J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

British snowboard star Katie Ormerod took third place in today's Slopestyle finals at the 2020 Laax Open in Switzerland.

It was Ormerod's first competition since returning from injury and she had already posted online that she was "Super happy to qualify into Friday's finals …Thanks Laax for creating such an epic and fun course!"

Julia Marino from the US won the competition with Japan's Reira Iwabuchi taking second place.

Marino had set the bar high with an incredible first run including a Backside 900 Melon, a Cab Double Underflip Mute and a Frontside 720 Mute on the kicker line which earned her 81,30 points. None of the other finalists was able to get close to her score.

"The weather played along another day putting smiles on all faces while witnessing today's Snowboard action in the innovative course for the highly anticipated Slopestyle finals in LAAX," a Laax spokesperson commented.

Hopes are currently high that after four weeks with little or no fresh snowfall in most European ski areas, this weekend will bring a change in the weather with 20-40cm of snow widely forecast across the continent.

However one part of Europe has been seeing snow over the past month and the last seven days have seen totals falling increase, with one resort now posting 127cm (over four feet) of fresh snow in the past seven days, including 80cm in the past 72 hours, 30cm in the last 24.

Myrkdalen ski area by Voss in coastal Western-Norway is the resort, and Voss's other ski area, Voss Resort, has the second biggest number with 85cm (nearly three feet) of snow in the past week. A third Western-Norway resort, Roldal, reports 80cm.

These three have had more than twice as much as their nearest competitors for snowfall this week – all of the top 10 in Europe of which are in Norway and include international resorts like Geilo, Trysil, Hemsedal and Beitostolen with 15-35cm each.

Marmot Basin ski area near Jasper in Alberta, Canada, has been closed for several days this week as it is too cold to operate safely.

The resort reported temperatures as low as -35 degrees this week and expects these lows to continue until the weekend when it's expected to warm up.

The picture above of a cup of water being thrown in to the air and freezing immediately was taken there today.

It's not wholly unusual for ski area in North America, usually away from the coast, to close down occasionally due to extreme cold, which makes it more likely machinery will stop operating as well as potentially being dangerous to be outdoors in.

Canada is having a ski season of extremes so far with warm temperatures at the end of 2019 meaning there was very littler snow cover in Quebec to the East or on the Pacific Coast on BC in the West. Quebec has also suffered from freezing rain which can coat equipment like lifts and snow cannons with ice.

Over the past few weeks however it has got colder and there have been big snowfalls on the Pacific Coast and the picture is also improving more gradually in the East.

Whistler Blackcomb, which has North America's biggest area, was only able to open a small amount of its terrain in the run up to Christmas but now has about two thirds of it runs open and a base depth approaching two metres on upper slopes.

Scottish mountains are white once more after an alarmingly warm, wet and windy month which saw the five Highland ski centres rely on their special all-weather snowmaking systems to create limited snow-covered terrain, mostly for beginners, on what would have otherwise been bare grass and heather.

The past 72 hours has seen plenty of snow hill falling however and several centres have said they hope to be able to be able to open more terrain from Friday, so long as the snow keeps falling and not too much of it gets blown back off the slopes.

The issue they're currently facing is gale force winds, gusting at up to 75mph, which has been closing them on and off this week, with Glencoe, Cairngorm and Nevis Range all closed today. Further east Glenshee and The Lecht are open with the winds less strong, although so far they do not appear to have had so much snowfall as the more westerly areas.

Both Glencoe and Cairngorm have noted snow build-up mid-mountain with each saying upper slopes have been 'scoured' by the gales.

"No let up in this run of high Southerly winds and more heavy snow showers are forecast over the next few days. We are starting to get drift build up, along the fence lines, but a lot of the upper mountain is quite scoured," a statement from Cairngorm (pictured above this morning) said yesterday.

A US ski resort in Washington state in the Northwest of the country has posted a deeper snowbase than any ski area in Europe for the first time this season - although its published stat has since dropped back slightly.

Ski resorts in the Alps got off to a snowy start to winter 2019-20 in the Autumn with base depths reaching 4 metres on the Presena Glacier in Italy in early December and then Andermatt in Switzerland posted a 4.2 metre base just before Christmas following ongoing snowfall in the Alps.

