Skier and writer Sarah Ivey of the The New Zealand Herald explores the Dave Murray Downhill course at Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia.

“As the passing trees morphed into a blur of green, momentary lapses in concentration started to occur, and I started to wonder if taking this on was such a good idea after all.”

U.S. freeskiiers Matt Walker and Tom Wallisch embark on a 1,783 mile journey throughout Western Europe, searching for urban skiing opportunities in the United Kingdom and Barcelona, Spain.

Produced by Michael Clarke

After months of hospitalization and rehabilitation, Kevin Pearce, Olympic snowboarding hopeful who was critically injured during a December halfpipe accident in a Park City, Utah, has finally returned home to his family in Norwich, VT.

“Pearce walks without assistance, a little gingerly but sturdily enough to navigate the stairs to the familiar bedroom in the barn. He looks a little different now, too. His hair, after being shaved to one length, has grown back to the top of his ears. He wears bold, dark-rimmed Oakley Frogskin frames with prismlike lenses,” reports John Branch of The New York Times.

“‘There is little use thinking about the past, what could have been, or what may be in the future,’ Simon Pearce, his father, said. ‘He has stayed focused on the present moment. And it feels like it is working.’”

• CO ski areas asked to help with beetle-ravaged forests: Denver Post
• CEO Laurent Potdevin resigns at Burton: ESPN
• Downhill skiing with Lindsey Vonn: New York Times
• 15 years in the snowboard industry with J.P. Walker: ESPN
• 19 year-old racer-turned-freeskier Angel Collinson: ESPN

Spring Shoot: Swedish filmmakers Adam Falk and Nicke Jacobsson spend a few days documenting slushy jumps and rails in Gesunda and Funäsdalen.

Produced by Adam Falk and Nicke Jacobsson

Skiing & snowboarding perspectives: Powder Mountain, Utah backcountry P.O.V footage.

Produced by Ian Provo

Rob Walker of The New York Times digs into the marketing and fashion decisions around Burton’s U.S. Olympic snowboarding team pants… because someone has to help rearrange our Monday morning brain cells.

“Admittedly not even the hippest European head of state or out-of-the-box executive would be likely to wear jeans with the baggy and torn look sported by Shaun White and his teammates in Vancouver. But that look is still merely a variation on an established fashion pattern. The snowboarders didn’t interrupt a staid space with spectacular style (like a zoot suit in early 1940s Los Angeles); they attended a spectacle in familiar leisure wear.”

Swiss environmentalists are worried that helicopter noise, “unjustified” fuel consumption, and landing sites in protected areas are just some of the problems associated with 15,000 heliskiing flights into the Alps each year.

“Switzerland’s Lauterbrunnen valley is one of the busiest regions for helicopter traffic. And, on a sunny spring morning, more than 60 skiers are already lined up, waiting for their flights to the glaciers,” reports Imogen Foulkes of the BBC News.

“But helicopter companies and mountain rescue services point out that helicopters are a fact of life in the Alps. They are used to deliver food to mountain huts, to rescue climbers and skiers, and to take construction materials up to alpine villages.”

photo credit: Alex Grechman

Vermont’s Sugarbush ski resort is looking for ways to deepen its on-mountain adventure experiences, offering cat-access skiing, in addition to camps and clinics focused on snow evaluation, shelter building, and backcountry rescue and first aid.

“‘People want and respond to new adventures,’ said Win Smith, the owner of Sugarbush. ‘So, yes, the snow and the terrain is your essential core appeal, but you see people’s eyes light up when you offer something unexpected.’” Bill Pennington of The New York Times reports.

• Sugarbush, Vermont’s untouched powder: New York Times
• Ski training with Lindsey Vonn: National Geographic Adventure
• Nick Paumgarten’s “The Ski Gods”: The New Yorker
• Canadian snowboarder Alexa Loo: New York Times
• Disabled Veterans hit the slopes: New York Times