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VOS Media, organisers of the Ski and Snowboard Show, which closed last Sunday, today released initial attendance figures that reveal a growth in visitor numbers and participation across all areas of the show. The show was situated in a half term dateline for the first time since 2007 and this, combined with the onsite offering, resulted in a large increase in family visitors to the show and a provisional 12% growth in visitors overall. This means that the UK's biggest Ski and Snowboard Show has reversed a 2 year decline in attendance despite tough market conditions for niche consumer events. Provisional attendance figures show a total attendance across the 5 days of 34,672 visitors.
VOS Media had changed the structure of the show for 2012 to encourage greater participation and interaction, given the projected increase in family attendance. The success of this strategy is borne out by the initial figures with a 400% increase in family attendance year on year. Over the 5 days of the show: - More than 600 new participants were introduced to the sport through the free ski and snowboard lessons provided by the Warren Smith Ski Academy - 263 received tips from top freestyle pros on the Salice Airbag - The ice rink hosted over 4,000 skating sessions - 650 thirsty visitors participated in the Virgin Wine and Beer Boutique tasting experience VOS Media has confirmed that the 2013 show will also be held at Earls Court 2 in the same week as the 2012 show, 30th October to 3rd November 2013. This means that the show will take place during the school half term holidays with the plan to increase opportunities for interactivity further. Tim Holmes, Head of VOS Media Snowsports, comments:
The confirmation of the 2013 dateline and the increased footfall has resulted in 46% of the 2013 show stands having already been booked up by the end of the 2012 show with both exhibitors and sponsors expressing significant satisfaction at the 2012 show. Trevor De Villiers - Sales & Marketing Director – Norwegian Mountain Resorts, states:
Emma Bebb, Partnerships and Events Manager at the Ski Club of Great Britain commented:
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It's that time of year when we all start getting nervous if the webcams from our favourite resorts are not yet white... and here at J2Ski Towers we receive quite a few emails like this...
The question is a good (if familiar) one, but there's no good answer. There are just too many factors that influence the overall course of a winter, and many more that affect exactly where and when the snow falls. The forecast models that we (and other weather sites) draw from are continually improved and are now really quite good on the short-term (48 to 72 hour timeframe) outlook. Long-range forecasting is very much more problematic. There simply are no long-range forecasts available that can be relied upon with current science; if there were, we would be using them. 8) Alpine winters often seem to arrive quite suddenly and the exact onset cannot be predicted. Last November was unusually dry in The Alps (though certainly not unprecedented), and December broke 100-year records for snowfall. To date, this winter's looking reassuringly "normal"; autumn temperatures have varied both above and below the average, there have been some good snow falls, some clear weather and most conditions in between... That all said, St.Moritz has a pretty good snow record and will have decent snow by mid-December in most years. Will it this year? We don't know - and neither does anyone else. :D Anyone who claims to know what the winter will be like is blagging. They may get lucky, or you may get a better forecast by rolling a dice... That all said, Joe Bastardi seems to get lucky more often than most with his long-range general forecasts but even he's not infallible. For anyone interested in the longer range indicators, then reading up on the influences of the Jetstream and the NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation) is worthwhile. In the meantime, watch the forecasts develop on J2Ski; we're adding more locations for this winter and will be updating our snow report and forecast pages over the next few weeks. To get our weekly snow report headlines, or daily updates with the latest forecasts straight to your Inbox; sign-up for our Snow Mails Here. |
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Week Ending November 10th, 2012
