J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

Although snow has been forecast in most of the Western Alps over the coming week, so far the biggest accumulations have been reported in the Austrian Alps.

The Stubai glacier reported 20cm of fresh snow on Wednesday/Thursday and the Skiwelt has also had some good snowfalls.

In the past 24 hours St Anton has reported another 30cm/foot of snow and the same for the Ski Jewel; area that includes Wildschonau and Alpbachtal (pictured above today).

The Skiwelt got another 20cm of snow and there were significant falls reported at Mayrhofen too.

Many lower elevation Austrian ski areas will begin closing for the season at the end of Easter week next weekend, although some such as Ischgl and parts of the Arlberg will be open in to May.

Austria also has more glacier ski areas than any other country and whilst the Stubai will be closing earlier than usual in early May tpo allow for construction of a new access lift, several other areas including the year round Hintertux glacier will be open to late Spring.

There have been more big snowfalls in Western North America in the last 48 hours as the 'Godzilla El Nino' ski season that keeps on giving shows no sign of ending.

Resorts in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Montana have reported a foot/30cm of fresh snow in 24 hours, some have received 60cm (two feet) in 48 hours.

Jackson Hole (pictured above today) has received 80cm of snow over the past few days – nearly 30cm/a foot a day. Telluride in Colorado has had more than 50cm, as has Big Sky in Montana with 30cm in the past 24 hours.

Snowfall total have been the best for at least five seasons at most Western US ski areas. Mt Baker in Washington State which holds the world record for the most snow ever recorded and the highest average annual snowfall has had 14.5m of snow so far this season. Alyeska in Alaska has still had the most snow in the world just reaching the 750 inches/19 metres season to date snowfall mark in the past day.

It's been more of a season to forget on the East Coast with El Nino blamed here for weather that's been too warm for much natural snow to fall and for the snowmaking guns to open. There has been some good news here in the past few days though with six inches of fresh snow reported by several resorts including Stowe.

In Europe there have been some decent snowfalls of 10-20cm reported on Austrian slopes over the past few days and some bigger snowfalls are expected in a wider area of the Western Alps over coming days.

Scotland's five highland ski areas are struggling to maintain snow cover in to the Easter Holidays, which begin today across much of the country.

The Scottish Highlands have had a fairly unprecedented largely dry, stable weather pattern for much of February and March enabling the ski centres to set very high visitor numbers during the half term holidays last month.

This compensated to some extent for the centres being almost unable to open at all over Christmas and new year due to extreme weather conditions leaving centres stormbound or without adequate snow cover.

Now the question is how much can open for Easter? Over the past fortnight temperatures have crept up towards double figures with full sun at times in the valleys, leading to a widespread thaw.

However four of the five centres are still open, although three are stressing that conditions are better on their upper slopes with some broken ruins at lower elevations.

The Lecht is the centre that has been forced to close for snowsports due to the thaw. Glencoe (Pictured above today) on the west coast currently reports the best conditions with almost all runs open and complete.

Glenshee has limited terrain open on the upper mountain with no beginner runs available, Nevis Range was closed by strong winds on the upper mountain today and about half of Cairngorm's runs, on the upper mountain, are skiable.

Some forecasts are predicting 20-30cm of fresh snow over the coming week which could be good news.

Ski Rossendale, the dry slope located 20 miles north of Manchester in Lancashire is to get a major upgrade of its facilities and an expanded beginner area.

Once under threat of going out of business and forced to close for several months a few years ago before re-emerging as a social enterprise, the complex has been awarded £440,000 of National Lottery funding from Sport England's Improvement Fund to improve facilities (with additional match funding bringing the total investment in up to £630,000).

A sizable chunk of this investment will; be going on a new Snowflex® snowsports surface system to refurbish and expand the nursery slope and the entire associated infrastructure, supplied by Briton Engineering Developments Ltd based just over the border in Yorkshire.

The redevelopment at Ski Rossendale, also supported by Rossendale Borough Council, also includes a new first-floor cafe and clubroom at the Rawtenstall facility, alongside improved disabled access and toilets.

The nursery slope, which was last surfaced with Snowflex® some 15 years ago, will see the whole area resurfaced and expanded by 50% to 1500m2 to meet the increasing demand for ski and snowboard lessons that Ski Rossendale is experiencing.

Additionally Briton will be upgrading the misting and water re-cycling systems and will relocate the existing travellator and install a new travellator on the slope to meet the increased capacity the new larger slope will give.

"Ski Rossendale is one of our most important assets, one which has put Rossendale on the map and inspired thousands of people to get into sport.," said Councillor Andy MacNae, Rossendale's Head of Regeneration, Leisure and Tourism, adding, "It has been great working with the social enterprise team there to bring in this much needed investment. Looking forward we hope we can build on this, to attract further funding, getting Ski Rossendale back to where it belongs and complimenting regeneration going on elsewhere in the valley".

Sport England Property Director, Charles Johnston, also added: "We know people have a better experience of sport when they have good facilities in which to play. This is why we're investing in Ski Rossendale to improve their facilities so they are more appealing to young people, and help us to get them developing a lifelong sporting habit."

Ski Rossendale is one of 36 projects across England to share in over £12.5 million of National Lottery investment. Between 2012 and 2017, Sport England will have invested £45 million of lottery funding through the Improvement Fund into medium-sized projects to improve grassroots sport facilities.

Whistler Blackcomb is the latest North American West Coast ski area to announce it will be extending its ski season on one of its two mountains.

The resort says it has now passed its 10 year average annual snowfall of 1,163cm (458in) figure, having received 1,177cm (463in) of snow so far this winter.

It now says it will keep the ski lifts running and slopes groomed on its Blackcomb Mountain for another 10 weeks through to Monday May 30, 2016. Whistler Mountain's last day of winter operations will remain April 17.

