Allen has new duties at Heavenly

Michael Allen, longtime director of the Heavenly Mountain (used to be ski resort, but that's changed now) ski school, has a shovelful of new duties these days. Not only does he continue to run the complex operations of the ski school, he now is in charge of all on-mountain services, including ticketing, scanning, guest services, resort ambassadors, among other things.

Said Allen, "We wanted to have a more seamless entry into the resort. By having all these employees under one management group, the communications about directions, conditions, concessions, ski school and services become more thorough."

Meanwhile, all that upbeat talk about the new North Bowl lift, to replace the old slow three-seater, is in the "check's in the mail" category. Seems that permitting and approval matters didn't get resolved in time for the new lift. So there it sits, in storage until next summer.

That means we, who enjoy the Olympic run and trees there, have another season before the crowds start moving in on Olympic. Nowadays, not too many out-of-towners bother with Olympic because of the fixed two-seater, not knowing that there is fine tree skiing at the top as well as some practically unused backside of the mountain.

MILLER FILM COMING

Warren Miller's winter adventure feature film "Higher Ground" premieres Dec. 1 and 3 in the Circus Maximus showroom at Caesars Tahoe.

Warren Miller's "Higher Ground" chronicles skiers and snowboarders in their never-ending search for new and thrilling ways to ride the snow. Crisscrossing the globe, hitting the steeps of Alaska, terrain parks in Colorado, deep powder in British Columbia and cliffs in Switzerland, Miller's film brings skiing and snowboarding to life on the big screen as no other action sports film has done before.

Show time and ticket prices are to be determined. Call 648-3353 or log on to caesarstahoe.com.

MORE FILM

The third annual Tahoe Adventure Film Festival is slated for Dec. 17 at Caesars Tahoe. In addition to the run of selected movie clips that will be judged based on creativity and content, this year's gathering aims to put the "fest" back in festival, with guest speakers and an action photography display.

Expect guest appearances from industry stars like Powder Magazine skier of the year, Shane McConkey and internationally acclaimed action photographer, Corey Rich.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with films showing from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at the Lake Tahoe Gateway inside Caesars Tahoe, by calling (800) 648-3353, and at all Ticketmaster locations or ticketmaster.com. A post Awards Party will follow at Club Nero.

BOREAL FESTIVAL

Boreal Mountain Resort will kick off a major pre-season festivity with Northern California's newest high profile urban rail competition, the first annual Jibassic Pro Rail Jam on Saturday, Oct. 15.

Twenty invited professional skiers and snowboarders (including Charles Gagnier, Nima Jalali, Zach Leech, Jake Davine, Casey Neefus, Robbie Sell and Tanner Rainville) will compete for $6,000 in prize money on a series of custom-made rails, each spanning 30 stair steps.

The rail competition will take place at night with doors opening at 6 p.m. on the Boreal Base Lodge deck. About 500 cubic feet of shaved ice will be trucked in to create the start and finish areas.

Each of the three rails will vary in degree of difficulty and competitors will be judged by a panel of fellow professional skiers and snowboarders.

Two of the 2005/2006 season's biggest films will premiere at the Rail Jam as well. David Benedek's "91 Words For Snow" will show at 8 p.m. and Plehouse Film's "White Shine" will show at 9 p.m.. The all-girls snowboard film, "As If," will also premiere. The competition will start at 10 p.m.

Leading up to the evening's festivities will be the bonus daytime skateboard event, Boardfest, taking place in the Boreal Red Bull Skatebowl. There will be a pro and amateur division, and registration is $5. Practice sessions begin at 9 a.m.; competition is from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visit www.n-men.com for information.

COLORADO DUMP

Molly Cuffee, former media pro at Heavenly now working in Colorado, writes that ski resorts there were blessed by the snow gods for the fourth week in a row, leaving golfers around the state to wonder if they should trade in their clubs early and strap on a pair of skis. As of 9 a.m. on Wednesday, several Colorado ski resorts reported nearly half a foot of fresh powder blanketing the upper portions of their mountains.

"While most regions are still dreaming of their first snow, or have only received a light dusting, this is our fourth significant snowfall in four weeks," said Rob Perlman, president and CEO of Colorado Ski Country USA.

Arapaho Basin and Loveland have fired up the snowmaking guns.

KATRINA HELP

In an effort to help in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Northstar-at-Tahoe raised $8,472 for the victims of this natural disaster. The money, donated to the American Red Cross, was raised through generous employee and resort contributions. Northstar's employees donated $4,237 to the cause and the resort matched the generosity of its employees dollar for dollar.