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Around 90 former employees at the private Yellowstone Club ski resort in Montana have received payments which altogether amount to $1m dollars in an out of court settlement.

The payments relate to a legal case brought in 2019 by the workers at the ski resort, all of whom are believed to be of Jamaican nationality. The case alleges that whilst most Yellowstone Club employees had cash tips from the ultra-rich Club members and their guests passed on to them, the Jamaican employees did not get anything.

The workers took a group legal action against the Yellowstone Club and the staffing company which employed them, Hospitality Staffing Solutions, based in Georgia.

On a list of complaints, the Jamaicans alleged they were recruited to work at the club through what turned out to be, they believe, fraudulent claims that they would receive generous tips to top up salaries. They further alleged the salaries they were paid were 25-50% lower than other employees carrying out the same tasks. The workers claimed that, among other things, they were threatened with deportation if they complained.

Neither the Club nor the staffing agency accepted responsibility under the settlement but are reported to have paid the 90 or so claimants between US$1,000 and US$15,000 each.

The Yellowstone Club shares a ski area with Big Sky in Montana, creating one of the three largest ski areas in North America – by some measure in fact the biggest.

However whilst Yellowstone Club members can ski on Big Sky's slopes, those of the Yellowstone Club itself are only accessible to residents of the Club and their guests.

Becoming a member requires you to be at least a multi-millionaire to meet the property purchase requirements and in fact the unofficial member list is believed to include a number of the world's richest men, including billionaires Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Mark Zuckerberg.

The Yellowstone Club itself has consistently denied direct involvement in the alleged practices, which are based on the 17-18 ski season. However the staffing agency said decisions were made by the Club. The Club's General Manager told media they now employ Jamaicans directly rather than using a third party, saying they were proud of the current ongoing relationships and that the majority of Jamaicans employed there return to work at the Club each year.

Around a dozen ski areas in seven states in the US have announced they'll be offering skiing and snowboarding in May, about half-of-them every day of the month.

The centres have extended their seasons despite pandemic restrictions, although these are easing in many areas.

The state with the most still open centres is Colorado, which has seen more snow in April than March, including up to 23cm (9") in the last 24 hours reported at Loveland. It and Winter Park plan to stay open to May 9th whilst Arapahoe Basin and Breckenridge are aiming for the 31st.

In California Mammoth and Squaw Valley remain open and plan to until at least 31st May. However Squaw Valley has said dry and warm spring means it may not make it to the 31st this year.

Also open are Mt Bachelor, Mt hood Meadows and Timberline in Oregon and Crystal Mountain in Washington State. Alpental, also in Washington state, which has had the deepest snowpack in the world most of the season – currently 6.3 metres (21 feet), will open for a final weekend this weekend.

Snowbird is the only ski area still open in Utah.

Beartooth Basin, America's only summer ski area, located on the Montana/Wyoming state line, will open for its 2021 season on May 28th.

In the East, Killington in Vermont (Pictured above last week when fresh snow fell) has its heavily moguled superstar trail open in May as usual and Jay Peak have said they're aiming for a final day of operation on Saturday. May 1st.

Around a dozen ski areas in seven states in the US have announced they'll be offering skiing and snowboarding in May, about half-of-them every day of the month.

The centres have extended their seasons despite pandemic restrictions, although these are easing in many areas.

The state with the most still open centres is Colorado, which has seen more snow in April than March, including up to 23cm (9") in the last 24 hours reported at Loveland. It and Winter Park plan to stay open to May 9th whilst Arapahoe Basin and Breckenridge are aiming for the 31st.

In California Mammoth and Squaw Valley remain open and plan to until at least 31st May. However Squaw Valley has said dry and warm spring means it may not make it to the 31st this year.

Also open are Mt Bachelor, Mt hood Meadows and Timberline in Oregon and Crystal Mountain in Washington State. Alpental, also in Washington state, which has had the deepest snowpack in the world most of the season – currently 6.3 metres (21 feet), will open for a final weekend this weekend.

Snowbird is the only ski area still open in Utah.

Beartooth Basin, America's only summer ski area, located on the Montana/Wyoming state line, will open for its 2021 season on May 28th.

In the East, Killington in Vermont (Pictured above last week when fresh snow fell) has its heavily moguled superstar trail open in May as usual and Jay Peak have said they're aiming for a final day of operation on Saturday. May 1st.

The boss of Austria's ski lift operators association, the APA, has said that the decision to stop overnight stays at ski centres this winter has resulted in combined losses of over €1 billion by the country's ski areas.

Franz Hoerl, chairman of the APA, said business overall was down by 90%, with larger resorts that relied on international visitors hardest hit.

Smaller Austrian resorts that has a local client base not requiring overnight accommodation saw a smaller drop in trade of nearer 50%.

Overall the 2020-21 ski season saw an income of €143.5 million Euros for Austrian ski areas, down from €1.41 billion Euros the previous winter 2019-20, itself 9% down on the previous season because of the early season end in March last year due to the first lockdown.

After going into a full lockdown in November Austria partially responded to a call from France, Germany and Italy in December to keep ski resorts closed. It allowed ski lifts to re-open from Christmas Eve but did not allow any ski tourism, meaning only local day visitors could ski, dramatically cutting business. Most Austrian ski areas either operated limited terrain at a loss or did not open.

France kind of did the reverse and allowed ski resorts to open for tourism but would not allow ski lifts to operate.

Mr Hoerl said it is expected investments in new lifts this summer will be reduced by 70% due to the drop in income.

The Austrian glacier ski area of Kitzsteinhorn (pictured below) has announced it will stay open until the 24th of July. It credits the Austrian government announcement that lockdown restrictions will (hopefully) be eased and tourism allowed to resume from mid-May. It had previously said its season would end on May 25th. The centre, above Kaprun in Salzburgerland, currently has a 3.3 metre (11 feet) base and 20km of slopes open.

