Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and the most populous municipality of the U. S. state of Utah. With an estimated population of 190,884 in 2014, the city lies at the core of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, Salt Lake City is further situated within a larger metropolis known as the Salt Lake City-Ogden-Provo Combined Statistical Area. This region is a corridor of contiguous urban and suburban development stretched along an approximately 120-mile segment of the Wasatch Front and it is one of only two major urban areas in the Great Basin. The city was founded in 1847 by Brigham Young, Isaac Morley, George Washington Bradley and numerous other Mormon followers, who extensively irrigated and cultivated the arid valley. Due to its proximity to the Great Salt Lake, the city was originally named Great Salt Lake City—the word great was dropped from the name in 1868 by the 17th Utah Territorial Legislature. Today, less than half the population of Salt Lake City proper are members of the LDS Church.
It was traversed by the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental highway, in 1913, Salt Lake City has since developed a strong outdoor recreation tourist industry based primarily on skiing, and hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics. It is the banking center of the United States. Before Mormon settlement, the Shoshone and Paiute had dwelt in the Salt Lake Valley for thousands of years. The land was treated by the United States as public domain, the first U. S. explorer in the Salt Lake area is believed to be Jim Bridger in 1825, although others had been in Utah earlier, some as far north as the nearby Utah Valley. Frémont surveyed the Great Salt Lake and the Salt Lake Valley in 1843 and 1845, the Donner Party, a group of ill-fated pioneers, had traveled through the Great Salt Lake Valley in August 1846. The first permanent settlements in the date to the arrival of the Latter-day Saints on July 24,1847. Upon arrival at the Salt Lake Valley, president of the church Brigham Young is recorded as stating, This is the right place, Brigham Young claimed to have seen the area in a vision prior to the wagon trains arrival.
They found the broad valley empty of any human settlement, four days after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, Brigham Young designated the building site for the Salt Lake Temple, which would eventually become a famous Mormon and Salt Lake City landmark. The Salt Lake Temple, constructed on the block that would be called Temple Square, construction started in 1853, and the temple was dedicated on 6 April 1893. The temple has become an icon for the city and serves as its centerpiece, in fact, the southeast corner of Temple Square is the initial point of reference for the Salt Lake Meridian, and for all addresses in the Salt Lake Valley. The Mormon pioneers organized a new state called Deseret and petitioned for its recognition in 1849, the United States Congress rebuffed the settlers in 1850 and established the Utah Territory, vastly reducing its size, and designated Fillmore as its capital city. Great Salt Lake City replaced Fillmore as the capital in 1858
Vail Resorts
They own luxury resort hotels throughout the world. The company trades on the New York Stock Exchange, symbol MTN, the company is headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado. Vail Resorts was founded as Vail Associates Ltd. by Pete Seibert and Peter were both ski patrol guides at Aspen when they shared their dream of finding the next great ski mountain. Earl, a long resident and son of pioneer families in the area lead Peter to the area in March 1957. Peter set off to secure financing and Earl engineered the early lifts, on a string and a prayer, the ski resort was founded and it opened in 1962. George N. Gillett, Jr. purchased Vail Associates in 1985, Vail Associates changed its name to Vail Resorts and went public in 1997 after Gillett Holdings went bankrupt. Former Apollo executive, Rob Katz, currently runs the company, the skating rink at Beaver Creek was named the Black Family Skating Rink after Leon Black. In 2001, Vail Resorts acquired the luxury hotel chain Rockresorts. RockResorts was named for its owners, the Rockefeller Family.
As of January 2017, the properties include, All of the retail operations are run by a smaller company. The owners of the other 30% are the Gart Brothers, specifically Tom Gart, Ken Gart, the Gart family have been in the sporting goods business for 3 generations and were the former owners of Gart Sports, the large chain of sporting goods stores in the western US. Gart Sports was sold by the Gart family in the 1990s and sold again to Sports Authority. In 2010, Vail completed the buyout of the Specialty Sports Venture brand and is now the 100% owner of all SSV operations, SSV is reportedly the largest Trek bicycles dealer in the world. Vail Resorts owns just over 50% of Slifer and Frampton, Slifer and Frampton was called Slifer and Frampton/Vail Associates Real Estate, but they dropped the Vail Associates name in 2003. East West Partners has built most of the building that make up the Beaver Creek Village, including the Marketplace Building, Village Hall. Not to be confused with East West Resorts, a separate property Management Group, VRDC developed Bachelors Gulch, one of the most upscale, ski-in/ski-out resorts in the business with its own Ritz Carlton and just over 100 slopeside mansions.
