Bomb cyclone wreaking havoc throughout the Pacific Northwest, certainly the only positive we can see is that a number of resorts will be spinning lifts a lot sooner than expected. Photo above taken this morning at Donner Ski Ranch in the Tahoe region. Mammoth set to open by Friday the 29th, but the early season regulars near Truckee have yet to announce…meanwhile the FIS World Cup season got underway this weekend in Soelden, Austria; if by some chance you haven’t heard, Mikaela Shiffrin won a close Giant Slalom contest over Lara Gut, with Petra Vlhova a second and a half behind the front runners. Yesterday was the men’s turn on the Rettenbach Glacier, where Marco Odermatt of Switzerland bested Roland Leitinger of Austria, second, and Zan Kranjec of Slovenia who rounded out the podium. All three nearly had the spotlight stolen by American up-and-comer River Radamus, who gamely finished 6th after a Bode Milleresque save. Radamus was sporting a “leopard print” haircut that probably garnered more photo pixels than Odermatt’s win. Should also report that Ryan Cochran-Siegle competed yesterday. He didn’t make the cut after run #1 but considering his back-smashing crash in Kitzbuhel last season, it was a positive step for the young Vermonter. Speaking of Kitzbuhel, former Hahnenkamm winner Thomas Dressen has announced that he’s going to skip the first two ski events in Lake Louise and Beaver Creek. The German speedster is not fully recovered from various knee and hip surgeries…and we’re hearing that Colorado’s Keystone Resort will open Friday, they’ll be skiing on Schoolmarm and Silverspoon off the Montezuma Express lift, with up and down loading off the River Run gondy…