J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by admin

Iceman wrote:The Pony & Whippet almost weren't fed.

Now I almost have guilt...

Iceman wrote:My snow report had no report on it today :(

You weren't the only one... :oops: ...we're all fixed again now though. 8)

First saw coverage of this over on Snowheads, but it seems there is a scumbag taking bookings for chalets that don't exist.

It also appears that "he" is advertising other properties, including in the Canary Islands and elsewhere.

clairepow on Holiday Watchdog wrote:
Chalet scam in St Anton Austria "Owner" Carlos BO Marin

Postby clairepow on Wed Nov 07, 2012 17:19 pm
I found a chalet for 12 on Chalet Pro website in St Anton, Austria which looked perfect and emailed the owner through their site for details & prices. After a good few days of lots of research ( I have been booking ski holidays for over 20 years!) I decided that the Chalet & owner were legitimate. He even gave me details of several other properties he was renting in Spain, Gran Canaria & St Martin, all with very professional web adverts. We sent our money by bank transfer after receiving full rental documents & invoicing. Email communication throughout was good until he had our money.
The next email I received was extremely aggressive stating that as I was asking so many questions about him & the property he did not trust me & was cancelling our agreement & returning our money. I did not want to give him our bank details so requested my bank to reclaim the monies from his bank in Spain.
I have heard nothing from him since this day, despite several emails, unfortunately I never had a contact phone number as he stated he was travelling a lot to manage his properties, something which now, in hind sight, should have sounded alarm bells for me!!
The chalet was advertised as Anton Chalet but his email address was Chalet Marin (his name).

For the latest, see this thread on Holiday Watchdog

The J2Ski Snow Report - Week Ending November 17th, 2012
(* Free to re-publish in whole or part so long as credited to www.J2ski.com with hyperlink to http://www.j2ski.com/snow_forecast )

Not a great deal to report in the European forecast this week; clear skies and above average temperatures prevail at present, with the outlook similar for the next week or so.

The forecast models are hinting strongly that the last week of November will see a switch back to cold, so we'll bring you more on that next week!

This Week's Headlines

- Heavy snow in western USA leads to early openings.
- Little new snow this week but more snow expected in the Alps at higher altitudes.
- Snowbird, Utah, opens early after 125cm snowstorm.
- Warm weather in the Pyrenees (where resorts yet to open) melts lower pre-season snowpack.
- Whistler opening early after converting over 70 million gallons of water into snow.
- Warm weather in Scotland (where centres yet to open) melts limited early snow cover.


A Snowcat at Snowbird - (c) Snowbird

European Alps
Austria
Although the country's glacier ski areas continue to offer some of the best conditions, non-glacier ski areas in Austria are opening, most with good snow conditions following the falls at the start of the month, despite warmer temperatures this week. Obergurgl's official opening runs from today (15th November) through the weekend – more than 20 runs are open and snow –depths at 70cm.

The Hintertux glacier continues to have, probably, the biggest ski area open anywhere in the world at present with 58km of runs open, 15 lifts operating and a 1150m skiable vertical and snow depths up to 105cm.

France
Tignes remains the only resort open in France but it's only just over a week now until French resorts begin opening en—masse, probably starting with Val Thorens on the 24th, it reports a 30cm base at resort level and 60cm at the top of the slopes. Most other major French resorts are currently looking good above around 1800-2000m. Tignes continues to report a 60cm snowbase and says it has about 5cm of new snow in the past week. Glacier temperatures are just below zero with more snow expected over the next few days.

Italy
Cervinia with 1.4m of snow lying on upper slopes is in great shape following another 30cm snowfall last weekend. Two new red pistes are scheduled to open there for the first time shortly. Other Italian options include the upper slopes at Bormio, a red at Passo Tonale and the glacier slopes of Val Senales – all now open.

Switzerland
Around 10 big name resorts are currently open in Switzerland, with Engelberg, which was open in October but has been closed for 10 days for maintenance, due to re-open tomorrow (26 November) for the main ski season.

Many resorts had more snow last weekend, then warmer temperatures (moving above zero above 3000m) during the week, but things are looking promising for more snow again over the next few days with temperatures dipping again. Saas Fee reports 35 runs open and there's also skiing at weekends at Andermatt, Verbier and Laax with the Diavolezza Glacier near st Moritz, Glacier 3000 near Gstaad and Zermatt among the other options. Grindelwald is scheduled to open on Saturday.

