Start with the photo above, Chris & Bill in the freezer this past weekend. Can you name the ski area seen in the distance? How about the one they’re standing on? We’ll have the answer at the end of the report…news out of California is fantastic, unless you’re planning on skiing today and possibly tomorrow. Squaw Valley pounded yesterday, then another 14″ last night, still snowing this morning. High winds and avy danger have operations seriously limited today…World Cup tour now in Åre Sweden for the World Championships, this is slated to be the end of the road for both Lindsey Vonn and Aksel Lund Svindal. Tomorrow’s action kicks off with the Ladies Super G; Mikaela Shiffrin is slated to race and she’ll have bib 15, followed immediately by Vonn with #16. Weekend action was up and down; down for the boys who were washed out in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, but solidly Shiffrin in Maribor Slovenia. Shiff won Saturday’s slalom, and Friday’s GS she tied for the top spot with hard charging Petra Vlhova…heard from one of our correspondents, Gustave Sexauer, he’s been making the rounds and has checked off Hyland Hills Minnesota, Purgatory Colorado, Brianhead and Nordic Valley Utah so far this season. Sounds like he’s having quite the year! Keep ’em coming, Gustave…hearing far and wide that that the Super Bowl was boring. Oddly enough, I thought it was great — good old fashioned grind it out football…so in the photo above, my buddies Chris and Bill are standing on a slope at Owls Head in Quebec, and that’s Jay Peak Vermont in the distance.