Mad River Mountain, Ohio's largest ski area with a big – for the lower Midwest – 350-foot vertical drop, is installing a second carpet lift for the area's Avalanche Tubing Park. The park opened just a couple of seasons ago and has become popular with locals. Mad River estimates they have taught a half-million or so Buckeyes to ski and ride in the 40-some years the ski area has been open. As my old Ohio ski scribe friend Evelyn Fischer once said, "The small Midwest ski areas are the breeders and feeders for the ski industry."