Sipapu Ski & Summer Resort -- the New Mexico ski and snowboard mountain known for long seasons and beginner friendliness -- will put in a new chairlift this summer to serve more of the mountain's easier terrain.

For terrain parkers, the end of the winter ski and snowboard season means more than six long months of life without a jib, jump or butter box – unless you got the bread for some time at Woodward.

At this time of year, the closure list of Colorado ski and snowboard resorts gets slowly and depressingly longer and longer. But even after this weekend (April 11-12) when another seven mountains pull the plug, there will still be slopes and trails accessible by lift for a few weeks more.

For three decades, Purgatory loyalists have relied upon old-faithful Legends Lift 8 to take them to the tranquility, bumps and glades of Durango Mountain’s back side. That's about to change.

My jaw dropped as I eavesdropped on a table of ski instructors last week. They were on a break and sharing a cartoon video poking fun at what it considered to be a disparity between what resorts charge for lessons and what ski instructors are paid for giving them. 

Bits and pieces of winter will sprinkle across the country for the next week, with Front Range Colorado getting the bulk of new stuff while New England’s winter weather gods just don’t seem to want to let go.

Perisher Ski Resort in New South Wales, Australia, is the first international resort to be acquired by Vail Resorts. The Colorado-based company said Monday it had acquired Perisher for total cash consideration of AU $176.6 million (approximately US $136 million), subject to certain adjustments. 

A few storms in Colorado over the weekend and early next week likely won’t have any effect on the state’s ski resorts, says OpenSnow.com’s Joel Gratz. “Yup, back to spring conditions with harder snow in the morning, softening by the midday and afternoon hours.”

Vail Resorts will offer all Colorado kindergarten through fifth graders 16 days of free skiing - four days each at Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, and Keystone for the remainder of the current 14-15 season and beyond.

Mountain folk know how to party, and if there’s a time when things go truly uncorked, it’s the spring. Who’s not ready to shake their rumpus under in the sun after a long winter stretch of short days, cold nights, and heavy snow. There’s a lot of music set to go off in the mountains this spring, here’s five of our favorite springtime ski area concerts where you’re sure to see some freak flags flying.

Eldora Mountain Resort has cleared a major hurdle in its plan to add more expert and intermediate terrain, new and revamped chairlifts, and an on-mountain eatery in the coming years.

The old adage has held true this winter,: The more things change, the more they stay the same. So it is with the snow forecasts for this week across SnoCountry, as a persistent jet stream and high pressure ridge keeps any precipitation to the far north.

In what has become a major ritual of spring, winter resorts have started rolling out discounts on season passes for next year – either to keep the current buzz going or give hope for a better season ahead.

A couple of weeks of serious storms brought 100 inches to Wolf Creek and a welcome three feet to the Tahoe area. But they are done with, and it appears that spring skiing will be the order of the day for the near future.

For many, packing for a ski vacation is a pain. So is the value of buying gear to use it for just a week or two each year.

The last of a quartet of storms will roll across – and out of -- the West this week, bringing in warmer and sunnier weather for the first weekend of the spring break season.

Ski patrollers at Colorado's Telluride Ski Resort will now have the legal authority to negotiate terms of employment with the parent company, following a 47-1 vote to create a bargaining unit.

Looking for some spring fun on the slopes? Spring brings out “the silly season,” and for good reason according to Crystal Mountain’s Brian Lawson.  

James Coleman, a local Durango resident and avid skier, finalized his purchase of Durango Mountain Resort this week and promptly changed the name of the iconic Southwestern Colorado resort back to Purgatory.

The southern Rockies got the bulk of this latest snow blast, and snow is expected to continue – in varying degrees of intensity – into next week in Colorado and Utah. Skiers and snowboarders at other areas of the West are still looking longingly to the skies.