Messages posted by : J2SkiNews
A huge storm system that is the first of this autumn to be given it's own name has started to bring forecast heavy snow to the Alps. Christened Amelie and with its heart moving up the west coast of Europe, it's expected to bring 50-150cm of snow to the Alps over the next few days, with some areas potentially seeing more if the most optimistic forecasts prove correct. About 15 resorts are already open for winter 19-20 in the Alps but most have thin cover and limited terrain open so will welcome the new snow. For all the others, so long as temperatures stay low, it will help to start building pre-opening bases. There have been two or three moderate snowstorms over the past few months that have brought some snow to high slopes in the Alps, but none too significant so far. Val Thorens, which is due to open in just under three weeks' time was one of the first to post images of new snow overnight at 7am this morning. J2Ski's weather predicting tools are forecasting it may receive between 70cm and 1.5m of snow by next Thursday, most of it over the coming 72 hours. https://www.j2ski.com/snow_forecast/France/ The snowfall will arrive driven in on strong winds so it's likely glacier ski areas that are open at present will temporarily close whilst the storm blows through. |
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Courchevel in the 3 Valleys has been investing in new facilities for all abilities ahead of the coming winter and expert skiers have not been forgotten! Les Creux Noirs has a reputation as one of the most "hard core" zones in Les 3 Vallées, with one black and two red runs. With a world-wide reputation for off-piste skiing, the area has been upgraded for winter 2019-20, adding a pure "Freeride" dimension: This includes a new 350-metre long button lift for quicker, easier access to the top of the terrain with the old chairlift taken down. There's also a whole new run down from the Col du Pas du Lac. And underlining it all Courchevel's lift company has announced its commitment to make the three runs as safe as possible, whilst leaving them ungroomed so that freeriders can make the most of the powder snow. |
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Although the 15 or so glacier ski areas that are already open for winter 19-20 in the Alps are currently reporting a perfect sunny day on their slopes, big changes are afoot with a major low pressure system set to bring some big snowfalls to the Alps this week-end. There was some snow down to lower elevations earlier this week, particularly in Austria at resorts like Filzmoos (pictured) but the snow coming from tomorrow looks much more significant. Most resorts are expecting a dump of at least 50cm, followed by sub-zero temperatures down to about 1600m. Some may get considerably more. Along with providing a good top up top some fairly marginal cover at present at some of the already-open glacier areas this will hopefully help form the all-important base for many other areas. Resorts like Val Thorens, scheduled to open in three weeks' time, need low temperatures for snowmaking as well as natural snowfall to ensure there's no postponement needed this year. The snow may also provide the cover needed for three Swiss resorts that had hoped to open, at weekends at least in some cases, but have so far delayed due to inadequate snow cover: Andermatt, Laax and Verbier. |
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Lidl's range of low price ski gear will be piled high in their UK stores on Sunday, 10th November, but probably won't be there long. The store has advised J2Ski that the full range of nearly 30 items for men and women, adults and children, will range in price from £1.99 for hand warmers to a high of £19.99 for adult ski jackets.
The range, listed in full below, includes base layers (from £7.99) with breathable DryAct™ technology for him and her and base layer sets (from £6.99) in eye-catching geometric and ombré designs for the kids too. The adult ski jackets (£19.99) and ski trousers (£17.99) are available in three classic colour combinations. Made from a breathable, windproof and waterproof fabric, the garments feature high-quality design elements including a removable hood, headphone outlet and even a handy pocket for a lift pass. Kids' ski jackets (from £11.99) also incorporate a snow guard and reflective details. Lidl reckon they can kit out a family of four (with the children aged under five) for £99.94 based on buying men's and women's jackets and ski trousers for just under £76 and adding infant boys and girls ski jackets. But at J2ski we reckon a bit more clothing would probably be needed… Full product list: Ladies' Ski Trousers £17.99 Ladies' Functional Ski Jacket £19.99 Men's Ski Trousers £17.99 Men's Functional Ski Jacket £19.99 Ladies' Ski Top (Mid-layer) £6.99 Men's Ski Top (Mid-layer) £6.99 Ladies' Ski Gloves £5.99 Men's Ski Gloves £5.99 Ladies' Seamless Ski Base Layer Trousers £7.99 Ladies' Seamless Ski Base Layer Top £9.99 Men's Seamless Ski Base Layer Trousers £7.99 Men's Seamless Ski Base Layer Top £9.99 Ladies' Power Stretch Jacket £9.99 Men's Power Stretch Jacket £9.99 Adults' Knitted Hat £4.99 Ladies' Thermal Sports Socks £2.99 Men's Thermal Sports Socks £2.99 Girls' Ski Jacket £14.99 Boys' Ski Jacket £14.99 Infant Girls' Ski Jacket £11.99 Infant Boys' Ski Jacket £11.99 Girls' Base Layer Set £6.99 Boys' Base Layer Set £6.99 Adult Snow Boots £16.99 Adult Winter Boots £16.99 Hand Warmers £1.99  |
