Snowbasin Ski Resort in Utah during early spring 2020. Photo by Chase Charaba on Unsplash

Summer is in full swing at our favorite ski/snowboard resorts, with scenic chairlift and gondola rides and a full calendar of events including outdoor concerts and food festivals.

ICYMI (in case you missed it) is our monthly round-up of this and that from here and there, including news of new lifts for new seasons.

Alyeska Joins Ikon Pass

Alaska’s Alyeska Resort joins Ikon Pass for the 23/24 winter season.

Ikon Pass holders will have access to seven days at Alyeska Resort with no blackout dates, and Ikon Base Pass holders will have access to five days, with select blackout dates. Alyeska Resort is also available on the Ikon Session Pass.

Alyeska Resort is a playground for all levels of skiers and riders, located just 40 miles south of Anchorage, Alaska, in Chugach State Park, offering glacier-filled vistas and Northern Lights sightings. The mountain is home to a 60-passenger aerial scenic tram with panoramic views, 1,610 acres of varied terrain, 76 trails and over 669 inches of snow annually, plus seven dining experiences, including Seven Glaciers, a AAA Four Diamond Award restaurant with unparalleled views overlooking seven hanging glaciers.

The  Ikon Pass Ikon Pass community is now home to more than 50 mountain destinations across 11 countries and 16 states.

Courcheval, France

July 29/30 – Watch the first stage of the FIS Ski Jumping Grand Prix, with the world’s best male and female ski jumpers competing on the K120 Olympic ski jump in Le Praz.

Competitors include Kamil Stoch from Poland, current holder of the ski jumping record, at 137 meters, and Bejing 2022 Olympic champion, Slovenia’s Ursa Bogataj.

In addition to the competitions, there are daily concerts and DJ sets, and a fireworks display on Sunday night.  Competitions continue through October in various resorts around the world.

Canyons Village at Park City, Utah

Vail Resorts is building a third gondola on the Canyons Village side of the sprawling resort.

The new 10-person lift will be called the Sunrise Gondola. It replaces the existing Sunrise chair, taking skiers and riders to the Red Lodge.  The other two gondolas at Canyons Village are Red Pine Gondola and the iconic Orange Bubble Express.

Steamboat, Colorado

Construction is being completed for the second leg of the Wild Blue Gondola, which will bring riders from the base area to Sunshine Peak.

With this leg completed, Wild Blue will be North America’s longest and fastest ten-person gondola, carrying skiers over 3.16 miles of mountainous terrain. The fully completed Wild Blue Gondola opens this upcoming season.   It’s part of the transformation of the Steamboat base area, which included the opening of an ice skating rink.

The first leg opened late in the 22/23 season, delivering riders to a mid-station that provided access to the blues and greens on  Bashor, Greenhorn Ranch, and connecting to Thunderhead lifts.

Steamboat also is building a new high-speed detachable quad, Mahogany Ridge Express, to serve a once out-of-bounds area called Pioneer Ridge. With the expansion underway, Steamboat now refers to Pioneer Ridge as Mahogany Ridge.

Construction of the gondola extension and the new quad are affecting summer hiking and biking trails.  Find closures and other updates here.

https://fullsteamahead.steamboat.com/construction-impacts/

Snowbasin, Utah

The Needles Gondola is operating Saturdays and Sundays, 9am to 4pm, for hiking, mountain biking and sightseeing.  Needles Lodge is open Saturdays for lunch, 11am to 3pm and for Sunday Brunch, 10am to 2:30pm.

There’s also mini-golf at the base area.

Telluride, Colorado

August 17-19 -Experience an immersive journey into taste and culture at the Telluride Reserve.

This unique event brings together renowned chefs, winemakers and food enthusiasts for a weekend of special dining experiences and educational programs. Savor exceptional food and wine pairings, attend cooking demonstrations, and immerse themselves in the breathtaking natural beauty of the surrounding area. Sign up before tickets sell out – either a package, or for individual events.

https://telluridereserve.com

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Evelyn Kanter

Evelyn Kanter is a NYC-based travel and environmental writer and a senior skier who would rather ride a chairlift, river raft or zipline than the subway, and has done so in the more than 100 countries she’s visited, skiing in many of them. In what she calls a “previous life”, she was a TV and radio news reporter for ABC News and CBS News, now a regular contributor to major publications, including airline inflights and AAA magazines, and has written or contributed to more than a dozen travel guidebooks.Her latest are “100 Things to Do in NYC Before You Die”, Fodor’s Essential Germany and Fodor’s New York City. Evelyn's website is www.ecoxplorer.com

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