It is the second Austrian glacier area to announce an extended season with the Pitztal (pictured above), which normally closes in late-April, saying it will be open to early June this year.

However it is a mixed picture as the Stubai glacier has recently announced it is closing on the 2nd of May, not in June as expected, citing "maintenance work." The Kaunertal and Molltal glaciers which would normally be open in May and June have not been open this year due to their expectation of low visitor numbers not covering costs if they had opened in winter with tourism banned in Austria and it is unclear if they will re-open this spring now most alternative Austrian resorts are closed.

The year-round Hintertux ski area remains open however.

Elsewhere Glacier 3000 near Gstaad in Switzerland has extended its season to May 9th and Crans Montana into June. Laax is open to May 2nd, the Diavolezza glacier near St Moritz to the 9th and Engelberg to the 24th, whilst Zermatt remains open year-round.

French and Italian ski areas including Cervinia, Passo Stelvio, Les 2 Alpes, Tignes and Val d'Isere which have all been unable to open this year so far are all optimistic of opening for summer skiing from early June. Infact Les 2 Alpes now says they hope to do so from the last weekend of May.

Three Norwegian summer ski areas are also readying to open next month.

It remains unclear if Brits will be able to travel to the Alps to ski this summer. An announcement of the rules is expected at the start of May with the earliest travel date May 17th. It seems likely that, at best, travel will initially be complicated and expensive, if possible at all. Alpine summer ski nations look most likely to (at best) be put in the amber category which currently means 10 days home-quarantine on return to the UK and paying for tests, but does not require booking in to the expensive quarantine hotels for arrivals in England.

However, at this point it's all speculation and guesswork and no one knows what the rules will be and which country will be in which band, nor what restrictions may be placed by them on arrivals from the UK.

The Finance Authority of the US state of Maine has approved up to $135 million in financing for a non-profit developer to acquire and redevelop the former Big Squaw ski resort into a four-season destination.

The Provident Resources Group plan to add a chairlift, surface lifts, snowmaking, zip wires, marina, observatory, a conference centre, hotel and pub-restaurant in the yet-to-be-renamed resort.

When known as Big Squaw the ski area operated until 2004 although local people have been allowed access to as part of the a5rea to run it on a volunteer basis since 2010.

The last owner is reported to have failed to make the investment required to restart the ski area and is also reported to have refused to allow it to be renamed after the term "squaw" was ever more widely accepted as being a derogatory term for Native American women. The name does now appear to be gone however but a new name has not yet been decided.

Following the growth of support for the black lives matter movement and a period of reflection in 2020, America's better known ski area with the word 'squaw' in its title, 1960 Winter Olympic host resort Squaw Valley, has previously said it intends to rename itself this year.

Established in 2000, the Provident group appears to be a serious player in operating successfully but with a charitable structure, claiming on its website to have more than $4.5 billion in capital under management.

"We are pleased to provide support for Provident's project in Piscataquis County,". "Plans for the rebirth of the now-dormant ski resort into a four-season recreation destination is promising news for the Greenville area, and we wish the developers the best of luck as they proceed with construction."

Steamboat ski area will expand its ski area by around 20% next winter, assuming a planned expansion receives the approvals needed in time.

The additional 650 acres of advanced/expert skiable terrain in the resort's Pioneer Ridge area will expand its total terrain by nearly 20 percent for a total of 3,620 acres.

North American ski areas claim ski area size by different criteria, but it looks like the jump from just under 3,000 acres to just over 3,600 acres will place Steamboat somewhere between 5th and 8th biggest in the US, depending on what you include.

It should though, overtake neighbours Winter Park (3,00 acres) and Keystone (3,150 acres) in Colorado as well as California's Mammoth (3,500 acres) as it moves into the US top 10 on the officially claimed size table. In fact the thing that Steamboat's owners, the Alterra Mountain Company, are keenest promote are that it will make the ski area, "the second biggest in Colorado." That is behind Vail, not mentioned.

The additional terrain at Steamboat will also include a "world-class teaching area" and the first leg of the new Big Blue gondola, providing gondola access to the newly re-developed Bashor teaching area.

The new terrain is part of a $207 million spending plan ahead of next season across its resorts announced by the Alterra Mountain Company.

"This includes $111MM in significant resort projects, $31MM in enterprise technology systems, $65MM in resort maintenance and planning," a statement from the group notes.

At its base Steamboat will also embark on a three-year, $135MM base area redevelopment which will see the resort's Gondola Square transformed into a,

"…multi-use, amenity-rich plaza creating an easy-to-navigate destination core, complete with additional dining and après, retail, entertainment and welcoming gathering places for guests to enjoy year-round. A reimagined guest arrival experience will eliminate cumbersome stairs and provide direct and easy access to the mountain," the company statement explains.

A senior police officer in Japan has been suspended from work for three months for snowboarding whilst on duty.

The 57 year old former station chief in Japan's Akita Prefecture after being found to have gone snowboarding at Mount Moriyoshi Ani Ski Resort in the city of Kitaakita during his working hours, according to a report in the country's Mainichi newspaper.

The police officer said in his defence that he had gone to the ski resort to investigate a fatal work accident, however at an enquiry it was determined it would have been easy to walk to the scene of the Accident, and that snowboarding had not been required.

The snowboarding incident led to a deeper investigation in to the police officer's activities which were found to include multiple other instances of inappropriate use of work time, including a visit to a hot springs spa resort.

As well as his three-month suspension, the policeman was also demoted from superintendent to chief inspector "at his own request" according to the report.