J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

The 2020 ski season has got underway in the southern hemisphere with the first ski area to open Afriski (pictured above this April) in the small African nation of Lesotho.

Prior to the pandemic Afriski had been one of the areas that had set an early season start date targeting Thursday, June 4th. Mt Hutt in New Zealand was aiming for June 5th and Australian resorts June 6th. The only other candidate was the small 'Happy Valley' snow play and beginner ski area on Mount Ruapehu in New Zealand which has all-weather snowmaking and planned to open on May 30th.

All of these dates were missed due to the pandemic, although Mt Hutt plans to open next Friday 12th June, a week late, and is currently enjoying cold weather and fresh snowfall in New Zealand ahead of that date. Australian resorts will open from June 22nd.

Lesotho has had very little impact from the pandemic so far and was one of the last countries to report cases and has had no deaths but has now lifted its lockdown. However South Africa, which surrounds it and from where most of Afriski's skiers and boarders arrive, remains in lockdown and the borders closed, so the slopes have only opened for local, Lesohoi-based skiers and boarders only so far.

There's not much terrain open either. In peak season the centre has a kilometre or so of trails but after snowfall in spring it has been dry and sunny for the past two to three weeks, although cold enough for overnight snowmaking, allowing a few hundred metres of snow slopes to be opened.

It's currently unknown when or if ski areas in the southern hemisphere's other main ski nations, Argentina and Chile in the South American Andes will happen this year with their lockdowns still firmly in place and cases rising on the continent.

Five more glaciers will open in the Alps this weekend joining three in Austria and two in Norway that have already re-opened and take the numbers open in Europe back into double figures after hitting a low of two 10 days ago.

Crans Montana and Zermatt in Switzerland and Les 2 Alpes and Val d'Isere will be the first areas to re-open in Switzerland and France respectively for nearly three months, with the Molltal glacier the fourth to re-open in Austria, although one of these, Kaunertal, will close again on Sunday.

Glaciers are reporting excellent snow conditions with Les 2 Alpes noting snow depths 50cm more than last year and Val d'Isere describing conditions as "sensational" after numerous spring snow storms through the past few months without skiers. There's also snow forecast for some glaciers this weekend too.

All areas have social-distancing in place in public buildings and lifts and in lift queues. Face masks must be worn and hands sanitised along with many other pandemic spread prevention measures.

There are mixed attitudes to the number of people allowed on the slopes as limiting numbers at some re-opened areas in Norway and the US has caused tickets to sell out instantly on release. Zermatt have said they'll have no limit to the numbers allowed on their glacier beyond the standard safety maximum but Val d'Isere say they'll have an initial limit of 500 rising to 600 with tickets needing to be purchased at least 48 hours in advance online.

Val d'Isere will be the only area open in France to the general public until late-June however, and only part of its glacier (the rest reserved for professional team training, as are the slopes of Les 2 Alpes until the end of the month).

Lift ticket prices do not seem to have risen much at ski areas compared to a year ago. This contrasts to reports from some southern hemisphere ski areas where 25% prices rises have been reported as resorts struggle to find a viable operating model with fewer people allowed but more staff required for cleaning and safety measures.

Skiers visiting glaciers will initially be mostly from the local area but borders are re-opening rapidly across Europe (except the UK) and already have to most countries from Austria and Italy.

More glaciers are set to open in Europe over the coming months including the Stryn glacier in Norway next week, Cervinia in Italy and Tignes in France later this month and Saas Fee in July.

Some ski areas like Crans Montana are just re-opening for a few weeks whilst ski areas like Hintertux, Molltal, Saas Fee and Zermatt will stay open through to 2021 once re-opened, all being well.

A number of consumer survey results that have arrived at J2Ski Towers in the past 24 hours seem to indicate (the travel companies that commissioned them clearly hope) that there's a pent up demand to head off travelling, and of the reasons not to go, virus concerns are low down the list.

A survey of its customer base by French-ski-holiday specialists Peak Retreats found that 84% of their clients from more than 2,000 surveyed are hoping to ski next year, whilst a survey of 500 travellers (not ski specific) on behalf of Allianz Assistance found that 69% of Brits were eager to book a holiday post-lockdown.

The Allianz survey found that 57% of people are worried about a likely increase in the cost of holidays, the biggest cause for concern among prospective holidaymakers.

For Peak Retreats the biggest worry (48% of respondents) was that quarantine may be applicable on their return to the UK, with 46% saying they felt there was, "just too much uncertainty surrounding travel at this time."

Concern about UK government advice to stay home was less of a factor, noted by 28% of respondents whilst less than a quarter (23%) said it was, "Not safe enough in respect of catching coronavirus."

