The bums are back and we are giddy! Why are we giddy, because we’re getting ready to go to Jackson Hole, Wyoming and we can’t stop talking about it!
Weekly Flavor
Ski News
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48 People Evacuated From Cannon Mountain Aerial Tram
According to WMUR 9, Forty-eight people were evacuated from two aerial trams at Cannon Mountain in Franconia, New Hamsphire after a suspected problem with the service brake caused the lift to grind to a screeching hault. Forty-one people were in the lower car, with seven in the top. The groups were mostly skiers, but a handful of sightseers were also on board, including an eight month old child.
Paula Tracy, a WMUR 9 reporter, was on the lower car. She said they felt a “severe jolt” before the tram stopped. She said everyone was very calm and that people did not panic, although “there was a little bit of screaming.
Passengers were lowered through the floor of the tram, no one was injured in the process. Cannon Mountain states that it thinks there was a severe problem with the service brake, which is the suspected culprit for this incident. The extreme cold streak in New England is not cited as a factor for the stall.
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Colorado State University : Graduate Certificate in Ski Area Management
If you find your calling in the mountains and want to make your living on the slopes, this online ski area management graduate certificate can help you turn your passion into a rewarding career. Whether you already work in the ski industry or aspire to do so, this program will provide you with the skills needed to succeed in all types of ski resort operations and management roles.
The ski industry is currently undergoing a generational shift, where many senior level managers are looking to retire, creating significant opportunities in the coming years for hard-working, forward-thinking individuals who have detailed management knowledge and expertise that is specific to the ski industry.
Meet this growing demand by learning how to:
- Balance priorities and manage ski area operations that are sustainable on every level
- Apply analytical skills to employ sound financial practices
- Develop positive community and stakeholder relationships
- Operate with the conservation of natural resources and protection of the alpine environment in mind
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Whistler Blackcomb Announces New $8M Investment Plans
Whistler Blackcomb announced during its quarterly report last week that the ski area would invest $8 million in the upcoming year, and now we have more details on the plans. On the heals of Whistler’s highest year-to-date skier visits ever, North America’s biggest ski area will upgrade ski and snowboard areas, restaurants, and much more.
The $8 million list of enhancements includes both winter and summer projects.
- Whistler will improve the ski and snowboard learning areas on Whistler Mountain by doing earthwork in the Olympic Station area to open more beginner-friendly terrain. They will also regrade the Olympic, Fantastic, and Upper Whiskey Jack runs.
- You can expect two new covered magic carpet lifts at Olympic Station.
- Olympic Station will also get 25 new energy efficient snow guns.
- Upgrades to the Roundhouse Lodge glacier-view deck will include a new 6,000-square-foot patio, a new heated umbrella bar, and 160 new outdoor seats.
- The Garibaldi Lift Company restaurant (one of our top places to get a drink post skiing) will receive a renovated patio, a small expansion, a new roof, and new heaters and fire pits. This will add 90 outdoor covered seats.
- Summer enhancements include improvements to the Harmony Lake, Peak Express Traverse, and Whistler Summit Interpretive Walk hiking trails on Whistler Mountain, and the Alpine Walk hiking trail on Blackcomb Mountain.
- The Samsung Alpine Theatre will be expanded and relocated to the lower level of the Rendezvous Lodge on Blackcomb.
All of the projects will be complete before the start of the 2016-2017 ski season.
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Uvex Snowstrike Variotronic Goggles
For those who like a rose-colored-glasses view, the Uvex Snowstrike Variotronic goggles should be on your must-have list.
Designed to adapt to ever-changing light conditions on the mountain, the lens of the Snowstrike changes colors in less than 0.1 second.
Sudden fog patch on a steep slope? No problem. The clear lens changes to the red lens, increasing contrasts.
A neutral blue adjusts for bright conditions, and violet adjusts for sunny days that can create snow reflection.
