It's All Downhill: Which New England ski area has the coolest name?

[View web version]( [It's All Downhill. The latest from the slopes of New England and beyone by Matt Pepin] Friday, September 7 | [Follow Matt Pepin on Twitter]( LET's judge a ski area by its name It's All Downhill is sent once a month during the skiing offseason, and weekly from October to March. Skiers love to boast about the places they've been. Rooftop cargo boxes, bumpers, back windshields, and helmets are plastered with ski area stickers. I even have a section of my basement, near where all our gear is stored, with ski area stickers, posters, and maps tacked up everywhere. One day this summer, after a session on my exercise bike, I found myself staring at all those mementos and I just started thinking about the names of ski areas. I knew the origin of many. Sometimes they're named for their location, such as Mount Southington, Waterville Valley, Mad River Glen, or Mount Sunapee. Sometimes they have another local or historic significance, like Okemo, Smugglers' Notch, or Pats Peak. Then a thought struck: Which New England ski area has the coolest name. Not favorite ski areas. Not the best ski areas. Cool names is what we're aiming for here. There are so many ways to define cool, but for me it all came down to how it sounds and the picture the name alone paints. So I checked out a list of New England ski areas and started putting contenders on a list. These made the cut: Berkshire East, Bretton Woods, Cannon, Catamount, Gunstock, Jay Peak, Jiminy Peak, Killington, Loon Mountain, Mad River Glen, Magic Mountain, Mount Snow, Powder Ridge, Smugglers' Notch, Sunday River, and Wildcat. Some sound rugged and macho. Some sound like magical places where all your dreams come true. Some are just an invitation to imagine. From there, I trimmed those 16 to a final four: Cannon, Mad River Glen, Mount Snow, and Sunday River. I figured the two rivers cancel each other out, leaving Cannon and Mount Snow, two incredible places whose names to me really just scream "come here and you shall know the majesty of winter." So the winner is ... Mount Snow. It is, really, a name that says it all. It sounds like a place gentle enough to go learn to ski, but fierce enough to provide downhill thrills all day. Maybe it's a bit Disney-ish (I feel like Blizzard Beach is its long-lost cousin), but like the name of one of my favorite western resorts, Winter Park in Colorado, it conveys a certain sense of expectation as to the experience you'll have if you visit. You're of course free to disagree. I'm cool with that. CLICKWORTHY WELCOME TO TWITTER: James Niehues, the guy who paints ski area maps (he probably did that one still in your ski coat pocket, just look for his signature on it), [joined Twitter in July]( and has been a really fun follow. He shares images of his maps, sometimes playing the "guess which one" game, although his [recent attempt with a New England ski area]( had kind of a big clue right there on the map. LISTEN TO THIS: It was pretty cool to be invited to be on one of my favorite podcasts, the always entertaining [High Falutin' Ski Bums podcast.]( I chatted with hosts Brian and Mario about my favorite New England ski areas, my trip to the Olympics, beer, and other stuff in late July. [Listen to the episode "Chat with Matt" here]( or [subscribe to the pod on iTunes here.]( DID HE USE K2 SKIS? A Polish Alpine adventurer/skier named Andrzej Bargiel became the first person to ski down K2, the second-highest mountain in the world. It was sponsored by Red Bull, and the skis he used appear to have Red Bull branding, but man, if I owned the K2 skis company I'd sure want a piece of that action. [Watch the descent on Red Bull's Facebook page.]( [A good story with all the details is on Powder's website](. IF YOU'RE IN THE MARKET: The Ski Diva's [annual roundup of ski swaps has been posted.]( A list like this surely takes some time to compile and fact-check, so here's a pole-tap to Wendy Clinch for the effort. PLAN AHEAD: The Boston Ski + Sports Club has [released its trip list for 2019 for weekends, vacations, and day trips](. The destinations include Switzerland, Austria, Montana, Japan, Colorado, and Oregon. FROM THE PASS WAR FRONT LINES: The battle between rival multi-resort passes Epic and Ikon continues as both attempt to improve their value proposition. Ikon [has increased the number of days you get at its New England resorts]( -- Loon, Sunday River, and Sugarloaf -- while also adding a bunch of resorts outside of New England to its lineup. Epic, meanwhile, still faces some hurdles as Vail Resort's acquisition of Mount Sunapee's operating rights is being reviewed by the state of New Hampshire, which owns the land there. [The Concord Monitor explained the situation]( after a public hearing in late July. A BIG GET: Waterville Valley in New Hampshire [was chosen to host the US Alpine Championships in 2019 and 2021.]( The annual end-of-season competition was held at Sugarloaf in 2015 and 2017 as it alternated between the east and west coasts from 2015 to 2018. Waterville held the US Freestyle Championships moguls competitions in 2018. GET YOUR TICKETS: While it's free to watch the women's World Cup races at Killington, there are also ticketed grandstand areas, [and those went on sale Sept. 5.]( The event includes women's slalom and giant slalom, and will be held Nov. 23-25 this year. MARK YOUR CALENDAR: The annual Boston.com Ski & Snowboard Expo is Nov. 8-11 at the Seaport World Trade Center. [All the details are on the event website]( and tickets will be available soon. [Subscribe to BostonGlobe.com]( [Like It's All Downhill? 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