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October 24, 1997

Lists #7 - Published 24 Oct 1997

Greetings from THE COLORADO SKIER

This is part of a series on Ski Area Info.  It is posted separately
from our companion series on "THE LOST SKI AREAS OF COLORADO (et al)",
and "THE COLORADO SKIER - TRIVIA".  Check 'em out.

        THE COLORADO SKIER  presents  

        THE TCS LISTS - EDITION #7   (10-24-97)

EDITOR'S REMARKS:

A.  In case you were wondering, the last TCS newsletter was TRIVIA.24,
published 22 July 1997.  There were no August or September issues.  
This reminds us of a Chris Hill remark about the newsletter:  "... the
rarity and randomness makes it a nice surprise."

B.  We should have mentioned that our last issue was an anniversary
edition of the TCS newsletter.  It started the SIXTH YEAR of "The
Colorado Skier" on the Internet.  The very first edition was posted on
15 July 1992.

C.  John Denver was a friend to skiing.  He was an accomplished skier
himself.  His TV specials usually featured skiing and/or other winter
sports.  For several years he was the host of the "John Denver
Celebrity Classic"  (a celebrity ski race) at Heavenly Valley.  He
will be missed.

D.  Some of the data in this post was obtained from "THE WHITE BOOK OF
SKI AREAS", which is copyrighted by Inter-Ski Services, Inc.

1A. THE GREAT "SKI AREAS I HAVE SKIED" CONTEST

We ask you to send us the total number of (lift-served) ski areas
you have skied, the number of areas with verticals over 1000 feet,
and the number of states/provinces skied.  The current results:

                                Total   Areas   States, Provinces,
                 Skier  State   Areas   > 1000       Countries
                _____________   _____   ______  ___________

                Joshua  NH       171!!  84      15,1,3
                Jan-ErikOR       116 !     108 !        11,2,4 *
                Mike    MI      84      51      11,2,3
                Mark K  NY      73      65      17      
                Tom Moore       MA      70      57      14      
                Judith  MD      65      41      17
                Jim B   MD      62      56      15      *
                Carol B MD      61      55      15      *
                Al      CA      57      52      16      
                Jon Z   MA      57      47      14
                Alecia PIL      55      39      12      
                Ron P   IL      54      39      12      
                Tom HansonCO    54      35      11
                John W  VT      53      42      11
                Paul T  NH      53      50       9      
                Carlson CA      49      39      11
                Dan K   CA      49      46       9,1,5 *
                Mike ReganMA    48      44       8
                BORIS   CO      49      47       9      
                Curtis  MD      49      38      13,3,0 *
20
                John K  MN      45      32      12      
                Ted     MA      44      33       8
                David R NY      44      29      10      
                JMK     CT      42      39      11      
                Wesley  VT      42      34      7,0,3
                Karl    UT      42      26      14
                Hugh    NZ      41      39      10
                Steve Hult.CO   41      31      10      *
                # TCS # CO      40      38       7
                Paul M  MN      40      10 !     7      
                NATASHA CO      43      41       9      
                Peter   CA      39      37      10,1,5 *
                Dave L  NY      39      34       7      
                Gregg T NJ      39      34       -      
                Bruce J CO      39      32       9      
                Bill HeryNJ     38      37      11
                Eric    NY      38       -       9
                Verney  TX      38      25       7
                Larry   OH      38      21       8
                Nick    CA      37      32       7      *
40
                Scott R CO      36      35      11      
                Jeff B  MT      35      33       6      
                Carl K  CA      35       -       -,-,2 *
                Keith   MA      34      26       8
                Michael UT      34       -      12
                Steve K MA      33      31       8
                Chuckie BCO     33      29       6
                Crispin OR      33      23      13      
                Earl    CA      32      30       7
                Dennis  CO      31      22       6
                Steve ? CA      31       -       9
                Matthew NM      30      30       6
                Doug S  CA      30      25       7      *
                Dave N  Ont     29      22      10
                Bill W  CA      28      24       5
                George  CO      28      18       8
                Kent    CO      28      16       9
                Scott   MA      27      26       5
                Richard CO      27      23       5
                Benjie  CA      26      25       8
60
                SISSY   NH      25      22       5
                Danny   PA      24      19       8
                Harry   IL      24      19       8
                Leo     CA      24      17       7
                Marcus  Scotland24      16       7
                Jim     FL      26      13       5
                Ned     MD      24      19       7
                Rob      ?      23      22       6
                Phillip MA      23      20       6
                John    TX      23      13       7      *
                Steve HarrisMA  22      20       5
                Tom B   Ger     22      14       4 cntrys
                Bridget CA      21      19      10
                Bill C  CA      20       -       9
                Kassim  OR      20      14       6
                Judy P  MD      20      10       6
                Rick    CO      18      18       4
                Wiley   CO      18      16       5      
                John S  CA      17      17       6      
                Duke    KS      17      16       3      
80
                Matt    MI      16       5       3      *
                Mike S  TX      15      13       7
                - PC Jr -CO     14      13       2
                Chester CO      14       -       4      
                Steve P OH      13       9       5
                Kevin M CA      13      13       4      
                Robert LCA      13       -       2      
                Chris   VA      10       8       5,0,2
                Jim S   TX       9       9       4      
                Robert  OH       9       5       4
90
                [* denotes a new or updated entry since the last post]

