Snow Alert -Maine & Vermont

Mt Hood - Timberline Lodge
Timberline is the only area on Mt. Hood that will have lift serviced skiing and riding 7 days a week through Labor Day! With an amazing base of snow, conditions will be fantastic this spring and summer season. Our Palmer High Speed Quad Chairlift is scheduled to open this weekend, and will be operating throughout the summer. Ascending to 8,540 feet on the southern side of Mt. Hood, it provides breathtaking views and access to the best summer terrain in the United States. When other areas are turning their attention away from the snow, we're just getting started

There has never been a better value at Timberline. Hop on our lifts any day of the week, now through May 28th, with our new Spring Session Pass for only $139. With two months left in the spring season, you can't lose with this pass! Just coming up for the day? We've got you covered with reduced pricing on our daily lift tickets -- Adults can ski for just $36. Visit our ticket and season pass pages for all the information on these and other great ticket options. EVENTS
Upcoming Events
April 8th - Easter Egg Hunt & Brunch
April 14th - Summer Pass Session - Slopestyle Comp on Paintbrush
April 15th - The BoneZone Banked Slalom #2
April 29th - The BoneZone Banked Slalom #3


www.timberlinelodge.com


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SPEED SKI _ Trace Max Sachs
The World Cup Finals were just completed in Cervinia Italy on Monday April 2nd. This season we had a series of 8 World Cup races. The World Cup Tour took us to Austria, Canada, Sweden, Finland and Italy.



I had a great beginning of the season winning the first two World Cups in Austria and Canada. After a bad crash while free skiing in Verbier, things took a different turn. I overextended the exterior ligament in my left knee, as well as damaging the meniscus. In addition I had a hairline fracture in my upper rib cage. I immediately went to a physical therapist after the accident, with only a week to recover before the next race in Sweden. I really wasn't sure I would be able to race at all.

After flying to Sweden, I gave it my best shot at the race in Hundfjallet. I was skiing quite well, but I think the fatigue got the better of me by the end of the race. I ended up in 5th place. I was just happy to be speed skiing again, and I was satisfied with my finish. I continued in Sweden at the next event in Idre. I started to feel better and was more comfortable on the steep track with no compression. I placed second there.

After a 5 hour drive and another flight to Northern Finland on the Russian border, I arrived to race in Salla for two World Cup events. In the first race, I was winning in all of the training runs and semi finals. I think the fatigue got the better of me again, I lost focus in the final and ended up in 2nd place. In the second race, I was feeling better and I won the semi final as well as the final. This put me in the lead of the overall World Cup title by only 3 points.

After 4 more international flights to get back to the Alps, I had 1 day to prepare for the World Cup Finals in Cervinia Italy. I was quite confident going into the race. I have won there several times before and I am usually very comfortable on that track. I knew in order to win the globe I only had to beat one woman, Anna-Karine Modin of Sweden, who was only 3 points behind me. I proved to be the woman to beat in the finals. I was 3 kph faster than the 2nd place woman Emilie Wolff. I also finished 4th in the men's speeds. It was my sweetest World Cup victory yet. I went from a lead of only 3 points ahead to 18 points ahead of the hot young Swedish racer Anna-Korine Modin. My final points were 165, Anna-Korine had 147 in 2nd, and Sanna Tinstrand had 100 for 3rd place. I'm am extremely happy with my 5th consecutive World Cup Champion Title.

The season isn't over yet! We still have 4 more races, which will hopefully be at very high speeds. We start in Les Arcs France with the Red Rock Cup, one of the longest running races in the history of speed skiing. We continue in Les Arcs with the first of the Speed Masters series. This race has the potential of being a World Record breaking race. After a week in Les Arcs, we head over to Verbier Switzerland which will host the 2007 FIS World Championships. This should be a great race and the first time since the 92 Olympics that FIS will allow us to go over the current 200 kph speed limit for FIS races. As the reigning World Champion from 2005, I hope to ski well and retain my title. The final race will also be in Verbier and it will be the Swiss counterpart to the Speed Masters event. There will be an overall title for the combined Speed Masters Race - (Pro World Champion).

