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Timberline ski area on Mt Hood in Oregon has ended its 2020 season a week earlier than originally planned ending North America's stop-start 2019-20 season.

The centre had originally planned to stay open to the Labor Day holiday weekend in the country next Monday, September 7th, but changed it plans a few weeks ago. It has been exceptionally hot in Western North America with world record highs set earlier this month.

Resort management thanked staff and customers for making their re-opening through the summer a success in difficult circumstances. SA number of staff have tested positive for COVID-19 there in recent weeks, although not at the ski area.

Ski areas in North America almost operated through the pandemic in the sense that the last area closed for lockdown in a remote corner of British Columbia, Canada, in early April, but after several weeks of no areas being open anywhere on the continent, the first of a dozen or so centres to re-open across the USA for various periods in the late spring and summer, did so later that month in California.

The North American 2020-21 season is less than two months away. The continent's season usually begins in late October with high altitude areas in Colorado and sometimes others in New England that are expert snowmakers, do battle to be first in North America to open. Loveland ski area in Colorado has a countdown clock to the 'start of snowmaking' set for the end of September.

Ski areas around Banff and Jasper as well as Nakiska are usually the first to open in Canada at the very end of October or in the first week of November.

A new gondola due to open this winter at the 3 Zinnen Dolomites ski resort in a south eastern corner of the vast Dolomiti Superski region will be the crowning glory of a six-year project to transform the ski region, the lift company's CEO says.

The new 10-seater "Helmjet Sexten" gondola will replace the former Monte Elmo Sesto lift which began operation back in February 1981.

"Every new lift we build is special to me. But the "Helmjet Sexten" is a passion project: we have all been waiting for it for many years," said Mark Winkler, CEO of 3 Zinnen plc, who adds, "In a way, it is the jewel in the crown of the 3 Zinnen Dolomites sports and mountain destination—the last piece in the jigsaw puzzle of investments we made over the course of the past years. We are giving our main entrance in Sesto a massive upgrade: the state-of-the-art facilities will offer our guests much greater comfort while reducing the rush and waiting times of the old system. Personally, I cannot wait to sit in the new 'Symphony' premium gondola for the first time and take in the views of the Sesto Sundial."

The 3 Zinnen Dolomites ski resort did not exist under that name until 2014 when the transformation of the former Sesto Dolomites area began.

At the time the area consisted of 50 kilometres of slopes on two mountains, but since then this has been expanded to connect five ski mountains and 115 kilometres of slopes served by 31 modern gondola and lifts.

3 Zinnen Dolomites were added to the destinations offered by the UK's largest ski tour operator, Crystal, last year.

Although the 2020-21 World Cup calendar in looking similar to previous years – other than the season-opener on the glacier in Solden in October being a week earlier and the North American stops now removed – this is one major new addition a mid-November stop in the Austrian Arlberg region.

Parallel slalom races are to take place on November 14th and 15th, 2020 in the Flexen Arena near the Trittkopfbahn above Zürs. It's the first time he region will have staged world Cup Races in 26 years. The last time, in 1994, the great Italian racer Alberto Tomba was the winner.

Lech- Zürs is reported to have won a bidding process against resorts in Finland, Norway and Italy which also wanted to stage the races. The FIS are reported to have wanted to introduce the new events to fill a bit of a calendar void in the Alpine schedule between Solden and what are normally the first speed races in Lake Louise and Beaver Creek a month later.

Unfortunately their hope at the time the race was awarded last autumn of a party atmosphere to keep the early season momentum going and 20,000 fans to watch the race won't be coming true this year with the races in Solden and Zürs reported to be now to be staged without spectators.

Squaw Valley ski area in California has confirmed it has decided to change its name – and will announce the new name next year.

There have been questions over the resort's name for decades, but the recent upsurge of support for the black lives matter movement has galvanised a large number of American corporations to take steps to finally address issues that have been problematic to them for many years.

"Today is a difficult but exciting day in the long and storied history of Squaw Valley. After extensive historical research, consultation with Native American groups (including the local Washoe tribe), and outreach to our local and wider community, we have decided it is time to drop the derogatory and offensive term "squaw" from our resort's name.," a statement from the resort says.

Squaw Valley, which hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics and is world famous for its big mountain terrain which has been the home of extreme skiing pioneers since long before the term "extreme skiing" was coined.

The resort says that work to determine a new name will begin immediately and will culminate with an announcement of a new name in 2021 with the name change implemented after the winter season concludes in 2021.

[url]https://squawalpine.com/squaw-valley-name-change
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The International Ski Federation (FIS) has announced that the planned opening of the World Cup racing season for speed events which traditionally takes place in Lake Louise, Canada and Beaver Creek, USA during a fortnight in late November and early-December won't happen this autumn due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

For the women, this schedule shift impacts the Killington (USA) giant slalom and slalom events on 28th-29th November, and the speed week in Lake Louise (CAN) on 1st-6th December.

For the men, this impacts the speed weekend in Lake Louise, 25th-29th November and both speed and tech events at Vail/Beaver Creek (USA), 1st-6th December. The World Cup will return to these sites for the 2021-22 season.

"The objective of FIS is to carry out a full World Cup competition programme, protecting the health and welfare of all participants to the best extent possible. The temporary re-alignment of the FIS Alpine World Cup Calendar caters to this goal by focusing on athlete safety, reducing travel, and providing competitors with a detailed competition calendar. All parties jointly agreed to make this decision early to aid in developing the adjusted calendars during the next month before the FIS Technical Committee Meetings in late September," an FIS statement reads.