        Note:  JAN-ERIK added 10 new areas this season!

1B.     MY FIRST SKI AREA          

 STATE  SKI AREA        SKIER   YEAR    COMMENTS

CA      Heavenly Valley Jan-Erik        1984
CA      Lassen          Earl    1983    area closed
CA      Mammoth Mtn     Nick P  1966    age 11 - no clue
CA      Mountain High   Dave     -
CA      Papoose         Bill W  1963    merged > Squaw

CO      A-Basin         Rick    1966
CO      A-Basin         Ned     1972
CO      Berthoud        Jack N  1945 <       new oldie
CO      Ski Broadmoor   PC Jr   1975    area closed
CO      Cooper Hill     # TCS # 1964    age 6?  ;-)
CO      Geneva Basin    Chester 1982    
CO      Loveland        Jeff B  1977
CO      Silver Hills    John N  70's    area closed
CO      Winter Park     Jeff    1964    2 yrs old?
CO      Winter Park     Marc    1970
CO      Winter Park     Steve K 1974

IL      Four Lakes      David G 1963
IL      Holiday Park    Ron P   1974    area closed

MI      Alpine Valley   Dennis   -
MI      Caberfae        George  1966    
MI      Nub's Nob       Steve H 1971
MI *    Nub’s Nob     Matt    1975
MI      Pine Mountain   Jim     1964
MI      Porcupine Mtn   Harry   1979
MI      Sylvan’s Nob  Tom Moore       1970

MN      Afton Alps      Kent    1973
MN      Buck Hill       Paul    1961
MN      Wild Mountain   John K  1985

NC      Wolf Laurel     Amie     -

NH      Belknap         Bruce J 1949    now Gunstock
NH *    Loon            Bruce L 1975
NH      Mt. Cranmore    Denis   1954 <       old fossil!
NH      Waterville ValleyMike   1982

NM      Pajarito        Verney  66-67
NM      Sierra Blanca   Jim B   1976
NM      Taos            Jim S   1988

NY      Altamont  ??    Ric     1946 <       barrel staves?
NY      Beartown        Gregg T 1961    age 7!
NY      Belleayre       Mark K  1964?
NY      Greek Peak      Phillip 1984
NY      Hunter Mountain Bill H  1969    He feels old
NY      Maple Ski Ridge Paul T  1963
NY      Silvermine      Eric    1956    area closed
NY      Victor Constant Dan K   1968    (West Point)

OH *    Snow Trails     John S  1971

PA      Seven Springs   Steve P 1986

UT      Snow Basin      BORIS   1968

VA      The Homestead   Beth    1960    started young?
VA      Wintergreen     Mark A   -

VT      Bolton Valley   Bill A  1977
VT      Hogback         John W  1979    area closed
VT      Killington      Judith  1964
VT      Killington      Curtis  1987
VT      Mt. Snow        Kevin M 1988
VT      Stowe           Wiley G 1955 <       41 years ago!
VT      Stowe (?)       Steve H  -      (Not sure)
VT      Stowe           Wesley  1966    Age 8.  Cold.