President Gerald Ford kept his ski house in the Strawberry Park section of Beaver Creek, Arrowhead is the third peak in the heavily promoted village to village ski experience in which you can ski from Beaver Creek to Bachelors Gulch to Arrowhead and back again. Arrowhead was a ski area unrelated to Beaver Creek for years before they were finally bought by Vail Associates in the early 1990s
Snowmaking
Snowmaking is the production of snow by forcing water and pressurized air through a snow gun, known as a snow cannon, on ski slopes. Snowmaking is mainly used at ski resorts to supplement natural snow and this allows ski resorts to improve the reliability of their snow cover and to extend their ski seasons from late autumn to early spring. Indoor ski slopes often use snowmaking and they can generally do so year-round as they have a climate-controlled environment. The production of snow requires low temperatures, the threshold temperature for snowmaking increases as humidity decreases. Wet bulb temperature is used as a metric since it takes air temperature, snowmaking is a relatively expensive process in its energy use, thereby limiting its use. Art Hunt, Dave Richey, and Wayne Pierce invented the snow cannon in 1950, in 1952, Grossingers Catskill Resort Hotel became the first in the world to use artificial snow. Snowmaking began to be used extensively in the early 1970s, many ski resorts depend heavily upon snowmaking.
Snowmaking has achieved greater efficiency with increasing complexity, snowmaking quality depended upon the skill of the equipment operator. Computer control supplements that skill with greater precision, such that a snow gun operates only when snowmaking is optimal, all-weather snowmakers have been developed by IDE. The key considerations in production are increasing water and energy efficiency. Snowmaking plants require water pumps and sometimes air compressors when using lances, the energy required to make artificial snow is about 0.6 -0.7 kW h/m³ for lances and 1 -2 kW h/m³ for fan guns. The density of snow is between 400 and 500 kg/m³ and the water consumption for producing snow is roughly equal to that number. Snowmaking begins with a water supply such as a river or reservoir, water is pushed up a pipeline on the mountain using very large electric pumps in a pump house. This water is distributed through a series of valves and pipes to any trails that require snowmaking. Many resorts add a nucleating agent to ensure that as much water as possible freezes and these products are organic or inorganic materials that facilitate the water molecules to form the proper shape to freeze into ice crystals.
The products are non-toxic and biodegradable, the next step in the snowmaking process is to add air using an air plant. This plant is often a building which contains electric or diesel industrial air compressors the size of a van or truck, however, in some instances air compression is provided using diesel-powered, portable trailer-mounted compressors which can be added to the system. Many fan-type snow guns have on-board electric air compressors, which allows for cheaper, a ski area may have the required high-output water pumps, but not an air pump
Sugarloaf (ski resort)
Sugarloaf is a ski area and resort located on Sugarloaf Mountain in Carrabassett Valley, western Maine. It is the second largest ski resort east of the Mississippi in terms of area and snowmaking percentage. Sugarloaf recorded a total of 352,000 skier visits in the 2005–2006 season, ranking it second among Maine resorts and 11th in New England, at 4,237 feet Sugarloaf Mountain is second in elevation to Maines highest peak, Mount Katahdin. The summit of Sugarloaf offers the only lift-serviced above-treeline skiing in the Northeast, the Appalachian Trail crosses within 0.6 miles of Sugarloafs peak and the summit offers 360 degree views of Maines western mountains and New Hampshires White Mountains. As of March 2010, there were 54 miles of marked trails, there were 1,400 acres of skiable area boundary to boundary. The fifteen chairlifts have the capacity to carry 21,180 skiers per hour, there are 154 marked trails and glades, most of which are named after logging terms in a tribute to Maines logging history.
