Hot Sheet: Vonn hits 40, free helmets, ski tunes by mail & much more

Olympic champion Lindsey Vonn extended her American record for Audi FIS Alpine World Cup wins to 40 over the weekend, with a downhill victory in Are on February 26th, 2011. Vonn, the three-time World Cup downhill champion, leads the discipline standings by 103 points over Maria Riesch of Germany with two downhill races remaining on the calendar. Vonn also gained back 40 points in the overall chase as Riesch finished third behind Tina Maze of Slovenia.

“After Garmisch, I needed a break both mentally and physically and that time off did exactly what I needed it to do,” said Vonn. “I’m skiing like I know I can, I’m focused and back on the top of the podium.”

The following day, Vonn and recently crowend World Championship silver medalist Julia Mancuso shared the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup podium for the third time this season finishing 2-3 Sunday in super G.

Free helmets at Utah’s Brighton

Brighton Ski Resort will give away a free helmet ($75 value) to adults when they enroll in a Brighton learn to ski or snowboard package. Brighton’s learn-to-ski package retails for $79, and includes a free helmet, lesson and beginner lift pass. The offer began March 1st, 2011 and is good while supplies last. 

SIA partners with national retailers association to tout ski tunes

In an effort to educate consumers on the benefits of regular tuning and waxing skis/snowboards, National Ski & Snowboard Retailers Association (NSSRA) and SIA have launched a turn-key direct mail postcard service for snow sports specialty retailers at: Snowsports.org.

With direction from SIA’s Retailer Advisory Committee, whose members represent specialty ski and snowboard shops across the country, SIA has developed a series of postcards with standard messaging and creative that can be sent directly to customers. Shops can easily download and print postcards in-house or work with Customers First to purchase printing and mailing packages.

“We are pleased to partner with SIA on this program,” said NSSRA Chairman of the Board Brad Nelson, Hi Tempo Ski & Sail, White Bear Lane, Minn. “By creating the artwork for these free, customizable postcards, SIA is demonstrating its commitment to the specialty retail channel, which we appreciate.”

Learn to Ski site tracks 18,000 visitors

Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month (LSSM) 2011 officially wrapped up January 31 although consumers continue to visit the Web site. Planning already has started for LSSM 2012.

Organizers expect to have a full report by the end of March. By mid-January, organizers estimated the initiative had generated about $3 million dollars in publicity for skiing and snowboarding from the general media and an additional quarter million dollars from the trade media.

The national Web site attracted more than 18,000 visitors (86 percent were new) and more visitors to the site viewed nearly 70,000 pages. The state receiving the most traffic was Pennsylvania followed closely by Colorado and New York. Other top ten states were Massachusetts, California, New Hampshire, Vermont, Utah, New Jersey and Michigan.

Oakley is the official goggle of Mammoth Mountain

Oakley, Inc. has entered into a long-term agreement to be the official eyewear partner of Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, as well as an Official Terrain Park Supporter of the Unbound Terrain Parks at Mammoth Mountain.

“This partnership with Mammoth Mountain Ski Area is an honor for Oakley, and it validates our many years of dedication in driving the innovation of alpine performance technology,” said Scott Bowers, Oakley SVP Global Marketing and Brand Development. “Many of our top pros who have come out of Mammoth rely on Oakley?s high definition sunglasses and goggles, including Winter Olympian and Mammoth Unbound Team Rider Greg Bretz, use Mammoth to hone their skills.”

Oakley will outfit park staff with Oakley sunglasses and goggles through 2014.

Vail EpixMix winner skis his way to $100,000 grand prize

Marcus DeBergh is the winner of Vail Resorts’ $100,000 EpicMix cash prize, which celebrates the launch of Vail’s EpicMix media. Skiers and snowboarders were automatically entered into the drawing when they activated their EpicMix account and the engagement of Vail Resorts’ skiers and snowboarders with EpicMix quickly achieved the $100,000 prize level.

DeBergh, from Boulder, Colorado and now a student in Albany, New York, was the lucky Vail Resorts guest to win the EpicMix $100,000 cash prize. “I found out with an email but I didn’t quite believe it or three other emails until I pulled into the Vail parking garage,” DeBergh said. “Yeah, it’s for real. I’m so just taken aback.”

The New York resident is a student in physician’s assistant school. He lived in Boulder for the past seven years and has 15 day skied so far this season, all tracked through EpicMix. He’s also racked up 213,924 vertical feet skied, 27 pins, and a total of 2,732 points.

In other news…

Attitash Mountain Resort just launched a video trail map library that lets you virtually ski 47 trails on the mountain from your computer. Check it out right here: attitash.com/video_trailmap.html…Oregon’s Timberline scored 24 inches of snow in 24 hours, with snow still falling at press time…Colorado’s Monarch Mountain also got pounded last weekend, but was unable to get the lifts fired up for skiers to enjoy it on February 27th, 2011, after a snowcat driver accidentally knocked out the area’s power when he struck a transformer…Overall World Cup leader Hannah Kearney celebrated her birthday Saturday, February 26th, winning her sixth World Cup of the season in Marianske Lazne beating rival Jennifer Heil of Canada…And Elizabeth Latenser has joined the Heavenly PR/Communications team as PR coordinator, replacing Aimi Xistra, who left recently to become executive director of the Heavenly Ski and Snowboard Foundation.

–Peter Kray

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