Morning Edition
Snow alert for Alyeska
Snow alert for Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire & New York, getin some DEEP !
SPF Alert for California; unseasonal Spring like temps

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All Aboard !
Stevens Pass, Washington
From the steeps of 7th Heaven to the untracked glades of Corona Bowl. Countless adventures await; you make the decisions on the conditions and your ability, and the mountain provides all the variables and challenges that keep life interesting.
OPEN BOUNDARIES YES !
Northwest's premier resorts offering 10 lifts, over 1,125 acres of skiable terrain, 37 primary runs DEEP YES
a total of over 470" of snow a year - Thank You!
Stevens Pass

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USSA News Bureau
SUMMARIES
Bahrke 10th, Vogtli 11th, Roark 18th in Moguls
Lodwick 8th, Demong 15th in NH Gundersen

DownHill Results
Men's downhill
1. Antoine Deneriaz (FRA) 1:48.80, 2. Michael Walchhofer (AUT) 1:49.52, 3. Bruno Kernen (SUI) 1:49.82, 4. Kjetil-Andre Aamodt (NOR) 1:49.88, 5. Bode Miller (USA) 1:49.93, 6. Hermann Maier (AUT) 1:50.00, 7. Marco Buechel (LIE) 1:50.04, 8. Fritz Strobl (AUT) 1:50.12, 9. Patrick Staudacher (ITA) 1:50.29, 10. Daron Rahlves (USA) 1:50.33, 11. Pierre-Emmanuel Dalcin (FRA) 1:50.35, 12. Tobias Gruenenfelder (SUI) 1:50.44, 13. Manuel Osborne-Paradis (CAN) 1:50.45, 14. Lasse Kjus (NOR) 1:50.64, 15. Scott Macartney (USA) 1:50.68, 16. Francois Bourque (CAN) 1:50.70, 17. Ambrosi Hoffmann (SUI) 1:50.72, 18. Kurt Sulzenbacher (ITA) 1:50.84, 19. Steven Nyman (USA) 1:50.88, 19. Peter Fill (ITA) 1:50.88, 21. Aksel Lund Svindal (NOR) 1:50.90, 22. Klaus Kroell (AUT) 1:50.91, 23. Kristian Ghedina (ITA) 1:50.98, 24. Yannick Bertrand (FRA) 1:51.37, 25. Finlay Mickel (GBR) 1:51.48, 26. Didier Defago (SUI) 1:51.51, 27. John Kucera (CAN) 1:51.55, 28. Andrej Jerman (SLO) 1:51.70, 29. Bjarne Solbakken (NOR) 1:51.72, 30. Pavel Chestakov (RUS) 1:51.93, 31. Andrej Sporn (SLO) 1:52.17, 32. Craig Branch (AUS) 1:52.55, 33. Patrik Jaerbyn (SWE) 1:52.87, 34. Petr Zahrobsky (CZE) 1:52.90, 35. Claudio Sprecher (LIE) 1:53.34, 36. Borek Zakouril (CZE) 1:54.07, 37. Roger Cruickshank (GBR) 1:54.65, 38. Alexandr Horoshilov (RUS) 1:54.70, 39. Alex Antor (AND) 1:55.01, 40. Konstantin Sats (RUS) 1:55.03, 41. Mikael Gayme (CHI) 1:55.73, 42. Maui Gayme (CHI) 1:56.10, 43. Nikolai Hentsch (BRA) 1:56.58, 44. Michal Kalwa (POL) 1:56.81, 45. Jaroslav Babusiak (SVK) 1:57.45, 46. Renars Dorss (LAT) 1:57.54, 47. Nikolay Skriabin (UKR) 1:57.56, 48. Sindri M. Palsson (ISL) 1:57.69, 49. Jorge Mandru (CHI) 1:58.77, 50. Roger Vidosa (AND) 1:59.24, 51. Andrei Drygin (TJK) 1:59.41, 52. Alexander Heath (RSA) 1:59.79, 53. Florentin Daniel Nicolae (ROM) 2:00.93, Ondrej Bank (CZE) Abandon
Olympic Org XX OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES Bardonecchia, ITA - Feb. 12, 2006 Men's Halfpipe
BARDONECCHIA, Italy (Feb. 12) -
Shaun White

(Carlsbad, CA) added another title to his lengthy resume as he won gold in the Olympic Halfpipe contest Sunday in Bardonecchia. Danny Kass (Hamburg, NJ) won his second straight Olympic silver. White's gold and Kass' silver were the first medals of the Torino Olympics for the U.S. Ski Team and U.S. Snowboarding. White pretty much locked up the victory in his first of two runs in the finals as he posted a score of 46.8. Kass' 44.0 in his second run earned him the silver, while Finn Markku Koski took bronze with a score of 41.5 in his first run. Mason Aguirre (Mammoth Lakes, CA) was just off the podium in fourth (40.3), while Andy Finch (Fresno, CA) could not regain momentum after decking out in his first run and ended up in 12th (24.7). 1. Shaun White, Carlsbad, Calif., 46.8 2. Danny Kass, Hamburg, N.J., 44.0 3. Markku Koski, Finland, 41.5 4. Mason Aguirre, Mammoth Lakes, Calif., 40.3 5. Antti Autti, Finland, 39.1 -- 12. Andy Finch, Fresno, Calif., 24.7 For complete results:
FIS

