When the Alpine World Ski Championships came to Vail, Colorado for the first time in 1989, the event put the mountain on the world map — now, the community aims to do it again. vail, led by the Vail Valley Foundation and partnered with Vail Resorts and other community members, has begun the bid process to host the 2015 alpine championships.

Former Dakar Rally winner Luc Alphand has successfully undergone spinal surgery following a crash during a motorcycle rally in France. The 43-year-old Frenchman sustained injuries to his spine while competing in the Rand’Auvergne rally in central France on Sunday and will need to undergo an operation in Clermont Ferrand on Monday.

Two-time World Cup overall champion and double World Championships gold medalist Lindsey Vonn along with Olympic gold medalists Ted Ligety and Julia Mancuso lead a high caliber group of athletes named to the 2010 U.S. Alpine Ski Team.

The International Ski Federation has launched a campaign to help get more children around the world in to snow sports. Their ‘Bring Children to the Snow’ – SnowKidz – is aimed at children aged 4–14, and their parents. The campaign uses some ‘approachable super heroes’ figures who take care of children and youngsters anywhere in the snow, all around the world.

Rossignol, sold by Quicksilver to Australia’s Macquarie Bank and US consumer group Jarden last November, announced last month it was cutting 400 jobs, or 30 per cent of its staff. “We have asked them (skiers) to accept a 50 percent cut in their fixed salary,” chairman Bruno Cercley told French sports daily L’Equipe. The company was not immediately available to comment.

Winter skiing and near-summer afternoons don’t mix, unless it’s at the International Skiing Federation’s cross-country skiing tournament in Aershan of Inner Mongolia. Competitors set out on a surface Tuesday that included snow left over from this past winter.

Based on a recent report from the European Broadcasting Union, the TV and marketing rights holder for this year’s FIS World Ski Championships, the FIS World Ski Championships 2009 were seen by more than 1.1 billion viewers worldwide. While more than 478 million cumulative viewers watched the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships from Val d’Isère (FRA), the multi-faceted (live, delayed, news or highlights) coverage from Liberec (CZE) was enjoyed by almost 666 million global TV viewers.

Skier Daniel Albrecht has returned to training with his Swiss team in Mallorca as he continues his recovery from injuries sustained in a serious downhill training crash, the Swiss ski federation confirmed Saturday. The 26-year-old 2007 super-combined world champion, who suffered brain and lung injuries in the January 22 crash at Kitzbuehel, Austria, began his individual training program on the Spanish island.