TOP FIVE FRIDAYS: NOVEMBER 25, 2022
Lead Image: U.S. Freeskiing athlete Colby Stevenson airing it out at the FIS World Cup slopestyle event in Stubai last weekend. Full recap below! Image: U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team on Facebook
#1: The FIS Women’s Alpine Season Starts with Back to Back Shiffrin Wins:
Despite the delayed start to the season, Mikaela’s season got off to a fast start with back to back wins in Levi last weekend. Check out the highlights from the second of two slalom races in the clip above!
Hello, and welcome to Top Five Fridays, the November 25, 2022 edition! It’s the day after Turkey Day here in the U.S., so we hope all of our American readers are feeling particularly full and grateful this morning. While we can’t speak to her appetite, we do have a suspicion that one American, Mikaela Shiffrin, is feeling particularly grateful this week after a stunning showing in Levi last weekend. In our preview of last weekend’s slalom double-header in Levi, we highlighted the competition between Shiffrin and Petra Vlhova at this particular venue. Prior to last weekend, Vlhova held the edge, with 5 gold medals at the venue, including each of the last four races. Shiffrin on the other hand had 4 gold medals in Levi, although none since 2019. That storyline, coupled with post-Olympic question marks, resulted in significant interest in how this year’s event would play out. As it turned out, when all was said and done, it was Shiffrin who made a statement, winning both gold medals, claiming the title of “Queen of Levi” from Vlhova with six total wins at the venue. Additionally, with these two wins, Shiffrin now holds the record for most World Cup podiums within a single discipline. Perhaps even more importantly, these two wins bring Shiffrin's total World Cup victories to 76, bringing her to within 6 gold medals of Lindsey Vonn’s women’s record of 82, and 10 gold medals away from Ingemar Stenmark’s overall record of 86. While Shiffrin will be the first to tell you that this milestone isn’t on her radar, it’s an incredibly exciting plotline for this season as we count down the gold medals until Shiffrin becomes the winningest ski racer of all time. Before we wrap up coverage of last weekend’s races, we have to give a mandatory shout out to Ava Sunshine, the 20 year old rookie athlete who finished 21st and 27th in her first two FIS World Cup Races. At risk of being painfully corny, we must admit that with results like that, the future is bright for Sunshine. To check out a full list of results, check in with the FIS website.
With last weekend’s excitement out of the way, let’s take a quick second to glance ahead at what’s about to come. As we’ve mentioned many times, this weekend Killington is playing host to the Heroic Killington Cup presented by Stifel, the most attended women’s World Cup races on the circuit. Over the course of the next two days, athletes will compete in a slalom and giant slalom race, giving Shiffrin an excellent opportunity to build on her opening weekend success. Elsewhere, in Lake Louise, the men’s circuit is set to finally get back on snow with a downhill race today, followed by two super g races through the weekend. You can preview more Killington action here, and Lake Louise action here.
#2: Short But Sweet, the FIS Slopestyle Competition in Stubai Gets the Season Underway:
Get a feel for the course, conditions, and competition at last weekend’s Stubai slopestyle event with this montage.
In other competitive World Cup news, we’ve also got a quick recap of the first FIS slopestyle event of the season, which went down last weekend in Stubai. Prior to the event, athletes had ample opportunity to get used to the course as the Stubai glacier’s park run had been open for weeks prior to the event. Ultimately that led to a competitive competition as athletes felt comfortable on the course, despite its short, tightly packed layout. In addition to this element, it’s also worth noting the weather for the event, which saw significant snowfall during qualifiers, despite the fact that it had already been pushed back a day. Fortunately, things cleared up in time for finals a few days later, for which riders had nearly perfect weather.
With all that in mind, let’s get into some results. On the women’s side of the sport, Johanne Killi and Kelly Sildaru were the only athletes to complete perfectly clean, high level runs, resulting in a gold and silver medal respectively. For the Americans, Grace Henderson took home the bronze medal, having put down a switch 9, to switch 7, to a backside 630 off the cannon rail feature. On the men’s side, while a number of athletes put down incredibly impressive runs, the podium was swept by familiar faces as Birk Rudd, Andri Ragettli, and Colby Stevenson took home first, second, and third. For Rudd, this marks his second gold in as many events as his season is off to a tremendous start. To read a more in depth recap of the action, check out this report from Newschoolers.com. To see a full list of results, check in with the FIS website.