(* Free to re-publish in whole or part so long as credited to J2Ski.com with hyperlink to http://www.j2ski.com/snow_forecast) The week ahead In an Alpine forecast rather similar to last week (which brought some decent snowfall - see below), temperatures are about to dip and snow is about to fall. This week, the main event looks like being on Saturday or Sunday (or both!) depending on location, with accumulations exceeding 30cm in places. The snow line should reach around 1,200 metres by Sunday night. Temperatures will moderate as we move into next week and look likely to stay a few degrees above the seasonal average for the rest of the week. So, powder for the weekend and skiing under clear skies next week... This Week's Headlines - Another 30cm of snow, on average, in parts of the Alps over the past 72 hours. - Saas Fee reports 60cm of snow in 24 hours. - Lake Louise, Sunshine, Banff, Canada and Breckenridge, Colorado, USA opening Friday 9th November. - First non-glacier resorts in the Alps open for 2012-13 in Austria. - Bormio, Italy, aiming to open three weeks early this Saturday, November 10th - More than 100 ski areas now open across the northern hemisphere. - Southern hemisphere 2012 ski season ended at the weekend. - Garmisch Partenkirchen has opened Germany's first terrain for the 12-13 season at Zugspitz. European Alps Austria In contrast to last year, the heavy snow in Austria over the past few weeks (most resorts have reported at least another foot in the past week after bigger falls in late October) has led several resorts to open early including Obergurgl and Schladming last-weekend – the first non-glacier resorts in the Alps to open. Obergurgl reports five lifts will be operating at Hochgurgl this weekend. Conditions are excellent on all seven of Austria's glacier ski areas which have now all been open a month or more. Hintertux now has one of the biggest areas open on the planet at present, with 50km of piste open served by 16 lifts and more than 1,100m of vertical open down to 2100m. France Les 2 Alpes has ended its autumnal week opening so only Tignes is open in France, subject to conditions until Val Thorens opens in a fortnight. Tignes has a 60cm base. Elsewhere in the country pictures have been flooding in showing the ski slopes of resorts including Chamonix and la Plagne in great shape with several feet of pre-season snow. Chamonix reported snow right down to resort level (1035m) on Tuesday. Italy Pre-season snow conditions are looking good in Italy with Cortina d'Ampezzo reporting a 40cm snowfall on November 1st. Some glacier ski areas are already open however with Cervinia on 120cm including a foot that fell a week ago and Val Senales also open with fresh snow on an 80cm base too. The Presena Glacier has opened one intermediate level piste, 3000m up above Passo Tonale. Bormio has announced that thanks to good conditions it will open three weeks early this Saturday, November 10th with 500m of vertical down to 2500m from the top of the lifts at 3000m. Switzerland Swiss resorts have been reporting heavy snow. Eight centres are now operational (although Engelberg is closed for maintenance this week through to November 16th) with Verbier opening earlier than expected last Thursday, November 1st joining other glacier centres. Saas Fee, which now has a base of nearly two metres on its glacier reports an incredible 60cm of snow at glacier level and 29cm of new snow at resort level 1800m below in the past 24 hours (to Thursday 8th November). There are also good conditions on the Diablerets Glacier, the Diavolezza Glacier, at Laax and Zermatt. Scandinavia Resorts across Scandinavia are continuing to report a great 'early season' with dozens of centres already open across Finland, Norway and Sweden sand temperatures generally hovering at or below zero. Hemsedal, one of Norway's leading resorts with 4 lifts and 4 runs operational and 35-50cm snow depth goes one further and says the 2012-13 season start is the "best ever" in its 51 season history. Another top Norwergian resort Trysil has two runs open and a 30cm base. Over in Sweden conditions aren't quite so good but resorts including are and Vemdalen are both open, with a run or two each and 20cm of snow cover. Up in Lapland temperatures are heading towards double digits below And the big resorts each have two or three pistes open. At Levi the runs on the front face are open until 7pm daily to make the most of it. (*We will add snow reports from other main ski areas once these areas begin reporting significant snowfall) North America Canada After the early opening of Mt Norquay at Banff and Nakiska in Alberta at the end of October the first of the country's bigger resorts – Sunshine, Lake Louise and Marmot Basin – are scheduled to open on Friday taking the Alberta/Canada count up to five. Resorts are reporting 28cm in 24 hours yesterday in the area. Conditions there and at Western Canada's yet-to-open other Western resorts are generally good for this time of year with snow depths around the 50cm mark and more snow/cold weather forecast. On the East Coast, Mont Ste Anne reported they'd fired up the snow guns on Monday. USA With four ski areas now open in Colorado (Arapahoe Basin, Copper, Keystoke and Loveland) as well as a handful of resorts in Oregon (Timberline), Maine (Sunday River) and Vermont (USA) the number of ski areas open