The après-ski ritual is the great equalizer in the ski-day. Whether the accomplishment du jour was conquering a long-coveted expert line, or finely paralleled turns on the bunny slope, après is the one place where everyone stands on equal ground. In fact, we daresay, après-ski sessions are highlight of many ski trips.

In the last few years, there has been an abundant crop of new bars, some innovative, some traditional, but all with the same goal in mind: keep the skiing high as long as possible. And thankfully, the hottest spots in après-hedonism are no longer the dirtiest dive bars around. We’ve rounded up a sampling of what the new après scene has to offer.

Frost, Vail, Colorado:  Despite the name, a cozy interior and vibe give this funky cocktail spot all it needs to provide the perfect venue to relax and indulge in the heart of Vail Village. A fun, sophisticated crowd opens the door to an alternative après scene, without the Jagerbombs, stumbling, and ski boots till midnight.

http://www.thesebastianvail.com/vail-restaurants-bars/frost-bar

Smak Bar, Telluride, CO: Located in the Hotel Madeline, right off the main plaza in Mountain Village, the new Smak Bar boasts a minimalist interior design theme and inspired year-round locavore fare. A local favorite for ski bums in duct-taped Gore-tex, as well as the gathering point for imbibing jetsetters. Don’t leave Telluride until you at least try Smak’s instantly legendary Bloody Mary.

http://www.hotelmadelinetelluride.com/restaurants-telluride-colorado.php

The Meatball Shack, Aspen, CO: Serving up Italian-inspired gourmet fare with a ski town twist, Aspen locals opened this whimsical and increasingly popular spot over this past summer.  Forget the nachos – grab a beer and munch on meatball tartare wrapped with Tuscan summer truffles and lobster balls with caviar, micro chives and crème fraîche.

http://www.eataspen.com/fulllisting.php?row=612 312 S. Mill St. Aspen, CO

Finbarr’s Irish Pub, Aspen, CO: Walking distance from the lifts, this lively spot, based on the traditional Irish pub with a modern, chic, twist opened its doors last season. With the goal of bring Aspen’s all-inclusive town gathering spot, Finbarr’s packs all members of Aspen’s community into its sleek interior for ‘elevated gastro-pub’ fare and easy on the wallet drinks.

http://www.eataspen.com/fulllisting.php?row=228  415 E. Hyman Avenue, Aspen, CO

Rocker@Squaw, Squaw Valley, California: Inspired in part the late, Squaw-based skier Shane McConkey, Rocker celebrates the passion of all the exceptional athletes and riotous characters that the Squaw scene is known for. The bar boasts RockerTV, where revelers can upload footage of their day for a chance to join their heroes onscreen at the bar. It also offers a 5lb., $50 ‘Gnar-burger,’ in case you and nine of your friends are hungry. 

http://www.squaw.com/rocker

The Handle Bar, Teton Village, WY: Just steps from the base of the lifts is this playfully named new addition to Jackson Hole’s après ski scene. With a dangerous five-hour! happy hour, casual dining options, a huge outdoor terrace and a cozy-chic locale in the slope-side Four Seasons Hotel, the Handle Bar is sure to up the après ante for the rowdy Wyoming crowd – locals and visitors alike.

http://www.fourseasons.com/jacksonhole/dining/restaurants/the_handle_bar/

Wino, Revelstoke, BC, Canada: Revelstoke’s 5,620’ vertical drop of lift-served terrain, heli and cat skiing options, and 40-60 feet of annual snowfall are capturing the attention of the industry. This is resort also knows how essential it is to celebrate after a day on the slopes. At the base of the gondola is Wino, with a Euro-après focus on wines and cocktails. Twinkling inlaid lights offset the industrial look of the bar inside, or you can head outside to kick back and enjoy the massive Selkirk views from the fire pits.

http://www.revelstoke.suttonplace.com/restaurant_bar.htm

Loft, Verbier, Switzerland: Europe is where après was born. And they don’t take it lightly. If you want to party all night in your ski boots with a wild international crowd that may or may not have a penchant for dancing on the furniture, hit up The Loft Bar. Opened by the former owners of Verbier’s popular Wonderbar, Loft offers a massive deck, spectacular scenery, and cheap drinks (which is key when coughing up Swiss francs).

