Finally! — Despite some unexpected warming, we finally got the durable layer needed to open the rest of the mountain. Word has it the skiing is great, so come on up!

Ladies’ World Cup — Mikaela Shiffrin took the silver medal in slalom at Zagreb, Croatia. After uncharacteristically falling more than a second behind in the first run, she put down the fastest second run. However, it just wasn’t enough.

Men’s World Cup — Luke Winters continued his solid season, skiing into the points again at the slaloms in Zagreb. He finished 28th ... job security!

Junior Race Series — The Junior Race Series kicked off last Friday in moderate temperatures and on a great race surface. The kids seemed to have a great time. James Schriber was the fastest boy (23.38), followed by his brother Jack (24.02) and Landon Buoy (24.71). Halle Wyman (24.66) was the fastest girl, followed by Lila Kadzejs (25.10) and Josie Buoy (25.73). Racing resumes Friday, weather permitting.

Coming up — Local athletes will be competing at three different areas this week. The Youth Ski League will be racing giant slalom at Schweitzer. The U14 and above crowd will be at Northwest Cup #1 at Crystal Mountain and the Hampton Cup hosted by Mission Ridge. Watch here for a full report next Thursday.

Potpourri — Any comments, recommendations or contributions to this column may be sent to Shep Snow by email at [email protected]. Negative feedback should be sent to someone else.