"Endless Winter Snow"

Snow Alert - Oslo- Norway, Toranto- Canada, Maine & Vermont
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PICABO’S SKI CHALLENGE 2008PICABO’S SKI CHALLENGE 2008

Benefiting Victims of Child Abuse

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (January 14, 2008) - Olympic Gold Medalist Picabo Street is hosting the fourth annual Picabo’s Ski Challenge, an amateur ski race and après ski party to raise awareness and support for victims of child abuse. The event takes place at Park City Mountain Resort on Sunday, January 20, 2008, and all proceeds support National Children’s Alliance and Children’s Advocacy Centers nationwide.
Held during the opening weekend of the Sundance Film Festival, corporations and individuals will sponsor race teams from across the country that compete to raise money and awareness for abused children. Each race team is captained by a celebrity, sports figure or dignitary. As part of the festivities, select sponsors will have the chance of a lifetime to participate in “First Tracks,” skiing with Picabo Street and other world-champion skiers before the resort opens on Saturday, January 19th and Sunday, January 20th. Corporate and individual donors are also invited to attend a VIP reception dinner including a live and silent auction the evening of Saturday, January 19th at Deer Valley Resort. Live auction items include: Four Seasons Paris package, E! Entertainment experience with Giuliana DePandi, Access Hollywood experience with Billy Bush, Las Vegas NASCAR giveaway, Korbel California Winery package, and private ski lessons with Picabo Street, among many other great prizes.
The ski race will be held at Park City Mountain Resort’s Eagle Race Arena, located at the base of the Eagle Lift. Full mountain access lift tickets will be provided to all participants. Each race team is made up of four individuals and handicaps will be provided based on skill. Snowboarders are welcome. The luncheon and après ski party will be held in a private hospitality tent located at the base of the racecourse. The schedule is as follows:
7:00 am: “First Tracks” Skiing
10:30 am: Race Begins
1:30 pm: Tented Luncheon and Après Ski Party
3:00 pm: Awards Ceremony and Closing

Celebrities confirmed to date include: Picabo Street (Olympic Gold Medalist and Host), Bill Rancic (“The Apprentice” Winner and Co-host), Billy Bush (Access Hollywood Correspondent), Kate Walsh (Actress), Giuliana DePandi (E! Entertainment Correspondent), Dakota Fanning (Actress), Lisa Ling (Actress/Writer), Kristen Bell (Actress), Stephen Colletti (Actor), Audrina Patridge (Actress), James Eckhouse (Actor) and Nickolai Stoilov (Actor).
Corporations supporting the Picabo Ski Challenge include: Park City Mountain Resort, Korbel California Champagne, Sara Lee, Nike, KSL-5 (NBC), KSL Newsradio, FM 100 and 103.5 Arrow, Idearc Media (publisher of Verizon Yellow Pages and superpages.com), Zermatt Resort & Spa, Volkl, Bolle, Intermountain Healthcare, America First Credit Union, Energy Solutions and R & O Construction.
Participation in Picabo’s Ski Challenge is tax deductible. All proceeds will benefit National Children’s Alliance and over 600 Children’s Advocacy Centers nationwide. Children’s Advocacy Centers are changing the way America’s communities intervene in cases of child abuse one community at a time. For more information or if you are interested in participating or making a donation, please contact Marcie Mason at (801) 718-7887 or

Park City Mountain Resort
picaboskichallenge@yahoo.com.

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11th annual US Freeskiing Open
11th annual US Freeskiing Open brings professional and amateur athletes together to compete for $60,000 in cash and prizes.
Now in its eleventh year, the US Freeskiing Open (USFO), presented by Suzuki, will return to Copper Mountain, Colo, Jan. 31 – Feb. 3, 2008, bringing together hundreds of the world's best new school ski athletes and thousands of eager spectators. Athletes will compete in three disciplines – superpipe, slopestyle and big air – for a combined $60,000 prize purse.

After last year's highly progressive competition, in which Jon Olsson introduced the Kangaroo Flip in the park and Peter Olenick landed a double flair in the pipe, this year’s event will surely be a highlight of the season. As always, Copper Mountain provides an ideal après and nightlife scene, with Boulder-based 3oh!3 bringing their heavy-hitting hip hop/rock sound to the Village following the Invitational Big Air event.

Maintaining the tradition of athlete involvement in the USFO, this year Copper Mountain's snowmaking and park crews will design the terrain park in conjunction with athlete input and feedback.