WA *    Snoqualmie SummitFrank  1994    Late bloomer

WI      Tyrol Basin     Carlson  -

WY      Happy Jack (closed)Otis 1952    Young.  Hated it.
WY      Jackson Hole    Lisa    1987
WY      Medicine Bow    Bridget 1973    (now Snowy Range)

BC      Le Jeune Lodge  Marcus  1972    area closed
ONT     Craigleith      Crispin 1967    2.5 years old
QUE     Edelweiss ValleyLeo     1974    age 10

FRA     Valmorel        Chris   1992    a newbie
SWE     Bjasta Backen   Danno   1983    At night!
67

2.  OTHER LISTS

a.  U.S. Ski Areas With The MOST VERTICAL DROP  (feet)

  Snowmass      4400  Note 1      Aspen Highlands   3635
  Big Sky       4180  Note 2      Heavenly Valley   3500
  Jackson Hole  4139              Sun Valley        3400
  Beaver Creek  4040  Note 2      Vail              3330
  Steamboat     3668              Aspen Mtn         3267

   Note 1 - Upon completion of surface lift, 97/98 season
   Note 2 - To ski the complete vertical a chairlift ride is required

b.  U.S. Ski Areas with The HIGHEST LIFT CAPACITY  (skiers/hour)

  Mammoth Mtn    53,000         Winter Park      34,023
  Squaw Valley   49,000         Heavenly Valley  29,600
  Vail           45,213         Copper Mtn       29,190
  Killington     35,327         Sun Valley       28,380
  Steamboat      34,105         Mt Snow          26,685

c.  Most UNUSUAL LIFTS (past) - U.S. Ski Areas

  o  Skimobile at Mt. Cranmore, NH - one passenger cars on tracks
  o  Homestead, VA may have had a similar lift (60s/70s).  It was  
variously called a skimobile, trestle car, or tram.
  o  Chain driven chairlifts at Mt Snow, VT  
  o  Combination Chairlift and T-bar at Howelsen Hill, CO
  o  Jigback chairlift tram at Squaw Valley, CA
  o  Aerial Bus at Timberline, OR

d.  States with The Most Open/Closed (Lost) Ski Areas
        OPEN                     LOST
      New York     43          New York       173
      Michigan     37          Colorado       130
      Wisconsin    34          California     112
      California   30          New Hampshire  106
      Colorado     25          Michigan        94

e.  Most Frequent TCS Newsletter Respondents
      Tom  (MA)             Jan-Erik  (OR)
      Rick  (CO)            Eric     (NY)
      Bill H  (NJ)          Jim    (FL)
      Chester  (CO)         Steve H  (MA)
      Bill W  (CA)          Joshua  (NH)    (Judith is #11!)

3A.  SKI AREA EXPANSION NEWS

a. KILLINGTON  -  Is replacing the double chair on Killington Peak
with a gondola, called "K-1".  The gondola won’t be ready until late
December.  This presented a problem for Big Ks effort to continue  
their record as the first ski area in the East to open.  They have
used the Cascade trail down from Killington Peak as their early opener
and now it had no lift service.  Not to worry - see para 3B.a, below.