Trails include thirty-four rated as green circle, forty-four blue square, thirty-nine black diamond, there are twenty glades, and three terrain parks. Lifts include two SuperQuads,3 high-capacity quads, five doubles, one triple, one T-bar, the Sugarloaf season runs from mid-November through early May. The resort is divided several areas. Whiffletree, located on the side of the mountain, and serviced by the Whiffletree SuperQuad. It services beginner to intermediate terrain, such as Whiffletree, King Pine Bowl, located in the eastern bowl and serviced by the King Pine Quad. King Pine aria can be accessed by the Skyline Chair via Spillway Cross-cut or from Whiffletree and it services intermediate terrain such as Boomauger and Ramdown, and expert terrain such as Haul Back, Flume, Misery Whip, and Ripsaw. The Cant Dog glade can be accessed from this lift, Cant Dog is an expert glade with tight trees and waterfalls. The Timberline Quad services the summit of Sugarloaf, formerly located where the current Whiffletree Superquad runs, Timberline services relatively easy runs such as Timberline and Tote Road that start at the top terminal of this lift.
The double-black-diamond Snowfields can be reached from this lift, with trails like White Nitro, Powder Keg and Ignitor, in the Frontside Snowfields, mid-mountain is serviced by the Skyline Quad, and the Bateau #3 T-Bar. Off the top of Skyline, Spillway Cross-cut leads to expert trails, Sugarloaf Superquad is the most popular lift on the mountain that services advanced, and a few beginner trails. West Mountain is serviced by the West Mountain Chair, and the Bucksaw Chair, Bullwinkles Grill, an on-mountain restaurant, is located at the top of these two chairlifts, and right off the Tote Road Trail. The lower mountain or beginner area is serviced by a few lifts, Double Runner East & West, Sawduster and the Moosecalator
United States Ski Team
Since 1974 the team and association have been headquartered in Park City, Utah. These athletes represent the best athletes in the country for their sports and compete as a team at the national, world. *The first U. S.1882 - First U. S, Ski Club Founded The first ski club in the United States was founded in 1882. The Nansen Ski Club of Berlin, New Hampshire, was founded by Norwegian immigrants, a meeting was held by the Ishpeming Ski Club in conjunction with a 1904 ski jumping meet in Ishpeming - but the association was not formed at that gathering. Club President Carl Tellefsen proposed holding a meeting after the 1905 jumping meet – a national meet - to found a ski association which, among other duties, would oversee jumping tournaments. In 1905, the association was organized during a meeting attended by officers from the Ishpeming, Red Wing, Stillwater. On Feb.21,1905, Carl Tellefsen announced the National Ski Association -, in 1910, the International Ski Commission was formed to monitor development of skiing globally.
Ski events were only Nordic, including country, ski jumping. Anders Haugen, a Norwegian immigrant to the United States, was listed as fourth in ski jumping because of a calculation error. In 1974, as Norwegians prepared to celebrate the 50th anniversary of those first Winter Games, a medal presentation was arranged in Oslo, where a frail Haugen received the bronze medal from the daughter of Thorleif Haug, who had been dead since the Thirties. Haugens medal remains the only jumping medal won by an American in the Olympics or World Championships, the IOC did not recognize the medal exchange and kept Haug listed as its 1924 bronze medalist for years before recognizing Haugen as the legitimate medal-winner. Although the United States participated in the Winter Olympics of 1924,28 and 32 - where there were only Nordic events, athletes were selected for the various championships. Some 300 athletes from 17 nations competed, skiing was still a Nordic show, top US skier was another jumper, Casper Oimoen, who finished fifth.
