Slalom through a quick ski quiz

By WALTER ROESSING
© St. Petersburg Times,
published November 25, 2001

Most folks know that Salt Lake City will host the 2002 Winter Olympics. Most skiers know that the majority of North America's biggest resorts are in the Rocky Mountains. The best-informed on winter sports perhaps know that 70 percent of U.S. downhillers are rated intermediates. But enough of the easy stuff.

If you want to test your ski I.Q., take the following quiz. It is designed to both test and tantalize you. The answers can be found on page XX.

Total your score by counting five points for each correct response. A score of 90-100 makes you an expert; 80-89, advanced; 70-79, intermediate; and 60-69, novice.

1. What ski resort is owned by actor Robert Redford, who skis there frequently? a) Sun Valley, b) Steamboat, c) Stratton, d) Sundance.

2. Which ski area is so big its lifts and slopes are spreadover two states? a) Heavenly, b) Aspen, c) Big Sky, d) The Big Mountain.

3. What state ranks No. 1 in the total number of ski areas? a) Colorado, b) Vermont, c) New York, d) California?

4. Where does the U.S. Ski/Snowboard Team train and live? a) Sun Valley, b) Park City, c) Squaw Valley, d) Lake Placid.

5. What's the last North American city to host the Winter Olympic Games? a) Denver, b) Calgary, c) Reno, d) Lake Placid.

6. Ski magazines annually rate what ski area as having the best on-mountain food and restaurants? a) Beaver Creek, b) Vail, c) Aspen, d) Deer Valley.

7. Club Med opened a new ski village at what Colorado resort last season? a) Copper Mountain, b) Breckenridge, c) Crested Butte, d) Telluride.

8. How many states have ski areas? a) 39, b) 41, c) 43, d) 45.

9. Snowboarding got its start at what New England resort thanks to Jake Burton Carpenter? a) Sunday River, b) Mount Snow, c) Stratton, d) Stowe.

10. What large Western city is the closest to seven major ski resorts? a) Denver, b) Seattle, c) Salt Lake, d) Sacramento.

11. Where is the continent's longest night-skiing slope? a) Squaw Valley, b) Keystone, c) Park City, d) Lake Louise?

12. Name North America's only resort where you can ski year-round on a perpetual snowfield: a) Whistler, b) Banff, c) Killington, d) Timberline.

13. What Colorado ski area has lifts within walking distance of a special ski train that stops there every weekend during the season? a) Winter Park, b) Aspen, c) Vail, d) Breckenridge.

14. Where was the world's first chairlift installed in 1936? a) Sun Valley, b) St. Moritz, Switzerland, c) Aspen, d) Yosemite.

15. What ski area holds the world record for the most snow in a single ski season? a) Kirkwood, b) Wolf Creek, c) Big Sky, d) Mount Baker.

16. Which U.S. ski area boasts the greatest number of lifts? a) Steamboat, b) Vail, c) Mammoth, d) Squaw Valley.

17. What North American mountain has the biggest, lift-served vertical drop at 5,280 feet? a) Jackson Hole, b) Killington, c) Taos, d) Blackcomb.

18. Most ski-slope accidents happen in the a) morning, b) mid-day, c) after lunch, d) late afternoon.

19. What North American site has hosted two Winter Olympics? a) Denver, b) Lake Placid, c) Squaw Valley, d) Calgary.

20. Skier-visits in the U.S. reached a record high last season thanks to great snow conditions. The total was a) 57.3-million, b) 56.3-million, c) 55.3-million, d) 54.3-million.

THE ANSWERS

2. a) Heavenly, California/Nevada

3. c) New York, 54.

4. b) Park City, Utah.

5. b) Calgary, Alberta.

6. d) Deer Valley, Utah.

7. c) Crested Butte, Colorado.

8. a) 39.

9. c) Stratton, Vermont.

10. c) Salt Lake City, Utah.

11. b) Keystone, Colorado.

12. d) Timberline, Oregon.

13. a) Winter Park, Colorado.

14. a) Sun Valley, Idaho.

15. d) Mount Baker, Washington, 1,116 inches or 93 feet in 1999/2000 season.

16. b) Vail, Colorado, 33.

17. d) Blackcomb, one of the twin mountains that comprise British Columbia's Whistler Resort.

18. d) Late afternoon.

19. b) Lake Placid, New York.

20. a) 57.3 million.

-- Freelance writer Walter Roessing lives in La Mesa, Calif.

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