#3: New Study Finds the Outdoor Industry to be Worth an Astonishing $862 Billion in 2021:
We’ve known for a while now that the ski industry and outdoor industry on the whole are growing, but this week we learned just how big it’s become. $862 billion a year.
Next up in ski news is a story that made our jaws drop: the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis has just released a report containing data related to the economic impact of the Outdoor Industry in America. Before diving in, we want to just clarify that the Outdoor Industry is a massive, wide ranging industry, encompassing all types of outdoor activity. Yes, the sports we know and love like skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, hiking, etc. are all included obviously, but so too are activities like RVing, boating, motorcycling, and a number of other activities that you might not immediately think of when we use the term “Outdoor”. All of that said, the Bureau of Economic Analysis made the announcement this week that the Outdoor Industry was valued at a staggering $862 Billion in 2021. As a result, it’s credited with creating 4.5 million jobs, and contributing 1.9% of the U.S.’s Gross Domestic Product. To put this in perspective, as RecreationRoundTable.org points out, “This means the outdoor recreation economy contributes more to the U.S. economy than oil and gas extraction, mining, and agriculture.” While this is amazing and admittedly feels great to be a part of, it also excites us for another reason: with that amount of size and value, the outdoor industry also has the opportunity to wield incredible political influence. Specifically, it suggests that with some concerted effort, issues such as climate change and wildlife management don’t have to be determined by oil lobbyists and the like. Rather, outdoor enthusiasts could actually have more political sway with the right amount of organization. Regardless of the implications, it feels good knowing that our industry is both massive and continuing to grow. To learn more about this issue, check in with RecreationRoundTable.org.
#4: Need an Out of the Box Gift Idea? Frontier Airlines Has Something for the Powder Chasers With Their Unlimited Flight, “Go Wild Pass”:
Tired of not being able to powder chase as much as you’d like? Frustrated you keep missing the storms? With Frontier’s new “Go Wild Pass,” you can fly as many times as you’d like in a year for just $799. Image: Fly Frontier Airlines on Facebook
Finally, seeing as it’s Black Friday, we figured we’d wrap this week up by sharing an out of the box Holiday gift idea we came across this week for the skier in your life who has both everything and a tremendous amount of free time. While the obvious choice for this person is simply more skis, because you can never have enough, the “Go Wild Pass” from Frontier Airlines makes a compelling case for its consideration. For just $799.00, Fly Frontier is offering a pass that grants you unlimited flights, anywhere that their airline flies, both domestic and international. Sounds pretty incredible, right? So what’s the catch? Well, as it turns out, there are in fact quite a few. First of all, let’s address the elephant in the room: Frontier is a budget airline, meaning their whole approach is giving you exactly what you need and nothing more. There’s no wifi, no in flight entertainment, no electrical outlets, etc. Instead of offering amenities, they offer incredibly affordable air travel. Second, from a powder chasing perspective, this offer wouldn’t really be useful until next winter as the passes aren’t valid until May 2, 2023, at which point they’re good for an entire year. Next up: there are a number of blackout dates strewn throughout the winter, meaning you’ll have to travel strategically. Finally, the last major caveat we came across is the fact that you can only book your flight up to 24 hours beforehand for domestic flights, and 10 days prior for international. In other words, all of your travel plans will have to be made last minute. But, if all of these things are bearable, the Frontier “Go Wild Pass” really is a pretty sweet deal at that price. For $799, you’re given unlimited flights, for an entire year. Imagine, flying from Boston to Denver, Denver to Salt Lake, Salt Lake to Reno, and Reno to Portland, before ultimately deciding you need a break from all the powder you’ve been snorkeling through and booking a flight to Kingston, Jamaica. All of this for just $799. To be honest, it feels like the person who this deal is perfect for is pretty rare, but for those people, this deal is perfect. If you or someone you know seems like they’d be a good candidate for a lifestyle of constant jet setting on a budget airline, head on over to the Fly Frontier website to learn more.