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At least three more ski areas (the number is growing by the day) will open early for the 2019-20 season this weekend, taking the total available in the state to at least six. Monarch is the latest ski area to announce it will open, three weeks earlier than its scheduled date, saying that it has a 50cm (20 inch) settled base. It joins last year's first-in-North America-to-open Wolf Creek and Eldora in opening this weekend. Arapahoe Basin and Keystone (pictured top) were the first in North America to open for the season a fortnight ago and Loveland opened last weekend. The early openings come after parts of the state reported record October snowfalls. Steamboat, which won't open until later in November, says it has had around 1.5 metres (five feet) of snow in October, a record by some distance, and even state capital Denver has seen its most October snowfall for nearly two decades. The latest falls over the past 48 hours have brought another foot (30cm) of snow to the Rocky mountains. Only Austria's Tirol region has more areas open than Colorado and six areas open will be more than half the total for North America. By contrast it has been a warm October on the east coast of North America delaying usual October openings there but some centres are hoping to open this weekend after a temporary dip in temperatures allowed snowmaking guns to fire up. |
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Banff's local ski hill, Mt Norquay, has confirmed that it will open for the season this Friday, November 1st. The resort will be running it's Cascade chairlift to allow skiers and riders to carve their first turns of 'winter' 2019-20. Banff's other two ski areas, Sunshine and Lake Louise, have both confirmed they'll be opening a week later, on Saturday the 8th. All three areas operate some of the longest ski seasons in the world, all open for more than six months through to the following May. Lake Louise is also the traditional starting point for the speed skiing events in the annual FIS World Cup Tour with downhill races staged only a few weeks after the resort opens, in late November. Canada's 2019-20 ski season started last Saturday with a 'preview weekend' at Nakiska ski area, also in Alberta. It will re-open for a second preview weekend this Saturday/Sunday November 2nd/3rd. The resorts have all seen some good October snowfalls, as pictured at Sunshine (top) and Lake Louise (below) yesterday.  |
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Japan has become the latest ski nation to start it's 2019-20 season (and indeed the first we've heard of in Asia at J2Ski) with Fujiyama Snow Resort Yeti, located in the country's Shizuoka Prefecture, opening on Friday. It's the 21st straight year that the resort has opened first in the country, although this year a little later than 2018, when the opening was the weekend before, on the 20th. The resort is reported to use crushed-ice type snowmaking machines, now increasingly popular under the TechnoAlpin SnowFactory brand, to manufacturer crushed ice within refrigerated containers, then spread it out on the slopes ready made through hoses. In this way a base could be made even though the temperature on the slopes was around +8C As has become traditional, skiers and boarders arriving on opening day in full costumes, could ski or board for free, so there were reported to be quite a lot of Pokemon on the slopes as around 200 people took advantage of the offer and made the effort to dress up. There are more than 500 ski areas in Japan with the main season knocking off at many of the big name resorts in about a month's time in late November. 
This year Japanese skiing is 'closer' to UK-based skiers thanks to the Finns! Finnair is launching a new direct flight route from London to Sapporo via Helsinki and will be operating twice weekly from 15 December 2019 until 27 March 2020. Previously powder hounds have had to change in Tokyo before flying north on to Hokkaido Island where many of the country's best known resorts, including Niseko, are located. This new route will cut costs, as well as travel times by at least two hours. Fujiyama Snow Resort Yeti is one of the two ski areas located on the slopes of Mount Fuji, with an altitude range between 1,300 to 1,450 metres above sea-level. The crushed-ice piste is reported to be around a kilometre long.  |
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Les 2 Alpes has quietly dropped plans to open its glacier for snowsports over the next two weekends and the week in between. The ski resort in the southern French Alps has traditionally opened for nine days as a pre-season opener with ski tests and events for over 20 years, but in recent years has repeatedly cancelled the event due to inadequate snow cover on the glacier. This year, rather than cancel the opening, the resort had played-down the chances of the skiing opening in October from the start, although it was hoped it would happen, but instead there has been a switch in emphasis from snowsport to mountain biking, "The resort will be open from the 26 October to the 3rd November, it means that the shops, restaurants, hotels are going to be open and guests can enjoy the mountain biking slopes and trails and hikes," a resort spokesperson told J2Ski.com, adding that they had decided not to open the glacier in order to preserve it. Tignes opened the French ski season on Saturday although it opened three weeks later than planned. It is unclear if Les 2 Alpes will continue to aim to open the glacier in October in future years now, despite the repeated failure to do so in recent years, or shelve the skiing part of the event moving forward. |
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