Snow Job
by James Griffith, Niall Mangan (art)
Answer: CRISPIN LIPSCOMB
These images are trail maps by James Niehues. You might figure this out by doing an image search. If you search the web for ski resort artist, you'll find him. Once you're at his web site, you can see examples of his art labeled with the name of the resort. Once you have some idea of what you're looking for, you can track these down.
They're shown in alphabetical order, which can aid identification.
The mountains are:
BROMLEY, CANNON, JAY PEAK, KILLINGTON, LOON, MT SUNAPEE,
OKEMO, SMUGGLERS NOTCH, STOWE SUGARBUSH, SUGARLOAF,
SUNDAY RIVER, WATERVILLE
Next, you want to find the trail names. Look at the most recent trail map for each of these ski resorts to find these.
Mountain | Index | Trail Name |
---|---|---|
BROMLEY | 1 | LOWER TWISTER |
BROMLEY | 5 | SUNDER |
CANNON | 2 | CANDYLAND |
CANNON | 7 | UPPERHARDSCRABBLE |
CANNON | 3 | GOLDENBIRCHES |
JAY | 3 | BEAVERPOND |
JAY | 3 | GREENMOUNTAINBOYS |
KILLINGTON | 3 | SPACEWALK |
KILLINGTON | 4 | NORTHSTAR |
KILLINGTON | 5 | BEARTRAX |
KILLINGTON | 9 | DEVILSDEN |
KILLINGTON | 15 | DREAMMAKERHEADWALL |
LOON | 5 | PICAROON |
LOON | 1 | TRIPLETROUBLE |
LOON | 2 | BUCKSAW |
MT SUNAPEE | 5 | SMOOTHSAILIN |
OKEMO | 8 | ROLLINGTHUNDER |
OKEMO | 4 | WILDTHING |
SMUGGLERS | 10 | JOLLYRODGER |
SMUGGLERS | 10 | GARDENPATH |
SMUGGLERS | 3 | TREASURERUN |
SMUGGLERS | 10 | HIGHLANDERGLADES |
SMUGGLERS | 2 | PIPELINEESCAPE |
STOWE | 5 | FOOTBALLFIELDS |
STOWE | 9 | TRESAMIGOSGLADE |
SUGARBUSH | 3 | BRAVOWOODS |
SUGARBUSH | 5 | FIRSTTIME |
SUGARBUSH | 4 | ENCORE |
SUGARLOAF | 9 | BRIDLECHAIN |
SUGARLOAF | 3 | KINGSLANDING |
SUNDAY | 4 | LASTTANGO |
SUNDAY | 7 | ROGUEANGEL |
SUNDAY | 3 | HEATSOFF |
WATERVILLE | 6 | CHANDLERSWAY |
WATERVILLE | 6 | THEBONEYARD |
Each trail name has a word hidden inside it, corresponding to one of six themes. The number of words belonging to each theme correspond to the sizes of the lost groups given in the flavor text. Sort the trails by theme, and then alphabetically by trail name. Index into the trails by the bracketed number on the trail map to get clue words. The first trail in each group has a difficulty rating on the trail map—order the clue words by this difficulty rating.
●–◆◆◆ | Trail Name | Theme | Hidden Word | Clue Letter |
---|---|---|---|---|
Green Circle | ||||
BRIDLECHAIN | Distance | CHAIN | A | |
CHANDLERSWAY | Distance | HAND | L | |
FOOTBALLFIELDS | Distance | FOOT | B | |
JOLLYRODGER | Distance | ROD | E | |
PICAROON | Distance | PICA | R | |
SMOOTHSAILIN | Distance | SMOOT | T | |
SPACEWALK | Distance | PACE | A | |
THEBONEYARD | Distance | YARD | N | |
Blue Square | ||||
BEARTRAX | SUV | TRAX | T | |
ENCORE | SUV | ENCORE | O | |
HIGHLANDERGLADES | SUV | HIGHLANDER | R | |
PIPELINEESCAPE | SUV | ESCAPE | I | |
ROGUEANGEL | SUV | ROGUE | N | |
TRESAMIGOSGLADE | SUV | AMIGO | O | |
Double Blue Square | ||||
BEAVERPOND | State Nickname | BEAVER | A | |
FIRSTTIME | State Nickname | FIRST | T | |
GARDENPATH | State Nickname | GARDEN | H | |
GOLDENBIRCHES | State Nickname | GOLDEN | L | |
GREENMOUNTAINBOYS | State Nickname | GREENMOUNTAIN | E | |
NORTHSTAR | State Nickname | NORTHSTAR | T | |
TREASURERUN | State Nickname | TREASURE | E | |
Black Diamond | ||||
BUCKSAW | Team Name | BUCKS | U | |
DEVILSDEN | Team Name | DEVILS | N | |
DREAMMAKERHEADWALL | Team Name | DREAM | W | |
HEATSOFF | Team Name | HEAT | A | |
KINGSLANDING | Team Name | KINGS | N | |
ROLLINGTHUNDER | Team Name | THUNDER | T | |
SUNDER | Team Name | SUN | E | |
WILDTHING | Team Name | WILD | D | |
Double Black Diamond | ||||
BRAVOWOODS | NATO | BRAVO | A | |
LASTTANGO | NATO | TANGO | T | |
Triple Black Diamond | ||||
CANDYLAND | Game | CANDYLAND | A | |
LOWER TWISTER | Game | TWISTER | L | |
TRIPLETROUBLE | Game | TROUBLE | T | |
UPPERHARDSCRABBLE | Game | SCRABBLE | A |
This yields the message ALBERTAN TORINO ATHLETE UNWANTED AT ALTA. "UNWANTED AT ALTA" means a snowboarder (see Wikipedia on Poaching (snowboarding) ). The only 2006 Winter Olympics Snowboarder from Alberta is: CRISPIN LIPSCOMB