J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

The Local, an English-language French website, is warning of strike action by seasonal workers in leading French ski resorts during the February half-term holidays which could mean "possible disruption" on the slopes.

The website reports that the strike has been called by the CGT union over French government proposals to change the country's unemployment system which the union says will make seasonal workers much worse off.

It's a different issue to the strikes in December and January that particularly impacted the French transport network and was a reaction to changes in pension rights in the country.

The strike is set for Saturday, February 15th, which is in the mid-way point of the four weeks of regional French school holidays and the start of the main week for British schools.

The main actions are expected to be the withdrawal of labour by lift operators at many leading ski resorts across France. As yet it's unclear how extensive lift closures will be.

Two major storm systems are currently beginning to impact ski areas on both sides of North America bringing expectations of some big snow accumulations over the next 48-72 hours.

The first of these have been reported in Colorado and Utah this morning (there), with ski areas reporting 20-50cm of snowfall since yesterday (8-20 inches).

Among the biggest winners were Breckenridge in Colorado (pictured above) and Snowbird in Utah, both reporting 48cm (19 inches), with Steamboat and Copper mountain both posting more than a foot (30cm) of powder too.

The snowfall has also continued up in Wyoming where several resorts, including Jackson Hole, reported their snowiest ever Januaries.

Jackson Hole reported 45cm (18 inches) more snow since yesterday.

Ski areas in BC, Canada and Washington State, USA, in North America's Pacific Northwest region, continue to get the heaviest snowfall, although they've also had periods of rain in recent weeks.

They have the continent's deepest current bases at up to 428cm, however Andermatt in the Swiss Alps has re-taken top spot for global snow depth in recent days with a 430cm base following 80cm of snowfall earlier this week.

A new cinema film starring Will Ferrell and based round a family ski holiday in the Alps is set for general release later this month.

The Hollywood movie, 'Downhill', a remake of the 2014 Swedish film 'Force Majeure', centres on an incident on the ski holiday when it appears the family of four are about to be engulfed by an avalanche.

At this point the husband and father of two, played by Ferrell, decides on save himself and abandon his family. The avalanche turns out to not be dangerous after all, the family survive, and the remainder of the film focuses on the aftermath of the split-second decision by Ferrell's character.

His wife, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, is then the focus - what should she do faced with how her husband reacted, what that means about their marriage, their family and how she feels about him?

The film, described as a black comedy by its promoters, is reported to have been shot in the Austrian resorts of Fiss and Ischgl, with lots of skiing done by the actors themselves.

It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City Utah last week and is released worldwide on 28th February.

The deepest snow lying in Europe has finally started to climb above the deepest level reported in December after two successive snow storms over the last 10 days deposited up to 2 metres of snow in the Alps.

At the same time the deepest snow in North America (and the world) has gone past the 5 metre mark for the first time.

In the Alps bases reached the 4 metre mark by mid-December at ski areas in Italy and Switzerland after some good pre-season snowfalls in November and early December.

However then snowfall stalled and the sun shone for most of January seeing levels gradually drop by up to 60cm (two feet) through the month, although for most destination areas there has still be plenty of snow lying for them to stay fully open.

The recent snow storms have finally hanged things however and Andermatt in Switzerland is reporting a 4.3 metre base, the deepest in Europe so far this season, after an 80cm accumulation over the past 48 hours there.

It has been a similar trend in North America with ski areas in the Pacific Northwest region repeatedly climbing up above 4 metre base depths with heavy snow there over the past five weeks, but then dropping back below 400cm time after time as warm fronts bringing rain and thawing temperatures pass through.

However Mt. Hood Meadows in Oregon (pictured top yesterday) increased its claimed snow depth to 231cm - 516cm in the past few days, the first in the world to go past the 5m base depth mark this season.

The latest heavy snowfall has moved in to much of Europe, with between 1 and 3 feet (30-90cm) expected to fall across much of the alps and the Eastern Tatras by the end of Thursday.

However, the snow is arriving accompanied by very strong winds leading to a repeat of last week's widespread closure of many resorts, with those that are staying open generally only having limited low-level slopes open, due to the blizzard conditions.

So far the heaviest snowfall has been reported in Austria, Southern Germany (Bavaria), the Czech and Slovak Republics and parts of Switzerland.

The Dolomites, Pyrenees and Southern Alps are not, on the whole, seeing much of the snowstorm.

Switzerland's Lotschental region is claiming the most snow in the last 24 hours (33cm) and indeed by far the most snow in the last last 7 days – a total of 2 metres (6.7 feet) they claim.

This is from adding last week's snowfall, with this weeks and saying that precipitation over the weekend, which fell as rain at many areas due to a sudden temperature rise, fell as snow with them, as it did with a few, mostly high altitude areas – giving almost a week of near-constant heavy snowfall.

Elsewhere Kappl in Austria reports 30cm (a foot) of snow in the last 24 hours, Tatranska Lomnica in Slovakia 25cm and Valfrejus in France 20cm – but many other areas have reported similar falls and the snowstorm is expected to continue and intensify in most areas over the next 48 hours.

(NB: Image taken last week after the previous round of snowstorms).

Another period of heavy snowfall is expected in the Alps through the coming week.

The snow follows heavy snowfall last week with some ski areas in the Swiss Valais region reporting more than a metre of snow, although the weekend saw unseasonably warm temperatures in most areas and rain at quite high altitudes for some.

The heaviest snowfall will most likely be on Wednesday/Thursday in most places but light to moderate snowfall will get underway on Monday/Tuesday in many with temperatures now falling and heading towards double digits below freezing.

Forecasts are for 30-60cm (1-2 feet) of snow for most areas by Thursday although some may again see as much as a metre, with some of the biggest accumulations again forecast for Switzerland.

The snowfall is expected to be widespread and go beyond the boundaries of the Alps, bring significant accumulations to the Tatra Mountains of Slovakia and Poland also.

PS The pic is a bit incongruous with the story but it is taken at a Chinese ski area. Sorry I don't have any pictures of people looking sad at Chinese ski resorts...

China is reported to have closed down all of its 700+ ski areas in response to the Novel Coronavirus outbreak.

The country is in the process of becoming the world's largest ski nation with the country's president wanting at least 300 million Chinese to try wintersports by the time of the Beijing Winter Olympics in two years' time. If successful and if skiing that's more than twice the estimated number of skiers and boarders in the rest of the world combined.

Last year a report stated that there were now more than 700 ski areas in China, more than any other country, although most are as yet small, rudimentary affairs.

China's ski development plans suffered another blow this week due to the outbreak and continuing spread of the Novel Coronavirus as what were to have been the first test events for the 2022 Winter Olympics, as well as the first ever World Cup ski races in China, have been cancelled.

The International Ski Federation (FIS), the Chinese Ski Association and its Yanqing Local Organising Committee, jointly decided to cancel the upcoming men's Audi FIS World Cup races, a downhill and a super-G, scheduled for 15th-16th February 2020. They'll now be staged in Saalbach, Austria instead.

"It is with great regret that all of the stakeholders are obliged to take the difficult decision to cancel the World Cup races in Yanqing this season, as the historic first FIS Alpine Ski World Cup in China and the first official Beijing 2022 Test Event," said FIS President Gian Franco Kasper. "Although the risk level in Yanqing is low, the health and welfare of the athletes and all participants must take priority. It is also imperative that athletes can focus on their performance and particularly on the completely new and very challenging course."

The women's Audi FIS World Cup downhill and super-G, which will now serve as the Beijing 2022 Test Event will take place next season in March 2021 and efforts will be undertaken to schedule a test event for the men as well, the FIS say.