POMA announced that they have sold two "Interconnect" chairs (a HS
quad and a FG quad) to Killington, presumably to connect with PICO.  
Killington hints that the connection will happen in 1998.

b.  MT SNOW (VT) - Is installing a HS Quad in the old Carinthia area.

c.  SNOWBIRD (UT) - Is replacing the GAD II double chairlift with the
"GADZOOM" HS quad.  Look for future terrain expansion to the south.

d.  CUCHARA VALLEY (CO)  -  With 5 owners in the last 10 years, and
dormant last season, Cuchara has been purchased by still another Texas
company and plans to be open this season.

e.  ELDORA (CO)  -  Is adding 150 new acres (called "Indian Peaks") to
the west with several new trails and a new FG quad.

f.  BERTHOUD PASS (CO)  -  The new owners of this long dormant ski
area promised to open a lift for summer tourists and to be open for
skiing this season.  However, according to a field agent who passes by
there frequently, there was no significant activity this summer.

3B.  SKI AREA NEWS  -  GENERAL

a.  KILLINGTON  -  Absent the Cascade Trail, Big K has designated the
"Rime" Trail for their early opener.  It is served by the Glades
triple and access is via the Snowdon quad, snowcats, and a lot of
hiking.  They did manage to open for two days on 2 and 3 Oct to keep
their "first to open" record alive but also set a record as the first
ski area in the country to close!   BTW, to make sure the record
stayed at K, owner ACS told the (also ACS owned) SUGARBUSH and SUNDAY
RIVER ski areas not to open before Killington.  ;-)

b.  TIMBERLINE (OR)  -  Has destroyed the "last to close" and "first
to open" records.  Traditionally open until Labor Day, this year
Timberline closed on 8 Sep for two weeks of maintenance and then re-
opened on 27 Sep for the 97/98 season.  All other ski areas fight for
2nd place.

c.  ASC  -  In late summer ASC bought the STEAMBOAT (CO) and HEAVENLY
VALLEY (CA) ski areas from a Japanese company for $280 million.  This
purchase brings ASC into a virtual tie with VAIL RESORTS for the lead
in most "skier days" among all their ski areas.  Heavenly did not
report the number of skier days for 96/97 so the race is on for 97/98
to post the biggest numbers.    $280 mill is a big bunch of money so
the speculation started as to whether ASC would have to take on a
financial partner or would issue stock.  They chose the latter path.  

d.  VAIL  -  Last time we said that when A-Basin asked parent Vail for
$550K for advertising expenses, Vail only gave them $50K.  To be fair:
A few weeks later Vail delivered an additional $450K.  The money is to
be used for 97/98 brochures, ski shows, and a web site.  Has anyone
seen a NEW A-Basin web site?  Last one we saw still said Keystone.

e.  VAIL SELLS A-BASIN  -  When Vail (Vail/Beaver Creek) merged with
Ralston (Breck/Keystone) they were court-ordered to sell off A-Basin
to an independent party.  Vail wanted $15 mill but experts said they
would be lucky to get 8 or 9 mill.  Recently Vail sold The Basin to
Dundee Realty, USA, a subsidiary of a Canadian development company,  
for $4 million!  Industry experts were shocked by the low price.  
Other bidders reported they had made offers of from 11 to 14 mill.

Analysis of the offer revealed that Dundee had promised to contribute
money to the Summit County bus system and to pay Vail for lift tickets
sold which were good at A-Basin as well as Breck and Keystone.  These
items made the bid much higher.  However other bidders indicated that
they had included the same terms.  Also, Dundee is developing condo
projects at both Beaver Creek and Arrowhead, and is buying more land
from Vail Resorts for more housing projects.  So this was viewed, by
some, as not an "arms length" sale.  However, the courts approved the
sale and it is a done deal.  Dundee immediately started the EIS
process to get Forest Service approval for snowmaking.  

f.  BOOTH CREEK  - has bought LOON MTN (NH) which brings their total
number of ski areas owned to 10.

g.  MT SUNAPEE and CANNON ski areas are owned and operated by the
state of New Hampshire - this seems to limit their growth potential.
NH has finally decided to entertain proposals for private industry  
lease and operation - probably for 30 year periods.  Stay tuned.  

h.  VAIL has made no secret of their desire to get more involved in
hotel and restaurant operations to supplement their ski operations  
income.  Vail already owns hotels at Keystone and Beaver Creek.  This
fall, Vail bought the "Breckenridge Hilton" and "The Lodge at Vail".

i.  SKI COLORADO!  -  KEYSTONE and LOVELAND both opened for skiing on
Friday, 17 October.  This is the 2nd year in a row that the two areas
opened on the same date.  One or the other has been the first ski area
in Colorado to open for over 20 years.

j.  MAGIC MOUNTAIN (VT)  -  Closed since 1990, this area apparently
will open this season on a limited basis - one lift, no snowmaking,
weekends only.    ROUND TOP (VT)  -  Closed since 1983, may re-open
next season.

