By Dave Hoffenberg Every February Jack Daniel’s brings a weekend of parties to the hill. It also brings a group to town that is a party of its own: Team Canada. This year marks the 25th anniversary of their annual trip. To commemorate the anniversary Peter Whittier, the team’s “captain,” reached out to guys who…

Friday, Feb. 20 at 7:30 p.m. — WOODSTOCK — There are many things one might expect to find in an 1800’s farmhouse in Vermont. Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars is not one of them. The members of Africa’s most inspirational band took a month long residency in the Green Mountain State in 2013 to lay down tracks…

Sunday, Feb. 22 at 8 p.m. — KILLINGTON — Country music artist Frankie Ballard will appear in concert on Sunday, Feb. 22 at the Pickle Barrel Nightclub in Killington. The show is open to anyone 18 years of age and older; those under 18 admitted with parent or guardian. A multi-instrumentalist who doubles as his band’s lead…

By Robin Alberti and Polly Lynn The Rutland Intermediate and Middle School staff entered the Cool School’s Penguin Plunge to honor their friend Keith Page and to support a cause that was near and dear to his heart: the Special Olympics. The 20th annual Penguin Plunge took place Saturday, Feb. 7 at noon on the…

Photo by Robin Alberti Kids prepare for a guided snowmobile tour driving their own small sleds at Vermont Snowmobile Tours in Killington. Child size snowmobiles are available at Killington and Okemo. By Karen Lorentz It’s called après-ski—the activities enjoyed after slope time can be as memorable as your day sliding downhill. Assuming that you or…

KILLINGTON — Killington Mountain School’s training venue on Highline has been living up to its “world class” billing welcoming the U.S., Japan and Russian Freestyle World Cup teams for training over the past two weekends. Flips, twists, speed and big air were on display as the athletes lapped the mogul course on Highline. The athletes…

KILLINGTON – On Friday, Jan. 30, Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPA’s New England office and other EPA representatives, toured Killington Resort to see some of the best practices in the ski industry at work. Congressional representatives from Leahy’s, Sanders’ and Welch’s office also attended, as did David Dunn of Green Mountain Power and Eugene…

One of many topics discussed at NSAA Winter Conference By Karen D. Lorentz Ski areas need to have a drone policy and offer a culture of friendliness and helpfulness to ensure their futures. These were just two of the important takeaways from the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) Eastern Winter Conference and Trade Show hosted at…

By Cristina Kumka RUTLAND – Attendees of a legislative luncheon held at the Southside Steakhouse in Rutland Monday Jan. 26 were met with harsh words from Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin on how publicly-funded education and police dispatch should be reformed. Coming off a narrow November election, Shumlin told the 135-person crowd of local and state…

By Polly Lynn KILLINGTON — Glenn Eddy, freestyle program director at Killington Mountain School, has known the head mogul coach for the World Cup Russian ski team, Stephen Fearing, for 20-something years so he was glad to welcome the team to train on the new freestyle course that KMS built on Highline. This year’s World Cup…

Killington hosts 2015 Eastern Winter Conference and Tradeshow, Jan. 20-21. View the video Here KILLINGTON — The National Ski Areas Association is the trade association for ski area owners and operators. It represents 325 alpine resorts that account for more than 90 percent of the skier/snowboarder visits nationwide. Additionally, it has 472 supplier members who…

By Polly Lynn PITTSFIELD — After 58 hours the 2015 Winter Death Race came to a climactic end at the top of Shrek’s Cabin. The race began Friday night, Jan. 16, with “29 brave souls,” according to the Peak Races Facebook post. “Not sure any will finish… It’s been -20 F every morning this week…

New snowsport thrives with sales doubling every year since 2010 By Polly Lynn “It’s like I’m riding on a cloud,” said Alex Kerpel, a Killington resident who joined a group of nine cyclists to ride the trails of Mountain Meadows, Monday, Jan. 12. Tony Accurso of Fat Bike Vermont in Woodstock provided the bikes. He…

Illustration by Maxx Steinmetz Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical weekly newspaper, featuring controversial cartoons, reports, polemics, and jokes, was attacked by terrorists Jan. 7, 2015, presumably in response to a number of controversial cartoons it published of the Muslim prophet Muhammad. In total 12 people were killed in the Paris headquarters of Charlie Hebdo. After…

The National Weather Service is warning of extremely cold temperatures for much of this week.  Wind chills will be below zero at times and could be colder than 20 degrees below zero Wednesday night into Thursday. Those temperatures have the potential to pose a danger to health and property, police report. Some steps to take…