Top Five Fridays: July 18, 2025
The biggest news this week? The biggest ski and snowboard sale in New England is happening this weekend, right here at the SkiEssentials Warehouse! To learn more, scroll down to highlight #1, or check out the event page on Facebook. Image: SkiEssentials Warehouse on Facebook
#1: New England’s Biggest Ski Sale is Happening This Weekend, Right Here at the SkiEssentials Warehouse!
For more details regarding our Warehouse Sale, check out the Facebook event page. Image: Warehouse Sale Event Page on Facebook
Hello, and welcome to Top Five Fridays, the July 18, 2025 edition! This time around, the ski news is short but sweet - in part due to it being the center of summer, and in part because today is an incredibly busy and exciting day for us here at the SkiEssentials warehouse. “Why?” might you ask. Well, as it turns out, that’s highlight #1.
This weekend, we’re putting on our 3rd annual SkiEssentials Warehouse Sale, the biggest ski and snowboard sale in New England! If you’ve been watching the video version of Top Five Fridays in recent weeks, then you’ve already heard Jeff and Bob share the news and details there. For the rest of you, here’s the quick scoop: this weekend, starting at 9 am on July 19th and July 20th, we’ll be inviting the public into our warehouse to take advantage of a ton of insane deals. In the hardgoods categories, we’ll be slashing prices to as much as 80% off the retail price of skis, snowboards, boots, and bindings. In soft goods categories like jackets, pants, and midlayers, we’ll be reducing prices by up to 50%. For accessories like helmets and googles, it’s the same story: up to 50% off. Beyond that, we’ll also have tons of special deals on demo skis, blemished skis, and season lease packages. We’ll have boot fitters on hand. We’ll have food trucks, and games, and so, so much more.
Now at this point, there’s undoubtedly some people reading this and thinking, “this isn’t a highlight, this is nothing more than a sales pitch.” To them, we say, “fair.” But this truly is one of, if not the best opportunities of the entire year to find insanely cheap ski equipment. Still not convinced? That’s ok, you don’t have to take our word for it. Just read this Reddit thread that popped up after last year’s event. The testimonials are there: this is a sale you won’t want to miss if you can swing it.
To learn more details about our Warehouse Sale, check out the event on Facebook. Otherwise, plan to come visit us at 192 Thomas Ln, Stowe, VT tomorrow or Sunday. We look forward to seeing whoever can make it!
#2: A New Tram is Coming to Cannon Mountain as New Hampshire Approves Significant Funding Package:
The iconic tram at Cannon Mountain, which is set to see its third generation after a significant funding package has just been approved. Image: Cannon Mountain on Facebook
Moving onto other New England ski news this week, we caught a pretty big announcement coming to us from our neighbors in New Hampshire, where state governor Kelly Ayotte is in the midst of making 2025 the “Year of New Hampshire State Parks.” As part of this project, Ayotte has pledged to dedicate significant funding to the state’s parks in order to ensure that they remain an attraction for locals and tourists alike. One beneficiary of this push? Cannon Mountain.
This week, Cannon Mountain announced that it has been awarded $27.2 million to put towards the replacement of their iconic tram. Initially launching in 1938 as the nation’s very first aerial tramway, the original tram lasted 42 years before being upgraded in 1980. Since then, the second generation tram has carried over 9 million passengers over the course of its 45 year lifespan, while also solidifying its place as an icon of New Hampshire’s ski culture. Now, after exceeding the first generation’s lifespan by 3 years, both the resort and the state have decided to put plans into motion to upgrade the tram a second time, eventually introducing its third iteration.
Now that funds are secured, the next step in this process will be an assessment of the current tower, terminals, and foundations to better determine whether any structural or layout adjustments will need to be made. Once that information has been determined, the ski area and the state can begin discussing plans for the third generation tram itself. At the moment, we don’t have an exact timeline for all of this, but we do know that the resort plans to, “wind down public operations after this fall”. As such, the expectation is that there will be no tram access this winter.
To learn more about this story, check out the press release from Cannon Mountain.
#3: A Month After Closing Peak Skis, Bode Miller Can Celebrate His Induction into the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame:
While we’re on the subject of Cannon Mountain, our next highlight is a bit of a redemption story for one of the resort's most legendary alumni: Bode Miller. If you read our coverage about a month ago, on June 13th, then you likely remember the news that Bode Miller’s meteoric ski company, Peak Skis, recently came to a sudden and somewhat unexpected closure. After exploding onto the scene in 2022 with its unique “keyhole technology”, which was developed by Bode on the World Cup circuit, as well as a roster chock full of legendary athletes, the ski brand found itself a victim of overspending. Ultimately, the result was a quick 3 year stint as one of the most intriguing brands in the industry before ultimately giving way to an unceremonious end. As fans of Bode’s life story and career, sharing that news wasn’t particularly fun for any of us.
This week though, we have much more exciting Bode Miller news to share, as he’s just been inducted into the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame as part of an eight member class. Notably, Miller was the only skier in this year’s class. For Miller, the induction couldn’t come at a better time as it gives us a chance to remember his accomplishments and celebrate him for his athleticism during his Olympic career, which ran from 1998-2014.