4.  LOST SKI AREA FOLLOW-UP

a.  HOLIMONT, in Ellicottville, NY, (western NY state near the HOLIDAY
VALLEY ski area) is on our list of "Lost" (closed) ski areas.  
However, this summer two loyal TCS readers (RYAN & KEVIN) reported
that this ski area is not closed.  It is privately owned, for members
only, but is open to the public during the week.  It has 600 ft of
vertical, 6 chairlifts, two surface lifts, and 100% snowmaking.  Thx.

b.  WESTFORD, MA  -  Lots of folks (including our own stockbroker)
remember a small rope tow area just north of I-495.  No one can
remember the name of the area but everyone knows that it’s just down
the road from the Drews Apple Farm roadside stand!

c.  LOST SKI AREAS OF MT HOOD  -  This is the subject of a book we
recently received.  It came from loyal TCS reader Jan-Erik (OR), he of
frequent skier fame.  Jan-Erik found the book in a Portland area used
book store and was kind enough to buy it and mail it to us BEFORE we
paid him for it.  Thank you.  What a neat concept.

We love to look thru used book stores for books on ski areas.  But it
will take us quite a while to get to every used book store in the
country.  ;-)  So if you guys could help us by looking for ski books,
we would appreciate it.  Now don't go buying just any book on ski
areas.  We have most of the "America’s Ski Book", "Skier’s Digest",  
and "Encyclopedia of Skiing" series.  But if you find a regional ski
area book such as the "Ski Areas of New York" (1962), grab it and we
promise to pay you for it.  If you’re not sure about a title, give us
a jingle.

5.  TRIVIA FOLLOW-UP

a.  THE BIG GUYS - A few readers asked which ski areas are owned by
which conglomerates and one person said who or what is "Booth Creek"?

1)  VAIL RESORTS (formerly Vail Associates)  built Vail and Beaver
Creek, then bought Arrowhead and merged it with Beaver Creek.  Ralston
owned Keystone and then bought A-Basin and Breckenridge.  Vail bought
Ralston, so now has 4 resorts, having sold A-Basin.

2)  American Skiing Company (ASC) was formed by a merger of the LBO
and S-K-I Inc resorts.  After selling off Waterville and Cranmore, ASC
owned Sunday River, 1/2 of Sugarloaf, Attitash, Killington, Mt. Snow,
Haystack, and Sugarbush.  Last year they added Pico.  This year they
bought Wolf Mtn (UT) and renamed it "The Canyons".  Then they bought
Steamboat and Heavenly Valley.  Total is 11 ski areas.

3)  INTRAWEST  -  Started as a commercial land developer.  Built the
Whistler Village in BC and the adjacent Blackcomb ski area.  Then
started adding ski areas:  Panorama (BC),  Tremblant (PQ),  Stratton
(VT),  Snowshoe (WV),  and 1/3 of Mammoth Mtn (CA).  This spring they
bought Whistler (BC) and Copper Mtn (CO) and they recently acquired
Mt. Ste. Marie (PQ).  Intrawest buys areas that have a large real
estate potential, particularly for a base village.  They are partners
with Keystone (a major competitor) in building the River Run Village
at Keystone.   The total is 10 ski areas.