in the US should be back in double figures by the weekend and that number will rise dramatically as many more try to open for the Thanksgiving Holiday period in a fortnight. Next to open will be Breckenridge in Colorado, the most popular US destination for Brits, on Friday 9th November. It has a 50cm base. Californian ski areas are also expected to-reopen when temperatures drop dramatically there over the weekend - Squaw Valley and Boreal both opened in the last few days of October but closed again as temps headed back up to the 50s Farenheit. Conditions are fairly average with most areas that are open only having a run or two open and a snow depth of 20-30cm in most cases, usually a mix of machine made and natural snow. Temperatures are continuing to fluctuate across the country in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy making snow making difficult. Killington has however reopened with a 20cm snow depth after Sandy made it too warm for snowmaking. Southern Hemisphere – Season Over The end of the ski day last Sunday, November 4th, marked the end of the southern hemisphere's 2012 ski season. Yet again Turoa in New Zealand was the last resort open for snowsports south of the equator, closing despite still having a 2m base. Opening Soon (subject to conditions) Engelberg re-opens for skiing and snowboarding on Friday, November 16, 2012. Heavenly and Vail open for skiing and snowboarding on Friday, November 16, 2012. Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec; Sun Peaks, BC, November 17, 2012. Obertauern, Austria, November 22, 2012. Val Thorens, France, November 24, 2012. |
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Well, democracy in action! :lol: :lol:
To save the OP any further embarassment I've removed the link. Thanks everyone, as you were. 8) |
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Win a 14 night holiday for 2 people to Canada discovering all the top resorts - Whistler, Tremblant, Vancouver, Banff and Jasper – staying in 5* luxury in the Fairmont Hotels with Air Canada flights from London and internal flights to each resort. Naturally lift passes and transfers are also included. The prize is worth £15,000, just check out the itinerary on the link below... www.skisolutions.com/ultimate-canadian-ski-holiday For great deals on Canadian Ski Holidays, visit Ski Solutions partner site www.ifyouski.com or call them on 020 7471 7768. |
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:shock: ...after 23 years marriage I think it's about time you told your wife!
Indeed. As for helmets... if it's news, then publish away! Anyone not wishing to read about lids can just, er, not read it. 8) |
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This. She competes at the pinnacle of our chosen sport and, even if you don't like her singing style, deserves the respect of everyone here. Any further comments-without-a-brain will be removed. TVM. :evil: |
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Falling temperatures and fresh snows on both sides of the Atlantic, with plenty more in the short-range forecasts, are reinforcing the feeling that the new ski season is getting under way.
Whilst it will be a little milder in The Alps over the weekend, temperatures will fall below the season averages by Monday. At the same time, a succession of weather fronts will cross the region bringing snow to just about everywhere. The snowfalls predicted for the 4th and 5th, in particular, look pretty significant for the Northern and Eastern Alps and local accumulations could exceed 50cm in places! The snow line should fall toward 1,000 metres by the beginning of next week. The longer term forecasts are consistently indicating snow in varying quantities throughout the next two weeks... This Week's Headlines - More than 80 ski areas are now open in Europe, Scandinavia and North America. - Hurricane Sandy brings heavy snowfall to parts of Eastern North America, warm weather to others. - Up to 50cm of snow in the Dolomites. - Continuing snowfall in the Alps; with Verbier and Gstaad opening this weekend. - Heavy snow in Scandinavia results in dozens of resorts opening. Norway's Hemsedal and Trysil opened today (Thursday November 1st) after 50cm snowfall. - Third Colorado ski area, Keystone, opens for 2012-13. - Last weekend of 2012 season in southern hemisphere. Already Open – More Than 80 Ski Areas Austria There are great conditions on the seven open Austrian glaciers thanks to recent snowfall, which has averaged a 50cm coating. A video report has been released by Tirol, where most are located... Among the winners are the Stubai glacier with 55 cm of fresh snow, snow up to 90cm deep and 41km of slopes open and Sölden which got another 15cm snow fall on Tuesday topping the total snow depth to 85cm. There were perfect conditions there during the FIS Ski Worldcup opening at the weekend 27/28 Oct. All 10 lifts on the glacier ski