This takes it past the date currently given by Sunshine ski area near Banff in Alberta which says it will close a week earlier on May 23rd when it also plans to stage the first World Pond Skimming Championships.

Whistler's current snow base is 339cm (133in), marginally the deepest in the country, just ahead of fellow BC resorts Fernie (330cm), Red (312cm) and Big White (303cm).

"We couldn't be happier with how the season has unfolded," says Doug MacFarlane, Director of Mountain Operations at Whistler Blackcomb. "We have received consistent consecutive storm cycles combined with low temperatures, creating great conditions for skiing and snowboarding. So far in March alone we have seen 292cm or 115 inches of snow, which is well above the March average of 241cm (95in). We are thrilled the conditions have allowed us to offer our guests an additional seven days of great spring skiing and snowboarding."

Whistler Blackcomb will actually only close for skiing and boarding for one weekend after May 30th as it will re-open for five weeks of summer glacier skiing and boarding on Friday 10th June.

(Image above taken on Saturday 18th March by Mitch Winton of Coast Mountain Photography)

Team GB's 2014 Olympic Snowboard finalist, 22 Year old Jamie Nicholls, is already proving he'll be ready for the next winter Olympics in 2018 by taking 1st place in the World Cup Slopestyle Snowboarding Competition in the Czech Republic yesterday, Sunday 20th March 2016.

It's the first time a British male has won a snowboarding World Cup event. Fellow GB Park and Pipe athlete Billy Morgan finishing in third place and in the ladies competition Katie Ormerod finished second to claim yet another podium.



Competed against 46 of the world's best snowboarders in the resort of Spindleruv Myln, Nicholls beat all comers on the Slopestyle course which featured four huge rails and an even bigger jump.

The Snow Centre's sponsored 22 Year old athlete's winning run included a Cab 180 Spin with a Back 360 Spin off the 1st rail, a Frontside 180 Spin to Cab 360 Spin off the 2nd rail, a Switch Boardslide 450 Spin off the 3rd rail and on the 4th rail, a Back 270 Spin to Boardslide, finishing with a Backside 1260 Spin on the jump.

"I am excited to have won a World Cup! I feel like I'm just getting started and I'm really looking forward to the next year, where my competition points will contribute towards ensuring me a place in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Korea," said Nicholls, who currently resides in Guildford, Surrey but is originally from Yorkshire – like several other leading lights of the current GB Park and Pipe team.

"I liked the course set-up as I'm more the rail rider, so it did fit me a lot. Also the atmosphere here was nice, the crowd was super loud which I also liked a lot," Nicholls added.

Nicholls is also famous for his Hemel Runs (I & II) which were viral hits on the internet:

Nicholl's Wortld Cup success followed some world class riding from GB Park and Pipe athletes at the Spring Battle in Flachau, where the team secured three more podiums. Billy Morgan was top of the pile in the men's snowboard competition, with Jamie Nicholls clinching fourth. For the women, Katie Ormerod finished in second with Aimee Fuller just behind her in third.

The domination of the World Cup and Spring Battle came straight after Izzy Atkins' 2nd place and James 'Woodsy' Woods came 3rd in the AFP World Tour event in La Clusaz on Friday.

www.jamienichollsuk.com

Britain's Dave Ryding finished in an impressive 15th place in the Men's slalom race in the World Cup Finals in St Moritz this morning, taking another 16 points in the last World Cup race of the 15-16 season.

With a starting place of 23rd, Ryding was placed 14th after the first run and scored near identical times on both runs of 52.62 in run one and 52.68 in run two.

"…I achieved something more than I ever dreampt of as a child! It was an incredibly proud moment realising I had made it to the World Cup Finals!!" Ryding posted on Facebook earlier this month,

"It has been an incredible season and to take part in every single 2nd run of the World Cup Slalom series this season says a lot... I didn't always get my best skiing out there but I was always there to give it a go!"

The race today was won by Sweden's Andre Myhrer who pipped Austrian Marcel Hirscher for top spot by .14. Hirscher was however top overall in the world cup standings for the fifth successive year, improving on his record four successive years achieved in 2014.

He finished with 1795 World Cup points, almost 500 more than the second placed young Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen who won his first crystal globe in slalom.

"There are so many people I have to thank for putting me in a position to achieve this, I cannot begin to list them all here but from my family, coaches, sponsors, team sponsors and all those who work behind the scenes, I feel I am just the tip of the arrow and these people make everything possible." Ryding concluded.

Dave Ryding finished the season 22nd in the world for slalom and 70th in the world overall with 115 World Cup points.

Ski resorts along North America's west coast have started to announce extended ski seasons following the huge amount of snow that has fallen in the region this season – and continues to fall.

Squaw Valley in California has announced it will be open at least in to May now, and says it will then reassess. It currently has a 420cm (14 foot) base and received another 60cm/2 feet of snow this week. Similar volumes more are expected in the week ahead too.

"As a result of El Niño snowfall topping 36 cumulative feet for the season, the resort anticipates a long spring skiing and snowboarding season. Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows has committed to offering the longest season in Tahoe and will offer skiing and riding into May as long as weather and conditions permit," said resort spokesperson Liesl Kenney.

The last time that spring snow depths were on a par with this season, five years ago, around 10 West Coast ski areas were open for 4th July Independence day celebrations on their ski slopes.

The deepest snow depth south of the Canadian border is at Mammoth Mountain to the south of Squaw Valley which is now reporting a 510cm (17 foot) base and also looks set top stat open late in to spring. It has made it through to August in the past.

However the resort posting the most snowfall in the world this winter is located to the north, in Alaska, where Alyeska has now had 18.3 metres (721 inches) of snowfall so far this season.