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France Guide
The 2006 FranceGuide travel planner hits stands this month. Its pages are filled with tips on unique ways to explore the country, interviews with American and French figures who hold France close to their heart, France's role as a romantic backdrop for American cinema, and much more. Visit www.franceguide.com/us to order your free copy. Head to Paris for next to nothing! Check out Gate 1 Travel's four-night package to Paris, starting at just $399!!! Package Inclusions: * Roundtrip airfare NYC-Paris including all fuel surcharges * Four nights in a tourist-class hotel * Breakfast daily * Hotel
Details
France Guide

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Valais Tourism - Swiss
Winter events from mid February to the end of April :
26.02.06 The Gommerlauf in Goms
03.03.-12.03.06 The "Caprices Festival", a music festival in Crans-Montana
03.03.-11.06.06 The "Camille Claudel and Rodin" exhibition at the Fondation P. Gianadda in Martigny
04.03.-05.03.06 The Swiss Telemark championships in Thyon/Les Collons
12.03.06 The international dog sled race in Champex-Lac
17.03.-19.03.06 The O'Neill Xtreme Snowboard Contest in Verbier
19.03.06 8. The "8th Birken Trophy", a fun competition for all and any way of "sliding down the slope" in Bürchen
31.03.-02.04.06 The Allalin open downhill races in Saas-Fee
27.04.-29.04.06 The "Patrouille des Glaciers" Zermatt-Verbier

Matterhorn state

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MT HooD SUMMER CAMPS
Well, after a nearly record number of precipitation days, we’re having a couple of blue bird days to evaluate the snowpack. This year, predictions are not necessary; we simply have enough snow to last through the summer and well into the fall. We are taking sign-ups for all of our sessions. The top five towers of the Palmer Chairlift are nearly buried. In fact, to open in the spring, Timberline will have to dig out the chair pathway to the top terminal! We’ll keep our fingers crossed and keep you posted on chair burial.
Here’s a direct link to our camp sign-up page:
MT HOOD SUMMER CAMPS Ski makers hope for lift from China

PARIS The world's biggest ski makers have seen the future, and it begins at places like the Nanshan Ski Resort in China, where the snow is artifical and each of the 12 runs lasts less than a minute.
Nanshan and China's 204 other ski areas may become the new El Dorado for Quiksilver, owner of Skis Rossignol, and Amer Sports, whose brands include Atomic and Salomon. Sales of ski gear have stalled in Europe and the United States.
"China has all the ingredients: mountains, snow, people and economic enrichment," said Jean-François Gautier, president of Skis Rossignol, which is based in Voiron, France. "It would be a big mistake not to be there."
The opening of the Winter Olympics on Friday in Turin may give China its first skiing gold medals, helping Quiksilver and its competitors to lure more of the country's 1.3 billion people to the slopes. Skis Rossignol's local agent last month sponsored the 2006 Youth Cup slalom competition near Beijing to pique interest in the sport.
The number of Chinese who went skiing last year rose to three million from 300,000 in 2000 as economic growth created a middle class with money to spend on leisure.
The Harbin Yabuli Ski Resort, China's biggest, is 120 kilometers, or 75 miles, from Harbin, which is a two-hour flight from Shanghai. Opened in 1996 for the third Asian Winter Games, its highest peak is 1,000 meters, or 3,200 feet, compared with 350 meters at Nanshan. "They ski on hills and the only real mountains are difficult to get to," said Eric Guilpart, marketing director at the Compagnie des Alpes, Europe's largest manager of ski areas, including the Chamonix resorts, in France. "It's not the sort of quality we look for."
Most of the world's seven largest ski makers, all based in Europe, have closed factories in France and Austria and moved production to countries like Romania to cut costs. They have not opened factories in China because the bulk of their customers and raw materials are in Europe, Hotter said.
There are signs that sporting goods stores and resorts in China are ready to invest in new equipment to replace the second-hand gear from European and Japanese resorts they often rent out.
After a decade of prospecting in China, Richard Prothet, head of exports for Skis Rossignol, said he got his first big order, for 1,300 pairs of skis, last year from a rental company at Beijing Ski Dome, an indoor ski mountain.
Sales to individuals may follow. Mao Fei, a 27-year-old software engineer from Beijing, said he planned to buy his own snowboard - if he managed to find his balance.
The complete story ,.... Rob Delaney reported from Beijing Bloomberg News

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