Photo above from the bulldozed wonder of western Michigan, Caberfae Peaks. Cab plans to open Saturday and Sunday with four lifts serving the North Peak section, which will have all its runs open. Snowmakers are working on South Peak now. They’ll close for the week, then reopen on the 8th of December…news from Copper Mountain in Colorado, where one of the gondy cabins on their new “chondola” version of the American Eagle lift fell off the rope during a test. Leitner-Poma sez it didn’t damage anything and won’t delay construction; apparently it was caused by some stray construction material at the base terminal…more lift news, this time from Ascutney Outdoors in Vermont, which is a local non-profit operating a ski area and all-around outdoor center at what was once Ascutney Resort. Anyway, they’ve got a t-bar under construction and hoped to have it running this season, but it looks like the early New England snows will push the project to next season…those snows a bit more welcome in Massachusetts, where Berkshire East is now open weekends, that’s the earliest I can recall for the underrated Charlemont ski area…central New York’s Swain Resort kicks it off tomorrow afternoon; they’ll be spinning Quads I & II through Sunday afternoon…back to Colorado, Breckenridge slated to open Peak 7 on Saturday. They’ll also have the lower 4 o’clock trails and gondy ski-back open downtown…