J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by admin

The J2Ski Snow Report *
Week Ending October 4th, 2013
* Free to re-publish in whole or part so long as clearly credited to www.J2ski.com with the words "J2Ski Snow Report - October 3rd 2013" linked to this page or http://www.j2ski.com/snow_forecast/

This Week's Headlines
* 13 glacier ski areas now open in the northern Hemisphere.
* Season winding down in southern hemisphere, more than half ski areas now closed for 2013.
* Up to 15cm of fresh snow reported on the slopes in Utah this week.
* Kitzsteinhorn Glacier at Kaprun in Austria the latest to open, last weekend.
* Best snow depths around 1.5m at Turoa in New Zealand and Kaunertal in Austria.

As the snow has started to fall in the northern hemisphere and the number of ski areas open (in the north) is back in to double figures, we are now officially in the run up to winter 2013-14!

After last winter's record-breaking snowfalls in the Alps, some ski resorts still have a base left from 2012-13!

At present it's the usual mixed-weather for this time of year with periods of cold and snowfall, then warm and dry (or wet) on the mountains. With more than a dozen glaciers already open, however, there is already a choice of ski destinations.

The Alps
Austria and especially the Tirol is way-ahead in terms of ski areas already open in the Alps. In fact half of all the ski areas open in the northern hemisphere at present are in Austria.

The Kitzsteinhorn was the latest to open, on the last weekend of September, and reports a 70cm base. It joins, Hintertux, Kaunertal, Pitztal, the Stubai, Molltal and Solden glaciers, all already operating. The Dachstein glacier is also open but says it doesn't have enough snow for downhill skiing.

Italy's Val Senales re-opened in late September joining Passo Stelvio which has been open all summer. A third option, Breuil Cervinia, will open at weekends from the 19th of October before opening full time in November.

In Switzerland there's currently skiing on the glaciers of Saas Fee and Zermatt with Engelberg's Titlis glacier scheduled to open this Saturday (4th) and the Diavolezza Glacier in the Engadin, close to St Moritz a week later on the 11th. Glacier 3000 between Gstaad and les Diablerets should be the fifth Swiss Glacier to open a fortnight later on the 26th.
There's currently no ski slopes open in France, the Grande Motte Glacier in Tignes opens next week however on October 12th.

Scandinavia
Scandinavian resorts often boast the longest ski seasons in the world for resorts that don't have glaciers. Ruka up in Finnish Lapland aims to post the longest such-season from mid-October to mid-June and has announced that its target opening date for 13-14 is Thursday the 17th October. Another Finnish resort, the country's largest, Levi, is also hoping for an October opening. Both resorts aim to stage World Cup competitions in November.

In Norway the Galdhøpiggen glacier re-opened last weekend (27th September) and may open again during October.

North America
No ski areas are officially open in North America at present as the nearly-year-round Timberline ski area in Oregon closes during September and in to October. Currently it reports having 'a little wet snow' and says it cannot say when it will re-open, except that it may be in October or possibly not until Thanksgiving at the end of November.

Most of the continent's better known Western ski areas have been posting reports of September snowstorms however with particularly impressive pictures of powder at Snowbird in Utah, while Mt Baker in Washington State, officially the world's snowiest resort, reporting several feet of fresh snow in the last week of September.

Snowmaking is also underway at resorts including Arapahoe Basin and Loveland in Colorado, both among the world's dozen highest ski resorts, and both hoping to open by mid-October, although Loveland reports it has had to stop snowmaking for, it hopes, 48 hours due to a warm spell.

Southern Hemisphere
The ski season is winding down across the southern hemisphere with the slopes of southern Africa and of most Australian and South American ski areas closing last month after a 'mixed' winter 2013.

In south America Las Lenas has called it a day in Argentina and there are only a few runs left open in Catedral. It's more promising in Chile which has a week or so of the season left at Portillo and Valle Nevado - most lifts and runs are open at both and snow depths are 50-125cm.

The still-operating New Zealand ski areas report relatively healthy snow depths. Mt Hutt has extended its season to the 13th and will offer national team training in to November. Whakapapa with 1.2m looks likely to stay open to the end of the month and Turoa, with 1.5m, normally makes it in to November, the last area south of the equator to close for the season.

TC wrote:That's a bonus then, my daughter is booked in for a lesson there on Sunday :D

Trip report and photos then please TC! That could be our first "trip report" from a carpet... 8) Be interested to hear what your daughter thinks.

If you've been to Morzine, then please give it a quick rating in a reply to this Topic.

Please try to stick to the Ski Resort Review Code as much as you can.

Over to you...

Well, if everyone puts everything in one thread then it'll end up like my desk!

I know where "everything" is, because it's all on my desk... but locating an individual item can be challenging... :lol:

Here's the Ski Resort Review Code ... but I'm quite happy for people to contribute in whatever way they find easiest, so carry on this thread if you wish! 8)

I'll copy the best bits to the resort-specific threads.

First hand experiences of others are invaluable when sifting through the various ski resorts, so please post short reviews of anywhere you've been.

For every resort we'll try to compile a separate Topic of different people's opinions.

Please try to stick to the The Ski Resort Review Code (more like guidelines really) :-
- Keep it as objective as possible.
- Include the Pros and Cons (from your perspective).
- Keep it short (although we'd love a longer review in its own Topic as well!).
- One Reply per person (start a new Topic to debate any point).
- Accept that others (will) see it differently!

To contribute a Quick Review, check if there's a thread for that ski area already and if not then create a new Topic with a title something like "XY Ski Resort - Quick Reviews" in the appropriate country Forum (see the Forums Index - via the Forums button above) to find that).

And remember, keep to the code...

If you've been to Val Thorens, then please give it a quick rating in a reply to this Topic.

Please try to stick to the Ski Resort Review Code as much as you can.

Over to you...

Iceman wrote:I think adders' idea is the best way.

I agree with Andy. And Andy. But Andy, not so much.

Iceman wrote:Maybe we could agree to give scores for ski quality, range for abilities, price of food/drink, quality of accomodation then an overall score.

That sounds like mission creep... :lol: ...but it's on the "one day" list...

I'll go and start some threads then (but if Barney really wants to post here that's ok - although I'll probably copy it to the appropriate resort thread)... 8)

Really good idea this!

But... if we put them all in this one thread then it'll get unmanageable and difficult to navigate (to find the resort you're interested in).

How about a thread for each resort, titled something like "Verbier - Quick Reviews" in the appropriate country forum (e.g. Switzerland), and then you can put your own rating under the appropriate resort. That way anyone looking into a particular ski area (as we do!) can find a range of opinions.

If you agree, then just post a one line reply here with the resort you want to rate and I'll create the Thread and move people's comments across from this thread?

Sound like a plan?

Adders