http://www.j2ski.com/ski_news Portal for the Independent Skier Mon, 12 May 2008 08:16:55 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Go Ahead For UK’s Longest Indoor Snow Slope, Nearly The Snoasis indoor snow centre planned for Great Blakenham, close to Ipswich in Suffolk has almost got the final go ahead after a long battle with local residents culminating with a lengthy public enquiry. The government has given the go-ahead subject to certain ... http://www.j2ski.com/ski_news/index.php/indoor-ski-slopes/go-for-snoasis-almost/ This Sunday is the 10th anniversary of the Chamonix Freeride Days. It is hard to imagine that the season is nearly over. The freeride days will be held at Grands Montets. The organizers want to settle the question, who is the better skier, downhill or freerider? Now we know that ... http://www.j2ski.com/ski_news/index.php/events/free-skiing-events/chamonix-freeride-days-%e2%80%93-10th-anniversary/ The Warren Smith Ski Academy pulled off one of the biggest ever BASI Level 2 exam results this season The Warren Smith Ski Academy's GAP 2008 ski instructor + performance coaching course gained a 100% pass rate this season with not just one group of 10 students but incredibly with all ... http://www.j2ski.com/ski_news/index.php/academy/gap-year-ski-instructor-success-100-pass-rate-for-30-students/ CairnGorm Mountain chief executive Bob Kinnaird has told the BBC that snow conditions for the season had been of a high quality. "We are becoming increasingly optimistic that we could be offering skiing on Cairngorm into May." He said. The resort, one of the largest of five in Scotland, hit its ... http://www.j2ski.com/ski_news/index.php/british-snowsports/scottish-ski-resort-boss-%e2%80%9cincreasingly-optimistic%e2%80%9d-that-season-will-extend-in-to-may/ On the morning of last Friday, April 11th skiing prodigy and X Games star Simon Dumont of Bethel, Maine broke the world record for highest air on a quarter pipe at his home resort of Sunday River by executing a corked 900 tail grab and peaking at a height of ... http://www.j2ski.com/ski_news/index.php/events/sunday-river-skier-sets-new-world-quarter-pipe-height-record/ North America’s largest cold weather accessory manufacturer, BULA is teaming up with “Keep Winter Cool,” a campaign to fight global warming. BULA will contribute 2% of its GREEN product line sales to support a sustainability grant program coming on line in the 2008/09 season to provide seed money to innovative ... http://www.j2ski.com/ski_news/index.php/environment/bula-to-sponsor-global-warming-fighting-initiatives-in-us-ski-resorts/ 43 painted figures of angels will decorate the Swiss ski resort of Engelberg (which means ‘Angel Mountain’) from 1st May this year to the 31st of May next year, 2009 (Whitsun). Various events themed on the subject of angels are planned over the 13 months that the angels are in ... http://www.j2ski.com/ski_news/index.php/resorts/angels-in-engelberg/ Four days of early-April snowfall brought nearly three feet (90cm) of snow to Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort, pushing the resort well past the 500-inch mark and setting the stage for the resort’s many spring events still to come. Snowbird is reporting a base of 155 inches at mid-mountain and ... http://www.j2ski.com/ski_news/index.php/resorts/heavy-snow-in-utah-as-snowbird%e2%80%99s-long-season-continues-through-spring/ Lesotho ski resort AfriSki will debut Africa’s first day care play park on snow this southern hemisphere winter. The centre, a four-and-a-half hour drive from Johannesburg in South Africa is normally open from June to September. The resort is located in the Mahlasela valley at 3,222m. “Afriski will provide ... http://www.j2ski.com/ski_news/index.php/resorts/africa%e2%80%99s-first-on-snow-kindergarten-launched-in-lesotho/ The French ski resort industry has set up a new committee organized by the Association Nationale des Maires de stations de Montagne” (ANMSM / National association of mountain village mayors) and the French A.D.E.M.E (environmental agency). On the recommendation of the environmental body, Mountain Riders, nine of the country’s leading ... http://www.j2ski.com/ski_news/index.php/environment/french-study-greenhouse-gases-in-ski-resorts/