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The snow is flying across the portions of the Colorado Rockies above 6,500 feet. The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Watch for tonight into Wednesday afternoon. Snowfall

SNOWMASS VILLAGE, Colo., March 30, 2009 – Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki opened the 23rd annual National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic here last night, encouraging more than 400 participants he said had found their way “to the top of the mountain in search of miracles.” Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki, center, chats with participants in the 23rd annual National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic at Snowmass Village, Colo., during a March 29, 2009, “Taste of Aspen” celebration that kicked off the six-day event. Among participating veterans are, left, retired Army Cpl. Allen Babin, an 82nd Airborne...

more than 400 severely injured veterans – 34 of whom hail from Colorado – will take part in the 23rd National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic from March 29 through April 3. It is the largest adaptive event of its kind in the world. Hosted by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and co-sponsored by the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), the clinic teaches veterans with disabilities in adaptive alpine and Nordic skiing, and introduces them to a number of other adaptive recreational activities and sports. It’s open to U.S. military veterans with traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, orthopedic...

Friday, March 27, 2009 Print ShareThisCanadian extreme skier and base jumper, Shane McConkey, died Thursday following a ski-base accident that ocurred while filming his latest movie in Italy, the Inquisitr reported. McConkey, 39, experienced problems in the air after jumping off of a cliff in the expectation that he would be able to detach his skis and deploy his parachute, thus enabling him to glide safely to the ground, according to the Inquisitr. According to a witness, one of McConkey's skis failed to detach causing him to spin out of control and ultimately prevented him from deploying his parachute, the...

Tony-winning actress Natasha Richardson was killed by a blunt trauma to the head and her death was ruled an accident, the city Medical Examiner reported Thursday. Richardson sustained an epidermal hematoma - a blood clot that forms upon impact and starts growing between the brain and the skull - after wiping out Monday on the bunny slope while skiing at a Canadian resort. "This is a very treatable condition if you're aware of what the problem is and the patient is quickly transferred to a hospital," Dr. Keith Siller of New York University Langone Medical Center said. "But there is...

<p>OTTAWA (AFP) — A Canadian lawmaker on Thursday said the government was "irresponsible" for not mandating newer standards for safety helmets on ski slopes after several injuries and deaths, including actress Natasha Richardson.</p> <p>"The recent serious brain injuries on Canada's ski slopes are tragic reminders that these brain injuries are preventable," opposition MP Hedy Fry said in a statement.</p>

The death of Natasha Richardson has sparked a debate about whether it should be mandatory for skiers and snowboarders to wear helmets. There's been a sharp rise in the number of people wearing helmets after several high-profile ski accidents this winter and some compulsion has already come in. However, the medical evidence is not conclusive and it's not thought any widespread compulsion is imminent in the Alps.

Natasha Richardson died Tuesday, a day after suffering a head injury in a Canadian skiing accident, a source close to her family told OK!. She was 45. The magazine said on its Web site that Richardson's loved ones decided to take her off life support Tuesday after she was declared brain dead. "The family is devastated," the source told OK! The British-born actress was the daughter of stage and film great Vanessa Redgrave and the late director-producer Tony Richardson. She also was the sister of actress Joely Richardson and the wife of Northern Irish actor Liam Neeson, her co-star in...

CRITICALLY INJURED IN SKIING ACCIDENT ### Actress Natasha Richardson is brain dead - after falling in a ski accident in Canada - and is now on sad journey home to New York, friends told The Post today. Richardson, who was being treated at a Montreal hospital, is being transported to New York this afternoon so her mom Vanessa Redgrave, two children and other loved ones can say goodbye before she's taken off life-support, friends said.

Actress Natasha Richardson, 45, has been reported as 'brain dead' after spending the past 24 hours in a critical condition. Although many reports have not yet confirmed, Time Out New York is reporting that close friends and family have been informed of the sad news. Natasha, wife of fellow actor, Liam Neeson was involved in the accident whilst on a holiday break in the Quebec resort of Mount Tremblant. Natasha and Liam have been married for 15 years, and have two sons aged 13 and 11 that survive her as well as her sister Joely Richardson and mother Vanessa Redgrave.

