Did you realize you can get a season pass that includes your gear rental? A great option for beginners, check out the three equipment rental passes offered by Vail Resorts: Unlimited Sport Equipment ($359 beginner to intermediate), Unlimited Demo Equipment ($459 intermediate to expert), Unlimited Junior Equipment ($199 for 12 and under). These passes and rentals are good at Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Heavenly Sports locations. I might consider the demo pass myself next year as I continue to turn my new skis into a pair of rock skis.

I'll be honest, the snow hasn't been great in Summit County. It's only been in the last few weeks that we've seen a lot of fresh snow up there. This was the first "real" day of skiing for me (opening weekend was just for practice). We headed up to Keystone on Friday night to catch the Friday Night Lights free concert by Girl Talk. The turnout was amazing and as long as you kept dancing around you could stay warm in the 20-degree air. After the concert a lot of people stuck around in River Run and headed to spots like Parrot ...

If you've been following the CoSnow events calendar you'd know tonight there is a free concert and party up at Keystone. Girl Talk will be performing and we'll be there for it! BONUS: the first e-mail to devin@cosnow.com will get TWO free night ski tickets, tonight only. Hurry, our Twitter friends have a 10 minute head start.

A new line of snowboards called 'Love' from Burton have nearly-nude models on them and Vail Resorts, Winter Park, and Echo Mountain (so far) have prohibited employees from riding on them. Sure it's common sense. Even though they aren't preventing guests (and off-the-clock employees) from using them, I wonder how long until someone makes a big deal about it. Read the rest of the Playboy snowboard article at the Colorado Daily.

Based on hotel bookings, Orbitz has compiled a list they call the Orbitz Ski Index. It actually surprised me to see Breckenridge so high on the list, beating out Banff and Whistler. But, of course, all the usual suspects are there: Vail, Aspen, Winter Park, etc. Sadly enough Copper Mountain didn't make an appearance. Maybe next year...