Skiing

To help children get a good start on the slopes, check out the parents' guide from the Professional Ski Instructors of America at psia.org/gwap/parentsGuide.asp. Killington Resort & Pico Mountain 4763 Killington Road Killington, Vt. 802-422-6200 killington.com Waterville Valley Resort 1 Ski Area Road Waterville Valley, N.H. 800-468-2553 waterville.com Wachusett Mountain 499 Mountain Road Princeton 978-464-2300 wachusett.com Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp.

The skiing and riding industry in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom was altered drastically Thursday, when news came down that the owners of Jay Peak Resort have purchased nearby Burke Mountain Resort, creating a joint venture that makes for intriguing expansion options for Burke. The deal was first reported by WCAX-TV , which also pointed out that Bill Stenger and Ariel Quiros completed the purchase of Burke earlier this week for an undisclosed price. A formal announcement is expected later today.

Must be something about those Vermont hills. Hannah Kearney and Kelly Clark are hoping to extend long winning streaks. Kearney's eyeing sweet 16 and 17 consecutive World Cup wins going into tomorrow and Saturday's events in Naeba, Japan. Last Sunday in China, the Norwich, Vt., Olympic champion mogul skier notched her 15th straight World Cup victory since Jan. 22, 2011, and broke Alpine icon Ingemar Stenmark's all-discipline mark of 14 set between 1978-80. "She usually skis best when she has a challenge or task to improve on," said US moguls coach Garth Hagor.

Officials in a Vermont town are supporting the proposed sale of more than 1,100 acres owned by a ski resort to the Vermont Land Trust. The Bolton Valley Ski Resort uses some of the land for cross-country skiing. Ron Lafreniere, chairman of the Bolton Select Board, tells Vermont Public Radio (http://bit.ly/Kp8uZB) the land would likely remain as backcountry trails accessible to the public. He also said the town would not lose much tax revenue. The Trust says it might pass the land to the Agency of Natural Resources.

Last Thanksgiving we were deep in Utah powder skiing with our two kids. The snow was fluffy and plentiful at Alta, Snowbird and Solitude, and someone else prepared the feast. This year was markedly different as our son is in college in Montana, and he chose to stay out west and instruct skiing at Big Sky on Thanksgiving Day instead of flying to be with us for turkey. We raised a bright boy apparently, with excellent taste in ski resorts. Or maybe he remembers how the skiing in the East can be marginal in November.

In case you haven't caught this yet , earlier this week I had the opportunity to dive into the Globe archives, where I found hundreds of fantastic skiing images from the past eight decades. It's remarkable to see that no matter how vastly the sport has changed, the core reasons for why we ski, and what it means to call ourselves skiers and riders, resonates with a strong presence through the photos of strangers. Hopefully we can share more in the coming months.

Snowsports have always been about the newest and the coolest. These days a new question has proponents on both sides in the following argument: Are snowboards or free riding on twin tips the coolest way to hit the slopes? Conventional thinking has it that snowboarding went from establishing a beachhead in the stronghold of skiing to dominating the slopes. Compared with skiing, snowboarding was hipper, mellower, newer, younger, more rebellious, more fun (certainly the boots were more comfortable)

The skiing and riding industry in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom was altered drastically Thursday, when news came down that the owners of Jay Peak Resort have purchased nearby Burke Mountain Resort, creating a joint venture that makes for intriguing expansion options for Burke. The deal was first reported by WCAX-TV , which also pointed out that Bill Stenger and Ariel Quiros completed the purchase of Burke earlier this week for an undisclosed price. A formal announcement is expected later today.

JAY, Vt. - Standing inside a plastic capsule, hands wrapped tightly around my chest, I had very little time to be nervous. The teenage girl counted down in a soothing voice, "three, two, one," and the next thing I knew I was shot out of the plastic capsule like a cannonball, free falling through the long tube. I honestly don't remember if I was shrieking, spewing expletives, or laughing uncontrollably (probably all three) before my body did a loop inside the tube and the far too thrilling journey ended with a big splash.

Her success as a cross-country skier on the national stage, at an early age, is quite stunning. But Corey Stock has always been willing to work hard. And she has persevered, through times of adversity. On Monday, the 17-year-old from Lincoln is off to Europe in preparation for the Junior World Ski Championships, which will run Feb. 19 to 26 in Erzurum, Turkey. Stock, who races for the Cambridge Sports Union team, is the sole East Coast representative on the four-person US women's junior contingent.