And if the tint doesn’t change fast enough for you, there is a switch on the goggle strap that can be manually adjusted anytime—which is also great for those days that you are simply in the mood to see the world in a different color. -
Sports Illustrated: Ronda Rousey, Caroline Wozniacki and Lindsey Vonn bodypaint pics
Lindsey Vonn, Ronda Rousey, and Caroline Wozniacki are a few of the celebrities in this year’s swimsuit issue wearing nothing but body paint.
Topic: Jackson Hole or Bust!
- Backcountry Trip with someone special
- Restaurants
- Rest Day Activities
Around the Horn
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Most Expensive Dog In The World Is A Tibetan Mastiff
The ultra-affluent love their dogs just as much as they love driving fancy cars, spending lots of money on lavish dinners and living in the manors that they call “humble homes.” So it makes perfect sense that they’d overspend on a pet. Right?
This begs to ask the question: What is the most expensive dog in the world, and how much does Fido cost?
The answer: it’s a Red Tibetan Mastiff, which was recorded as being sold for a whopping $1.5 million; pocket change for the rich, but a cozy retirement for the other 99% of society.
The Red Tibetan Mastiff is native to the Himalaya region, where its large size has helped it protect flocks, towns and people, including royalty, for over 5,000 years. They were once upon a time used as dogs of war, and in some areas were later worshiped. An intelligent breed, they are the genetic ancestors to the Saint Bernard, Great Dane and Newfoundland dog.
The sale of the century we’re talking about, the most expensive dog in the world, is recorded as being that of an 11-month-old Red Tibetan Mastiff named Big Splash. He was recently purchased by a wealthy businessman in China for $1.5 million.
Considered the top dog of his breed (don’t pardon the puns), the breeder estimated that the owner could recoup his investment by studding the dog out for as much as $100,000.
But for the new owner of the dog, he’s got no intentions of breeding him or studding him out. Nope. He’s just a new million-dollar-plus pet. Luckily for the dog, he will live in the lap of luxury; even if he can’t ever hope to sit on a person’s lap.
When fully grown, a Tibetan Mastiff can weigh as much as 286 pounds. They require a spacious yard and plenty of exercise. One can only imagine how much this costs in food per week (I have a 160-pound female English Mastiff who eats me out of house and home).
Looks like Clifford The Big Red Dog has a new playmate. -
First Ever Supersonic Private Jets
The supersonic-jet maker Aerion recently announced that the flight-service provider Flexjet has placed a firm order for 20 examples of the Aerion AS2 supersonic jet—for which the company began taking orders last year—making Flexjet the first fleet operator for the plane, the first publically available supersonic jet since commercial supersonic travel ended in 2003.
Each jet is priced at $120 million, for a total order potential of $2.4 billion. Aerion says the AS2 will carry 8 to 12 passengers in a 30-foot-long cabin at speeds as fast as Mach 1.5 (990 mph). With a range of up to 5,466 miles, the AS2 cuts transatlantic travel time by 3 hours and shortens trans-Pacific routes by 6 hours or more.
Flexjet chairman Kenn Ricci called the airplane a “potential game changer for business travel.” Flexjet and Aerion will work together to design a custom, premium cabin interior for the Flexjet fleet. Aerion says for busy international travelers, all that extra speed quickly adds up to more productive days and even weeks over the course of a year. For example, a typical long-range business jet that would log about 250,000 miles in a year would fly for about 500 hours, while the same miles could be covered in the AS2 in about 300 hours. The difference for travelers is the equivalent of 25 8-hour workdays.
Aerion also announced that its partnership with Airbus Group has grown, and the company is now looking for a site to build a manufacturing facility. Airbus will expand the resources it is contributing to the program, which include engineering, logistics planning, and management support. “The farther we proceed along the development path with Aerion, the greater our enthusiasm for this program and the deeper our commitment,” says Allan McArtor, chairman and CEO of Airbus Group. “Under our new agreement, our two companies are working as one, to bring Aerion’s supersonic AS2 to the business-jet market.” The first flight is expected for 2021, with first deliveries of the jet expected for 2023.
