Stoked for ski season...

There is much to be stoked for this ski season - early snow and cold temps are certainly tops on my list, and investment in snowmaking throughout New England, the Mid Atlantic, Mid West and Western Rockies is another!

Here are my top 10 stokes for the winter 2012-13 season...many reasons to get out and ski and ride this season!

http://www.boston.com/travel/explorene/specials/ski/blog/2012/11/10_stokes_for_t.html

Stay Tuned as we will be heading to Okemo for an On Snow Demo Dec 8 and we will have news and  reviews on new gear just in time for Christmas. Sunday River skiing before the holidays is also on our December bucket list.

So keep those skis and snowboards tuned and at the ready - cheers to a better  ski year! 

Check out Family Ski Trips for news and reviews of your favorite ski resort, and the resorts you haven't discovered yet... and for that super sweet luxury ski vacation, check out Luxury Ski Trips and check in to a slopeside Four Seasons soon!

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Black Friday or White Weekend?

Do you really want to go to the crowded mall or wait in line in the dark at Wal-Mart for some soon to be obsolete appliance on Black Friday?  If you are a skier, you know that the day after Thanksgiving is a great day to ski, and pre-Christmas is the best time to get ski ticket deals.

Our friends at Liftopia are having a Pre Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sale with discounted lift tickets at over 200 ski resorts across the US and Canada. In New England, you can get tickets to Waterville Valley for $35, and Attitash for as low as $17 for example. Many resorts are half price, some up to 84% off the retail window rate. Ski Lake Tahoe's Homewood for just $35 or Sierra at Tahoe for $40. Liftopia is the largest online platform selling lift tickets at discounted rates - keep in mind tickets are date specific and non refundable. 

If you can't make it to the slopes this Thanksgiving weekend, then play Liftopia's facebook challenge to see how many ski resort you have skied. Click on each ski resort around on the globe where you have skied with the "Where I have skied" app,  then challenge your friends on facebook to  a virtual vertical showdown. I have skied 107 ski areas in North America and Europe, pretty cool. How about you?

Happy Thanksgiving skiers and riders and may your Black Friday be white.
Cheers from Family Ski Trips!

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Ski Resort Opening Everywhere...Good Omen

Ski Resorts across the US and Canada are opening faster than you can say No Shave November.... Killington, Sunday River, Okemo, and Sugarloaf are all open for skiing and riding.

Opening this weekend are Jiminy Peak and Mount Snow - thought just for a rail jam. In Quebec Mont Saint Sauveur is open. In western Canada, Sunshine in Banff plus Norquay, Lake Louise and Marmot Basin are open. In the Rockies, A Basin, Loveland, Keyston, Copper, and Breckenridge are skiing, and in California - Squaw and Mammoth  have already been skiing and riding.  Heck even Cataloochee in North Carolina is open, after getting wallopped with snow from Hurricane Sandy!

Can you say La Nina? Call it whatever you will, but we are off to a nice start to the ski season! Cheers... now go shave...and make plans for a big ski trip this winter! 

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The Beast is back..Killington open, Sunday River is next!

Yes, the Beast of the East is back and blowing serious snow like the good ole days. Killington will open for skiing Monday November 5, 2012 with the K-1 Gondola and the Triple servicing Ryme and Great Northern trails... it will be marginal snow conditions, so experts only please. This is the second opening for Killington - they opened Oct 14 this year for passholders only - a sweet privilege if you have the K-mart pass and an interested marketing decision to limit the number of people on the hill while rewarding their loyal pass buyers.

Killington and Sunday River always make our best bet list for ealy season skiing...they are the A Basin and Loveland of the East. And the word from the River, Sunday River opens Election day Nov 6 for skiing ... trying to catch the beast with more trails and potentially better coverage...

See you on the slopes soon!

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No Snow November? No way...bring it winter!

Happy November, offically my least favorite month of the year as the leaves are off the trees, the daylight hours are deprived, it's the undecided month...not summer, not yet winter..blah.

But hope springs eternal if you will pardon the seasonal pun. Once elections are over, and everyone has made the "right" choice, we can set our sights on ski season and our own white houses and white mountains. Those slippery metal campaign signs that didn't blow away during Hurricane Sandy can be used as sleds once we get that first big November snow storm right?!

I think we are due for a big cold winter in the North East and a snowy season in the West...and not just a pounding in the Pacific mountains of Oregon and Washington this time! Squaw Valley in California has already been dumped on to open for skiing prior to halloween!

Vail will celebrate its 50th with a beautiful new Golden Peak Gondola from Vail Village - complete with wifi and heated leather seats - sweet! Aspen Snowmass hopes to open 230 acres of new glades on Burnt Mountain. Arapahoe Basin opens a new Pika Place beginner area with a magic carpet - beginner terrain that A Basin previously lacked. Jackson Hole in Wyoming has a new high speed quad to replace the ghostly slow Casper triple.