area are open. The Pitztal glacier has received 60cm (two feet) of fresh snow over the past week and now has 174cm snow depth and 27km of slopes open. The Tux, Molltal, Kaunertal, Kitzsteinhorn and glaciers are also all open and in good shape. Finland More resorts are opening in Lapland to join Ruka, which was the first top open, a fortnight ago. Levi, another of the country's top resorts, has opened one run with a 20cm base of natural snowfall. It will host World Cup racing next weekend (9th November). France Tignes, which has for the past month been the only ski area open in France, has been joined for one week only by Les Deux Alpes where the glacier is open until 4th November. It will then close for four weeks before the main season begins. Both glaciers are reported to be in good shape for snowsports with terrain parks in place and a freshen up of a few centimetres of new snow in recent days. Italy The Dolomiti Superski region has reported heavy snowfall with 50cm of snow in recent days. It's a similar story in Madonna di Campiglio. However no reports of any early openings as yet and the main choice remains Cervinia, now open full time through to 5th May 2013 after weekend openings in October. The snow is reported to be a metre deep and in good shape with 23km of runs open. Passo Stelvio and Val Senales are both also open for glacier skiing, the latter with a 30cm snowbase and five beginner and intermediate runs open. Norway There was heavy snowfall at the weekend in Norway and more than a dozen ski areas have opened or are about to across the country. It's a big improvement on last autumn when few resorts were able to open until early December because of exceptionally warm temperatures. On top of natural snowfall, which in some places has amounted to more than 50cm, temperatures are good for snowmaking too. Among the leading Norweigian resorts opening are Hemsedal, this Thursday 1st November with 40cm of snow, and Trysil on Sunday 4th November. More snowfall is expected. Sweden Scandinavia's largest resort, Åre, will open limited terrain this weekend on November 3rd thanks to the heavy snow in the region last weekend. It follows Vemdalen which opened for Halloween. Switzerland There are now five seven areas open in Switzerland, at weekends at least, with the cable car At Laax running at weekends throughout November until full time opening on 3rd December for the main season. Verbier announced it will open early on Friday November 2nd and Glacier 3000 between Gstaad and Les Diabletrets opens on Saturday, November 3rd. These joins already open glacier ski choices at Engelberg, the Diavolezza glacier in Engadin, Saas Fee and Zermatt. North America Canada Two Alberta ski areas opening early last week. Mt Norquay at Banff and Nakiska in Alberta. Both reported great conditions with around a foot of snow on the ground. Other ski areas in Alberta and BC are reporting good conditions and the belief that 50cm bases they now have are 'locked in' for the start of winter now and wont thaw away until the spring. Lake Louise and Sunshine near Banff are due to open next, a week on Friday, on 9th November. USA After resorts in California and Colorado opened last weekend, attention has switched to the East Coast thanks to Hurricane Sandy. This has brought several feet of unprecedented late October snowfall to many ski areas, but equally many areas have been damaged, remain without power, or say it's the wrong kind of snow (heavy, wet stuff). Among ski areas opening early are Sugar Mountain and Cataloochee ski areas in North Carolina which opened for Halloween - their earliest ever openings. Both had around a foot (30cm) of snow. But areas to the north that had hoped to open this weekend such as Sunday River in Maine report they have "warm and wet" conditions so are delaying those early opening plans. In the west Boreal and Squaw Valley are open in California, Timberline in Oregon, and Keystone has joined A Basin and Loveland in Colorado and Copper Mountain also aims to open this Friday, November 2nd – many other Western ski areas aim to open in the next week or so ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday period. Southern Hemisphere – Still Open It's the last weekend of the southern hemisphere's ski season with Turoa in New Zealand closing after Sunday, November 4th, despite still having a 2m base. It's now in that rare southern hemisphere ski season phenomena: 'Snowvember'. Opening Soon (subject to conditions) Copper Mountain, Colorado, plans to open Friday, November 2nd, 2012. Glacier 3000 above les Diablerets and Gstaad in Switzerland expects to open on 3rd November. Lake Louise, Sunshine, Banff and Breckenridge, Colorado on 9th November. Heavenly and Vail open for skiing and snowboarding on Friday, November 16, 2012. Sun Peaks, BC, November 17, 2012. Val Thorens, France, November 24, 2012. |
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