I'm still looking for media coverage and sponsorship to help finish out my season. I don't have a ticket back to the US yet and my funds are quickly diminishing with all of the travel expenses that I have incurred this season. If you are interested in lending a hand, please send me an email. I really appreciate your support. Sincerely,
Tracie Max Sachs The official site of professional speed skier Tracie Max Sachs

www.quickchick.com


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USSA News
Ligety Adds GS Title As Championships End
GIRDWOOD, Alaska (April 3) - Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) overcame flight light, which created tricky conditions, to earn the sixth U.S. title of his career Tuesday, capturing the giant slalom which concluded the Nature Valley U.S. Alpine Championships at Alyeska Resort by more than two seconds.
Versus (formerly OLN) will televise coverage from the championships Saturday at 6 p.m. ET.
Junior Will Brandenburg (Spokane, WA), named earlier in the week as the Ski Racing Alpine Junior of the Year, was silver medalist in 2:24.66. Cody Marshall (Pittsfield, VT) had the fastest second run to move up five places as he completed the podium (2:24.78). Brandenburg leads juniors (again)
Brandenburg, who led juniors in both the downhill and super G, again was the top junior with Austin Johnson (Traverse City, MI) sixth overall and second junior with Max Hammer (Jackson Hole, WY) ninth overall and third junior. "It was a fun race," Ligety said. "It was cool to see Will, one of the top juniors in the U.S. right now, come in second and show he really deserves that [Ski Racing] Junior of the Year award." The first run claimed 25 skiers, who didn't finish, and as he inspected, Ligety said, "I knew it was going to be tough," Ligety said. "On inspection, I saw that it was super, super turny. So I knew I was going to stay ahead of it and put a clean run together, which is super hard in those conditions." Eleven skiers didn't finish the final run.
Ligety pleased with first GS crown
Reflecting on his week at the championships, Ligety was philosophical; in addition to his two gold medals, he was silver medalist Sunday in the slalom behind Jimmy Cochran (Keene, NH), who won his third championship at Alyeska. He said the week was "okay. It would have been nice to be able to hold onto my slalom title, but it's no big deal. Jimmy's had a good record on this hill, so it's tough to beat him there.

"It was nice to come up with the GS title - my first GS title. GS is always one of the hardest titles to win normally because we've always had a pretty deep team on the GS side, so I'm pretty psyched to win. It's too bad Bode didn't show up for the second run and give me a run for it."

Brandenburg said he was hoping for a podium to complete his championships. "I came through . to be honest, no I didn't. I was so far out, and 'Fish' and Bode both went out. Luckily for me that happened, but I slid in there behind them, but a lot of it was those other guys going out. I didn't think it was going to hold up.

Head Coach Phil McNichol said the flat light, which smoothes a course and makes it harder to pickup snow changes or breaks in terrain, wreaked havoc on the field. "Ted didn't do anything spectacular, but he skied two strong, clean runs and didn't make a lot of mistakes. Willy Brandenburg had a good race, and obviously so did Cody; both of them went out in slalom yesterday, so maybe there was a little more motivation to do well today, but - whatever it was - they got it done nicely.
Coach heaps praise on Alyeska community
"There was a lot of attrition in the light, though and the course got a little funky. The warmer snow didn't set-up well and that was a problem as bumps developed."
He heaped praise on the Alyeska Resort and community for its support of the championships and the continual course preparation for each of the races. "Up to the last day, it was epic winter weather, great conditions. People enjoyed winter for just about the first real time this season...free skiing and racing. "Alyeska just did such a kickass job. The community here is so passionate and they turned out in force to help keep things in the best shape. Athletes from the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association West Region, won the Tom Garner Regions Cup tally with 3,626 points to 2,077 for the East and 1,130 for the Rocky/Central Region.

