Midwest Ski Journal likes to highlight a few pieces of skiing internet worth your time in Linking Turns. Find the best, most important, least important and otherwise links here each week.

LINK 1: Mikaela Shiffrin Embraces the Next Stage, With Roger Federer as a Guide (Bill Pennington, New York Times)

The paper of record had its moment with ski racing’s biggest star in this interview. The headline teases the fact that Shiffrin has spent some time with Federer, whose poise she says she emulates. 

The story is interesting for a few reasons. One, it’s the New York Times talking about skiing. Two, for a winter sports athlete, Shiffrin is everywhere, so it was interesting to hear her take on her meteoric rise and mainstream notoriety. 

The piece also goes to great lengths to compare directly Shiffrin and Buck Hill and Burnsville, Minnesota-native Lindsey Vonn. 

But Shiffrin at 23 is what the 34-year-old Vonn was 11 years ago: a complete skier entering her prime. Shiffrin, like Vonn before her, is the rare breed willing to tackle the mental and physical demands of competing in all five race categories, from the relatively low speeds but technical difficulty of the slalom to the daredevil danger of the downhill.

Bill Pennington, New York Times

It’s always fun to see skiing featured in major publications. 

LINK 2: Getting High in the Rockies: Will cannabis tourism drive more skiers to Canada’s slopes this winter? (Jenny Wiegand, Ski Magazine)

It seems as though this piece could have been repurposed from when Colorado legalized marijuana, but the fact that an entire country has legalized it makes it more interesting. Especially given that country’s alpine. 

The piece takes a look at how the ski economy could be impacted by it, but also notes that while ski culture has embraced marijuana, the resorts, like Whistler, haven’t totally. 

Which begs the question: is this the beginning of longer lines at Canada’s ski lifts? After all, we don’t need market segment reports to know that quite a few skiers like to get high.

Jenny Wiegand, Ski Magazine

Also, Wiegand writes this piece as a reality check on what legalized marijuana is. The laws surrounding legalization are still prohibitive in some important ways. 

The bottom of the story has a list of five things to remember about Canada’s new marijuana laws that are sobering. 

LINK 3: ‘Children of the Columbia’ (Sherpas Cinema)

This 20-minute ski film is a fun watch. It’s stylish and unique like many Sherpas projects and is centered around two skiers who came up near the Columbia River. 

It’s not your typical ski porn documentary, but there’s plenty to “oooh” and “ahhh” about, too. 

I’m a fan of these these short films, especially because many are free. Movies like this one earn every second. 

BONUS LINK: Read the Powder Magazine review of the “Children of the Columbia”