Killington VT debuted a new bubble top six pack this past weekend, it replaced a fixed grip on the Snowdon section. Kmart is moving the old lift to their underutilized South Ridge area, which has been liftless for a few years now. Photo above shows the new lift on its maiden voyage…yesterday’s wanderings through the west I neglected to mention any of the Utah areas…Snowbird got 14″ of fresh through yesterday, they’re now running just about all of their lifts and I’d say half of the mountain is open…let’s do some resort business, of the publically-traded variety…Vail Resorts Inc. (ticker MTN) reports that their Epic® Pass sales are up about 20% from last year. Sounds impressive until you figure it probably includes passholders from Okemo, Sunapee, and Crested Butte that were not part of last season’s numbers…Peak Resorts (ticker SKIS) announced an 81 cent loss per share last quarter. I had guessed 80 cents, so gave myself a pat on the back. Peak also announced that Jack Frost Resort, one of their Pennsy properties, will not be opening this weekend due to the rain forecast for much of the east…speaking of Peak, Mount Snow VT sez they will be opening their Sunbrook section for the weekend. That’s not a big deal in the scheme of things, but if you know New England ski areas it’s a solid indicator that the season is going very, very well from a snowmaker’s perspective. Maybe Peak’s next earnings call will be a bit brighter…turn a bit south and you’ve got Jiminy Peak Massachusetts opening for the season tomorrow. Not sure how the natural precipitation is going to affect the fun…over in New Hampshire, Loon Mountain sez they’re going to open South Peak this weekend. Again, not groundbreaking news here, just a nice warm fuzzy for easterners…World Cup has the boys in Val Gardena Italy for a couple of speed events on the Saslong this weekend; Travis Ganong USA was fastest in yesterday’s training, just ahead of Austria’s Max Franz who turned in the fastest run today. The ladies are idle this weekend but will be landing in Val Gardena on Monday…Michigan’s Caberfae Peaks will reopen tomorrow with 100% of their snowmaking terrain. Not sure what else they have but I seem to recall some sort of back side or tree stuff that may need more natural to open. But for us mortals, they’ll be open wall to wall…