However since Christmas Eve there has been very little snowfall in Western Europe and the base depth growth has stalled and in some areas dropped back. Andermatt now reports its uppers lope base depth down to 3.9 metres although Presena is sticking to the 4 metre figure it has posted for the past 7 weeks.

By contrast western North America had modest snowfall I the Autumn (after early heavy falls in Colorado in October) and the pacific Northwest of the continent, including the region where Whistler Blackcomb and Mt Baker, the resort that on average posts the greatest snowfall in the world each winter, had very little autumn snowfall, instead it was warm and wet.

That has all changed since Christmas and particularly since New year without 3 metres (10 feet) of snow reported over the past fortnight by some ski areas in the region.

This resulted in Alpental in Washington State (pictured above yesterday) posting a 412cm base yesterday (Sunday 12th January), overtaking the deepest bases in the Alps, although it has since reduced its total claimed to 389cm, back below Presena and Andermatt. However Mt Baker is now on 399cm after 61cm in the past 24 hours.

More snowfall, if not so heavy, is currently forecast over the next few days in the Pacific Northwest. There's still not much forecast in the Alps for a fourth week …although there are early signs of a potential significant snowfall in Switzerland next weekend.

Ski areas in the Pyrenees are celebrating following fresh snowfall across the region.

Ski areas have posted 5-20cm accumulations in the past 24 hours – for many, the first significant fresh snowfalls since before Christmas.

Despite the lack of snow for three weeks though until today, conditions on pistes have been generally excellent in the region, thanks to decent bases built up from snowfalls earlier in the autumn.

Baqueira Beret on the Spanish side of the mountains (pictured above today), reported 8-10cm of fresh snow this morning.

It has a 60-130cm base, 100 runs open adding up to 147km and 33 ski lifts running – that's almost everything.

It's a similar story at Vallnord (Pal Arinsal) and Grandvalira (Soldeu Pass de la Casa) in Andorra.

The avalanche risk in the region remains relatively low at 2 on the scale to 5.

Rock band The Stranglers have signed up to play a free concert in the huge Portes du Soleil region which straddles the French-Swiss border with 600km of slopes.

The band, who have been touring for 45 years and retain two members of the original line up, will play above Morgins on the Swiss side of the ski area as part of the annual Rock the Pistes music festival in the region.

The festival, back for its 10th year in 2020, has major acts playing afternoon concerts on the slopes which are free to attend, you just need a lift pass to get to them. Gigs are at different venues each day and fans can ski to the locations from wherever they are based.

In addition to the mountain gigs through the week, around 30 more concerts are performed in the evenings in the areas 10 or so base villages, which include Avoriaz, Chatel, Les Gets, Morzine and Champery on the Swiss-side.

More than 28,000 music fans are expected to attend this year's Rock The Pistes from 15-21 March 2020. The Stranglers, whose hits include No more heroes, Peaches, Hanging Around, Grip, Always The Sun, Golden Brown and Strange Little Girl have been confirmed to play at Morgins at 1.30pm on 21 March.

A 92-year-old has taken to the ski slopes for the first time thanks to the efforts of the care home where he lives, and indoor snow centre Snozone in Milton Keynes.

Robert Trulocke, a resident at Care UK's Millers Grange in Witney, had always wanted to go skiing, describing it as a "boyhood ambition" but thought he'd missed his chance.

However staff at Millers Grange encouraged him to pursue his dream as part of their 'Wishing Tree' initiative which encourages residents not to give up on any ambitions, and even to try something completely new.

Having always been adventurous, Bob and his wife, Renee, went on a camping trip to Switzerland in their youth. They drove the 700-mile trip in a Mini, and stayed on the edge of a beautiful lake, in a tent that was bigger than the car. The closest Bob came to going skiing was when they decided to go up in ski lift at a nearby slope, but because it was summer, they could not ski.

Working with Snozone, the Millers Grange team arranged for Bob to use an accessible ski, where he was in a sitting position, allowing him to have more stability on the slope.

"It was fantastic to finally get to ski, especially as I'd given up trying to make it happen myself. I wanted to thank everyone who made it possible, particularly the team at Snozone and my friends at Millers Grange who arranged everything. I had a wonderful day that I will never forget," said Bob, adding,

"My favourite part was being able to do the Slalom, weaving in and out, and whizzing down the slope – it made me feel alive. Age doesn't have to hold you back from your dreams, and I hope I proved that today."

Image credits: www.careuk.com/millers-grange