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Hannibal Lecter Seals
Don’t be fooled by the seal’s cute appearance, those beady eyes hold some dark secrets. Researchers have captured footage of an adult gray seal (Halichoerus grypus) drowning a pup and then eating it.
The video was shot by a team of marine mammal behavior experts from Durham University on the Isle of May, a 1.8-kilometer-long (1.1-mile-long) island off the east coast of Scotland.
Over the course of a week in early December 2014, they witnessed the same male individual cannibalizing five different pups. In one instance, shown in the video below, he was seen dragging a pup to a shallow pool, submerging it underwater until it drowned and then proceeding to cannibalize it.
In their study, the team describe how they found a total of 14 pup carcasses in the area with “traumatic injuries,” which they believe were killed by an adult of the same species. At least 12 of these were found partially eaten.
Among the dead seals, the scientists found “corkscrew”-shaped injuries that spiraled down and around their bodies. Seals have previously been found along U.K. shores with these injuries. Due to their shape, they were previously presumed to have been inflicted by boat propellers. However, the researchers believe that all of these instances could instead be linked to seal-on-seal predation.
As New Scientist reports, this display of cannibalism has strengthened the notion that seals are switching their diets from fish and crustaceans to other marine mammals due to rapid changes in their environment.This isn’t the first time seals have been wrapped up in some grisly and aggressive behavior. Two years ago, they were responsible for wiping out hundreds of porpoises and have also been documented raping penguins.
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Full Top Gear team announced!
Just a week after Top Gear announced Matt LeBlanc as one of the show’s new hosts, we now know the whole cast, and Chris Evans has some big names by his side for the series’ return in May. The next season also features Nürburgring ace Sabine Schmitz, veteran auto journalist Chris Harris, former F1 team owner Eddie Jordan, and UK journalist Rory Reid.
Rumors already suggested that most of these people would be in the cast. Evans tweeted a photo showing Harris at a production meeting, and Schmitz reportedly made Evans vomit after a drive with her in an Audi R8 V10 Plus around Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Recent speculation also put Jordan on the show.
Reid is the winner of Evans’ public host search. He’s an experienced motoring writer as the host for CNET UK’s Car Tech channel and has done auto reviews for a British show called Gadget Geeks. “When I submitted my 30-second audition tape, I knew the odds were very firmly against me, as the auditions were open to absolutely everybody,” Reid said. “To be the only person to make it through the open audition process makes me immensely proud.”
There’s still no word for a US debut for Top Gear’s new season, but the show reportedly returns to TVs across the pond on May 8 for a 16-episode run.
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Tens of thousands of sharks migrating off the coast of Florida
Yep, those small dark specks you can see in the water are actually 2-meter-long (6.2-foot) sharks.
Aerial photos and video footage captured the epic scene of an estimated 10,000 blacktip sharks (Carcharhinus limbatus) migrating along the shores of Palm Beach to Jupiter, Florida on the morning of February 12.
While huge congregations of these sharks are not out of the ordinary, they’re usually found much further south in Miami-Dade and the Ft. Lauderdale area. Biologist Dr. Stephen Kajiura, from Florida Atlantic University, helped document the en masse migration and is working on a tracking project to uncover the source of this behaviour change.
Speaking to CBS12 local news, he added, “There are literally tens of thousands of sharks a stone’s throw away from our shoreline.
“You could throw a pebble and literally strike a shark. They are that close.”
Dr. Kajiura believes that rising ocean temperatures could have meant the sharks no longer have to travel as far south towards the equator. Speaking to ABC, he said, “One of the ideas may be that as they are getting south, if they are in a suitable habitat, then why not stay.”
Fear not if you’re a Floridian with a phobia of sharks. He added that blacktip sharks have a particularly “skittish” attitude towards humans and are much more likely to swim away than confront you. As such, fatal attacks from blacktip sharks are unheard of, not just in Florida but worldwide. But then again, unprovoked shark attacks are rarer than you’d think anyway.