Photo above is your faithful scribe with regular Skibum.net correspondents Bill & Jeff raising a toast to the new life and soon to be new lift at Magic Mountain VT on Saturday. Magic is one of those throwback areas that, up until a few years ago, was definitely NOT worth your time or treasure. Well I’m pleased to report that after a few years of new management, they’ve really turned things around and it now rates as possibly the best combination of value and terrain in Southern Vermont. New “green” lift has been a game-changer for intermediates and novices. Kudos to the new regime and to the Magic faithful for keeping this place open through some pretty lean years. Can’t say I was one of the faithful, I used to say the place was a dump back in the Skiernet days. If you haven’t skied Magic it’s got to be on your short list of “must visits.” Next season the new lift will be up and running and the true skiing enthusiast will be hard pressed to go anywhere else…World Cup season winding down, Mikaela Shiffrin stuck a fork in the slalom discipline in Spindleruv Mlyn CZE with her umpteenth straight slalom globe, her single-season record breaking victory, all while edging closer to that mystical 2,000 point total for the season. Only other female skier to hit that mark was Tina Maze a few years ago…on the men’s side, Marcel Hirscher wrapped up the season with the overall globe with a third place finish while Ramon Zenhaeusern grabbed his first slalom win (aside from dual and team events) in Kranjska Gora SLO…Paoli Peaks IN one of the first to shut down for the season; kudos to mountain ops for opening early and running as long as possible…fatality at Cannon Mountain NH this past Friday; police say 39-year-old Jeremy Keiran of Somerville MA lost control on the Profile Trail, “crashed into a lift” (tower perhaps?) then slid off the trail, over a 10′ embankment whereupon he struck 48-year-old Robert Slocum of Newburyport MA who was skiing on the Middle Ravine Trail. Keiran was found dead at the scene while Slocum sustained serious injuries, fortunately said to be non-life threatening…looks like Arapahoe Basin is all dug out from the avvy mess that blocked Highway 6 last week.