Kia Rio: Ski Vehicle Perfection

Skiers love debates. One question that surfaces regularly in the NYSkiForum: what car makes the best ski vehicle? The answers are always the same: Subaru wagons, Toyota pickups and AWD minivans. Occasionally some pervert will go on about the Jeep Wrangler, which baffles me to no end.

Kia Rio
photo courtesy kia.com

I believe there are many cars that fit the bill. Over the years I’ve had a wide variety of ski cars: a Chevy Spectrum (a serious POS.), a rear-wheel-drive GMC Safari (glorious), a Chevy Caprice (cruising to the hill on a sofa), Olds 88 (eh), a couple different 4×4 Chevy Colorados (pretty f’ing good), a BMW X5 (yeah heated seats and super fast, but meh) and an AWD GMC Safari (more or less perfect in every way).

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Vail Resorts Buys ORDA for $1.2B

orda-logoVAIL, CO – April 1, 2014: Vail Resorts Management Corporation (VRMC), the ski management giant, announced today that it has purchased New York’s Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) from the state of New York for $1.2 billion dollars in cash.

The sale includes all land and assets for Whiteface Mountain, in Wilmington, N.Y., Gore Mountain, in North Creek, N.Y., and Belleayre Ski Resort, in Highmount, N.Y.

This is a big deal for VRMC. The three resorts combined deliver 7,000 vertical feet of skiing and riding on eight peaks, 886 acres, 33 glades and 227 trails. The SKI3 pass that allows skiers access to all three New York mountains will still be available next season.

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