoyed some real snow this weekend, not sure if any die hards hiked and braved the scratchy surface but wouldn’t be surprised…FIS World Cup action kicks off with the usual season opener this weekend on the glacier at Soelden Austria. Ladies GS on Saturday, Men on Sunday…also news from the white circus, Italian star Sofia Goggia cracked her ankle last week while training last week, sorry to say she’ll miss a good chunk of the season.