There had been rumours earlier in the pandemic that North American legs might be skipped so that racers could minimise travel but when the 20-21 schedule was published earlier this month the usual Canadian and US competitions were there.
"The desire and motivation to hold these races as scheduled for all parties was strong," said Markus Waldner, FIS men's Chief Race Director. "The training set-up and races in USA and Canada are very much appreciated by the teams. But ultimately, the unique logistics and situation for the early season alpine races has current travel restrictions and corresponding quarantine regulations in both directions, which led to this joint decision."

"The Organisers and National Ski Associations provided us with excellent health and safety plans to stage the events and were fully prepared to host the races," echoed Peter Gerdol, FIS women's Chief Race Director. "But ultimately, the logistics involved with the travel from Europe and between the two countries, and the quarantines involved, made it too unpredictable to ensure that athletes could participate in the competitions."

The current plan is for the missed races to take place as additional races at already scheduled meetings through the season at Val d'Isere, St. Moritz and Courchevel (FRA) will host a two-race technical weekend in December.

The FIS stressed that planned North American Freestyle, Freeski and Snowboard events due to take place later in the season are still on, and that the hope is for the regular calendar to resume with the North American fortnight in 2021-22.

A major snowstorm in Australia is in to its second day and resorts have reported up to 26cm (10 inches) of fresh snow accumulated so far. There are estimates of 50-100cm by the time the storm is due to finish at the weekend.

The snow is very welcome as, after some big dumps un May before the season was due to start and whilst pandemic lockdown was still in place across the country, Australia's snowfalls had been running below average this winter up to now.

However with the state of Victoria back in lockdown and limited numbers allowed on the slopes at the areas still open, some skiers are frustrated to see all the snow but not be able to enjoy it and went on social media to express their frustrations.

Currently Perisher and neighbouring Charlotte Pass as well as Thredbo are the only large areas open. With around 70km of trails open Perisher also has the most terrain open anywhere in the world at present.

Falls Creek, pictured above yesterday, has announced it won't re-open its ski lifts and runs in September even if given permission to do so when Victoria reviews its pandemic lockdown. The ski areas for it and Mt Hotham, which also won't re-open until 2021, are operated by Vail Resorts.

Elsewhere in the southern hemisphere several ski areas have begun opening with strict restrictions and for local people in Chile, joining those in Argentina which have opened since the start of the month. New Zealand's ski areas are open but with pandemic restrictions for the first time after the virus re-emerged in the country. In Southern Africa the season is ending at Afriski in Lesotho the weekend after next, it's usual end-of-August season end, but it looks certain that Tiffindell over the border in South Africa won't now open this winter at all, making South Africa the first country to lose a whole ski season due to the virus.

Les Sybelles, one of the largest ski regions in France, has announced that it will be unveiling two new runs this coming winter, as well as a new chairlift.

He region will open up a new freeride area in Le Corbier where the black slope will be left in its natural state (marked, secured but left ungroomed).

The 695 metre long "Jonquilles" ski run is located under the Mont-Corbier chairlift and descends 282 vertical metres. It joins three other freeride trails the region created last winter above Saint-Sorlin-d´Arves (Bartavelle, Perdrix and Perrons Bas) designed for skiing in a natural setting but safer environment than fully off piste.

The other new run is a red trail created through the wild landscapes of Saint-Colomban-des-Villards. The new Culaz piste heads towards the Villards Valley from the top of Mont Cuinat at 2078m following the Bellard ridge.

"Located between Belledonne and Maurienne it will offer a splendid panorama with Mont Blanc as the backdrop," a resort spokesperson said.

In terms of uplift a the new Gaston Express chairlift will provide better skier flow and better iner-resort links on the Ouillon plateau

The new € 4.6m six-seater detachable chairlift replaces the old "Torret" double chairlift, cutting the ascent time to less than five minutes.

This chairlift was named in memory of Gaston Maulin who founded the Sybelles ski area in 2002 after years of working to create it. He died in February this year.

Ski holiday bookings are strong in at least one segment of the ski market, according to one operator of luxury ski breaks.

"Bookings for the next winter season are already looking healthy – New Year is nearly fully booked – and we see an emerging trend in demand for space and privacy," said a spokesperson for 'Severin*s', a five-star superior hotel with adjacent separate private residence available to rent in Lech, Austria.

The hotel's statement appears to be in line with reports from other high-end ski holiday providers who are reported to be seeing a growth in the number of people booking properties for the entire season in order to effectively relocate to the mountains rather than making multiple trips through the season.

'Severin*s' is promoting a "totally private package" that includes private jet from the UK to Innsbruck, private Mercedes transfers to Lech and self-contained luxury accommodation in their residence.

'Severin*s' describes itself as an, "…ultra-luxurious private residence which sleeps eight in four separate bedrooms, and houses its own large kitchen, dining room, living room with huge open fire place. There's a grand piano, and wrap-around balconies and a spacious, alfresco hot tub that fits up to six people. It has its own entrance and lift and over 400 square metres of stunning living space over two storeys. The Residence offers skiers a glorious level of pampered privacy and space."

Each bedroom has comfortable box-spring beds by Wittmann, high-quality linens and state-of-the-art technology and sound systems and residents can make use of room service, chef and concierge service from the hotel next door.

The private package, purchased through Oxford Ski, costs from Eur 59,000 (£54,000) for 7 nights (for up to 8 people) which includes private return flights from London or Biggin Hill private terminals on a Citation Sovereign jet for 8 passengers with club 4 seats and a large cabin.

Flights connect with transfers from Innsbruck taking approx. 90 minutes in a comfortable 15 seater Mercedes Sprinter equipped with leather seats, flat screen TV and refrigerator with champagne and snacks provided on both the plane and the transfers.

Then exclusive use of The Severin*s Residence for 8 people for seven nights. The season begins 5 December 2020