Winter is finally shaping up and in full swing. Peaks and valleys are coated in white, and stoked skiers are heading to resorts, sidecountry and even farther into the backcountry in search of their very own powder stashes. Yet, anyone planning on heading out to explore the backcountry (either for the first time or for their fifteenth season) should double-check their avalanche awareness and preparation.

Backcountry skiing is becoming more popular every year due to new gear making the sport easier, safer, and more accessible. However, this means more people are putting themselves in potentially dangerous situations, and avalanche awareness and education about snow safety has never been more important.

The first step a beginning backcountry enthusiast should take is to learn about snow science and safety, and a Level 1 avalanche course is an important part of preparation. Avalanches are a natural phenomenon, but the majority of slide incidents that result in skier injuries or fatalities are human-triggered. Classes teach skiers about avalanche terminology, how to interpret reports on changing weather conditions, and how to measure snowpack stability, among other topics. These classes help people recognize avalanche warning signs, and hopefully how to avoid making potentially life-threatening decisions. 

After a skier attends an avalanche course they should obtain proper gear, and learn how to use it. Necessary gear includes: an avalanche transceiver, shovel, probe and a pack to keep everything in. This equipment should be taken every time a skier is in avalanche terrain. Gear packs that are equipped with airbags are also becoming a staple for many frequent backcountry skiers, but they are not a substitute for snow safety knowledge and smart decisions.

Even those experienced with the backcountry take time each season to practice using their transceivers in case they have to assist in finding a buried person or ski partner. They also study the snowpack in their home region, follow the local avalanche reports, and observe weather activity while out in the backcountry, which are all good habits to follow. While traveling, talk to local avalanche professionals about current conditions, and study the local snow reports to get a better understanding of what the backcountry will look like.

And finally, accidents that happen in the backcountry don’t always involve avalanches. It is important to have some basic first aid knowledge to help with any type of accident, and taking a Wilderness First Responder course is even better. Try to keep an extra layer, water, and snacks in your pack, even if you are on a short tour. Simple gear repair tools for broken gear are also good to have, and it is also always a good idea to bring a cell phone with you in the event something goes wrong. When it comes to heading in to the backcountry, the more knowledge and preparation a skier can have the better!

For more information on where to find a course or other resources, you can contact the American Avalanche Institute.

Here is a partial list of avalanche conditions and forecast centers in the United Sates and Canada.  

Colorado Avalanche Information Center

Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center

Sierra Avalanche Center

Chugach National Forest Avalanche Center

American Avalanche Association

Bridger-Teton Avalanche Forecast Center

Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Forecast Center

Utah Avalanche Center

National Avalanche Center

Canadian Avalanche Association

Teton Snowpack & Avalanche Observations

Wasatch Snowpack & Avalanche Observations

Spirit Mountain will host the Nature Valley NASTAR Midwest Championships December 15 & 16. The event will include individual races on Saturday with participants divided into age and ability groups. On Sunday there will be a Race of Champions to determine the fastest racers using handicapped times and raw times. Sunday will also see teams of racers competing for supremacy. There will be separate divisions for family teams and teams of friends. The top three point gainers will be used to score points for the team but up to six people can be included on a team. NASTAR Team Points will be used to score teams so that age and gender can be used to handicap racers.

All racing will take place on the Blue Ruin trail. There will be a sponsor village, an awards party, live music, gift bags, Warren Miller movies, Pacesetting by four time Olympian and AJ Kitt, autograph sessions and more. This event is designed to help kick off your racing season and to connect with your racing friends.

Click here to register, view the schedule and for all other info.