Six men, seven women were on that first official US squad at Worlds,1936 - Feb. 6-16 - Alpine added to Olympic Winter Games - Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany Alpine skiing was introduced with to the Olympics with a single event, the combined. While Nordic remained a province, alpine was opened to men and women. For the only time, the FIS authorized a World Championships in addition to the Olympics with alpine championship races held in Innsbruck, Austria. In addition to the combined, which debuted in 1936, alpine added both elements of combined as individual events, meaning alpine was now equal with Nordic, having three events. Fraser led US skiers, collecting the first medals by a US skier - gold in slalom, the US women included a talented young teen – Andrea Mead,15, whose parents owned Pico Peak, near Rutland, VT
Alpine slide
An alpine slide is a long chute on the side of a hill, usually built by ski resorts to supplement summer income. A wheeled cart is used to navigate the slide, the ride is similar to a bobsled ride, except that it rolls over a smooth track—generally concrete, stainless steel, or fiberglass—rather than sliding on ice. The cart accommodates one or two passengers and is controlled by a hand located between the riders legs. Pulling the hand brake handle causes the cart to stop, pushing or letting go of the causes the brakes to release. The ride is unique among amusement park rides in that the rider has complete control over his or her speed and ride experience. With this control comes responsibility, the rider must ensure the cart is not going too fast, otherwise the cart may overturn around curves, leading to possible injury or death
Gondola lift
A gondola lift, as opposed to a cable car, is a means of cable transport and type of aerial lift which is supported and propelled by cables from above. It consists of a loop of cable that is strung between two stations, sometimes over intermediate supporting towers. The cable is driven by a bullwheel in a terminal, which is connected to an engine or electric motor. They are often considered continuous systems since they feature a haul rope which moves and circulates around two terminal stations. Depending on the combination of cables used for support and/or haulage and the type of grip, the capacity, because of the proliferation of such systems in the Alpine regions of Europe, the French language name of Télécabine is used in an English language context. Gondola lifts should not be confused with cable cars or the US aerial tramways as the latter solely operates with fixed grips and simply shuttles back and forth between two end terminals. In some systems the passenger cabins, which can hold between two and 8 people, are connected to the cable by means of spring-loaded grips.
These grips allow the cabin to be detached from the cable and slowed down in the terminals, to allow passengers to board. Doors are almost always automatic and controlled by a lever on the roof or on the undercarriage that is pushed up or down, cabins are driven through the terminals either by rotating tires, or by a chain system. To be accelerated to and decelerated from line speed, cabins are driven along by progressively swifter rotating tires until they reach line or terminal speed, on older installations, gondolas are accelerated manually by an operator. Gondola lifts can have intermediate stops that allow for uploading and downloading on the lift, examples of a lift with three stops instead of the standard two are the Village Gondola and the Excalibur Gondolas at Whistler Blackcomb. In 1986, Doppelmayr built the worlds first eight-passenger gondola at Steamboat Ski Resort, such a system is called Pulse Cabin because usually more than one cabin are loaded at a time before the trip begins.
Another type of lift is the bi-cable gondola, which has one other stationary cable, besides the main haul rope. One of the famous examples of this type of lift include the Ngong Ping Cable Car in Hong Kong, the Singapore Cable Car. This system has the advantage that the stationary cables strength and properties can be tailored to each span, there are tri-cable gondolas that have two stationary cables that support the cabins. They differ from cable cars in that the latter consist only of one or two usually larger cabins, moving up and down, not circulating, bi and tri cable systems provide greater lateral stability allowing the system to operate in higher cross-winds. Open-air gondolas, or cabriolet as commonly called, are uncommon and are quite primitive because they are exposed to the elements. Their cabins are usually hollow cylinder, open from chest height up, with a floor and they are usually used as village gondolas and for short distances
Powder Mountain
Powder Mountain is a ski resort located just east of Eden, stretching between Weber and Cache counties, and only 55 miles from Salt Lake City International Airport. Powder Mountain consistently tops Ski Magazine’s “Best Value Resort” category, taking home the honor five out of the past six years. With more than 300 inches of snowfall, Powder Mountain was ranked #2 for “Snow”. Powder Mountain had its beginnings as the range for Frederick James Cobabe’s sheep herd. Between 1902 and 1948, Cobabe continually accumulated land around Eden, old timers say that his property was severely overgrazed by previous owners and hardly a blade of grass could be found. The watershed was so poor that Wolf Creek dried up each fall, fred’s soil conservation practices greatly improved the vegetation and Powder Mountain now is known as one of the best watersheds in the Wasatch Mountains. Fred’s son, Dr. Alvin F. Cobabe, bought the company with its 8,000 acres in 1948. While horseback riding with friends along Lightning Ridge in the 1950s, the idea rang true with Dr.
