Recent FIS World Cup women’s downhill globe winner Nicole Schmidhofer recently participated in the FIS Speed Skiing World Championships in Vars (FRA) and posted a top speed of 217.590 kph, good enough for 4th place and a new Austrian record. That’s 135 mph to you and me…snowpack surprisingly good east to west…from the Geen Mountains, Smuggler’s Notch VT still 100% open with plenty of snow in the woods…and from the San Gabriels, Mountain High reports this morning “coverage is still very good with a 22 to 34 inch base” which is definitely not the norm this time of year in Southern California…move it to the middle, Minnesota’s first to open Wild Mountain sez they’re gonna spin Saturday & Sunday with a $20 deal for any season pass from any other hill. Not sure about next weekend but we’ll see…up in Oregon, good cause at Anthony Lakes this Saturday. 100% of the proceeds from the Starbottle Saloon will go help employee Jaime Kmetic, who works in the resort retail shop. Jered Kmetic was in an accident last weekend and the family (including their daughters Sydney and Aspen) is now faced with medical and other expenses…season can’t end soon enough for beleaguered mountain ops at Attitash Resort in NH; they’ve been taking a beating for no summit access on the main mountain since their fixed grip triple went down. Positive thing is that passes are honored up the road at sister resort Wildcat Mountain…Caberfae Peaks Michigan gonna reopen this weekend, conditions looks great and I wouldn’t be surprised to see ’em do it again in April…meanwhile the big western resorts are serving up mid season conditions, even Taos New Mexico sitting on 100″ of white stuff…the former Deer Mountain South Dakota ski area is up for sale after shutting down in bankruptcy two years ago. Resort has some 900′ vert, 40 trails, two chairs, a platter, and a tubing park. It can all be yours for just $3.25 million…US Forest Service has approved a 68-acre expansion in the Golden Peak section of Vail Mountain Resort, Colorado. With final environmental hurdles passed, construction is set to begin this summer…photo above taken a week ago at Owl’s Head, Quebec by our New England Correspondent Sam Shirley. Thanks Sam!