Ski and Snowboard News from j2ski.com

The French Ski Resort of Flaine will see the second and third of five new chairlifts that are being built as part of a four-year upgrade plan open this winter with Europe’s second Intrawest village also ready to begin opening. At the same time widening of the key Tomaline run, which began last year, is due to be completed, and a whole new area for beginners is scheduled to open.

The new six seater detachable Tete des Verds lift on the snow front will create a link between the left-hand and right-hand sides of the Flaine ski area, improving communication between the two sectors and reducing the need to take your skis off and ride up on the bu8ket lift (Itself due to be renovated shortly as part of the upgrades). The lift will be 1,751m long and have a queue-gobbling 3000 people-per-hour capacity.

A new fixed quad chairlift Les Gerats is also scheduled to open to provide fast connection to the entire Gérats zone of the ski area (four green runs) meaning shuttle buses will no longer be required at the area.

Flaine will also create a new zone reserved for beginners and children this winter, increasing the range of the easiest green runs. Skiers will be able to return from the top of the resort without removing their skis in a naturally sunny area with direct access from the Front de Neige and Flaine Forum.

Vail boss Rob Katz has emailed the company’s employees asking that they come up with ideas to cut the company’s energy usage by ten percent over the next two years.

Already off-setting all of the company’s power usage by buying in an equivalent amount of renewable power – the largest ski area group in the world to do so and the second largest business buyer of renewable power in all industry sectors in North America – the new initiative is aimed at reducing carbon emissions that are already offset, as well as reducing rapidly rising energy costs. The company is currently spending over $25m a year on power.
Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc

The Aspen Skiing Company plan to re-open a small area at the top of Aspen Mountain this weekend for summer skiing.

The mountain still has about a metre (three feet) of snow on upper slopes and some 45 acres of mostly intermediate terrain will be served by the Ajax Express chairlift.

The mountain will be open for skiers and boarders from Friday to Sunday between 10am and 1pm daily, with mountain access only via the Silver Queen gondola. Adult price for the threre hour session will be $29.

“ If you’ve got it, ski it.” said an Aspen official.
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Coronet Peak in New Zealand opened its slopes for the season on Sunday and thousands flocked to enjoy the first turns of the season.

The mountain resort had officially opened on Saturday unveiling a $30m plus redevelopment including a new base building and a massive automated snowmaking system. However rain saturated the lower mountain making it unskiable and severe gales prevented lifts from operating.

Ski Area Manager Hamish McCrostie said it was an amazing turnaround in conditions made possible by cold temperatures and the firepower of the new automated snowmaking system.

James Coddington, CEO of Coronet Peak parent company NZSki Ltd, said it was fantastic to be finally operating after an intense seven months of building and preparation.

“We have delivered an amazing project in a very short period of time. It’s great to see a big crowd here today to experience it.”

Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc