J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by SwingBeep

The link between Sauze and Sestriere was closed by the public prosecutor after two fatalities occurred, both of which were caused by skiers hitting the windbreaks. The first one occurred in 2018 and the second, which involved a 9-year girl occurred in January 2019. The lift company managers were already under investigation for the first one when the second one took place, so the public prosecutor decided to close the link.

Both investigations were rolled into one and the investigation was concluded in September of this year. As a result, four of the lift company managers were charged with the Italian equivalent of manslaughter. To date I haven't seen anything saying the closure order has been rescinded. I doubt that it will be until the judicial proceedings have been concluded, which could take a while if the verdict is appealed. But as it's Italy you can never be sure.

I think the last time I skied there was about 20 years ago, so my recollections are a bit vague. Some of the skiing is below the treeline which is handy if the weather's bad and the run down from the Plaine Morte is quite impressive.

A transfer will probably be more expensive than public transport. I would take the train from Geneva airport to Sierre and either a bus or the Funicular http://www.cie-smc.ch/ up to Crans Montana. The Saver Day Pass https://www.sbb.ch/en/travelcards-and-tickets/tickets-for-switzerland/1-day-travelpass/saver-day-pass.html might be cheaper than a standard ticket. There are also supersaver tickets, but they are for specific trains, if your flight is late and you miss the train you will have to buy another ticket.

According a report in the local press http://www.lemessager.fr/faucigny/chamonix-la-gare-de-telepherique-des-grands-montets-ne-ia933b0n213165 it's going to take 3 years to rebuild the Grands Montets cable car, mainly because the top station is located in a protected area so there are lots of environmental issues.

Work on the new 3S lift from Testa Grigia up to the Klein Matterhorn started in the spring, if you look on the Panomax webcam at Plateau Rosa https://cervinia.panomax.com/plateau-rosa# you can follow the progress. They are currently carving out a platform for the top station to sit on and have started on the foundations for the bottom station https://www.matterhornparadise.ch/en/Company/Investments-and-projects/Alpine-Crossing/facts

Since the opening of the 3S lift from Trockener Steg to the Klein Matterhorn the number of people going up to the Klein Matterhorn has doubled, between November and the end of April it transported 650,000 people. So, they will want to get the new lift built asap.

There is a bit of progress regarding the lift from the Ayas valley (Champoluc) up to Cime Bianche, in April a delegation from Zermatt went to Aosta to discuss a memorandum of understanding concerning its construction https://aostasera.it/notizie/societa/gressoney-ayas-cervinia-e-zermatt-si-lavora-per-un-nuovo-collegamento/

3 reversable lifts for 45 million is very cheap, a more realistic figure would be 90 million.

The funifor is an Italian design, the first one was built by the Italian lift manufacturer Hölzl at Stelvio in 2000. In 2002 Hölzl along with Agamatic merged with Doppelmayr.

This summer they are going to extend snowmaking to Schiltgrat https://schilthorn.ch/cmsfiles/medienmitteilungen/190412_schilthornbahn_medienmitteilung_beschneiungsanlage.pdf unfortunately there isn't an English version of the press release.

The use of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and related chemicals in ski wax and other products will be prohibited in the EU from 4 July 2020. Most of the wax companies have already changed their formulas. Very few recreational skiers use flouro waxes anyway, they are mainly used by racers.

The website doesn't give any information about the product, it talks about replacing "fluorine" fluorine is a highly toxic gas, the don't use it in ski wax. Sounds like it could be a personal data harvesting scam to me.

April weather LOTA! The snow that fell last week was accompanied by strong winds. There are some weather stations dotted around Saas Fee, unfortunately the anemometers at Mittelallalin and Längfluh went offline on Wednesday, on Thursday and Friday the one at Längfluh recorded gusts of over 100 km/h. It happens from time to time, especially in the afternoon, the wind here has a tendency to increase in the afternoon.

The this is the last season for the "knock-out season lift pass deal", it was a financial disaster. For the 2017/18 season the Saas Fee lift company recorded a record loss of over CHF 16 million, as you can imagine there is lots of talk about it in the village! Next season Saas Fee will be included on the Magic Pass.