It's fitting that a deal to publish a new ski magazine with the theme of "Life, Lifts, Luxury" was given the green light on the Aspen Mountain gondola.

Barb Sanders, a part−time private ski instructor on Ajax, got the idea for an upscale magazine while she was writing a feature called "Private Lessons" for Skiing magazine.

Then, after learning that one of her regular Aspen Mountain ski clients happened to be the head of a magazine publishing company, she made her pitch for the forthcoming Snow magazine.

"It took awhile," she said. "We explored it from a bunch of different angles."

And while taking a bunch of runs.

Eventually her client, Bonnier Corp. CEO Terry Snow, said yes to the new magazine while making one more lap on the bucket.

Snow magazine will be published three times a winter with a circulation of 30,000. Distribution of Snow will include some subscriptions, some newsstands, and a variety of high−end resorts. It will also be sent out with Saveur, an upscale food and wine magazine also published by Bonnier.

The Bonnier Corporation is the U.S. division of the Bonnier Group, a Swedish media company with 9,700 employees and net sales in 2006 of $2.8 billion.

Bonnier Corporation was formed when the Bonnier Group bought 18 magazines from Time Inc. in early 2007 −− including Ski, Skiing and TransWorld SNOWBOARDING −− and then merged those magazines with the list of titles published by Florida−based World Publications, which Terry Snow founded.

The company also publishes Resorts & Great Hotels, which it is turning into a quarterly magazine about luxury vacation spots, as well as other upmarket magazines like Islands, Yachting and Spa.

Sanders is working from Aspen to recruit advertisers for Snow, which is scheduled to debut this December with a cover story written by author Daniel Glick about a luxury snowboarding trip to Alaska with big−wave surfer Laird Hamilton.

The magazine, which was born in Aspen, and is all about the essence of the high−end Aspen ski resort lifestyle, is also being launched here by a group of Aspen locals working from their homes. David K. Gibson, a former staff writer and associate editor of Aspen Magazine, is editing the new publication from his breakfast table in Centennial. Designers Paul Viola and Katie Kissane Viola mocked up the original concepts to show to Terry Snow and now are putting together the pages of the first issue from their home in Woody Creek.

And while they are grateful for the support of a large company, and the personal support of the CEO, they also know that expectations are high.

"They are throwing us to the wolves," Gibson said. "Corporations like that don't want to wait around."

On the other hand, Terry Snow, the CEO of Bonnier Corp., also has a vested interest in seeing an Aspen−based product succeed, as he owns vacation weeks at both the Hyatt and St. Regis hotels and is dedicated to skiing on Aspen Mountain.

And there is the fact that his last name, purely by coincidence, is on the cover of every issue.