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SAM Magazine - Salt Lake City, UT, November 21, 2006 - You've heard of them: Blogs. The web logs that are written by somewhat anonymous personalities about every subject under the sun. The best Blogs have become alternative sources of news and commentary, vaulting their authors into the limelight and providing valued insights. At their worst, Blogs merely waste bandwidth. After all, who really cares about the daily adventures of Aunt Martha's cat? Still, as resorts come to grips with new technology and the power of the Internet, Blogs can provide another weapon in the marketing war. And, if you have a Blog that combines the elusive combination of authenticity and mass appeal, they can become powerful voices for your brand.

At least that's the hope of Ski Utah, which has just hired big-mountain athlete Kent Hyden to pen a Blog about skiing in Utah this season. Hyden scored a respectable 10th at the 13th installment of Crested Butte's U.S. Extremes in 2004 and finished 3rd at the U.S. Nationals in Snowbird in 2002. He's also appeared on a wide variety of television shows including ESPN, OLN, RSN, Adrenaline TV and Park City Television. In other words, Hyden has the qualities of authenticity and communication/marketing savvy, qualities rarely found in itinerate ski bums and which make him perfect for one of the best jobs in skiing: traveling all over Utah this winter, going skiing, and blogging about how great it was for Ski Utah.

While this project remains in its infancy, it's worth keeping an eye on it, particularly if your resort is looking at spreading its message through new media outlets and you want to harness the power of the Internet to tell your story. The key to the success of this Blog will be Hyden's ability to reach out to skiers via the 'net and--with compelling prose and images-- keep them coming back. You can keep an eye on what he's up to by visiting http://skiutah.com/blog/. \