J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

The Austrian government has announced that its current 'hard lockdown' will be extended again to at least 8th February.

If things are looking better with the pandemic then the Austrian government says there may be small easings of restrictions, however they say re-opening restaurants and hotels is unlikely before the end of February at the earliest.

It is believed Austrian ski areas will be able to stay open to local people.

In better news the FIS have announced today that the Hahnenkamm downhill race, and the re-scheduled Lauberhorn race from Wengen are still currently 'on' for next weekend at Kitzbuhel. There had been worries that a virus outbreak in the nearby village of Jochberg might lead to the races having to be moved, as was the case with the Wengen races.

I'm afraid not. There's no leisure travel from the UK until at least 15th February and things currently not looking good at present for the remaining months of the main ski season after that. Many say this winter is a complete write off already. The more optimistic say perhaps by Easter we'll be able to travel again, but there's absolutely no certainty either way.

A skier has made what are believed to be the first turns of 2021 in Australia, and possible the southern hemisphere.

The skier is reported to have taken to the slopes in the small hours of the morning at Mt Buller ski area in Australia after an unseasonal snowfall deposited a few inches of snow there. It's not clear how much skiing was actually achieved.

It's currently midsummer in the southern hemisphere with the start of the 2021 season around six months ago but ski areas in the Andes, Australia and New Zealand have all reported unseasonal snowfall in the past few weeks. Mt Buller appears to have had the most in Australia - a few centimetres - over the past 48 hours.

Thanks as always Swingbeep for detailed and logical explanation on the unfortunate Wengen events. I suppose the only question I have, which might be for the court case, if there is one, is, whilst ultimate responsibility clearly lies with the British tourist, you wonder why the hotel restaurant served him and didn't insist he followed the quarantine rules?

*** UPDATE 16.01.21: Since this piece was published it appears the Italian Government have now said all of the country's ski areas must stay closed to at least 15th February. ***

Italy's largest ski region, the Dolomiti Superski, which includes many of the country's leading ski resorts and is reputed to take a third of the total Italian ski holiday market has announced it won't open for the season until at least February 15th.

Italian ski areas appear to be allowed to open in certain circumstances from this coming Monday, January 18th, according to the ever-changing government regulations.
"Unfortunately, the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic does not allow us to open the season as planned on 18 January. For safety reasons, this date must be postponed again, at least until 15 February. We are very sorry, that we cannot give you any better information, especially since all the ski areas of Dolomiti Superski have prepared themselves with great commitment for this winter season," a statement from the region explains.
The region includes dozens of ski resorts including Val Gardena, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Alta Badia, Arabba and Val di Fassa.

Last month one of the Val Gardena ski areas announced it would not open at all this season due to the pandemic.

Cortina d'Ampezzo will host the World Alpine Skiing Championships behind closed doors from 8th February.

"We are however confident and optimistic that we will be able to welcome you as soon as possible on the slopes of the Dolomites," the Dolomiti Superski statement concludes.

North Macedonia has announced plans to privatise and upgrade its Popova Sapka ski resort in 2021, one of the largest of the country's half-dozen ski areas.

Currently state-run Popova Sapka currently has nine lifts, but many date back to the era when the country was part of Yugoslavia. However a fast new six-seat chairlift built by the Leitner group was reported to have been installed ahead of last season.

The resort, on Sar Mountain, has ski slopes extending over the border in to neighbouring Kosovo. It has around 20km of prepared slopes between approximately 1,700 and 2,500m altitude.

The country's economy minister Kreshnik Bekteshi said the North Macedonian government said they were interested in a full or partial privatisation and would also consider a public-private partnership for the ski centre itself. Two hotels at the resort, also currently publicly owned, will however definitely be sold off.

Popova Sapka (which translates as 'Priest's Hat') is located in the Sharr Mountains also offers extensive lift-accessed backcountry ski terrain of easy alpine bowls, steep chutes, and tree skiing.

The region is also famed for its Vranec "black wine."

Interesting. From that press release it does look like they're sure its him/her and coming from Britain and it being the English variant the evidence does clearly seem to point to that. That said could a good lawyer argue that it might have been one of the hotel staff who picked it up somewhere else and gave it to the other staff and the British tourist? I know that's less likely and sorry if that scenario is discussed and rejected in the Youtube video which I've not looked at yet. You would assume they are certain from the press release, otherwise they might be laying themselves open to accusations of slander I suppose, if it's not absolutely certain - although they don't name the person involved so could maybe backtrack before that if it did turn out to be not 100% certain.

The first big snowstorm of the winter has deposited up to 1.2 metres (4 feet) of snow on ski slopes in the Alps, and it is still coming down.

Most people cannot travel to the open ski resorts in Austria and Switzerland but for those with an optimistic outlook, the snow could be seen as good news for base-building later in the season, when we just might be able to travel.

For most areas the snow started falling late on Tuesday and for many it hasn't stopped since.

Snowfall totals of at least 30cm (a foot) has been reported in all Alpine nations with the biggest accumulations so far of 90cm (three feet) or more largely reported in Austria – particularly in Vorarlberg, and Switzerland, particularly in Gtraubunden.

The biggest accumulation has been posted by the small ski area of St. Peter in Graubunden, Switzerland. Of the big destination resorts Silvretta in Austria's Vorarlberg region reports 90cm (three feet) so far and Arosa in Graubunden, Switzerland, just a few inches/5cm less with 85cm. Laax, also in Graubunden, reports 75cm (2.5 feet).

The snowstorm is expected to continue into tomorrow for many areas. The avalanche danger level has reached 4 on the scale to 5 in many areas.