Scandinavia
Conditions remain largely good for this early in the season in Scandinavia, Trysil in Norway has one of the biggest areas open in the country at the moment with 14km of runs and a 40cm snow base. However Hemsedal, with a 55cm and 13 runs open has the most terrain available of the big Scandinavian resorts. There's been less snow on the Swedish side although and the region's biggest resort Are, only has a 14cm base and one easy run open. Further north in Finland more resorts are opening. Ruka, one of the country's big four and now open for more than a month for 12-13 already, has 10 trails open now and a 27cm natural snow base.

(*We will add snow reports from other main ski areas once these areas begin reporting significant snowfall – no reports as yet from eastern Europe, Scotland or the Pyrenees )

North America
Canada
There's a battle to be among the first to open in BC, with Sun Peaks, which was scheduled to be first this Saturday now joined by Whistler and Cypress Mountain. All have had some good pre-season snowfalls but at Whistler they're crediting the resort's 220 state-of-the-art snow guns which have converted over 70 million gallons of water into snow over the past few weeks for the early opening.

The BC resorts join Alberta ski areas which have now been open up to three weeks including Nakiska, Norquay, Sunshine,. Marmot Basin and Lake Louise. Cold weather there has kept the early snow in reportedly great shape and it's looking good for the coming World Cup races at Lake Louise which earlier this week reported the biggest lift-served vertical open in North America at nearly 1000m.

On the East Coast resorts in Quebec are also scheduled to open this weekend thanks to snowmaking, with Mont Ste Anne one of the first.

USA
There's a snow reporting frenzy at the moment in the Western US. After the lacklustre conditions for much of 2011-12 (following the great 2010-11!), most areas have been overjoyed by heavy snowfalls over the past few weeks, perfectly time for the big US Thanksgiving Holiday long weekend coming up later this month. In California Northstar and Heavenly opened early on Wednesday (14 Nov) and Squaw Valley will re-open along with Kirkwood this Friday (16 Nov).

Most resorts have reported at least 30cm (a foot) of new snow in the past few days, but Snowbird in Utah is among those opening early thanks to a spectacular snow storm depositing 125cm of new snow.

Opening Soon (subject to conditions)
Engelberg re-opens for skiing and snowboarding on Friday, November 16, 2012.
Obertauern, Austria, November 22, 2012.
Val Thorens, France, November 24, 2012.

With official funding for Great Britain's Alpine Racers now pretty much non-existent, they need all the support they can get.

J2Ski are proud to have sponsored Chemmy over the past year, and you can now do your bit (however small, it all counts) too. You can even get stuff in return for your donation!

Chemmy wrote:Help Chemmy Alcott in her quest to be the best in alpine skiing by contributing to her athletic campaign. The road to the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014 won't come cheap, and Chemmy is relying on donations and sponsorship to get there.

Chemmy wrote:Donations will go towards a variety of necessities, be it nutrition on the road, a night's stay in a hotel during the World Cup tour, travel or any of the other miscellaneous costs associated with being a world class athlete. In return, you'll have the option of receiving a gift or experience depending on how much you give.

Gifts on offer go from a signed postcard right the way to a session on skis...

To find out more (and donate, obviously), go to :-

http://www.chemmyalcott.com/donate/

Chemmy wrote:I am back to where I belong, doing what i love to do. I didn't win but with a big world cup field coming 8th is something to smile about. Sorry I didn't tell you guys I was racing but i didn't want the pressure.

:thumbup:

50-Inch Storm Kicks Off Snowbird Season with early opening

The storm that left one to two feet of snow in Salt Lake City deposited 50 inches of snow at Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort between Friday and Sunday, allowing the resort to open early, on Thursday, Nov. 15.


Picture courtesy of www.snowbird.com

Averaging an annual 500 inches of snow, Snowbird offers the longest season in Utah. You can also follow Snowbird at www.facebook.com/snowbirdUT or www.twitter.com/snowbirdski.

VOS Media's Press Release wrote:...the show will take place during the school half term holidays with the plan to increase opportunities for interactivity further.

Well here at J2Ski Towers, we rather hope that will include cheaper entrance tickets...

Kicking off the UK's ski season with a show that costs £100 (for a family of 5) to get into, and where the food and drink is priced consistently with (over-inflated) mountain prices is exactly the wrong thing to do if we're trying to encourage new participants into the sport. :evil:

That said, there were noticeably more families attending this year and the various activities added a good buzz and all appeared to be popular.

Although we did miss the big ramp and the London Ride that was a feature of the Olympia shows, we are hopeful that the show has a future... but we look forward to a year where the most common comment from industry attendees is something other than "I'm glad I came, but only because my ticket was free".

I know there were a few J2Skiers around (and even had the pleasure of meeting a few of you); what are your thoughts?