Allianz found that younger travellers are the most keen to get away, with just 23% of 18 to 24-year-olds put off travel for the long-term, however almost half of this age group also confirmed they would only consider travelling when it is officially declared safe to do so. One in four of the 25-34s are keen on taking a foreign holiday as soon as possible.

Other results from Allianz included finding that 35% of people were unhappy with the idea that they might be required to provide a Covid-19 fit to fly health certificate when travelling and 33% of all respondents were put off by a potential need to wear a face mask whilst travelling with other passengers – now a standard requirement for most airlines.

Peak Retreats are selling ski holidays for next winter with various early booking deals and full refund guarantees in place: https://www.peakretreats.co.uk/winter/home
Allianz have a graphic of their full survey results here: https://www.allianz-assistance.co.uk/travel-insurance/travel-advice-and-news/is-the-uk-ready-to-travel-again.html

re: "There still seems to be an outside chance that other areas including the Blackcomb Glacier at Whistler might re-open later this month if deemed safe and feasible."

Just heard they've decided not to open this year, sadly.

Ah, I'm trying to recall if that common dry slope injury was called "skier's thumb" or "Dendix thumb"? Yep I started on Dendix at a Nottingham dry slope so owe everything to it really.

Four ski areas are now open in the USA after Beartooth Basin in Wyoming and Crystal Mountain in Washington state re-opened yesterday.

They join Timberline ski area in Oregon and Arapahoe Basin in Colorado which re-opened in late-May.
It means that more ski areas are open in June at the start of summer in the USA than there were for much of spring during this strange year.

Two other areas, Mt Baldy in California and Mt Bachelor in Oregon have re-opened since the pandemic closure of all North American ski areas, but they've since closed again.

Beartooth Basin (formerly Red Lodge Mountain) is the only 'summer-ski-only' area in North America and is jut operating its normal season in June and July, but with the pandemic-spread-prevention measures in place that are now the norm at re-opened ski areas and indeed all facilities worldwide.

It opens when the spectacular Beartooth Highway through Wyoming and Montana is cleared of snow each year, which happened at the weekend. The road is open for about five months each year before closing again in the autumn.

Timberline on Mt Hood is the closest thing to a year-round ski area and is used for ski team training. It has said it will now stay open through to September 7th.

Crystal Mountain, by contrast, only plans to stay open for the first few weeks of June; it and Arapahoe Basin have been swamped by skiers wanting to buy tickets to ski.

Numbers allowed on the slopes are restricted and tickets must be bought online in advance. They're selling out fast each time the next day's tickets are put on sale and Arapahoe Basin has introduced a lottery system to give skiers a chance to win the opportunity to buy a $99 day ticket.

Billip5 wrote:Interesting. I've never used a dry slope, only indoor "real snow" ones. What's a dry slope like to ski on ?

Well... shall we say opinions are mixed, there are lots of people dedicated to dry slope skiing, many who know snow are not keen at all. They've been going in the modern form about 60 years with the high point in the 1970s when there were at least 120 across the UK, some say as many as 200. There are now about 60 left, quite a few run by charitable trusts/clubs. Quite a lot of different surface materials have been used over the years all designed to make as snow-like an experience as possible, some lubricate the surface with water for added slipperiness. Regardless of mixed opinions on the dry slope experience they have collectively helped over a million Brits to learn to ski over the years, including many who wouldn't have tried it otherwise and have gone on to the Alps. They allow people to ski locally and affordable all year round; they often help disadvantaged and disabled people to try skiing and I think pretty well all of Britain's World Cup and Olympic skiers got started on them and initially progressed through dry slope competitions.

The ski slope at Bracknell in Berkshire is the latest to be threatened with closure in the UK.

Employees at the slope, part of the wider John Nike Leisuresport facility which also includes an ice rink, are reported by local media to have been sent a statement saying that the centre's management are consulting of possible redundancies.

The statement says the complex requires a half-million-pound investment by 2021 on new infrastructure including a replacement of the dry slope surface, and the company fear that cost may not be sustainable.

The statement also says the facility has lost more than £1 million over the past four years despite investing more than £350,000 in an attempt to turn the business round. The coronavirus closure that began on March 20oh I the latest issue the facility faces.

"The increased uncertainly in these unprecedented times, together with an already strained financial situation prior to COVID 19 these risks are compounded by the future capital requirements of replacing the Chiller plant and the Permasnow surface on the main slope in the next 18 months, requiring half a million of capital investment above the normal capital required to keep the site moving forward, has forced us to consider closing the complex permanently," the statement says.

The Bracknell dry slope first opened in 1985. It's one of a number currently under threat of closure, although most of the rest are due to decisions by local councils who want to sell off the land where they're located for housing to raise revenue for other public services.

John Nike Leisuresport Limited run five dry ski slope centres, the others located at Chatham, Plymouth, Swadlincote and Llandudno. The Llandudno slope unveiled an all-new surface at the start of this year.