It's All Downhill: December Madness

[View web version]( [It's All Downhill. The latest from the slopes of New England and beyone by Matt Pepin] Friday, December 14 | [Follow Matt Pepin on Twitter]( CAST YOUR VOTES I remember a line ESPN's Max Kellerman had many years ago when I frequently listened to his sports radio program while working in New York: "Put anything in a bracket, and it'll be interesting." He was talking about March Madness and the NCAA men's basketball tournament at the time, and how creating a grid of head-to-head matchups injects just the right amount of competition, debate, and entertainment into almost any subject. (Second favorite Kellerman line: "If yoga had been invented in Cleveland, it would be called stretching.") He's dead-on about brackets. I mention it because my esteemed colleague [at Boston.com]( Hayden Bird, has created a bracket with 32 New England ski areas to determine readers' favorite. I helped him a tiny little bit. We slotted in Killington, Sugarloaf, Stowe, and Sunday River as top seeds. The perception may be that some of the smaller areas have no chance in a contest like this, but they also said that about the 1980 US men's hockey team. So here's hoping the Wachusetts, Raggeds, and Magics of the world can rally their clientele for an upset. [Cast your votes here. The contest runs until Dec. 19.]( CLICKING IN A NAME TO WATCH: Brian McLaughlin is planning to race in all of the World Cup men's giant slalom events this season, and the reason for mentioning it is he is from Topsfield, Mass. He got his start skiing at New England places like Sunday River and Waterville Valley, and raced for Dartmouth. He finished 18th in the first event of the season, at Beaver Creek in Colorado. [Wicked Local's Eric Goudreau profiled McLaughlin this week.]( CHOW DOWN: The natural extension of finding the best places to eat in ski country is narrowing it down to what specifically are the best meals to be found. VT SKI + RIDE magazine [asked followers of its Facebook page to share the best on-mountain meals they've had in Vermont](. It's a great resource to check if you're headed to Vermont for some skiing and want to eat at the resort. PRICE CHECK: In the last It's All Downhill newsletter, I shared links to the New England Ski Industry website's posts about lift ticket prices in Massachusetts and Maine, and now similar posts have been added about Vermont and New Hampshire. [In Vermont, prices were up 6 percent]( and the average weekend price was $93.12, making Vermont the most expensive New England state to go skiing. [New Hampshire ticket prices rose 10 percent]( for an average of $73.42. NO HATERS: The debate about multi-resort passes continues to rage, even as the sales of said passes are wrapping up for this season. Outside magazine's Marc Peruzzi shared his thoughts on the trend of big companies taking over resorts left and right in [a piece headlined "The Giant Resort Companies You Hate Are Saving Skiing."]( Once you get beyond a ridiculous assumption about skiers' feelings toward snowboarders in the opening paragraph, it's pretty insightful. SCARY STUFF: [Some pretty shocking video]( of an Austrian ski area's gondola cabins getting bunched together around a tower emerged this week, but fortunately no one was hurt because it was closed to the public at the time. [Subscribe to BostonGlobe.com]( [Like It's All Downhill? Tell a friend to subscribe.]( [Sign up for more Boston Globe newsletters.]( [Like It's All Downhill? Tell a friend to subscribe.]( [Sign up for more Boston Globe newsletters.]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [Pinterest]( About This Email You received this message because you signed up for the It's All Downhill newsletter. To automatically unsubscribe, [please click here.]( Please note: this will unsubscribe you from the newsletter only. If you wish to cancel your BostonGlobe.com subscription, please call 1-888-MY-GLOBE (1-888-694-5623). [Manage Your Account]( | [Terms of Service]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Help Center]( | [Advertise](mailto:mbentley@globe.com?subject=Advertising in BostonGlobe.com) Address: The Boston Globe 1 Exchange Place Suite 201 Boston, MA 02109-2132 ©Copyright 2018 Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC