Big chill has arrived in the upper midwest; the roar of fan guns was heard across the region…photo above taken this morning at Caberfae Peaks MI shows that Mother Nature is in on the fun. Caberfae, incidentally, has one of the best season pass deals out there. If you live even remotely close it’s worth a look…meanwhile, fan guns are pumping at Granite Peak WI and Lutsen Mountains MN, as well as Trollhaugen WI, which plans to open tomorrow…same deal in northern California, both Alpine Meadows in Tahoe and Mammoth Mountain fired up their fan guns yesterday…no snow yet in New Hampshire, but ski bums getting pumped for next week as they look forward 49th Annual Eastern Slope Ski Club Ski Sale in the North Conway Community Center; as swaps go that’s one of the biggies…another monster swap gets underway tomorrow in Rochester New York, called “the Annual Three Million Dollar Ski Swap and Sale” or some such thing, it’s more commonly known as the Roc Dome & Arena sale…Anthony Lakes Mountain Resort OR knows how a ski swap is done; they check in, sell for three hours, then check out all in the same day. That’s slated for Saturday Nov 16 at the Riviera Activity Center in LaGrande.