4)  BOOTH CREEK SKI HOLDINGS  -  Was formed by George Gillett and his
two sons.  Gillett was former owner of Vail but lost it when his meat
packing business and TV stations became overleveraged.  Booth Creek
bought Northstar, Sierra-at-Tahoe, and Bear Mt, in CA, then Cranmore
and Waterville in NH, The Pass (4 ski areas on Snoqualmie Pass), WA,
and Grand Targhee, WY.  This summer they bought Loon (NH).  Total = 10

Now you might wonder where a man who declared bankruptcy gets his
money to buy ski areas.  Good question.  When Apollo bought Vail, they
kept Gillett on as a consultant at $1 mill per year.  Perhaps his sons
owned Vail stock and made a killing.  But basically he borrows the
money and, in our opinion, one bad snow year will - once again -
crumble his house of snow blocks.  

Note:  Other conglomerates are:  ASPEN (4 areas), and BOYNE (5)

b.  SINGLE CHAIRS  -  Several readers have asked how many are still
standing/operating.  We have always listed 5, and here is an update:

1)  MAD RIVER GLEN, VT  -  Oldest operating single (1947).

2)  KRATKA RIDGE (Snowcrest), CA  -  2nd oldest operating (1950).

3)  MT EYAK, AK  -  Moved here from the old (1947) chair #2 at ASPEN.
     Guidebooks show a triple at Eyak, now.  The Single may be SBNO.  

4)  PINE CREEK, WY  -  Moved here from BRIGHTON, UT in 1974.  One    
     reader says there is no single at Pine Creek now.  Unresolved.

5)  EAGLE ROCK, WY  -  Was listed in guide books for many years, but a
     reader says the area is closed and the lifts have been removed.

c.  CROSSING LIFTS  -  We should like to point out that the only  
"crossing lifts" we keep track of are "chairlifts" crossing
"chairlifts".  We assume that gondolas and trams routinely cross all
kinds of lifts and that surface lifts are routinely crossed by chairs,
gondolas, trams, and probably blimps.

In the last update of "crossing lifts" we used the carefully chosen
phrase "we couldn’t find evidence of crossing lifts at that ski area"
to both dismiss crackpot theories and cases where we didn’t have a
trail map to verify.  OBER GATLINBURG was one of the latter cases and
KEVIN (GA) was kind enough to send us a recent trail map which does
indeed show 2 crossing quad chairlifts.  Thank you, Kevin.

Also: SUGARLOAF (ME) has 2 quad chairlifts that cross. Thx Mike & Chip

d.  SNEAKY TRIVIA ANSWER - "QMC", as in the JUNE MTN (CA) QMC Tram,
stands for "Quad Mono-Cable".  ??  Looked like a normal gondola to us.

6.  BUILDER'S EMPORIUM  -  In this regular feature we discuss lifts,
groomers, skis, bindings, boots, poles, even lift tickets.

a.  CIRCUS CIRCUS TRAM - We reported that this gondola had been moved
to a water theme park in Denver.  We wondered what its role was at
Circus Circus, but no one knew.  Fortunately, trivia is everywhere.  
While thumbing thru a guide book to Las Vegas, we found the gondola on
a picture of the Circus Circus hotel.  It ran on top of the casino
from the street (strip) side back to the big pink dome which houses
their amusement park, "Grand Slam Canyon".  There was a sign above the
stairs to the gondola which read "Grand Slam Tram".

A Denver field agent reported that the configuration at "Waterworld"
is as follows.  Two groups of four gondola cars each, Fixed Grip, with
simultaneous loading at both ends - basically a tram like operation.

b.  PULSE GONDOLA  -  This year the upper gondola and upper tram
terminals at SQUAW VALLEY will be connected by a "pulse gondola".  A
few readers wondered what that is.  We didn’t know and so consulted  
our friends at Doppelmayr.

A pulse gondola is a fixed-grip gondola whose cars travel in groups
(of one or more).  While cars are loading at one end, they are also
loading at the other end.  Plus there are cars in between which have
to stop midroute during loading.  The cars always travel in the same
direction (not jigback).  After a car loads and departs one station,
it has to stop while the next car or group of cars is being loaded
(something like the loading of a Ferris wheel).  The term "pulse"
comes from the continual stopping and starting of the system.

