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A leisure development which will include the UK's new longest indoor snow slope has been given the green light by councillors at Merthyr Tydfil in Wales, despite council officials recommending the plans be rejected.

First announced more eight years ago, the £300m Rhydycar West development will see a 300 metre long indoor snow slope, more than 100m longer than any of the five existing UK indoor snows slopes, alongside an indoor water park and other leisure facilities along with hotels and holiday lodges.

After more than a year of studying the plans, Merthyr council officers had recommended their rejection due to concerns over its planned location, sustainability, scale, impact on the view and ecology.

However, at a planning committee meeting on Wednesday, councillors instead backed the project which its hoped will create over 800 jobs and inject an additional £38m into the local economy each year.

One councillor said the project was the biggest proposal for the area in decades and that he had received more representations of support for the plan than any other in the last two decades. In total the council received more than 420 letters in support of the application with 25 against it.

However, the Council's green light does not mean the development will definitely be built. The Welsh Government had already 'called in' the plans a year ago and they'll now go to the country's Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW) for their decision.

One of Scotland's five ski centres, The Lecht, has announced that its 24-25 ski season is over.

"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but after yesterday's heat the hill is looking beyond recovery. Therefore, the decision has been made to shut down the snow factory and bring the season to a regrettable end. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers for all their support over the season" a statement from the centre on Sunday informed. The centre posted the image above of their final day of 24-25 on Saturday.

With Nevis Range ski area also closed at present it means only three of the Scottish centres remain open, Cairngorm, Glencoe and Glenshee.

Warm weather over the past few weeks has unfortunately wiped out most of the natural snow cover but all three operate all-weather snowmaking machines which can make snow in plus temperatures so have small ski areas open. Even these weren't enough to enable Glenshee to continue operating at the weekend thoiugh and it was forced to close by the warm weather until the slopes could be patched up.

Glencoe Mountain Resort use their all-weather snowmaking machine primarily for a popular sledging slope and have a dry slope for beginner lessons, but say they plan to create a snow nursery slope too.

"Turning colder this week with a northerly wind and some snow flurries. We plan to keep making snow so sledging slope will remain in excellent condition and is open daily. With some cold settled weather on the way we will work to re-build the beginners ski and snowboard teaching area on the mountain," a statement from the centre explained.

Cairngorm's funicular railway re-opened providing access to some natural snow remaining at the top of the mountain over the past few weeks but that has also thawed in the warm temperatures. It remains to be seen if the current colder weather and snow forecast is enough to rebuild adequate natural snow for centres to re-open more terrain – springtime does sometimes see the heaviest snowfalls in the Highlands.

Nevis Range ski area near the UK's highest mountain, Ben Nevis and the west coast town of Fort William, is yet to open this season. The centre is the only one of the five not to have a functioning all-weather snowmaking system and has warned in recent years that, despite its best efforts to open when it can, the impact of climate change means that's increasingly rare. It managed a few days last season but hasn't had adequate natural snowfall this.

Snowbird ski area in Utah has posted the most snowfall in the world over the last seven days, clocking up 53 inches (that's 135cm/over 4 feet), rather more than forecast.

"I'm not telling you to call in sick, but I will say that a sometimes you have to prioritize your own self care. A couple Cirque laps never detracted from my mental wellbeing, just saying," the resort's snow reporter Maeve G advised skiers on Friday.

The snowfall has helped take Snowbird's snow depth above the 10 feet/3 metres mark, good news for the ski area which aims to stay open well into Spring, normally opening weekends through May.

Although Snowbird's snow total has topped accumulations in Utah, the Us, north America and the world this week, Japan continues to post the deepest snowpack in the world, although the rate of depth increased has slowed in recent weeks. However Tengendai Kogen Ski Area in Yamagata prefecture posted a 10cm base increase to 7.6 metres yesterday.

The troubled funicular railway at Cairngorm Mountain resort is set to return to service from 9am today after its latest closure of nearly two years. In fact it has operated for only 7 months in the past six years.

Scotland's only funicular railway has been out of action since August 2023, while an extensive programme of remediation works has been carried out, led by contractor Balfour Beatty on behalf of the public body Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) which controls the ski area.

They had hoped the funicular would be ready at the start of the season a few months ago, but final testing and concluding other safety-critical matters appears to have taken longer than hoped.

However there have been few periods this winter so far when here has been enough snow on Cairngorm for the funicular, which provides the only lift-access to the ski area's upper slopes and full vertical, would have been a help.

Until the funicular opened snow cover was inadequate for skiing other than in a small area at the base of the slope used for beginners and maintained with a TechnoAlpin all-weather snowmaking machine. However Cairngorm did report on Thursday afternoon that the Ptarmigan tow had opened at the top, accessed by the funicular.

"Nice, soft, granular snow on the upper runs. The team have been busy pushing snow out, with a good run down the Ptarmigan fence line to the Top Station and a direct line through the bowl. Some good snowsports available at the top of the mountain, with easy access to the top on the Funicular," a centre spokesperson said.

Tim Hurst, Interim CEO of the ski area's operators, said: "The Cairngorm Mountain team are overjoyed to be welcoming customers onto the funicular railway once more. Following confirmation from our parent company Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the railway will now be handed over to us to operate once more. "We recognise how critical the railway is, not only to our entire team here, but to all our customers and to the many businesses in the local, and regional area. We would like to thank all our visitors for their patience whilst remediation took place."

