GC SF Sp WH BV YL BT CP SA CB CC Back to puzzle

The Grand Castle

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