Snow earns spot on podium at Van Houte Cup

• Shiffrin nabs first World Cup win — Seventeen year-old Mikaela Shiffrin continues to amaze. Last week at Are, Sweden, she won her first World Cup event in Slalom, and moved to the top of the world rankings for the event. Shiffrin is in her third season at the World level and has proven she belongs.

• Van Houte Cup — Scott Snow took his second Slalom podium finish of the year with a Bronze medal at Panorama last week. He had a great weekend overall, scoring FIS points in both Giant Slalom events, before the Slalom. He returns home after 20 races and nine weeks on the road having achieved his mid-season goals of Slalom points in the 20s and GS in the 30s. After a brief rest he’ll resume competing in Colorado.

•  Junior Race Series sign-up — Not much time left to sign up! The series begins on Friday, Jan. 4 and the registrar reports they still have spaces open. This popular series features free coaching, lots of prizes, lots of kids and lots of fun. Racers meet four Friday evenings in January from 5:30 to 7 p.m. No excuses — come join the fun. Forms are at the Alpine Shop and Sandpoint Sports, and are also available at “www.independenceracing.com.” Remember, late entries cost more, so get those forms in the mail.

• Potpourri — Any comments, recommendations, photos or contributions to this column may be sent to Shep Snow by email at “shep@thesnowschool.com.” Negative feedback should be sent to someone else.

The Inside Edge runs every Thursday during ski season in the Daily Bee.