Free Fairy Blessings at the Rainbow Bridge at Squaw from 4-6pm March 17.

Celebrate your Irish heritage all day at the Auld Dubliner in Squaw.

Squaw Valley will host the US Freestyle Nationals with Halfpipe and Mogul competitions March 25-28 plus the U.S. Ski Team and U.S. Snowboarding Olympic Homecoming Celebration.

The Homecoming Celebration is a post-Olympic event for the 2010 Olympic Skiers and Snowboarders to visit Squaw Valley and celebrate their success.

Keep your eyes peeled for Olympians in the Village at Squaw Valley during this week as many athletes will be here to meet with sponsors, donors and the general public

By USSA

ADELBODEN, Switzerland — Heavy fog creeping lower and lower down the fabled giant slalom course in Adelboden forced cancellation of the event Saturday in what was to be the final GS in the Olympic selection period. After a weather delayed first run on a shortened course, Italian Davide Simoncelli was in the lead with American Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) fifth. There was no immediate word if the race would be made up.

After a delay of over an hour, the start was lowered for the first run. But for the final round, fog continued to creep down the mountain all the way to the finish area, where over 30,000 fans had congregated for one of the Audi FIS World Cup’s classic events. The race was halted after 58 of 66 starters. After a two hour delay, FIS Race Director Guenther Hujara made the call to cancel the race.

Ligety had been the only American to make the second run cut. In the first run, Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) whacked a gate with his right shoulder, spun around and went out. Jake Zamansky (Aspen, CO), Tommy Ford (Bend, OR) and Warner Nickerson (Gilford, NH) all missed the top-30 cut.

It was the last chance for racers to get a strong giant slalom finish before the end of Olympic Selection on Jan. 24.

Project WET Workshop is an action-packed, hands-on workshop is for anyone interested in teaching about natural resources, conservation and environmental education. Great hands-on curriculum training for anyone working with K-12 youth.

All activities are geared toward teaching about Water Quality issues facing the Lake Tahoe Region.

It is Feb. 3 from 10am–4pm at the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences, 291 Country Club Drive, Incline Village.

Click Project WET to find out more about it.

Masters ski racing is the premier adult ski racing series in the country. Masters ski racing provides challenging competition within an atmosphere of fun camaraderie.

Sierra-at-Tahoe welcomes racers of all levels. This is an exhilarating competition.

For more information on Masters, go to www.farwestmasters.org. You can also contact Sean Warman, competition services at swarman@boothcreek.com. Non pass holders who register for the race receive discoutned lift tickets. Race entry is $25.

When: Jan. 23-24, 7:30-8:30am registration, 10am race start

Where:Race to be on Clipper, conditions permitting

Registration in The Aspen

Who: Adult skiers of any ability. This race is for NASTAR, club racers, and anyone seeking competition!

Mail entries to:

Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort

Attn: Competition Department

1111 Sierra-at-Tahoe Road

Twin Bridges, CA 95735

The UC Davis Aggie Marching Band, also known as The Band-uh!, will be visiting Sierra-at-Tahoe to share their Aggie pride with resort guests.

The Band-uh! is a spirited music organization with lots of personality.

When: Jan. 17, 2010 with three performances throughout the day

Where: Sierra-at-Tahoe’s entrance ramp in the morning and afternoon and the main base area midday

UC Berkeley’s Big Band will be on the slopes at Sierra-at-Tahoe and in the base area rocking big sound with their acoustic instruments during Martin Luther King Jr. weekend.

Play times for Jan. 15:

* 9-9:30am: Base area/ticket windows

* 1:30-2:10pm: Ski down Broadway and concert at the base

* 3:30-4pm: Ramp for a farewell

USASA brings their South Shore Series to Sierra-at-Tahoe for this amateur slalom competition.

Open to all ages.

Check out www.usasa.org for more details.

When: Jan. 10

Where: Lower Main, conditions permitting. Registration in the Aspen Cafe

Who: Amateurs of all ages

By Matthew Piper, USSA

HAUS IM ENNSTAL, Austria — A plaid-clad Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) overcame a bone bruise on her left arm to tough out her fourth 2010 Audi FIS World Cup downhill win in as many races, pushing off for a fast start, building speed throughout her run on a course shortened by heavy fog Saturday in Austria.

“It was really tough,” Vonn said. “It was really short, and I knew that I had to be nearly perfect to be able to get a win today.”

The race was delayed for two hours while athletes and spectators waited for fog to lift, and the start was moved to the reserve super G start – the lowest possible alternate.

Lindsey Vonn and Stacey Cook watch the big screen as teammate Julia Mancuso burns to an 11th place finish. Photo/Doug Haney/U.S. Ski Team

In her grey and pink plaid Spyder racing suit, Vonn looked at ease despite admitting to trouble with starts at the onset of the weekend’s events. She took an early lead and held it over the early benchmark from Switzerland’s Nadja Kamer to win by 0.14 seconds, her narrowest margin of victory this season.

“I had a little trouble out of the start, I caught my pole in my legs,” said Vonn, who has made all but one World Cup downhill podium since February 2008 and has a commanding 164-point lead over Germany’s Maria Riesch in the downhill title chase, as well as a 99-point advantage in the overall standings. “I think that cost me a little bit of time, but thankfully I had a good run.”

Seeming right at home after a six-year break from racing in Haus im Ennstal, it was Vonn’s fifth consecutive World Cup downhill win, dating to the discipline’s championship last season.

“She’s very, very confident in speed,” said women’s speed coach Alex Hoedelmoser. “The mental game is huge, she knows that she can beat everybody. Even today, with very, very tough conditions – especially when she ran, conditions changed and got worse – and she was able to do it. It’s pretty amazing.”

Vonn’s continued dominance wasn’t the only bright spot for the U.S. team.

Stacey Cook (Mammoth Mountain, CA) earned her first World Cup top 10 since March 2007, taking advantage of the early conditions and skiing to ninth with bib No. 2.

It snowed hard the entire race, and a significant headwind met racers on a bumpy course with flat light.

Overcoming an even later position than Vonn, Olympic champion Julia Mancuso (Olympic Valley, CA) was the third fastest through the first interval and finished a solid run in 11th.

Chelsea Marshall (Pittsfield, VT) took 19th for her best result since Tarvisio, Italy, in February, and Leanne Smith (North Conway, NH) just missed out on making the points for the third time since tearing her ACL last January.

For Vonn, Saturday’s triumph was the perfect sequel to Friday’s downhill victory in a make-up for Val D’Isere, France. She not only leads the World Cup standings in overall and downhill, but also super G, and will try to complete her speed event trilogy in Sunday’s super G at 2:30am.

Haus Im Ennstal, Austria – Jan. 9, Women’s Downhill

1. Lindsey Vonn, Vail, CO, 1:09.12

2. Nadja Kamer, Switzerland, 1:09.26

3. Ingrid Jacquemod, France, 1:09.28

4. Marion Rolland, France, 1:09.47

5. Anja Paerson, Sweden, 1:09.52

–

9. Stacey Cook, Mammoth Mountain, CA, 1:09.68

11. Julia Mancuso, Olympic Valley, CA, 1:09.82

19. Chelsea Marshall, Pittsfield, VT, 1:10.01

33. Leanne Smith, North Conway, NH, 1:10.48

45. Keely Kelleher, Big Sky, MT, 1:10.96

48. Alice McKennis, Glenwood Springs, CO, 1:11.04