J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

With the ongoing heavy snowfall in most of the Alps, ski resorts are warning skiers and boarders in the mountain this week to stay on the pistes.

"Fresh snow + beautiful sunshine = magical atmosphere in Tignes today!" said a spokesperson for the French resort, who added, "We know you just want to enjoy a bath of powder snow right now, but the avalanche risk is very high (4/5), so please, be strong, stay on the piste."

Tignes has had around 50cm of snow in the last three days and is forecast to get much more over the coming week. Temperatures are double digits below freezing at the summit.

The snowfall has been similar across the Alps with most resorts claiming 30-70cm of fresh snow in the past few days, with Chamonix posting the biggest accumulation to date 1.3m (over four feet).

(Tignes today)

The fresh snow that has been falling since the end of last week in the Alps and other European ski regions is beginning to add up.

After the first wave of heavy snowfall on Friday/Saturday, a second in the past 24 hours has left resorts publishing 24-hour accumulations of 20-30cm in France, Italy and Switzerland. Some resorts have now received over 50cm of snow in the past 72 hours.

Meribel (30cm), Bardonecchia (30cm), Crans Montana (30cm), Serre Chevalier (35cm), Les Arcs (30cm), and Verbier (36cm) are amongst ski areas that have reported more than 30cm/a foot of snow in the last 24 hours, many other areas have reported 20-30cm), with ski areas in the French Alps and Western Switzerland and Italy so far reporting the biggest accumulations.

There's also now forecasts of up to 50cm of fresh snow in the Pyrenees and down in the Balkans in the middle of this week, as well as more snow forecast in the Alps – up to 75cm more in the next 72 hours.

The snow that started to fall lightly 48 hours ago and more seriously in the past 24 hours is rapidly accumulating a base depth on Western European ski slopes.

French areas have mostly reported 20-25cm of fresh cover overnight with snow down to the valley. It is now sunny in many French Alpine resorts before the next wave of snowfall arrives, expected in the next 24 hours, providing ideal conditions for those who arrived in resort yesterday for what was at one time the quietest and cheapest week of the season, the week after New Year week.

Most of the resorts claiming the biggest accumulations so far are in the French Alps, including 25cm at Val Thorens (Pictured above last night and below this morning) and La Rosiere, 20cm in les Arcs and la Plagne. Avoriaz the first to issue a powder alarm for 20cm of fresh snow by yesterday afternoon.

However Warth Schrocken linked to Lech in the Arlberg region of Austria have reported a foot of fresh snow in the last 24 hours – the largest measured accumulation so far.

There was also fresh snow in the Pyrenees and the snow is expected to continue over the coming weeks with a large snowfall in the Alps expected again tomorrow.

The 3 Valleys earlier this morning picture posted by http://chillalp.com/

Leading French ski resorts have been posting warnings in English to drivers heading to their slopes this weekend to make sure that they have snow chains and that the chains are accessible and that they know how to fit therm.

"Hitting the road this weekend? Don't forget that we expect snow falls starting tomorrow morning (about 10-15 cm according to Meteo France). Time to shine and show your wife/husband that you rock at fitting snow chains really fast!" reads a post by Tignes, accompanied by a winking emoticon and postscript, "(psss... fit them even faster by making sure they're easy to access... that is not underneath your many suitcases!)"

Of course carrying chains is one of many legal requirements for drivers in France.

The warnings come one year and one week after the infamous 'Snowmageddon Saturday' between Christmas and new year 2016 when traffic in the French Alps ground to a halt on transfer day as cars that were not properly prepared blocked roads during the snowy deluge that followed a dry December last winter too.

Resorts across Western Europe have been posting images and video of the first snowfall of the forecast deluge over the coming fortnight beginning to transform green mountainsides to white. So far the French alps and the Spanish, French and Andorran Pyrenees appear to have got the best of it, but it is early days.

Delancey British Alpine Team athlete Alex Tilley has claimed a top 20 finish and 12 World Cup points, finishing 19th after the second run in the World Cup Giant Slalom in Lienz, Austria.

After a frustrating start to the season for Tilley, from Aberdeenshire in Scotland, where she has been skiing well but not managing to pin down a result, the Scot rose from joint 27th in run one to 19th, after some impressive splits at the top (second fastest) and at the bottom (fifth fastest).