And in the East, Cranmore, Burke and Jay Peak have new lifts, Bretton Woods opens new glade skiing with T Bar access and  Sugarloaf will open more of the Brackett Basin glade expasnion towards Burnt Mountain. See what's new in New England skiing and riding for this season at FamilySkiTrips.com

Have those skis and boards waxed and ready - winter is coming. Props to Killington for their Oct 14, 2012  debut, but it was only a day and only for passholders. Shout out goes to the North Carolina ski resorts as well that got dumped on by Hurricane Sandy and opened for Halloween skiing...

Anyone want to wager on who will be the next New England Ski Resort to open and stay open?  See you on the slopes!

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Halloween Skiing!?

Can you say Cataloochee three times?! How about Halloween skiing?! Well, Hurricane Sandy has brought snow and an early ski season opener to Cataloochee and Sugar Mountain in North Carolina!  Both mid Atlantic ski resorts will open for skiing on Wednesday Oct. 31, 2012 thanks to significant snow from the "Superstorm Sandy" or what some are calling "Frankenstorm" given the timing just prior to Halloween!

Last year it was Killington and Sunday River that both opened Oct 29, 2011 for Halloween skiing following Hurricane Irene and what we called "Snowtober"!

Ironically, this huge storm system Sandy brought tropical temperatures to the North East, no snow, just rain and high winds. Well, props to North Carolina for their early season snow show for a change!

Killington has already opened for skiing October 14,2012 for one day of limited skiing on that Sunday on K-1 for passholders only, taking advanatage of their impressive snowmaking power and a cold snap earlier in the month. Killington is reclaiming their Beast of the East title.

So who will open next? My money is always on Sunday River - they blow the competition away with their snowmaking efforts. Loveland and Arapahoe Basin in Colorado and Squaw Valley in California have already opened for limited skiing out west. Thee early season ski resorts are perrenial favorites, all on our Top Early Season Ski Resorts list.

Next week is the Boston Ski Show, a kick off to the New England ski season excitement. So it's time to go in the basement, hoping that it didn't flood during Sandy's serious rain, and find your ski and snowboard equipment - cause winter is on its way.

This year Heather Burke will be blogging about skiing here, on Boston.com, Liftopia, FamilySkiTrips.com and LuxurySkiTrips.com plus facebook, twitter and Google + so keep tuned in and keep your skis tuned up!


Happy Trails!

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The Client List, Zumba, Presidents and Prostitutes

My little town of Kennebunk is making national news. Yes, my Zumba instructor was also turning tricks, videotaping her johns, and evading taxes and its all over the web, TV, newspapers, and local gossip. Can I just say Alexis is a very attractive gal, her Zumba dance workout classes were fun and she is very fit? No defense, just little details. Zumba is like skiing, it's a great work out but you don't feel like you are exercising.  The music, the movement, the hour just flies by. That's all I have to say on the subject - I am not going to get into The Client List, Kennebunk's Coming Out Party for Johns and Janes. While the Zumba/Call Girl scandal has made for lots of humor around town, it will also do some harm to families and friends in our tight community.

Kennebunk and Kennebunkport have been in the national media spotlight before, as the Summer White House for two Ex Presidents. The Bush family has brought fame and fields of reporters to our seaside hamlet through the years. Now that we have two retired Presidents, the attention is more of what we call Bush Gawkers, eager to get a photo of Walkers Point or see George and Barbara in Church, on Fidelity - their boat,  or out at Mabels for Lobster.  George W, or as we call him - 43, versus his dad 41, actually mountain bikes with my friends - a fantastic athlete and great guy they say. Not a zumba guy. 
 

Kennebunkport's Christmas Prelude, a holiday celebration the first two weekends of December, has also brought tv coverage with the Today Show,  Travel Channel, HGTV and Food Wars. I rarely participate in Prelude as it conflicts with the start to New England's ski season and my small Maine town is more packed than the ski slopes. So welcome to my world, the Kennebunks - home of Presidents, Prelude and Prostitution... party on!

In other news, the leaves out my Family Ski Trips office window are turning faster than you can say Kennebunkport Zumba scandal. So soon it will be ski season.  We are preparing our editorial and travel calendar for winter 2012-13, ski resorts are blowing the mice out of their guns, and prepping for a much bigger snow year than last...ok maybe Oregon, Washington and Austria being the exception as they made out like snowy bandits during last year's snow drought every where else.

Our ski friends at Sugarloaf, Saddleback, Aspen and Lake Louise are posting frosty photos on facebook, Killington is making snow, one resort called the contrast of autumn leaves a fresh dusting of snow "snowliage" ... love that! So enjoy the snowliage...ski season will be here faster than you can fill in the blank_____. 

Think snow, do your Zumba snow dance, and be ready for the first ski resorts to open!

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