During that 16 year stretch, Bode appeared at 5 straight Olympic Games. Over the course of those Games, he tallied up a total of 19 starts across all 5 disciplines, ultimately winning three silver medals, a bronze, and a gold for a total of 6 Olympic medals. Of the 5 games he competed in, the 2010 event in Vancouver were his most successful, as he took the bronze in Downhill, the silver in Super G, and gold in Alpine Combined. As a result of these successes, Miller holds the title of being the only American skier to win medals at three separate Olympics.
Ironically though, many consider the most impactful race of Bode’s entire career to be the Slalom race in Salt Lake City, where he took home 24th. Leading up to that race, Bode was on a tear, having just won the silver medal in the Giant Slalom and the Alpine Combined events - the first two medals of his Olympic career. As such, all eyes were on him as he took the course in the Slalom. In that race, he was skiing well and very much could have earned a third straight medal. But then, he missed a gate. Nearly 100% of the time that this happens, the skier that this happens to continues to ski outside of the course, ultimately earning a DNF. But not Bode. Not this time. Instead, he stunned the world when he hiked back up to go around the gate properly. Doing this allowed him to finish the race and earn a time. It was (and still is) an unheard of thing to do, and one that solidified his fame on a global level. While that race was far from his best Olympic performance, it may have been the most impactful in solidifying his reputation as a competitor that cared passionately about his performance.
With that story told, it’s with great excitement that we congratulate Bode on his induction into the Olympic Hall of Fame, marking just the sixth time an Olympic skier to be inducted. To learn more about this, read the announcement from the U.S. Ski Team or check out his newly created profile on the Hall of Fame website. Finally, to learn more about Bode’s life and career, go give his Wikipedia page a visit.
#4: One Lifelong PSIA Certified Ski Instructor’s Journey into Freestyle Skiing is a Reminder That There’s No “Right” Way to Ski a Mountain:
Think Jeff earned these skills without taking his fair share of crashes? Think again. Park skiing is more than just baggy pants and centered stances - it’s a lot of persistence, as Krista Crabtree recently learned.
Finally, it’s time for one more story. Rounding things out this week is a highly enjoyable article from SKI Magazine writer Krista Crabtree, a 50+ year old lifelong ski instructor who took it upon herself to earn a Freestyle Level 1 PSIA certification. Now, in order to really appreciate this story, we have to reshare Krista’s background a bit. Having grown up in icy New Hampshire before moving to Vail to coach at Ski Club Vail, Krista’s version of skiing included gratuitous use of her edges. Between her background and career choice, she’d come to idolize racers like Mikaela Shiffrin and Ted Ligety, considering their ski technique to be the pinnacle of skiing. While she admits she made allowances for less edge-use in softer snow, she also reveals that she was “annoyed” and “judged” park skiers whose technique was objectively terrible from her point of view.
Still, something inside of her drove Krista to want to pass the Freestyle Level 1 course. Once the idea entered her mind, it took her a few years to put it in motion as in her words she thought, “how hard could it be?”. At first, her preconceptions were accurate: the online portion of the test that required her to learn concepts like nollies, nose butters, and the names of a variety of grabs came to her naturally and was an easy pass. That all changed however, as soon as she attempted to learn how to slide a box.
From here, Krista’s story becomes one that any of us who’ve ever spent time in a terrain park are familiar with. Whether our first box attempt came at the age of 10 or 20, we can all recall a time when poor technique caused us to fall in a myriad of ways - most commonly resulting in hip checking a rail. Still, determined to stick with it, she eventually pulled herself together just in time for the test, executing a box slide to switch on her final attempt. That successful effort meant she passed the course. More importantly though, in that moment, she discovered the exact feeling that drives every park skier in the world: the overwhelming sense of adrenaline and pride that comes from landing a new trick, as well as the excited reaction from your friends. It’s a feeling that’s unique to park skiing and snowboarding, and one that shifted Krista’s perspective on park skiing in a more positive direction.
For us, that’s the ultimate takeaway from this story, and one that really supports what we’re all about here at SkiEssentials. On the mountain, it’s not just a matter of “skiers” and “snowboarders”. Within those sports, there’s a wide variety of subgenres and influences, from race, to freeride, to freestyle. Within those subgenres, experienced skiers and riders have their own style and techniques that make their version of skiing highly personalized. Yes, of course there is a degree of technique that separates beginners from experts, but Krista’s experience is a fresh reminder that there’s more than one way to ski.
With that in mind, it’s worth remembering that just because someone doesn’t ski like you, it doesn’t mean they’re a “worse” skier. Whether that means you find the technique of freestyle skiers to be annoying with their narrow stance and centered weight, or you think hard charging frontside skiers are too uptight with their technique - the bottom line is that there’s something to appreciate with all varieties of skiers. Just ask Krista, whose brief experimentation with freestyle skiing led to a whole new perspective. To read her story, click here.