2007 NATURE VALLEY ALPINE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Alyeska Resort
Girdwood, AK - April 3, 2007


Men's Giant Slalom
1. Ted Ligety, Park City, UT, 2:22.34
2. Will Brandenburg, Spokane, WA, 2:24.66
3. Cody Marshall, Pittsfield, VT, 2:24.78
4. Mark Heinrich-Wallace, Park City, UT, 2:26.25
5. Chris Frank, Windham, NY, 2:26.61
6. Austin Johnson, Traverse City, MI, 2:26.96
7. Jeremy Transue, Hunter, NY, 2:27.14
8. Drew Roberts, Steamboat Springs, CO, 2:27.32
9. Max Hammer, Jackson Hole, WY, 2:27.70
10. Stefan Hughes, Killington, VT, 2:27.79

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Top Juniors
1. Will Brandenburg, Spokane, WA, 2:24.66
2. Austin Johnson, Traverse City, MI, 2:26.96
3. Max Hammer, Jackson Hole, WY, 2:27.70


Tom Garner Regions Cup
(Points for top-10 racers)
1. West - 3,626 points
2. East - 2,077
3. Rocky/Central - 1,130
For complete results:

www.fis-ski.com/


Eastern Mountain Sports


Big Sky
scattered snow showers in the morning giving way to a mixture of rain and snow by early afternoon. High 41F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precip 60%. Temperature: 41° to 27° (Fahrenheit)
Wind: 5-10mph from South West
New Overnight Snow: 0
Snow Fall past 24hrs: 8
Snow Fall past 48hrs: 19
Base Snow Depth: 61-92
Surface Conditions: Fresh snow over Machine groomed and spring conditions with unmarked obstacles. Ski Carefully! Ambush Terrain Park and Swifty Park are open.
Terrain Open: 90%
Lifts Scheduled to Open: Lone Peak Tram, Swift Current, Thunder Wolf, Ramcharger, Challenger, Iron Horse, Lone Peak Chair, Explorer, White Otter, Shedhorn, Bear Back Poma, Base Area Lifts, Pony Express

What's Happening

Winter's not going away without a fight here at Big Sky. With 2 and a half feet of snow this week there will still be plenty of fresh snow to be found all week long!
4– 6 pm, LIVE MUSIC: Angela Buday– Whiskey Jack
5:30 pm, FACE PAINTING – Huntley lobby Grizzly Bear/ Kids Club
8 pm, YELLOWSTONE SLIDESHOW – Amphitheater

www.bigskyresort.com



Panorama
On March 28th, Alpine Canada Alpin named Panorama as The National Training Centre for Canadian ski racers. After the mountain closes to the public on April 15th, the Men's National Team will arrive here to begin their post-season training. We welcome the Canadian Cowboys to the slopes of Panorama and salute them for their incredibly successful season!

www.panoramaresort.com/


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Zermatt Mogul Competition
22nd Bump Bash Classic
April 5 - 8, 2007
Mogul ski race for all-comers.
URL: http://www.bumpbash.com


Swiss Freestyle Championships
28 - 29 April 2007

Swiss Freestyle Championships
URL: www.bergbahnen.zermatt.ch
www.bumpbash.com/


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Mt Hood Meadows
BULL SCS SLEDSTYLE LANDS AT MT. HOOD MEADOWS APRIL 7
X-Games Medalist Heath Frisby is among the athletes who will perform aerial tricks on snowmobiles during the Red Bull SCS Sledstyle exhibition Saturday April 7. The jump will be right in the base area, next to the Vegetate RailJam qualifiers. No admission charge - come on up and watch these great athletes.

UPCOMING EVENTS
Mar 24:SkiJoring Trail Day
Mar 31-Apr 1:Kids Carnival
Mar 26-28:3 Day Holiday KidsCamps (4-12 year old ski and snowboard camps)
Mar 31-Apr 1:Kids Carnival
Mar 31-Apr 1:Retroactive Gamma Rays Band
Apr 6-8:Vegetate Friday SuperPipe / Saturday and Sunday Rail Jam presented by Salomon and Full Sail

Apr 7:Red Bull SCS Sledstyle

SPRING BREAK MARCH 24 - APRIL 1!
Park & Ride costs just $59 for round trip shuttle from Portland AND your lift ticket! If you're just beginning, try the "Bus on Us" learn to ski or learn to ride package includes bus, beginner lift ticket, 2 hour beginner lesson and equipment rentals for $59! Purchase exclusively online through eTICKETs.
$44 SPRING SPECIAL -
www.skihood.com

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