This type of gondola system is used where gondola cars are desired but
speed and capacity aren’t important.  Like for transporting ski and
foot passengers between two terminals at Squaw - and remember that the
upper part of Squaw is open in the summer, also.

7.  POTPOURRI

a.  WRONG, FUNNY, OR ODD

We have been reading a book about Buddy Werner, famous ski racer from
Steamboat Springs.  The author, also from Steamboat, made a couple of
gaffes.  He kept referring to VAIL as VAIL PASS.  Vail has never been
called "Vail Pass" and is located several miles from the actual pass.

Also, when he referred to a CAT TRACK in a race course the author used
a footnote to point out that "cat tracks are bulldozed at oblique
angles into race courses to make them more difficult"!!  Really?  
SNEAKY TRIVIA:  What is a "cat track", and where does it get its name?

b.  WHAT WE THINK  -  We find that when our favorite sports team is
eliminated from the playoffs, that rather than root for another team,
we root AGAINST some other (hated) team.  Do you do that?  If so,
maybe you can relate to some of the teams we root against and why:
[Notre Dame and the Yankees are a given]  Atlanta Braves - because of
Ted and Jane and that horrible tomahawk chop;   Dallas Cowboys
("Columbia’s" team) - owner Jerry Jones;  Oakland - owner Al Davis;  
Florida - coach Spurrier (we prefer Bowden);  and (a surprise) North
Carolina - because of Dean Smith.  Why do we dislike such a respected
coach?  Because he invented the four corner offense - the STALL game -
and single-handedly forced the introduction of the shot clock into  
college basketball.  A dubious pair of "contributions" to the game.

c.  DEMI MOORE - Did you folks all rush out to see "GI Jane" in order
to rescue dumdum’s career?  She made four flops (actually real bombs)
in a row  [Now & Then, The Scarlet Letter, Striptease, The Juror] and
some movie reviewers felt that she would need a hit from "Ensign Jane"
to revive her career.  Last time we looked, box office receipts were
still under $50 mill.  A mini-hit, like her hair.

8.  THE REALLY, REALLY, REALLY LOST SKI AREAS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

On a recent trip to NH we once again went looking for lost ski areas -
with little success.  The trees just grow up too fast.  If we ever do
this again, we will make local inquiries first, rather than just drive
around aimlessly.

We did manage to find lost "Wolfeboro".  Actually it isn’t lost.  The
ski area still operates as "ABENAKI", operated by the Abenaki Outing
Club.  It is located on Hiway 109, about 3 miles north of Wolfeboro.  
It has about 200 feet of vertical, one rope tow, 5 trails, night
lighting, and an enclosed ice rink.

No luck finding INTERVALE or TYROL even tho we knew "exactly" where
they were.  No SPRUCE MTN either.  BROOKLINE wasn’t where the map
said, either, so we asked locally and did find it.  The base lodge
exists (as a flea market), but no lifts.

Along the way we did manage to visit several open ski areas we had
never seen before, including:  Mt Cranmore, Black Mtn, King Pine, and
Temple.  We were disappointed not to find any of the old skimobile
cars on display at Cranmore.  Maybe at the ski museum at Cannon?
Note:  TEMPLE MTN has a center-pole FG quad.  ("Borvig", says Joshua)

On our return from NH we took a short tour of Summit County (CO) to
see some Fall color.  Observed that the new HS Quad at Breck - Peak 8
is nearing completion.  Towers up and cable strung.  The new HS Quad
next to the gondola at Keystone is not nearly as far along.  Towers
were not in on 30 Sep.  However, it was not due to be completed until
Thanksgiving and the parallel gondola works just fine.  Keystone is
also adding a new beginner area with triple chair.

9.  EPILOG

a. Please provide your name and city name when FIRST writing to TCS.

d. Due next:  "LOST.25"  in mid-November

    Cheers from The Colorado Skier  (On permanent vacation)

"I am sitting in my office in shorts, with the windows open."      
 Spokesperson for Killington on 6 October 1997


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