This year’s Warren Miller Entertainment flick, Flow State, is poised to do more than just get snow-lovers amped for the coming season. A new partnership between Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month (LSSM) and WME’s Film Tour aims to bring greater exposure to this beginners’ initiative to introduce more athletes to snowsports.

Now in its fifth year, LSSM partners with resorts and resort associations to provide special offers to beginners and those who want to improve their skills. Most partners offer beginners a lift ticket, lesson, and rental package at discounted rates during the month of January. In return, LSSM provides a dedicated platform and communications tools to help resorts get the word out about their learn to ski and snowboard programs.

This year, WME’s Film Tour and LSSM are promoting the LSSM ‘Bring a Friend’ challenge, which ran as a trial last year and proved very popular. Skiers and snowboarders who bring a friend to their favorite mountain for lessons with a professional instructor can enter a prize-drawing by signing up on the BAF website. According to LSSM executive director Mary Jo Tarallo, research indicates that friends and family introduce the most newcomers to snowsports, whose participants account for only 3-4% of the US population.

Therefore, in order to help provide a little incentive for more of these would-be role models, the Bring a Friend challenge is expanding beyond a one-month time frame. “The challenge starts December 17 and ends March 17. Starting the first week in January, we will hold weekly prize drawings to reward eligible current skiers and snowboarders who help newcomers sign up for lessons. At the end of the time frame, we will select the winners of the three trips being offered - to Utah, Idaho and Vermont. The trips are for the 2013-14 season and are intended for both a current participant and the newcomer he or she introduced,” said Tarallo. 

The partnership with WME’s film tour, which holds shows in populous, diverse areas, will allow the program to reach a broad audience. “What better way is there to get someone excited about skiing or snowboarding than to bring them to a Warren Miller film? They are energizing. It's about leveraging an existing audience to generate a new one,” says Tarallo.

Last year, resort partners in 33 states opted to be a part of Bring a Friend and LSSM. Since its’ inception in January of 2009, LSSM has generated over 255,000 new beginner lessons, according to Tarallo. Momentum has been building, as last year, partners reported providing nearly 100,000 lessons for children and adults in January of 2012, she said.

By tapping into the well-known theme that skiing with your friends is one of the best aspects of the sport, LSSM looks poised for another successful year. “It is very satisfying to know that a major media entity like Warren Miller Entertainment is willing to step up to the plate to help us expose more people to these sports,” said Tarallo. “As a small industry we have to pool our resources to be successful.”

More information about these programs can be found at SkiAndSnowboardMonth.org and BringAFriend.org, or at a Flow State movie showing.

ESPN’s popular Winter X-Games recently announced it was dropping ski and boarder-cross from the events list, shocking the sport and its fans. Warren Miller Entertainment athlete Daron Rahlves, an Olympic medalist in ski racing, as well as in skier-cross at the X-Games was one of those caught off guard, and disappointed, by the decision.

Rahlves, however, as a passionate racer and fan of ski and boarder cross had already created his own imaginative version of the event – and named it the Rahlves Banzai Tour. A mix of ski racing, big mountain skills and Chinese downhill, the event is open to the public. Racers run four at a time from the top of mountain to the bottom, over varied and natural terrain…hand-selected by Rahlves.

The races haves been steadily gaining in popularity since Rahlves organized the first race in 2009, and an official 4-stop tour in 2011. The event scored an appearance in last year’s WME film and on NBC’s Red Bull Signature Series. We caught up with Rahlves to find out more about his tour and why it might be great training for the pros despite the X-Games disappointment.

My goal is to provide the best ski and snowboard race on the planet where the most skilled, calculated, creative and aggressive natural terrain skier/rider with finesse will come out on top. With four at a time anything can happen and the fastest doesn't usually win. What makes this event so relatable is it's held on open runs off the groomers that the public skis. I set the track with the emphasis on flow, terrain, speed changes and overall fun. No one type of ski is an advantage - run whatcha brung! 

