J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

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.

Skiers in Morzine in the Franco-Swiss Portes du Soleil region have the unusual opportunity to discover not what's just under the snow but what's under the mountains they're skiing on.

Cavers can access intricate tunnel systems that have been naturally formed by the rock over time and Mégevette and La Balme offer a multitude of caves to explore.

The Evolution2 ski school can organise tours according to your level, from complete caving beginners, with a French state-certified instructor guiding participants of all ages safely through the rock formations.

The tours combine scientific, sporting and environmental aspects whilst introducing participants to a unique and fantastic mineral world, Evolution 2 say, adding,

"Immerse yourself, in the heart of the Alps, in another universe, silent and mysterious."

A half day caving experience is priced from €60 / £50.75pp.

A major storm system has dumped over a metre of snowfall in 36 hours on Californian ski slopes.

Ski areas around the Lake Tahoe region and down as far south as Mammoth Mountain are celebrating what has been the biggest storm of the season to date.

"We received 42" overnight, putting our 48-hour storm total at 4 ½ feet (135cm)!" a spokesperson for Mt rose ski area commented, adding, "With sunshine on the way and prime snow conditions, this weekend is shaping up to be spectacular!"

The short, intense weather system off the Pacific followed a week long 'atmospheric river' event from the west that had ended five days before. It was forecast to deliver up to four metres of snow but in the end delivered a lot of rain along with gale force winds, but very little snowfall.

This latest system also brough strong winds and initially rain at lower elevations, but this time that quickly turned to snowfall.

Although California has seen the most snowfall in the past few days there's been a lot of snowfall across the US. Ski areas in Colorado have posted up to three feet (90cm) of snowfall this week and some in Utah, including Alta and Brighton, up to 20" (50cm) in the last 24 hours.

A new survey carried out on behalf of travel debit card provider Currensea has tried to find out about skier attitude to their holiday cost.

The research asked 2,000 UK adults "weighted to be nationally representative" about their attitudes, but only 141 (7%) of respondents said they had been on a ski or snowboarding trip in the last five years or were planning one in the next 12 months.

Of those, 50% of skiers and snowboarders said going on a trip is so important they'll make sure they can go, no matter the cost, with 16% prioritising ski trips over other types of holidays – rising to 29% of 18-34 year-olds.

In addition 48% of those going on ski trips said they were likely to try to cut spending when they're away with 34% saying they'd been caught out by unexpected costs on a ski trip, such as specialist winter sports insurance or tourist taxes. Six in ten are planning a shorter trip (60%) or will go to a more affordable destination (61%), whilst 72% plan to reduce spending on après-ski.

With most now using contactless card payments, 47% said they'd been caught out not always having signal up the mountain to top up cards or transfer funds.

Skier Oliver Kern has set a new world record by riding 101 different ski lifts in a single day.

Kern, who runs the website skiResort.info and already holds multiple skiing world records, chose the resort of Sälen in Sweden, which runs 104 lifts across four of its ski areas, for his record attempt on Tuesday. Sälen also has more than 12 hours of operating from 7.30 am to approximately 7 pm giving the maximum time to ski all the lifts …with some careful planning.

Originally aiming to beat a recently recorded record of 80 lifts in a day skied in the KitzSki and SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser – Brixental areas of Austria less than a fortnight ago, Kern passed that total with ease and carried on to make 101 lifts before the skiing day ended.

Oliver Kern originally set the world record for most lifts skied in a day back in 2007 and is no stranger to subsequently regaining the title. On 8th December 2007, he skied 52 different ski lifts in one day in the SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser-Brixental.

That record was broken in February 2008 by another skier leading Kern to take it back on 27th January 2009 and skied 70 different ski lifts in one day. That record lasted for 16 years until last month 2025 and now Oliver has it back once more.

Definitely not wanting to appear negative on this research, but I saw some Ski Club of GB research a year or so back saying interest in going on ski holidays by train was huge, but at the end of last season they published more research seeing the numbers actually doing it remained small (might even have gone down). Hopefully all the positivity on train travel and effort by ski travel companies will translate into someone publishing a report showing numbers actually booking ski holidays by rail are going up. Or maybe they already have and I missed it?

Legendary freeskier Glenn Plake, famed for four decades for his signature colourful Mohican hair style, has issued a fill-in-yourself sick note, below, for use by any skier or boarder wishing to report in ill to work so they can sneak out to grab some powder.

Possible illnesses on the note include 'Powder Fever', 'Snow powder Dependency', 'Ski Somnia', 'Mountain Withdrawal' and the highly infectious OCSD (Obsessive Compulsive Skiing Disorder).

Plake, who turned 60 last year, is a US National Ski Hall of Fame skier. He grew up in Lake Tahoe, skiing Heavenly Valley and is known for his appearances in ski films such as Greg Stump's The Blizzard of Aahhhs. Plake has been named a pioneer of extreme skiing in America by ESPN, is a three-time World Freestyle Ski champion and in 2003, Plake was awarded a Ski Club of Great Britain Centenary Medal in recognition of his outstanding contribution and influence upon snowsports.

The 'sick note' idea is a joint promotion with his long-time sponsor, Elan skis.

The Invictus Games 2025, the first to include a winter sports element, are underway in Canada.

Running to February 16, 2025 the 2025 Games are being staged in Vancouver and Whistler Blackcomb and have brought together around 550 competitors who are wounded, injured and sick military service personnel, both serving and veterans, from 25 nations, competing in adaptive sports.

The newly included winter sports include Alpine Skiing and Snowboard, Nordic Skiing, Biathlon, Skeleton and Wheelchair Curling.

Existing Invictus Games contests including Indoor Rowing, Sitting Volleyball, Swimming, Wheelchair Rugby and Wheelchair Basketball are also being staged.

Athletes representing Team UK staged their final UK-based training camp, hosted by the Royal British Legion and the Ministry of Defence, at the Tamworth Snowdome before flying out to Canada.

"Winter sports is going to bring a huge dynamic change to the Invictus Games where we are going to get to experience snow sports which has a huge impact on mental health, it has a huge impact on rehabilitation and recovery as a whole," Steve Hooper, Invictus Games athlete and Captain of Team UK told BFBS Forces News, adding that the inclusion of winter sports in the games will have a "huge impact" on athletes and their journeys to recovery and rehabilitation.

"This is an absolutely fantastic opportunity for us to go out and represent Team UK whilst on our recovery journeys."

The Invictus Games is an international multi-sport event founded by Prince Harry and first staged in 2014. Chris Martin and Katy Perry were amongst the stars performing at the opening ceremony.