Recent content by jamesdeluxe

Based on Tony's good-looking photos, I'll check out Montgenevre on my next visit to the region. It seems to be one of very few ski areas in the Alps that's right alongside a highway (at least two lanes in each direction) such as Loveland or Copper. Are there others?

Too bad for my Solitude friend who spent 2.5 weeks based at Cervinia with very little new snow and a lot of wind. Now it's getting four feet mid-mountain. Fraser confirms: Today in the Alps Updated: 10.30am Tuesday 15 April 2025 – Biggest storm of the season for some parts of the the Alps...

A fascinating article, especially this: Heavenly VP and general manager Shaydar Edelmann declined to be interviewed for this story; he instead shared a statement with SFGATE saying the ski resort cares “deeply” for the South Lake Tahoe community but does not see any reason to join the city.

Here's the run, the Combe de Borderan, that follows @EMSC's red line; however, no hike at the end -- it winds through trees at the bottom: Flying above the t-bar:

I'm reasonably sure that I took the Aiguille flatiron pic above from the X: On the main face, you have a quad chair and on the lower skier's left is the Jument 2000 surface lift: The map doesn't even show the two parallel faces to the skier's left of the main slope. No idea what happens at...

To my mind, only Ellicottville in western NY. Hunter, Roxbury, Windham, and Pine Hill in the Catskills are near ski areas but don't have enough tourism infrastructure to qualify as true ski towns IMO. I believe that the same could be said about North Creek in the ADKs. Back to the topic: ski...

I was comparing Lake Placid to Frisco (mountain tourism towns), not a city that happens to have a few lift-served hills 25 minutes away.

While certainly apples and oranges compared to Colorado, it's fascinating that NYS's biggest ski town is tiny, idyllic Lake Placid.

Perhaps not directly related to the election (or maybe it is), check out this update about Americans, both rich and not so rich, prepping for doomsday: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/04/10/magazine/bunkers-prepping.html?unlocked_article_code=1._k4.Yiir.CY14Gp_ONR3Z&smid=url-share

A 30-second search turned up this article.

It has the name recognition, reputation, and popularity of an industrial area (I wouldn't go there during peak periods); however, the cute traditional ski town (like what you see in Austria), attractive on-mountain restaurants, and old-school lift system made it feel more like an overgrown...

North-facing terrain at La Clusaz looking good on April 7. Most of the ski area closes today; however, the excellent La Balme sector (pic below from the Torchère platter) is scheduled to stay open through April 27: One of the follow-up comments is spot-on: "I'm always fascinated by what La...

Can anyone clarify the subsidy part of the equation? "Mr. Aerenson, a retired lawyer and a ski instructor at Breckenridge, estimates that it costs the town $150,000 in subsidies to build a single unit of affordable housing, a process that takes years even when the funds are available."

A NYT article reports on life for many ski-industry employees in Frisco, CO.

I had to look it up: The lake's name comes from a 1871 incident where a group of convicts escaped from Carson City, Nevada, and a posse pursued them to the lake, resulting in a shootout and the deaths of both posse members and convicts.