The loss of the X-Games could be a great opportunity for the Rahlves' Banzai Tour in getting more competitors and big names to compete. There is no other event like this in the world. The prize money makes a nice pay-day, and the title of Banzai Champ is well respected.

I'd like to see the big guns come out and give it a shot. There will be competition from the locals and others who come out for these events that know how to get down the mountain.

I hope they're not scared of putting their reputation on the line. Come on. How'd you get to that level anyway?

For 2013 the Rahlves' Banzai Tour is planning on four stops like last year. It will take place in February and March 2013. All events will be in the Tahoe area, with a cap of 150 competitors at each event 2012 it was a huge success. Then we have the "Super Finals" where I race against the men ski winners from each stop. It's the only time on tour I get in the mix to put my title of "Banzai Master" on the line and a wad of cash waiting for the winner if I'm dethroned. Fortunately in 2012 I kept the title and was able to pay the rest of the tour's bills.

Registration will be open December 2012 on the website and is open to men and women skiers and snowboarders, 18-years old and up. We also raise money for The High Fives Foundation to do good for our community on top of a wild event. It will be a good time for everyone involved with parties on top of the action. Race dates will be posted on www.rahlvesbanzai.com.

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Warren Miller’s Flow State

The world’s leading winter sports filmmaker announces a strategic alliance with The Climate Reality Project, founded by former Vice President Al Gore.

Boulder, Colo. – September 25, 2012

Warren Miller Entertainment, producer of award-winning action films for 63 years, is announcing an unprecedented partnership with The Climate Reality Project, founded and chaired by former Vice President Al Gore. Flow State, the latest installment of Warren Miller Entertainment, chronicles the travels of the world’s premiere adventure skiers to areas impacted by climate change. As part of “I Am Pro Snow,” a soon-to-launch Climate Reality Project campaign highlighting the impacts of climate change on winter sports, Former Vice President Gore will attend a showing of the film in November 2012.

This groundbreaking agreement will combine the reach of two major organizations, using compelling footage to promote awareness of the global climate crisis.

“Beyond the global scientific consensus about the climate crisis, we can now look in our own backyards to see the impact of man-made climate change,” said Gore, chairman of The Climate Reality Project. “Anyone who spends time on a ski slope or in the backcountry can see how this crisis is changing weather patterns and ecology, with major impacts on the outdoor activities we enjoy with our friends and families. Climate change is a reality that is here, today.”

Warren Miller’s Flow State guides movie-goers to the top of the world’s most spectacular peaks, taking fans on an exhilarating journey across the globe.

Through this partnership, Warren Miller Entertainment will bring attention to the climate reality that the film crew witnessed firsthand in Svaldbard, Norway, such as the lack of sea ice in the region.

“Warren Miller Entertainment has an incredibly passionate audience that celebrates winter to come every fall… Going to the Film Tour is a family tradition that has been passed down to generations to embellish their lifestyle. A lifestyle that all of us are deeply connected to and thus our mission is to help The Climate Reality Project raise awareness via our film and foster a community of movie-goers and ski industry partners whose passion and livelihood depend on a sustainable future,” said Johnny Alamo, Executive Director, Partnerships & Strategic Alliances at Warren Miller Entertainment.

Warren Miller’s Flow State is a film about a place of singular focus and connection with the environment that, in this place, the faster you ride, the slower time passes. The Flow State exists anywhere crisp winter air shocks your lungs and sunlight refracts off snowflakes, allowing you to emerge from this state improved – and more aware of your surroundings.

About the Climate Reality Project

Founded and chaired by Al Gore, Nobel Laureate and former Vice President of the United States, The Climate Reality Project seeks to uncover the complete truth about the climate crisis. Through its 5 million members and supporters, partnerships, and programs — including the Reality campaign — it is working around the globe to confront the reality of the climate crisis. The Climate Reality Project is guided by a bipartisan Board of Directors that includes accomplished leaders from the worlds of business, public service, entertainment, communications, climate and environmental advocacy, and scholarship. For more information, please visit www.climaterealityproject.org.

