​Last week we reported on the International Olympic Committee's announcement that ski and snowboard slopestyle events have officially been added as medal sports for the 2014 Sochi Winter Games and on the local ramifications of that decision. And wait, there's more: Other big news with a solid local angle coming out of the 123rd IOC session in Durban, South Africa includes the announcement that sport climbing -- including lead climbing, speed climbing and bouldering as individual disciplines -- is one of eight new sports being considered for inclusion in the 2020 Summer Games, with the International Federation of Sport Climbing as the recognized sanctioning body.

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​Last week the International Olympic Committee officially announced that Ski Halfpipe will debut as an Olympic medal sport at the 2014 Games in Sochi. That's big news for one local ski resort: For U.S. athletes the road to Sochi will begin at Copper Mountain, host of the first Olympic qualifier in December 2013 as the opening event of the 2013/2014 United States Ski & Snowboard Association (USSA) Grand Prix.

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Photo from Donutboy65's Flicklr photostream

​The second part of a three-part series in the Colorado Independent by David O. Williams about the prospects of Denver landing the 2022 Winter Games ran over the weekend, focusing on how such a move would brighten the prospects of high-speed rail along I-70.

As Vancouver shut down the highway to Whistler to accommodate buses instead of personal vehicles for this year's shindig, Williams writes that such a strategy would fail in Colorado:

Closing I-70 between Denver and Colorado's ski resorts isn't feasible. It's a major interstate trucking corridor and the only real way to get between the metropolitan areas of the Front Range to the more than 20 Western Slope ski areas.

"You're probably going to have events at five or six different ski resorts," [Rocky Mountain Rail Authority President Harry] Dale said. "Say you're going to do that tomorrow with I-70 just the way it is - you're screwed. There's no way you're going to do this."

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"Ah, the sweet smell of World Cup success. And Red Bull."

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She may not have nabbed all five Olympic medals like she hoped, but Lindsey Vonn still gets to be the most decorated American skier of all time: She just captured her third straight World Cup overall title after winning the super G in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. That brings her total to 33 World Cup wins--one more than Bode Miller.

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Photo courtesy Red Bull

Lindsey Vonn limited edition Red Bull 6-Pack

​Vail Valley's Lindsey Vonn crashed and burned in everything but the Downhill (Gold) and Super G (Bronze), but that hasn't stopped the post-Olympics marketing bonanza: A gold medal is a gold medal, after all.

Last week General Mills unveiled its Lindsey Vonn "Breakfast of Champions" Wheaties box art, making her the first female alpine skier to grace the orange cereal box (Shaun White and boardercross champ Seth Westcott also became the first Wheaties snowboard champions this week).

Even cooler: Check out the new limited edition "augmented reality" six-packs from Red Bull. Hold the case up to your computer's webcam and it'll show you an exclusive Vonn video (see YouTube clip after the jump). Trippy, right? Add some vodka and pull out your Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and there's no telling what you might see on there.
   
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The International Olympic Committee goes hard on athletes marketing products during the games, but now that it's a wrap you'll be seeing more and more of them cashing in. We think snowboarder Hannah Teter's angle just might the sweetest:

As if that sexy spread in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue last month weren't enough, on Wednesday March 3 Ben & Jerry's shops are selling $1 scoops of Maple Blondie ice cream in honor of this year's Women's Halfpipe silver medalist. A portion of the sales benefit Teter's charity projects in Africa through World Vision, the same efforts benefitted by the Hannah's Gold maple syrup brand she launched after winning the gold in the Torino Winter Games.  

Via Ben & Jerry's:
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Vail Resorts

Lindsey Vonn holds up the sign for her new trail at Vail.

​She's been training at Vail since the 1990s, and moved there from Minnesota to train. She and husband Thomas live there, and she serves as the skiing ambassador. Now, Lindsey Vonn, who won a gold and bronze medal at the Vancouver Olympic Games, has a trail named after her on the mountain where she has long trained and raced.

Vail Resorts announced on Sunday that the "International" run, an expert trail on the front side of the mountain at the base of the Avanti Lift, has been renamed "Lindsey's." The new trail sign was put up by Monday morning. "Lindsey's" was used as part of the women's speed events during the World Alpine Ski Championships at Vail and Beaver Creek in 1989 and 1999.

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​ This year I've been going for the gold in the Winter Olympic sports of Fast Forwarding Through Commercials on the DVR, Snorting Hot Cocoa Out My Nose When People Fall Down and Get Hurt, and Falling Asleep On the Couch During Ice Dancing. 

If you've been watching religiously this month and nursing some nagging dreams of hearing the National Anthem in association with your name, here are a few local paths to podium glory worth exploring:

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We're taking credit for Lindsey. She's all we have.

​As the Olympics roll into their final week, it looks as if things have settled down -- nobody's dying anymore, Bode rose from the dead, and the US has been racking up the medals (we lead the field with 25 total). But with 19 Colorado Olympians, how many Rocky Mountain athletes are responsible for bringing home the cheddar?

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Photo by Paul Morrison

Soon to be part of Vail Resorts portfolio?

​National Canadian paper The Globe and Mail is reporting today that Broomfield-based Vail Resorts is leading the bidding for Whistler-Blackcomb as current owner Intrawest angles to keep it in hand by restructuring its debt.

"There is a standing offer on Whistler from Vail Resorts, but Intrawest isn't willing to engage, with its own future so unclear," said one executive with ties to the Canadian and U.S. resort owners.

Executives at Intrawest and Fortress could not be reached yesterday. Vail Resorts declined to comment.

While Intrawest's moves look like too little, too late -- the auction for the entire company was set for Friday, but it was just delayed by a week as to avoid the spotlight glare from the Olympics  -- Vail Resorts is apparently not interested in buying all of the company's ski properties, only the crown jewels.

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