Skiing is a popular sport, and there is no shortage of investment in it.  Each year, resorts release news flashes of added lifts, more terrain, and new condo or village development.  For the 2007-2008 season, we sifted through all of the PR and identified what we think are the four most profound improvements / updates / changes for this ski season.

The interconnecting of Big Sky and Moonlight Basin.  The two resorts which lie back-to-back to each other just outside Yellowstone National Park, have joined forces to offer combined lift tickets and ski packages.  By combining their terrains, they offer 5,300 acres of skiing, vying with Vail for the largest on the continent.  They share one chairlift, so unlike Aspen and Snowmass which simply share lift ticket investments, these two resorts can behave as one massive resort.  This should be a boon for Montana skiing.

Snowmass' new children's center.  Aspen Ski Company has invested alot of money over the years, and they are claim that the new, 2-story, 25,000 square foot, $17 million project is their largest ever.  We are excited to see it in person, and believe this is a sign of good things to come for the industry -- no more having the childcare next to the dank basement rooms adjacent to the ski lockers.

Slopeside village expansion in the East.  Stowe had a major expansion to add much-needed slopeside lodging, the result adding over 140 rooms of ski-in accommodations.  Smuggler's Notch, Okemo, and Killington also added slopeside lodging, which for years in our view had caused the Eastern resorts to lag behind the West.

Taos allowing snowboarders.  Not an investment, per se, but such a major change that it had to make our list.  As of March 2008, Taos will allow snowboarders.  They said it was always a matter of when, not if.  This leaves just a handful of resorts, we believe the number to be at three, that do not permit snowboards.