"It's exciting to be involved in this event and to have watched it grow so much over the years," said Jamie Pentz, group publisher of Mountain Sports Media, parent company of Skiing Magazine. "The USFO is an extraordinary opportunity in the world of new school skiing, bringing together top professionals like Simon Dumont with up and comers from across the country. Between the crowd's enthusiasm and the athletes' performance, this event is one of the highlights of winter."

http://www.mtsports.com/clients/

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LAAX, Switzerland
LAAX, Switzerland (Jan. 13, 2008) – Fifteen-year-old Canadian rider Sébastien Toutant, who also won the BEO junior slopestyle event this weekend, had the highest score in today’s men’s slopestyle qualifications. 2007 Air & Style Rookie Session winner Tim Humphreys qualified in second place. And 16-year-old Zak Stone, who won the BEO junior halfpipe competition this weekend, just made it into the semifinals, taking 10th in today’s qualification runs.
After nearly a meter of snow fell in Laax yesterday, the clouds parted just 15 minutes before the start of today’s men’s slopestyle pre-qualification runs, unveiling a perfectly groomed course and untouched powder on the surrounding slopes. The bluebird skies were ideal for a busy competition day, in which the judges had to score a total of 330 runs with 125 men getting two runs each in the pre-qualifications and 40 men completing two runs each in the qualification rounds.
Several of the young junior riders beat out the more seasoned pros and made it through the pre-qualification rounds, including thirteen-year-old Scott James (AUS), who won both the BEO slopestyle and halfpipe youth competitions this past weekend. In the end, only 10 riders from today’s qualification competition could advance to Tuesday’s semifinals competition where they will take on world-renowned slopestyle stars like Shaun White (USA), Danny Davis (USA), Mason Aguirre (USA), Heikki Sorsa (FIN), Antti Autti (FIN) and Marko Grilc (SLO), among others.
The Burton European Open will continue tomorrow with men’s and women’s halfpipe pre-qualification and qualification competitions. Be sure to check out the BEO website at www.opensnowboarding.com.

Men’s Slopestyle Qualification Results
Name Nationality Sponsor Points
1. Sébastien Toutant CAN O’NEILL 67.67
2. Tim Humphreys USA FLOW 66.67
3. Joel Lahti FIN FTWO 63.50
4. Jaakko Ruha FIN KISSMARK 63.33
5. Roger Kleivdal NOR K2 63.00
6. Tore Holvik NOR BATALEON 62.83
7. Jason Dubois CAN O'NEILL 60.67
8. Ville Uotila FIN ATOMIC 60.33
9. Kim Andre Eliassen NOR K2 59.00
10. Zak Stone CAN VOLCOM 55

About the Burton Global Open Series
The Burton Global Open Series events are the pinnacle snowboarding events of the season. Founded by Jake Burton, the Opens have grown from grassroots events to global spectacles attracting tens of thousands of spectators and riders from around the world. Since the beginning, the Opens have been driven by riders, for riders evolving with snowboarding and riders’ needs over the years. With events held in Canada, Europe, Japan, the United States, New Zealand and Australia, the Opens set the standard for snowboarding events around the globe.

About the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour
The Burton Global Open Series is part of the Swatch Ticket To Ride (TTR) World Snowboard Tour, the largest group of independent freestyle snowboard events in the world. TTR ranks riders based on their results at participating competitions and crowns a Swatch TTR World Champion at the US Open. The Burton European Open are a 6Start TTR Event and are therefore ranked at the highest possible Star level. For more information,
visit www.ttrworldtour.com .

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Verbier Ride 08

Photo: Verbier Ride Marketing
The Verbier Ride 08 is a European level pro/am Slope Style event offering athletes over 500 hours of TV airtime and the chance to qualify for the ‘Orage European Open by Swatch’. The 1st placed male and 1st place female athletes will automatically gain a spot in Europe’s pinnacle event. The Verbier Ride 08 is the first stage in the newly formed ‘Road to the Open’ and will showcase pro riders and up and coming grass roots talent. The event runs from the 18th-20th January, 18th being practice day, 19th Qualification day and 20th the grand final.

Check out video footage, images and reports from previous years events by clicking on the orange results bar above. You can also watch last year’s TV action of the Verbier Ride live by clicking on the Media Player screen to the left. Just under this is another Media Player screen showing ‘A History of Ride’, an overview of 8 years of Ride Freesport events.

