Leading off with a retraction; reported yesterday that eastern Pennsy’s biggie Blue Mountain would be adding a new intermediate trail this season — they won’t. They’re not sure when it’s gonna happen…New York State Northway ski area West Mountain hosting their annual ski swap this weekend. They’ve got a great race program for the local kids and we’re glad to see this swap be so successful year after year…and in the opening department, thrilled to report that Upper Peninsula’s usual early opener Ski Brule is at it again, they’re set to go this coming Sunday. Open terrain will include Bunny (beginner) and Log Jam (intermediate), serviced by Big Bear Chairlift and Bambi Rope Tow. Lifts will operate 10:00-4:00 Sunday and close for snowmaking Monday through Thursday November 12-15. Ski Brule will then be open daily starting November 16. As for this Sunday, lift tix are free! You can’t beat that with a stick, so we honor Jessica and all our friends at Brule with their feature photo above…I expect we may see some more action in the midwest fairly quickly; we’re looking at a very positive weather outlook leading up to Thanksgiving…speaking of snow, my personal fave Ski Cooper in Leadville Colorado already has a few intrepid hikers earning their turns. They’ve got so much in fact that Coop is tentatively scheduling a November 23rd, which will be one of their earliest…and in the odd news department, actually not so odd in this day and age, Vail Resorts Inc. has a new app called “Emma,” which stands for Epic Mountain App. Emma is sort of a ski version of Siri. She’ll answer questions about lift lines, open trails, conditions and what have you in real time for the Vail Resorts properties….and finally we hear that Aspen Skiing Co. and O’Bos Enterprises LLC have reached an agreement in SkiCo’s trademark infringement suit. O’Bos owns a chain of T-shirt and souvenir stores in Aspen, Beaver Creek, Snowmass Village and Vail; SkiCo sez O’Bos violated federal law by selling products with designs bearing an aspen leaf and the proper nouns “Aspen” and “Snowmass.” According to the settlement, O’Bos has agreed to pull the merchandise by Dec. 7.