J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

It has been announced that Jake Burton, founder of Burton snowboards, and the main driving force behind the growth of snowboarding over the past four decades has died suddenly at the age of 65.

Burton had been an early enthusiast for, and expert user of, a prototype snowboard called 'The Snurfer' which was invented in the mid-1960s.

However in 1977 he decided to begin producing his own boards, initially working out of his garage at his home in Vermont and producing 300 boards in the first year.

In the intervening decades snowboarding rapidly grew in popularity, to a large part thanks to Jake Burton's efforts to make the sport more accessible. His company became synonymous with snowboarding, encouraging more resorts to accept boarders and build terrain parks and half pipes, more shops to stock boards and eventually the IOC to allow snowboarding in the Olympics.

Burton Snowboards has been a global business for several decades now with over a thousand employees and is not only the biggest company still in snowboarding, but one of the biggest in the wintersports market, whilst still being privately owned by Jake and his wife Donna.

A statement on his company's social media says,

"It is with a very heavy heart that we share that Burton founder Jake Burton Carpenter passed away peacefully last night surrounded by his family and loved ones as a result of complications from recurring cancer. He was our founder, the soul of snowboarding, the one who gave us the sport we all love so much. #RideonJake"

Jake Burton had been diagnosed with cancer in 2011 but had been given the all clear, however about a fortnight ago he wrote to employees to tell them his cancer had returned.

Burton are asking that in lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the The Chill Foundation - https://www.chill.org/support-chill

Conditions are looking good in the French Pyrenees for the start of the 2019-20 ski season where several areas have already opened early and more are set to join them this weekend.

Resorts in the region frequently see better snow depths than those in the French Alps and Autumn 2019 is so far shaping up well as this image yesterday from La Mongie in the Grand Tourmalet ski area illustrates. It's due to open the weekend after next on 30th November.

Several ski areas in the region have opened early for the season (ahead of the big opening by Val Thorens this weekend, which likes to say it's the 'First in France' to open although in fact will be about the sixth this year). The openings follow heavy snowfall in the region earlier this month.

Cauterets, which will open its Le Cirque du Lys terrain this weekend, a month ahead of schedule, is currently posting the deepest base in the country, with 140cm lying on its lower slopes, 180cm up top – ahead of Tignes which has a 160cm upper slope base on its glacier.

Porte Puymorens and Val d'Azun have already opened terrain.

The big snowfalls in the Alps over the first half of November has led to two resorts now posting three/metre/10 feet base depths already.

The Presena glacier area at Passo Tonale in Trentino, Italy as well as Austria's highest slope at the Pitztal glacier are both reporting three metres of snow lying on their upper slopes.

The stats follow several weeks of often exceptionally heavy snowfall which for some glaciers has now passed more than 2.5 metres since the start of the month. Indeed Cervinia in Italy say they have had 2.4 metres (8 feet) of snowfall on their higher slopes in the past seven days alone. The Stubai glacier in Austria is pictured top.

The snowfall, believed to be unprecedented for this early in the season, indeed before the start of the season for many areas, has led to deep powder conditions and in some areas high avalanche danger already, in large parts of the Alps.

Saas Fee has already opened 1,800 metres of skiable vertical from top to bottom with their 9km Valley Run open.

The heavy snow has arrived after a fairly dry September and October however, a great relief to glaciers which had had very thin bases at the end of October before it arrived.

Although the snowfall has been heaviest in Austria, Italy and parts of Switzerland, areas further west have seen some good snowfalls too. There have also been generally low to very low (double digits below freezing) temperatures to allow snowmaking systems to operate at capacity.

It is therefore currently looking good fore the start of the season at most areas, including at Val Thorens, which is due to open this weekend.

Snowfall is expected to continue, although not be so heavy as it has been, over the remainder of the month.

Sölden in Austria will open another flash new gondola this winter.

The former Rotkoglbahn lift in Hochsolden has been replaced by a new, modern 10-seater gondola.

The top station of this new gondola will move to the same altitude as the Giggijock restaurant, and the piste down (from the top) will be widened to improve the former bottleneck.

This new gondola will also offer a comfortable, and safe, way of reaching the nursery slopes.

In addition a new 7.2 kilometre long toboggan route is opening from the Gaislachkogel mid-station at 2,174 metres with the run down to Sölden at 1,377 metres. The run will be floodlit every Wednesday.

The latest spate of heavy snowfall in the Alps has led to reports of up to 90cm (three feet) of snow at some areas in the past 24 hours.

Once again the snowfall has been heaviest in the Central and Eastern Alps and Dolomites but there's been plenty of snow across the whole region, with Tignes, further west, posting 30cm of fresh snow since yesterday.

The biggest accumulations have been on the Swiss/Italian border with Cervinia reporting 90cm of snow, Zermatt 70cm, since yesterday.

This latest heavy snowfall comes on top of big snowfalls already over the first two weeks of November and more snow is forecast over the coming week, with the next big accumulations of 30-60cm expected on Sunday.

The snow is causing issues with roads closed and some ski centres that had already opened for the season closing for the day whilst the weather blows through.

Nevis Range ski area near Fort William and Britain's highest mountain Ben Nevis in Scotland has announced it will celebrate its 30th birthday by resetting lift ticket prices back to what they were on opening day in 1989.

The country's youngest ski centre and the only one to operate a gondola lift to access its slopes will be charging £12.50 for a day's lift pass for adults and £8.50 for kids, the price they were 30 years ago, on Saturday 21st December, however you do need to book these in advance online.

After the slopes close an evening of celebrations is planned including guest speakers and Nevis Range founders Ian Sykes and Ian Sutherland who will share their memories from the last 30 years.

This will be followed by live music from local bands and there will be a free shuttle bus back to Fort William afterwards.

Currently conditions are looking good in Scotland after a fortnight of mostly sub-zero temperatures with frequent snow showers, unusually consistent for a 21st century autumn in the Highlands.

Pictured above is Nevis Range yesterday.

The ski season never really stops completely in Scandinavia thanks to three Norwegian Summer ski areas bridging the gap between mid-spring and mid-autumn when most of the region's 500 or so ski areas are closed.

Then the 19-20 ski season got underway in early October at Ruka in Finland which uses snowfarming of last season's snow, stockpiled and stored through summer, in order to be the first in Europe without a glacier to open for the season.

In the pasty six weeks about a dozen more small to medium sized centres have opened in Norway, Finland and Sweden and the last of the summer ski areas has ended their 2019 season.

But this weekend Scandinavia's biggest resort, Åre in Sweden will open, along with nearby Vemdalen and two of Norway's biggest resorts Hemsedal and Trysil. They are all owned by the SkiStar group and another big resort of theirs, Sälen in Sweden, will open a week later on the 22nd.

For the first time ever, the gondola will open in Åre at 8am on Friday November 15, with skiing in the high area available from the very start of the season. Optimal snowmaking conditions, snowfall and the investment made to Åre's snowmaking system ahead of last February's FIS Alpine World Ski Championships means the upper downhill race will be on offer to skiers eager to get out on the slopes.

"We have had optimal conditions to allow us to open," says Niclas Sjögren Berg, Resort Manager at SkiStar Åre. "Winter and the ski season are here in Åre and we look forward to 170 days of skiing."

In Hemsedal, the season will begin with a sneak preview and free skiing this weekend before completely opening on Friday, 22 November.

Hochfugen :)