MEDIA CONTACTS 

Partnerships & Strategic Alliances

Johnny Alamo, 303-253-6413, johnnya@warrenmiller.com

National PR

Anna Hogan, 303.253.6300, annab@warrenmiller.com

Bo Morris, 407.808.3310, bo.morris@bonniercorp.com

The Climate Reality Project:

Bill Rigler, 917-415-0612, bill.rigler@climatereality.com, http://climatereality.com

Aspen/Snowmass, COLO., May 30, 2012 - NASTAR, the largest public grassroots ski race program in the world, proudly announced today a new partnership with Aspen/Snowmass to serve as the host resort for the 2013 and 2014 Nature Valley NASTAR National Championships.  Avid skiers from approximately 45 states, ranging in age from three to 90, will converge on the world-class resort to compete for national titles in various divisions of the Nature Valley NASTAR National Championships.  

“Snowmass was the first resort to host the NASTAR National Championship when the format of the event changed in 1998 to a large scale public event,” said Bill Madsen, director of NASTAR operations. “We are excited to bring the championships back to Snowmass and the Spider Sabich race area, allowing our participants to enjoy the amazing skiing and amenities that Aspen/Snowmass provides.”

The 2013 event, March 20-24, will celebrate the sport of alpine racing and serve as a reunion for the top recreational racers in the country. Aspen/Snowmass has planned an exciting week of activities that includes race clinics, races, free concerts, Warren Miller movie screenings, autograph signings by U.S. Ski Team alumni and NASTAR Pacesetters, competitor raffles/giveaways, awards receptions, a Family Challenge team competition and a Team Race. Participants and their guests will receive discounts on lift tickets and lodging and they will be given a credential that provides great deals at on-mountain restaurants and in-town discounts on food and beverages, merchandise and recreational activities.

"The NASTAR National Championships is an outstanding event supported by passionate skiers and riders" says John Rigney, Aspen Skiing Company's VP of Sales & Events. “We are excited to show our new guests a tremendous experience in Snowmass".

To qualify for the 2013 Championships, NASTAR racers must earn a top five resort ranking in their age and ability category by February 18, 2013. Racers will be categorized by age, gender, division and discipline and take two runs on Friday and two runs on Saturday. The best handicap score earned Friday and the best handicap score earned on Saturday will be averaged to determine the competitors’ final results. Each racer that wins a Nature Valley NASTAR National Championship title is invited to compete in the final Race of Champions competition on Sunday. Racers carry their handicap into the race to level the playing field so that young and veteran racers have an opportunity to win and become the overall Nature Valley NASTAR National Champion. In addition, the fastest man and woman, based on raw time, during the Race of Champions will earn a trip to a U.S. Ski Team training camp in South America.

“We are thrilled to partner with NASTAR and bring the Nature Valley NASTAR National Championships to Snowmass,” said Scott Baldwin, Associate Marketing Director for Nature Valley.  “Snowmass’ diverse terrain and its reputation as one of the premier family-friendly resorts in North America will provide a perfect setting to celebrate the fun recreational skiing and ski racing experience that has become a hallmark of the Nature Valley NASTAR National Championship event.”

For details visit http://www.nastar.com/nature-valley-nastar-national-championships. And for live updates, photos and videos "LIKE" the NASTAR Facebook page: Facebook.com/NASTARHQ. 

For complete information visit www.NASTAR.com

OPERATIONS CONTACT

Bill Madsen – Director of Operations, NASTAR

970-923-6278 - nastarhq@msn.com

MEDIA CONTACT 
Bo Morris – Director of Public Relations, NASTAR
407-571-4587 – Bo.Morris@bonniercorp.com

PATNERSHIP CONTACT

Johnny Alamo – Executive Director of Partnerships & Strategic Alliances, NASTAR

303-253-6413 – Johnny.Alamo@bonniercorp.com