Sources close to Tony-award winning actress Natasha Richardson tell FOXNews.com that the 45-year-old actress is brain dead, and being transported back to New York City before she is to be taken off life support. Richardson's condition deteriorated following a skiing accident on a beginner's trail at the Mont Tremblant ski resort in Quebec, Canada. Richardson, who is married to actor Liam Neeson, had been reported in serious condition with a head injury by multiple outlets.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski suffered a serious knee injury while skiing and will be confined to a wheelchair for several days, her aide said Tuesday. The Alaska Republican tumbled as much as 300 feet at the Alyeska Ski Resort south of Anchorage, according to the ski patrol. "I've been skiing all my life, and this was just one of those unfortunate accidents that can occur on the slopes on any given day," Murkowski said in a statement Tuesday. The senator tore two ligaments and cartilage in her left knee and underwent an MRI exam in Washington...

JANUARY 6--In a bizarre incident that will surely lead to litigation (or an out-of-court settlement), a skier at Colorado's ritzy Vail resort was left dangling upside down and pantsless from a chairlift last Friday morning.

Edgy snowboard graphics test liberal Vermont By Aimee Picchi Globe Correspondent / January 5, 2009 BURLINGTON, Vt. - For Nicole Zarrillo, seeing a snowboarder with one of Burton Snowboards' new Playboy designs at a Vermont ski slope underscored the reasons why many Vermonters - including her boss - are protesting the new men's snowboards. "When you really think about it, it's a young man standing on top of a naked woman's body," said Zarrillo, 38, an office manager for a nonprofit based in Burlington, also home to Burton's headquarters.

Up to 4 feet of snow and drifts exceeding 6 to 8 feet are frosting southwestern Colorado. It's still falling today, even after 40 inches of snow was reported over the past 24 hours at Silverton. A blizzard warning ended at noon for the West Elk and Sawatch ranges and the western San Juans. The National Weather Service says the total snow accumulation from this storm in towns such as Telluride could be 18 to 36 inches by late afternoon. A winter-storm warning will end at 6 p.m. today for much of the rest of the southwestern mountains. Travel has...

ASPEN — The snow in Aspen just keeps on coming, but it may be too cold to enjoy it by Saturday. A winter storm that dumped up to a foot of snow on local ski slopes over the past two days has moved out, but another system is headed for Aspen Friday night. So are plummeting temperatures and a brutal wind chill. On the heels of the winter storm warning that expired Friday morning, the National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch for the northwest mountains of Colorado, including Aspen and Snowmass, starting Friday evening. It extends until...

New South Wales in Australia has experienced unseasonably heavy snowfall, as summer approaches on the continent. The weekend's cold snap has provided the best snowfall of Australia's ski season, which is now drawing to a close.

Skiing, local real estate likely to suffer scientists say VAIL, Colorado — If greenhouse gas emissions aren’t curtailed, climate change will reduce Eagle County’s snowpack by 57 percent by 2085, according to a new report. “The state’s most popular tourist activity is at risk from climate change,” said the report, published Wednesday by the Center for Integrative Environmental Research at the University of Maryland. The report, “Economic Impacts of Climate Change on Colorado,” does not paint a pretty picture for skiing — and the attendant industry of real estate — over the next century. The “snow season” could become 30...

Stuck, lost and hobbled in the German Alps, a quick-thinking Colorado Springs woman hooked her bra to a mountainside supply line, which alerted rescuers to her whereabouts just as they were giving up the search. "We're going to have a party for her every June 19, and give her some new bras," Elana Bruinsma, said Monday morning of her sister, Jessica Bruinsma, 24. The white sports bra has become the talk of the Berchtesgaden area of Germany near the Austria border.

Aspen Mountain will be open to skiers and snowboarders this weekend, according to Jeff Hanle, spokesman for the Aspen Skiing Co. “Yes, we are going skiing,” Hanle said, though he could not confirm the details. The Skico previously indicated it would consider opening the mountain this weekend, which coincides with the Aspen Food & Wine Magazine Classic. It's unusual but not unprecedented to have skiing on Ajax mountain this late in the season, after Independence Pass already has opened for the summer. But highway crews only last week re-opened the 12,093-foot pass after a particularly snowy winter. Arapahoe Basin, which...