Whistler?s Peak 2 Peak Gondola recently came through Bellingham ? a hybrid Chevy towing a full-sized gondola cabin and a media team including Michelle Leroux, the head of the Peak to Peak PR program. We had a chance to sit with Michelle and learn more about the forthcoming opening of the Peak to Peak and what it means for skiers at Whistler-Blackcomb.

TSKJ: So how many people can you move on the Peak 2 Peak?

ML: There are 28 cabins that fit 28 people, so it?s moving 4,100 people per hour. But the odds of every cabin having 28 people are pretty slim.

TSKJ: When does it open?

ML: December 12.

TSKJ: And that?s been the goal the entire time?

ML: Yes. We knew in the summer that was what we were aiming for but we wanted to make sure that we had hit enough milestones in the construction process to feel confident about that date. We could conceivably open the lift opening day, but we want to have a bit of extra time to make sure everything is perfect. British Columbia Safety Authority is finishing all of their safety certifications this week and we do our final lift evacuation with ski patrollers next week. Then it?s just training and shining the cabins.

TSKJ: How would you evacuate from 1,300 feet?

ML: Well there are so many redundancies -- there are redundancies for the redundancies for the redundancies, so the likelihood of an evacuation is slim to none. But, if the planets align and we do need to get people out of there we?ve got some rescue cars ? the whole process takes eight hours. These rescue cars go out onto the line via generators and winches, which are attached to the last two towers on either mountain. They go out to the first car, attach themselves to the first car and get winched back up. People are then put into harnesses and lowered down from the tower. Once that car is empty the rescue car detaches itself and uses a crane to get onto the other side of the cabin and moves to the next car.

TSKJ: Are they going to have to do that whole 8-hour process during practice?

ML: Yeah, they?ve already done it several times. Everyone has to be fully trained. We have a team of 40 people from lift maintenance to patrollers that are basically on call for rescuing.

TSKJ: How much is it going to cost to ride the gondola?

ML: The lift price has gone up, just like it has at every ski mountain in the world, but the cost is integrated. However, if you are a regional visitor and you buy an Edge Card or a seasons pass you would be able to choose if you want it or not. So there is the option this year, but the cost is actually pretty small. We don?t have our ticket rates published yet and I know it will be a little more than the usual ticket price increase, but it?s not a huge jump. I think people will be pleased.

TSKJ: A couple of the cars will have glass bottoms?

ML: Yes, two of them. Not the whole car though, there will be a railing and the middle will be glass, so you don?t actually stand on it. The glass bottom cabins are silver and the rest are red?we might even have to have a separate line up for it, but we?re not sure yet. It?s funny because we?ve already had three guys contact us because they want to propose to their girlfriends on opening day on the gondola. Plus, we already have a couple getting married as they go across.

TSKJ: Anything else you?d like to add?

ML: It?s going to be a tool for skiers and snowboarders and it will let you work the mountain. You can follow the sun if you know the aspects ? think about 8,000 acres of all these varying aspects that you can hit according to the weather. If you know what you?re doing, you?re going to kill it up there. Some people will just be like ?woo this is fun,? but the people that know the mountains will be able to work it like nobody?s business. That is the best aspect for core skiers.

November 16, 2008 (Seattle, WA) ? Neumo?s night club in Seattle?s Capitol Hill district was the setting for a night of optical awareness courtesy of Oakley last Sunday. Beginning with a tour of their monster trailer pulled by a monster truck ? the Oakley O Lab ? we were treated to crowd pleasing demos such as the spike test (Oakley sunglasses can take a spike in the eye without blowing up). We then moved inside to build a custom pair of crowbars and take in the show. Fueled by a Hennesey-equipped open bar and live rock show from ?Hockey?, shop kids and industry types from all over the Pacific Northwest got down in style well into the night. Meanwhile, the eyewear team sweated tirelessly to make sure everyone walked away smiling. Thanks to Matt Crane, Micah Murray, and the rest of the Oakley crew for a job well done.