"I wanted it. I got to the bottom of the first run and thought I have got so much more to give, but recently, every time I try and step it up, it kind of goes a bit backwards," Tilley told Racer Ready, adding,

"But for the second run, I had so much more confidence after my first run, so to push it out there and get that consistency back, it is a very good feeling,"

Tilley raced again today in the World Cup Slalom in Lienz but unfortunately did not qualify for the second run.

It was the second top 30 finish for British team Alpine racers in World Cup events following Dave Ryding's 24th place finish in last week's World Cup Slalom in Madonna di Campiglio.

Ryding is back in action next week, in the Zagreb-Sljeme World Cup Slalom on 6th January.

(Could this be the Alps in about a week's time?!)

Snow forecasters appear increasingly confident that the December drought of precipitation in the Alps will end with the end of this year and that the first week of January will be a snowy one.

If correct this could signal a near repeat of winter 2014-15 when heavy snow arrived on the last weekend of the year after a dry, warm Autumn. This season the dry warm season appears to have continued a little longer, in to New Year's Week, although otherwise December conditions have been better than 20-14 thanks to late November snowfalls which didn't happen last year. Hopefully there won't be the repeat of the now infamous change-over day chaos that the snow brought last winter.

Snow forecasts are current somewhat 'fluid' with the arrival of the snow still 3-4 days away but the most optimistic so far predict up to 1.2m will fall in the first four or five days of 2016 in the French Alps with temperatures dropping below zero. Most resorts in the Western Alps are forecast to get 60-90cm of snow in the same period. The Pyrenees may also get up to a foot (30cm) of snow too.

The forecast is slightly less optimistic so far for Austria where resorts like Mayrhofen and Zell am See are currently struggling with only 6-8 inches of snow on uppers lopes and nothing in resort, they're currently only forecast to get a few more inches, although some higher resorts like Solden may get several feet.

There's some snow forecast for the Dolomites, which has had almost none this season, but so far the biggest forecasts are for a total of 15cm of snow in the first week of 2016, however that's up from zero forecast earlier today so it may keep increasing.

Several Scottish ski centres opened small amounts of terrain briefly yesterday after fresh snowfall and calm conditions enabled marginal opening.

Cairngorm above Aviemore had enough snow in the Ptarmigan Bowl and the Ptarmigan T Bar was operational as well as the Polar Express.

Nevis Range was able to run the Alpha and Rope tows to access the lower slopes of Aonach Mor.

"Forecasts had initially not looked promising but overnight snowfall and reduced winds meant the resort was able to operate lifts and open up the slopes for the first time this winter," said Heather Negus, Marketing Manager at Nevis Range, "The Snowsports School quickly filled up with many Christmas holiday makers experiencing skiing and snowboarding for the very first time."

Around 300 skiers and snowboarders took to the slopes along with a further 900 visitors travelling up the mountain gondola to enjoy snowy views in the winter sunshine at Nevis Range.

The gondola a Nevis Range had been closed for six weeks for a major upgrade of the gondola electronics system which was first installed when Nevis Range was built in 1989. Every electrical component was replaced and over 15 kilometers of electrical cable had been renewed.

Engineers from Austria had worked alongside the Nevis Range team on the half million pound upgrade. Modern touch screens now control the computer and the manufacturer can 'dial in' from Austria. The system has now been future proofed for a significant period of time.

Temperatures rose more than 10 degrees in 12 hours over night in the Scottish Highlands and both centres are currently closed due to strong winds.

The International Ski Federation (FIS) has rapidly decided on a completed ban on the use of drones for filming at its official sanctioned events including World Cup races.

The decision came after a drone carrying a TV camera fell to earth just behind Marcel Hirscher as he made his descent in a World Cup race at Madonna di Campiglio in Italy on Tuesday evening.

The camera, weighing 10kg (22lb) fell 20 metres (70 feet) from the sky and shattered on the slope just behind Hirscher, who later said he was aware of 'something' behind him but not what had happened until after he had finished his run, eventually coming second in the competition.

The FIS men's race director Markus Waldner told The Associated Press he was "Very angry" about the incident and Hirscher described the circumstances of the incident as "insane."

The FIS said they had given permission for drone use, but not directly over the course, and that the company filming were not abiding by the agreement, the company concerned said they were "still investigating" what happened.

Legal restrictions for the use of drones at events in Italy are reported to not yet be as tight as in other countries.