(Photo taken two weeks ago in front of Ski.com’s cabin at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge in Jasper, Alberta and includes staff from Ski.com, Aspen/Snowmass, Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Heavenly, Steamboat, Deer Valley, Jackson Hole, Crested Butte, Whitefish, Winter Park, Copper Mountain, Ski Butlers, Fairmont Hotels and more.)

If you missed receiving the Ski.com Inside Track the past two weeks, don’t be alarmed. We’re back! We had to take a two-week hiatus from the newsletter, as about a dozen Ski.com staffers were in Jasper and Banff, Alberta, Canada for two weeks for two conferences dedicated to the ski segment of the travel industry. During this time, we literally met with hundreds of our vendors from all over the world to discuss next season and learn how we can continue to be North America’s top provider of mountain vacations.

While the majority of our days were full of meetings and workshops, I was fortunately able to see firsthand the magnitude of the Canadian Rockies. To be brief; these mountain are big and they are spectacular. The drive from Banff to Jasper is probably one of the most beautiful in the world. And, luckily, I was also able to get out of the car for a bit to make a few turns at Marmot Basin in Jasper and Sunshine and Lake Louise outside of Banff. Also, over the weekend in between the two conferences, I snuck away to British Columbia and checked out Kicking Horse and tried my hand at some heli skiing, both of which completely blew my mind. If you’d like to see some photos, visit our Facebook page.

If you’re like me and still have the bug for skiing and riding, you should absolutely consider checking out South America this summer. Because our seasons are opposites, the Andes in Chile and Argentina fill up with snow at the end of June and offer world-class skiing and riding through October. Vacations to this part of the world offer the cultural experience of a lifetime, world-class skiing and the ultimate bragging rights.

If you have any questions about how you can get your fix this summer, give us a call at 800-299-0656 or visit the South America section of our Web site.