It’s the dog days of summer and the bums are doing their best to stay cool and make the best of it the only way they know how – drinking, cycling, shopping for ski gear and watching ski movie trailers.

Classic Barbera del Monferrato wines have a deep ruby hue and a bouquet of ripe plum and cherries, often piqued by a hint of black pepper. They are known for retaining a balanced acidity even in warmer vintages, making them an ideal partner to tomato based dishes. Barbera based wines are lower in tannin than those made from Nebbiolo, making them more approachable in their early years.

Barbera del Monferrato, situated in Italy's northwestern Piedmont region, is probably the least known of the three Piedmontese classified Barbera zones. It is the largest of the trio, with around 10,320 acres (4300ha) under vine. Most of the wines come from around the province of Alessandria, but the vineyard area also stretches into eastern Asti.

All Barbera del Monferrato wines must comprise at least 85% Barbera, the remaining 15% made up from any combination of Freisa, Grignolino and Dolcetto.

A blend of premium anejo and extra anejo, extra filtered for a superior finish.

Swedish freeskeir Matilda Rapaport has died today at the age of 30 after being buried in an avalanche in Farellones, Chile on July 14th. The avalanche burial left Matilda without oxygen for a prolonged period of time. This lack of oxygen left Matilda in a coma.

Matilda's mother and husband, Swedish World Cup ski racer Mattias Hargin, were with her when she passed away today.

Matilda is the is the 2nd female Freeride World Tour athlete to die in an avalanche this year after two-time world champ Estelle Balet died on April 19th in Switzerland.

Australia just got buried in up to 70cms (28") of new snow this week. Australia doesn't generally get big dumps like this, so it's a big deal. MountainWatch.com is calling it a "Once-In-A-Decade Storm". Cool!

Aussie ski resorts currently own 6 of the 10 deepest snowpacks on Earth right now.

In their 6th installment, 4FRNT brings the ski world "Here and Now". The movie includes regulars such as Wiley, Hoji, and Wise but with the addition of street specialist and former K2 team member, Cam Riley.

At the end of June, officials from the USSA, FIS and Killington headed out to the official site of the Killington World Cup to map out the event in which the best female racers in the world will race in Vermont for the first time since 1978.

According to Killington Communications Manager Michael Joseph, it will take six non-consecutive days—or 144 hours—of snowmaking throughout the month of November to prepare Superstar for the race

The sn