Freestyle skiing is rapidly becoming the major influence on winter sports and the Verbier Ride is deeply etched in European vanguard of the movement. The freeski message is all about self-expression on snow and the community of participation on and off the mountain. The Verbier Ride 08 will encapsulate these ideas and bring them together in a competitive showcase environment. Don't miss the action, get to Verbier for the week of the event and see one of Switzerland 's premiere terrain parks hosting some of Europe 's best talent.

www.verbierride.com

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Paul Mitchell Sports Schedule
2008
Jan
18-20 USSA Freestyle Lake Placid, NY
19-21 Burton Demo Tour Park City, UT
31-Feb 2 USSA Freestyle - World Cup Deer Valley, UT

Feb
1-3 Burton Demo Tour Bear or Northstar, CA
8-10 Burton Demo Tour Bear or Northstar, CA
9-10 USSA Snowboard Chevy Grand Prix Paul Mitchell Progression Session Tamarack, ID
9-10 Jeep Mountain Tour Skiercross & Boardercross Squaw Valley, CA

Feb
16-18 Burton Demo Tour Bear or Northstar, CA
22-24 Burton Demo Tour Boyne, MI

Mar
2 Burton Demo Tour Stratton, VT or Mt Creek, NJ
1-2 USSA Snowboard World Cup Lake Placid, NY
7-9 Burton Demo Tour Waterville, NH
14-16 Burton Demo Tour Stratton, VT or Mt Creek, NJ
15-16 USSA Snowboard Chevy Grand Prix Paul Mitchell Progression Session Killington, VT
21-23 USSA Freestyle National Championships TBD

www.paulmitchell.com

Tecnica

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FIS Schedule
ALPINE SKIING MEN
15.01.2008 Kitzbühel (AUT)
22.01.2008 Schladming (AUT)
24.01.2008 Chamonix (FRA)

FREESTYLE SKIING
16.01.2008 Flaine (FRA)
18.01.2008 Lake Placid, NY (USA)
20.01.2008 Kreischberg (AUT)
26.01.2008 Mont Gabriel (CAN)
01.02.2008 Deer Valley, Park City, UT (USA)

SNOWBOARD
19.01.2008 La Molina (SPA)
26.01.2008 Bardonecchia (ITA)
01.02.2008 Leysin (SUI)
09.02.2008 Moscow (RUS)
15.02.2008 Sungwoo (KOR)

www.fis-ski.com

Scott

"A Dozen More Turns", a film by Amber Seyler, is a documentary about backcountry skiing, avalanches and how the 'human factor'- non-scientific, emotionallyspurred miscalculations – can have dire consequences. Based on a true story about five friends, experienced outdoorsmen who collectively possessed significant avalanche training and expertise, who venture off on a multi-day hut trip in southwestern Montana. The film powerfully depicts how their pursuit of powder and desire to eek out a few extra turns results in tragedy.
A Dozen more turns "

HELENA, Mont. - Rescuers searched Monday through the remnants of a deadly avalanche, unsure whether more backcountry skiers had been caught up in the slide in northwestern Montana.

Sunday's avalanche tore down trees and left snow 20 to 25 feet deep. Two skiers were killed, and rescuers pursued reports that two others might have been caught. But by Monday evening, no one had been reported missing.

Dangerous conditions delayed the start of Monday's search on Fiberglass Hill, a popular area on the other side of the mountain from Whitefish Mountain Resort. Authorities had to blast away an "unsafe snow mass" near the avalanche site, Flathead County Sheriff Mike Meehan said.

Once the search resumed, about 100 people used poles to probe the snow in an effort to find any victims. Dogs and a helicopter also assisted in the search, which ended for the night around 7 p.m. but was expected to resume early Tuesday.

The victims were identified Monday as Anthony Kollmann, 19, of Kalispell, and David Gogolak, 36, of Whitefish.

Gogolak's body was found under about 3 feet of snow and debris. He was not wearing an avalanche beacon, according to the Missoulian newspaper. His brother-in-law was skiing with him and was partially buried but was able to dig himself out, according to the newspaper.

Witnesses were adamant that in addition to Kollmann and Gogolak, they saw two other people caught up in the slide, Meehan said. As part of their search, deputies were checking cars parked overnight in the ski area to see whether anyone was unaccounted for, Meehan said. Flathead County Undersheriff Pete Wingert said he did not know whether the brother-in-law could have been one of the two people searchers were looking for Monday.

In Wyoming, three men from that state, identified as Scott Bennett, Alan Jensen and Kim Steed, were killed in an avalanche while snowmobiling Saturday south of Jackson.

Avalanches have killed at least 21 people across the West since Dec. 2, according to the National Avalanche Center. The national annual average for avalanche deaths is about 25. Thirty-five people were killed nationwide in avalanches in the 2001-2002 season, the most on record, according to the U.S. Forest Service

MATT GOURAS

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