Chris, Pep, and Sammy are back at it again traveling, filming and skiing the globe. Enjoy this final Hunting Yeti Webisode installment from Nimbus.

Cerro Catedral is not your typical ski hill, even for South America. Owned by the Argentinian military, a haphazard assortment of lifts rise from bamboo forests into the high alpine, converging and intersecting one another almost at random. There is a passenger-only tram and a t-bar up a 45 degree bowl that has never seen a passenger. There are also misty tree runs that see very little traffic and storm cycles not unlike those in the Pacific Northwest that can see three feet of powder dump overnight, only to be covered by rain, and re-deposited in another wave of moisture days later.

I recently spent 15 days at Catedral with the crew at South American Snow Sessions and experienced all that it had to offer. From early session knee deep pow in the bamboo to wind-scoured crust in the alpine, the mountain served up a varied menu to compliment the vast amounts of meat and potatoes on the dinner table every night. The top of the hill was shut down for several days before it rained to the top and turned the lower mountain into a mud patch, driving us to find amusement on a wall ride behind the admin building. Then it snowed hard, leaving the powder plentiful in the trees once again, ripping high-speed laps through a moss-blanketed deciduous forest.

Following a three-day hiatus thanks to a fever-inducing virus, the wind stopped blowing and the sun came out for my last day on the mountain, revealing a collection of chutes and cliffs amidst rust-colored walls in the sidecountry zone known as Lagunas, with a view back to the town of Bariloche and Lago Nahuel Huapi. This was where the mountain truly shined: out with a strong group of skiers and snowboarders, including in-house snow safety experts and Silverton, CO, guides Alex Hunt and Skylar Holgate and Teton Gravity Research athlete Dash Longe, the SASS crew got busy on the spines and spires of Lagunas.

After seeing what the alpine had to offer, leaving Bariloche was a bit harder the next day, but it was good to see all sides of this South American resort with its own unique flavor. Where else can you ski a bamboo forest and high alpine chutes in the same day?

Skier: Mauricio Cambilla Photo: Colin Wiseman

Mt. Baker, WA - As the days get shorter from Killington to Ketchum, The Ski Journal's latest edition is shipping just in time. With #2.3 featuring heli-accessed pow missions off coastal Greenland TGR film star Lynsey Dyer playing "The Manifest Game," Patagonia's Volcan Lanin jutting from the mist classic corn turns down The Big Island's Mauna Kea?and two of British Columbia's particularly talented and hellbent film-makers, the Heath brothers from Nelson, The Ski Journal continues to provide coffee table content beyond the clutter of advertising and gear reviews.

Also included is a cutting-edge Gallerie featuring the urban works of rising-star shooter Erik Seo. Handrails, batting cages, abandoned hotels?nothing is safe. We also take a fond look back at American ski legend brand Hexcel and the honeycomb revolution circa 1975. Ski technology in the "me decade" was largely driven by a man named Hub Zemke, who had a thing for pre-preg and hexagons.

Buck Hill, Minnesota, previously only immortalized by an old Replacements song, gets the TSKJ treatment with a personal memoir by Majka Burhardt about skiing with her father, a cold war era Polish immigrant: An ode to bad pants, love and pickled herring. Thus begins The Ski Journal issue #2.3, our much-ancitipated follow-up that gets fall going like a hit from an Ohio State lineman, falling leaves and (hard) apple cider.

Like previous issues (which are now collector's items), TSKJ #2.3 spans decades and continents, languages and hair styles.

From Blackcomb to Buck Hill, the stoke meter is rising. Make The Ski Journal an essential part of your winter habit.

Good news, the bulk shipment of the newest issue of The Ski Journal (#2.3) has arrived in our Bellingham office and is now being shipped to subscribers and retailers globally. Go here for an issue recap, and then come back here and post your comments when you get yours in the mail.