The 2km funicular railway will again run a regular service throughout the day, seven days a week, taking snowsports enthusiasts and sightseers from the base station to the Ptarmigan building at the top of the slopes in around 5 minutes.

It's unknown whether this will mark the end of nearly six-years of controversy for the funicular which was originally taken out of service due to "health and safety concerns" and "structural problems" according to reports in summer 2019. It reopened on 26 January 2023 but closed again seven months later on 25 August 2023, on fresh safety grounds.

With other lifts to the top of the ski slopes removed, when snow cover was adequate on the mountain experienced skiers had the option over the past few seasons of taking surface lifts, then a mid-mountain 15 minute hike carrying their skis to further drag lifts to access upper runs and the full vertical.

In addition to the structural works, the two funicular carriages have also had new undercarriage assemblies fitted by specialist Swiss company Garaventa, which also carried out routine inspection and maintenance on the trains earlier this month.

David Oxley, Director of Strategic Projects with HIE, said: "Clearly, it has taken longer than we had hoped to get to this position, but the return of the funicular is a watershed moment for Cairngorm Mountain and its many loyal visitors. Cairngorm Mountain plays an important role as a prime Scottish visitor attraction and a driver of economic activity at the heart of the local community. With the return of the funicular, people across a huge range of ages and abilities will again be able to experience this wonderful mountain environment not only in winter, but every season."

Construction of a new indoor snow centre for Australia, which looks set to be one of the world's largest, is about to begin, according to a January report in Sydney's edition of Time Out.

Winter Sports World was first announced in 2018 when it had a $200m AUD price tag, seven years later, having overcome the various planning and other practical issues and with its price tag having risen to $700m AUD according to the Time Out report, work to actually build it is due to get underway, with a target opening year of 2028.

It has also won approval from the region's leading politicians including New South Wales Premier Chris Minns who described the indoor snow centre as "Western Sydney's jewel in the crown of tourism attractions," saying it would draw visitors from "Australia and beyond."

Minister for Western Sydney Prue Car added: "It just blows my mind that in a few short years we're going to have this opportunity for our kids to enjoy something we could have never dreamt about in Penrith."
Located in Penrith in Sydney's Western suburbs, among its multiple attractions, Winter Sports World will offer a 300-metre ski run, a competition venue, climbing wall and a 170-room 4-star hotel. It will also be entirely green energy powered.

Construction work set to get underway by the end of June this year will initially involve the creation of a giant water tank in what will be the building's basement which will feed the snow making systems.

According to the new edition of the World Indoor Snow Centres Guide, Winter Sports World's slope length and snow area place it in the world top 10% for size of the nearly 200 centres that have now been built worldwide over the past four decades and in the top 5% if Chinese centres are excluded.

Australia has been closely tied to the development of indoor snow centres and indoor snow making since 1985 when Mr Alf Bucceri pioneered the first versions of indoor snow, leading to the establishment of the first three modern-era indoor snow centres in Australia, Belgium and Japan in the late 1980s. There are though currently no indoor snow centres operating in Australia.

The most successful ski racer of all time, America's Mikaela Shiffrin, has become the first person to record 100 Alpine Skiing World Cup wins.

Shiffrin won the slalom in Sestriere, Italy, today having returned to racing a few weeks ago after a two-month mid-season break due to an injury sustained racing in Killington, Vermont in December.

In her previous races after returning from injury Shiffrin had not looked comfortable on the slopes and talked about mental as well as physical challenges she was facing. She was only 25th racing in the GS at Sestriere on Friday and yesterday failed to qualify for the second run due to her first run speed for the first time since she was 16, 13 years ago.

Reflecting on her 100th win Shiffrin commented, "I don't know that it's possible to dream about a milestone like this. It's too big, it's too long, it takes too much," in a post-race interview

A ski area in Japan is posting a 7 metre plus snow depth after more heavy snowfall in the country this week.

Tengendai Kogen Ski Area in Yonezawa City in the Yamagata prefecture is currently posting a 710cm base on its upper slopes, following more than 50cm of snowfall over the past few days and more than three metres (10 feet) in February so far.

It's one of five Japanese ski areas posing more than six metres (20 feet) of snow lying, with Hakuba Valley's Happo One (pictured above today) in second-place on 6.5 metres.

It's the first time for several years that any ski area in the world has posted more than a six-metre base. Japanese ski areas are also posting around double the deepest snow reported anywhere in Europe or North America.

More heavy snowfall is forecast in Japan over the coming week.

In a further sign that Scandinavian nations are taking the attempt to switch to a zero carbon economy as fast as possible when other countries roll back on earlier commitments, one of Norway's largest ski resorts has added a further 70 electric car charging points to its base car parks.

Hemsedal, run by Scandinavia's largest ski area operator SkiStar, has added the 70 charging points in a partnership; deal with BMW Norway. They're located in its P4 and P5 Base parking lots.

Norway is a global leader in the switch to electric cars with 89% of vehicles sold in 2024 there electric vehicles. The aim is for that to reach 100% this year.

The country has invested heavily in public transport, a national network of electric vehicle charging points, with nearly 10,000 fast chargers installed so far, and offered both big financial incentives on buying electric vehicles to customers and heavy taxes on petrol and diesel vehicles.

"Electric cars are cool! They are silent and don't create noxious fumes," said a Visit Norway spokesperson.