J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by SwingBeep

You might consider that issues with the Italian / Swiss border are "minutiae" but the Italian / Swiss authorities don't. If you take a look the Cervinia T&Cs webpage it states that "YOU MUST HAVE A VALID INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL DOCUMENT TO REACH PLATEAU ROSÀ". The Guardia di Finanza has an office in the cable car station at Laghi Cime Bianche and the Swiss have customs post in Zermatt.

The border isn't static, the Italian / Swiss authorities meet periodically to redraw it. When they have decided on the new course the Italians have to pass an act of parliament to change it https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/melting-snow-prompts-border-change-between-switzerland-and-italy-1653181.html

There is currently a dispute regarding the course of the border at Testa Grigia, according to the Swiss the border now runs though the middle of the guides hut / bar / restaurant, the story was even reported in the Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/articles/italys-alpine-border-melts-and-leaves-a-pasta-restaurant-in-switzerlandmaybe-11582134089 The Swiss want to redraw the border around the hut so that it remains in Italy and have the Italians compensate them for their loss of 65 square metres of territory by making an adjustment of the same size somewhere else. To date the Italians are having none of it.

I agree that some of the information on the Cervinia website isn't very clear, the piste map shows a piste from Testa Grigia to Laghi Cime Bianche, unfortunately it isn't open in summer (20th June to 6th September). But I would expect that a professional ski journalist should know what the actual situation was. Cervinia is a much better point of access to the skiing on Plateau Rosà than Zermatt, lift passes, accommodation and food are all much less expensive in Cervinia than in Zermatt and the journey time up to the glacier is shorter.

Unfortunately, it's likely to be quite some time before mountain tourism returns to anything like it was before Covid-19. The number of new cases here has risen during the last few days taking the R-value above 1.0, if the number of new cases doesn't fall soon restrictive measures are likely to be reintroduced. Three members of Italian ski team (2 technicians and an athlete) tested positive at Stelvio over the weekend.

As you are working on the July report you might like to include Macugnaga, they are going to open the San Pietro drag lift at the weekend (4th and 5th July). There will be no charge for the use of the ski lift (operating hours from 8.30 to 12), but you will have to pay for the cable car (18 euros for adults, 11 euros for juniors between 4 and 14 years). Given the rising temperatures next weekend might be the only summer ski weekend there this summer.

As far as I can see there is no mention of the "Ski Club of Great Britain survey" on the SCGB website. The link takes us to www.surveygizmo.com/s3/5513617/Ski-Research-2020?co=J2Ski. Are you sure it's kosher?

These are three glaciers open in Austria (Hintertux, Molltal and the Kizsteinhorn), two to the public in France (Tignes and Val d'Isere, with Les 2 Alps open for race training only but open to the public from the 27th), two in Italy (Passo Stelvio and Cervinia) and one in Switzerland (Zermatt).

There is no summer glacier skiing at Cervinia, as the Valtournenche glacier is largely devoid of snow during the summer months. The end of the glacier is also a long way above the cable car station at Laghi Cime Bianche, which is the only lift open during the summer that could take you back up to the top.

The aerial photo below was taken during the summer of 2018, as you can clearly see only the upper part of the Valtournenche glacier retains snow cover during the summer. If you look carefully you can just about make out the route that the Ventina piste follows.



In summer Cervinia simply serves an additional point of access to the summer skiing area on Plateau Rosa above Zermatt, Plateau Rosa is Swiss territory and the ski lifts on it are wholly owned and operated by the Zermatt lift company. The lifts and the ski area are not shared with Cervinia.

I'm pretty sure that this is not the first time I have informed you of the situation, hopefully as I have included a photo it will sink in this time. You could also correct the typo at the beginning of the paragraph I quoted.

The first ski area to reopen in the Alps will most likely be Kanin in Slovenia. According to their Facebook they are to going to reopen on Thursday. They are reporting a snow depth of 444 cm on their website https://www.kanin.si/en/summer-s/

It does seem a bit hasty, but there are pretty strict conditions. Bars and restaurants must develop and adhere to protection concepts in accordance with government regulations (yet to be fully defined), all guests must be seated, there may be no more than 4 people per table and there must be a distance of 2 metres or screens between tables.

Not all of the bars and restaurants will reopen, as the reduction in the number of customers resulting from the measures will make them economically unviable. Some of the hotels in Zermatt have also decided not to open for the summer season.

Admin wrote:Are you out there at the moment Swingbeep?

Yes, I live in the region.

The live ticker on the Zermatt Tourism website has been updated with information on the easing of the lockdown https://www.zermatt.ch/en/liveticker It's all academic unless you live in Switzerland as the national borders remain closed to foreign tourists.

The Swiss government have announced that if all goes according to plan "mountain transport services" will be allowed to reopen in phase 3 of the gradual easing of the lockdown, which is due to start on the 8th of June https://www.bag.admin.ch/bag/en/home/krankheiten/ausbrueche-epidemien-pandemien/aktuelle-ausbrueche-epidemien/novel-cov/massnahmen-des-bundes.html#681391707

Zermatt has been preparing the summer skiing area pretty much as they would in a normal year, so they should be able to open as soon as the government gives them the green light. The link to Cervina is likely to remain closed until international travel restrictions are eased, there are currently entry restrictions for all persons except those from Liechtenstein.

Construction of the new Olang 1 + 2 gondola lift started last spring; it often takes more than one summer to build the larger lifts. The building that looks like a multi-story car park is a garage for the cabins, which is being built onto the existing middle station. The existing lift stations will be remodelled to look like the picture in the OP https://www.kronplatzevents.com/en/PROJEKT-Olang1-2/PRESS As they have already started construction finance will already be in place and the construction contracts will have been awarded, so it would probably cost more to stop construction than it will to carry on.

The same is true for the projects at Zermatt, construction of the 3S lift from Klein Matterhorn to Testa Grigia started last spring and has just resumed. Construction of the new Kumme gondola lift started last autumn.

Some projects that are not as advanced, such as the new Flying Mozart gondola lift at Snow Space Salzburg (Flachau, Wagrain und St. Johann) have been postponed.