AIRLIFT Silverton, Colorado's year-old à la carte heli-drops, which deposit you on 13,000-foot peaks for $150 a pop. silvertonmountain.com

WEATHER REPORT El Niño's and La Niña's decision to take a break from scrambling winter weather in the Northern Hemisphere, meaning everyone will get some powder some of the time (we hope).

SCREEN TEST Skier Robb Gaffney's Squallywood clinic, at Squaw Valley, California, which teaches Warren Miller wannabes how to look good on film—though not how to become better skiers. $450; squaw.com

DRUMROLL Utah-based freeskier Julian Carr's planned attempt to break Jamie Pierre's 255-foot huck record. In September 2007, Carr announced that this winter he hopes to drop one of several behemoth cliffs around the world, prompting us to set up a Google News Alert.

DEAL Vail Resorts' new $580 Epic Pass, which gives you access to Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, and Arapahoe Basin in Colorado and Heavenly in Lake Tahoe, California. epicpass.com

ARTISTIC EXPRESSION Burton's '09 Love boards, which feature cleverly cropped images of classic Playboy centerfolds. $430; burton.com

THUMB IN THE DYKE Aspen's and Vail's attempts to conserve energy by experimenting with 180-foot-long sheets of insulation to save snow during the summer.

DIGS Stowe, Vermont's new 139-room, $200 million Stowe Mountain Lodge, which heads into its first winter. Doubles, $400; stowemountainlodge.com

SKI FLICK Eighties comedy-ski-film auteur Greg Stump's Legend of Aahhh's, which had better live up to his classic The Blizzard of Aahhh's.

TERRIFYING VACATION Jackson, Wyoming–based Exum Mountain Guides' commercial ski descents of the Grand Teton. $2,500 for three days; exumguides.com

DÉTENTE Taos Ski Valley's first full season open to snowboarders.

PATRIOT ACT Lindsey Vonn's and Bode Miller's attempts to repeat their Yankee sweep at the World Cup.