Cobabe and he began to amass adjacent property adding to the thousands of acres acquired from his father. When the resort opened on February 19,1972, he owned 14,000 acres, only the Sundown lift was open during Powder Mountain’s first season. The area was lit for night skiing and a ski school was established, food was prepared on an outdoor barbecue. The Main Lodge, the Sundown Lodge and the Timberline lift were added to operations in the 1972–73 season, Dr. Alvin Cobabe, at age 88, sold Powder Mountain, Inc in 2006 to Western American Holdings. The resort remained under the management team, led by Aleta Cobabe, daughter of Alvin. Western American sold Powder Mountain to events company Summit in 2013, Powder Mountain currently has four chair lifts, and an additional three surface tows. Beyond lift accessed terrain, Powder Mountain offers all-day Snowcat Powder Safaris, single ride cat skiing and inbound and backcountry guided tours through their Adventure Center. The slopes on both sides of the leading up to the resort—known as Powder Country—are served by a bus that will pick riders up at a waiting area halfway down the access road.
There is an $18 per-ride Snowcat service up Lightning Ridge, James Peak is one of the premier powder bowl runs in Utah. Powder Mountain’s terrain within the lift accessible area offers a variety of runs for riders of every skill level, including a large assortment of green, blue. With over 2,500 inbound vertical feet available and over 400 inches of annual snowfall, Powder Mountain offers ski-in, ski-out condos for rent at the summit, making it a convenient getaway for skiers of all levels
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times, commonly referred to as the Times or LA Times, is a paid daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, since 1881. It was the largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008, the Times is owned by tronc. The Times was first published on December 4,1881, as the Los Angeles Daily Times under the direction of Nathan Cole Jr. and it was first printed at the Mirror printing plant, owned by Jesse Yarnell and T. J. Unable to pay the bill and Gardiner turned the paper over to the Mirror Company. Mathes had joined the firm, and it was at his insistence that the Times continued publication, in July 1882, Harrison Gray Otis moved from Santa Barbara to become the papers editor. Otis made the Times a financial success, in an era where newspapers were driven by party politics, the Times was directed at Republican readers. As was typical of newspapers of the time, the Times would sit on stories for several days, historian Kevin Starr wrote that Otis was a businessman capable of manipulating the entire apparatus of politics and public opinion for his own enrichment.
Otiss editorial policy was based on civic boosterism, extolling the virtues of Los Angeles, the efforts of the Times to fight local unions led to the October 1,1910 bombing of its headquarters, killing twenty-one people. Two union leaders and Joseph McNamara, were charged, the American Federation of Labor hired noted trial attorney Clarence Darrow to represent the brothers, who eventually pleaded guilty. Upon Otiss death in 1917, his son-in-law, Harry Chandler, Harry Chandler was succeeded in 1944 by his son, Norman Chandler, who ran the paper during the rapid growth of post-war Los Angeles. Family members are buried at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery near Paramount Studios, the site includes a memorial to the Times Building bombing victims. The fourth generation of family publishers, Otis Chandler, held that position from 1960 to 1980, Otis Chandler sought legitimacy and recognition for his familys paper, often forgotten in the power centers of the Northeastern United States due to its geographic and cultural distance.
He sought to remake the paper in the model of the nations most respected newspapers, notably The New York Times, believing that the newsroom was the heartbeat of the business, Otis Chandler increased the size and pay of the reporting staff and expanded its national and international reporting. In 1962, the paper joined with the Washington Post to form the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service to syndicate articles from both papers for news organizations. During the 1960s, the paper won four Pulitzer Prizes, more than its previous nine decades combined, eventually the coupon-clipping branches realized that they could make more money investing in something other than newspapers. Under their pressure the companies went public, or split apart, thats the pattern followed over more than a century by the Los Angeles Times under the Chandler family. The papers early history and subsequent transformation was chronicled in an unauthorized history Thinking Big and it has been the whole or partial subject of nearly thirty dissertations in communications or social science in the past four decades.
In 2000, the Tribune Company acquired the Times, placing the paper in co-ownership with then-WB -affiliated KTLA, which Tribune acquired in 1985
7% easiest 
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44% most difficult