A fire at a landmark ski-jump overlooking central Moscow has been extinguished after lighting up the night sky for nearly an hour. The ski-jump is atop the Sparrow Hills, a bluff about 60 meters (200 feet) above the Moscow River. The area affords a sweeping panorama of the city and is a popular excursion spot. The fire in the ski-jump's plastic covering was put out just before midnight, Russian news agencies cited fire officials as saying. There was no immediate word on the extent of the damage.

Robert Earl "Bob" Smith, an orthodontist whose passion for skiing deep powder snow helped turn him into a goggle and sunglasses pioneer, has died of complications related to heart surgery. Smith's family confirmed his April 18 death in California. He was 78. Born in San Carlos, Calif., Smith went on to graduate from Stanford University and the San Francisco College of Dentistry. Smith served as a dentist in the U.S. Army in Germany in the late 1950s. While there, he traveled to Kitzbuehel ski area every weekend, stoking his passion for the sport.

KETCHUM, Idaho - Robert Earl "Bob" Smith, an orthodontist whose passion for skiing deep-powder snow helped turn him into a goggle and sunglasses pioneer, has died of complications related to heart surgery. His family confirmed his April 18 death in California. He was 78. Mr. Smith served as a dentist in the US Army in Germany in the late 1950s. While there, he traveled to Kitzbuehel ski area every weekend, stoking his passion for the sport. After enduring frustrating goggle-fogging experiences while skiing in Utah, Mr. Smith began developing prototypes for an advanced pair of goggles in the...

How funny that it snowed Halloween, rained on Christmas, and snowed again on Easter in the mountains of New England - albeit just a flurry. Ski resort operators probably do not see the humor in Mother Nature's mercurial games. Hey, there are snow flurries in the forecast this week too, so the "funny" weather continues. Ha, ha. Ski season is not over, lifts are still turning at a few ski areas and there will be skiing next weekend, and perhaps even beyond. Wildcat is closed this week, with plans to reopen next weekend April 14-15.

STOWE, Vt. - Whenever I ski Stowe, my usual après-ski pint morphs into something a bit more upscale. I grab the kids and we head to the Hourglass bar at Stowe Mountain Lodge for the Artisan Cheese Plate. Select three or five cheeses and the dish arrives with locally made bread, toasted pistachios, and fruit chutney. All of the cheeses are made in state and executive chef Josh Berry likes to vary the menu depending on the season. "There's just so many wonderfully crafted cheeses in Vermont that I'm a bit spoiled," says Berry, who knows a thing or two...

Meet the standout performers who earned All-Scholastic honors for their work this winter: BOYS' NORDIC SKIER OF THE YEAR Gregory Holdman, Lincoln-Sudbury, Senior Holdman was the MIAA nordic state champion this winter, finishing the course at Prospect Mountain in 20:57. He finished second in the Mass Bay West regular-season standings. A two time league all-star, he is an L-S Scholar and also runs cross-country. BOYS' NORDIC ALL-SCHOLASTICS Eli Hoenig, Lincoln-Sudbury, Junior The 2011 state champion was unable to defend his title this season because he was...

James Taylor, currently on a 16-stop tour of Italy, is making playing abroad a family affair. He and wife Kim (both speak fluent French) have taken sons Rufus and Henry skiing in the Dolomites and will hole up in Paris for much of the spring - with a tutor along for the boys - while James and band swing elsewhere through Europe.

Bretton Woods, one of the fine snow producers in New Hampshire, can now lay claim to being the largest -- by trail count -- ski area in the state. Everyone knows the trails are not quite as challenging as those at neighboring Cannon, but this White Mountain National Forest area has more variety than its reputation once allowed. With the development of Mount Rosebrook on the eastern ridge mirroring West Mountain with its lineup of mostly cruising runs, Bretton Woods now comes with an array of glades and tree runs leading off the top, where the long view looks out...

Every spring, my friends ask me about "skiing Tucks?" They think it sounds like such fun, a big spring ski party! Tuckerman Ravine is typically the last chance to ski, the last vestige of vertical after ski areas have closed, and a big party on snow on the biggest of the east - Mount Washington at 6,288 feet. But to me, Tuckerman Ravine is a serious hike, not to be entered into lightly, since you will be hauling your ski gear 3.1 miles up a trail, to a high alpine environ where conditions are ever-changing, and the skiing is for experts.

CENTER SANDWICH, N.H. - Ski area operators throughout Northern New England have relied for more than three decades on one New Hampshire man to help them plot when to make snow and how many loaves of bread to buy. Tony Vazzano is a meteorologist and owner of North Winds Weather, which supplies ski areas with daily, individualized weather reports before the chairlifts begin their ascent. Except for two days for heart surgery in 2010, Vazzano says, he hasn't had a day off in winter in 33 years.