J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

Ski resorts continue to offer more and more alternatives to JUST skiing or boarding on the snow, and there's also an onus from most in doing things in an environmentally friendly way.

So petrol heads will find it increasingly harder to find ice circuits to skid gas-guzzling cars around, with many of these already now offering electric cars instead and the other old favourite of snowmobiling is also switching to electric versions.

This winter the leading Swiss resort of Andermatt has an exciting new activity along similar line – E-quad biking. You can rent the electric quad bikes by the hour and ride them on a special track over to Hospental – about 3km/2 miles away. Drivers must be 18 or older and hold a full driving licence.

Zermatt and Cervinia are to host the first ever Alpine World Cup ski races to cross an international border.
Potentially taking place for the first time in just over a year's time in Autumn 2022, the two resorts will host both downhill and super-G races for both men and women at the start of the season.

"The races will take place after the World Cup opening in Soelden and give speed athletes the opportunity to start the season a month earlier than before. The planning is already in full swing and these speed opening races could be integrated into the Audi FIS World Cup calendar as early as the 2022/23 season," an FIS report states.

The course is focussed on the unique scenery around the iconic Matterhorn and has been designed by former Swiss Olympic champion Didier Defago, it will start on Gobba di Rollin above the Klein Matterhorn in Switzerland and finish in Laghi Cime Bianchi in Italy. It takes in the glacier ski area that's open year-round and is accessed from Europe's highest ski-lift-accessed point at 3,899m.

Engelberg have now confirmed they'll open on the 9th, and in Austria the Kitzsteinhorn and Stubai have confirmed they'll open next weekend too taking us back in to double figures for areas open in the Alps.

Both cabins on Courchevel's Saulire cable car are reported to have been "severely damaged" the lift operators say, during statutory testing this week.

It appears that cabins at each end of the lift collided with the top and bottom stations of the lift during the annual safety tests. No one was injured.

A statement on the incident from the Société des 3 Vallées reads,

"During an annual regulatory check carried out at the technical limits of the device, an incident severely damaged the two cabins. An expert report will determine the causes of the incident and the S3V will do everything in its power to restore the ropeway in complete safety."

According to LiftBlog.com the lift was built by Poma in 1984 and at the time each cabin could carry 160 passengers, making it the largest in the world. However the cabins were replaced in 2013 with smaller versions each capable of carrying 120 passengers at a time.

It is currently unclear if the crash will cause any issues with the lift being operational for the start of the season.

Vail Resorts, by most measures now the largest ski resorts operator in the world, has announced that it will invest $320 million to build 19 new lifts ahead of the 22-23 season. This is on top of a $200m+ spend by the company over the past few years and will take the company's 15 year investment total through the 2 billion mark.

The projects include 12 new high-speed chairlifts, a new high-speed gondola, 6 new fixed-grip chairlifts and new lift-served terrain. There will be a new high-speed lift and gondola out of Whistler Blackcomb's Creekside; New high-speed lift in Vail's Back Bowls; the company's first (and North America's second) high-speed 8-person chair in Park City and enhancements to Keystone's Bergman Bowl with 550 acres of new lift-served terrain. Vail say the spend, their largest single-year investment ever, is designed to materially reduce wait times and increase uphill capacity.

Among the more significant development announced so far Keystone Resort's Bergman Bowl will get a new high-speed 6-person chairlift, increasing lift-served terrain by 555 acres including 16 new trails, and providing access for novice and intermediate guests and provides expanded entry to expert terrain in Independence and Erickson Bowls.

Park City Mountain's new Silverlode lift will be Vail Resorts' first-ever high-speed 8-person chair and the second in North Americas after Big Sky's lift. The new Silverlode lift will replace an existing 6-person chair, will increase uphill capacity by 20% and reduce wait times at a critical spot to circulate guests on mountain.

At Stowe Mountain Resort the replacement and extension of an existing fixed-grip triple to a high-speed 6-person lift will increase uphill capacity by 100%, eliminate the steep hike to the base of the lift, improve reliability on windy days and offer beginner and intermediate guests with better access to lower-level terrain choices.

Two famous Colorado ski areas will add terrain designed particularly for families and novice skiers this coming winter, but with some more advanced glade skiing too.

Copper (pictured) is launching the Western Territory, an area on the resort's western-most side dedicated to inspiring beginner skiers, kids and families to connect with Copper's history and heritage. This season that will include two new family-friendly adventure zones, two new trails and a connector trail that offer skill development and animation with the aim of inspiring families learning the sport.

Telluride will provide guests with 40 more acres of beginner and intermediate skiing including the new Grouse Glades. The resort will also make a $1 million upgrade to its snowmaking system covering 60 acres with the aim of providing a consistent early season snow product.

Colorado is home to some of the highest altitude ski areas in the world and ski areas and ski areas like Arapahoe Basin, Wolf Creek usually open in October, snow permitting, and most of the rest of the state's ski slopes in November.

International tourism has resumed to Canada already and the US border will reopen to leisure travellers from November.

After Canada relaxed its border controls earlier this month to allow international leisure travellers to return after 18 months of being locked out, the US has announced it to will be re-opening its borders in November, just as the 21-22 season is getting underway.

Restrictions on travel will remain with a requirement that arrivals are double vaccinated among other requirements and Canadian and US ski resorts are announcing are announcing their varying plans for the coming winter too.

Several, including Jackson Hole, say they'll operate at capacity again but Vail resorts, the world's biggest ski area operator, say guests and staff will need to keep wearing masks indoors and Colorado's Arapahoe Basin has said they won't employ anyone who isn't fully vaccinated.

The American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) issued the following statement in response to the news that Biden administration will lift travel restrictions starting in November on inbound travellers who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus:

"We welcome the Biden Administration's announcement of long overdue changes to the myriad inbound travel restrictions that have been in place since early 2020. We view this as a key milestone toward restarting the international travel system on which so many of our members depend. Based on news reports, the plan incorporates several of the common-sense measures we called for along with our travel industry colleagues recently, including expeditiously developing clear vaccination and testing standards, loosening entry restrictions for fully-vaccinated travellers, and aligning standards with the governments of our main outbound markets, including Canada, the EU, and the U.K."

In the UK, ABTA issued this statement,

"The news that double vaccinated travellers will be allowed to travel to the US from the UK from November is great news for holidaymakers, business travellers and those who have been separated from friends and family for so long. The USA is by far our most popular long haul destination and in a normal year attracts almost five million visitors from the UK. The announcement is a very welcome boost for the winter sports market whose customers love the country's high quality ski resorts."

The past few mornings have revealed more snowfall arriving in the Alps with first the French and Italian side seeing snowfall above around 2,000m on Sunday, then more areas further East in Austria and Switzerland getting dumped on too.

Les Menuires is pictured top on Sunday morning.

For some areas these are the first snowfalls of the run-up to the 21-22 season, with the start of Autumn by the astronomical measure of the season days away. Some high areas had already had August snowfall.

Seven glacier areas are already open in Austria, Italy and Switzerland with an eighth, the Kaunertal in Austria's Tirol, opening next Saturday 25th September. It reported 15cm (6") of fresh snowfall this morning (below).



With The Pitztal, Solden and Hintertux ski areas already open, it means half of the eight resorts open in the northern hemisphere next weekend will be in Tirol region.