J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

(Lech this morning)

Another wave of snow has been crossing the Alps over the past few days and is expected to bring accumulations of up to 50cm in total by the weekend, with most areas getting 20-40cm at higher elevations.

For many resorts it's the third such wave of snowfall in the last five weeks and whilst it's too early to be sure, there's hopes that the area is now enjoying a weather cycle which will crucially continue over the next two months in the run up to the main season.

The snowfall began at some areas including Val Thorens in France on Monday afternoon and is expected to be heaviest in the next 36 hours for most resorts.

Solden in Austria, which opened a week early in mid-September following a similar snowfall at the end of summer back then, posted a 'powder alarm' this morning after receiving 26cm of snow in the last 24 hours.
It is scheduled to stage the first of the Northern Hemisphere's World Cup races the weekend after this.

Lech in the Arlberg (pictured above) is not open yet but people have been walking up to ski.



Currently 15 glacier ski areas are open in the Alps, more than half in Austria where gear tests and October Fests are the order of the day, the fresh snow being a big bonus. The number is due to grow on Saturday with the scheduled openings of the Diavolezza glacier near St Moritz in Switzerland and Cervinia in Italy (At weekends then full time from November).

South of the equator it is still snowing in South America too with Valle Nevado announcing it will extend its season to this coming Sunday having planned to close last weekend as a result of what it describes as the best October conditions in a decade there. Turoa in New Zealand is also still open and plans to stay open through October.

No less than four countries are currently claiming they will soon be home to the new world's biggest indoor snow centre. But which really will be?

To begin with we need to work out which actually is at present, and while it is often wrongly repeated that that's Ski Dubai (actually it's somewhere near the 10th biggest at present), the biggest indoor slopes are actually closer to home in France, Germany and The Netherlands.

There are slopes over 600m long at Amneville in France and at the Alpin Centre in Germany – which may be the world's longest with around a 650mm slope claimed. However as with all ski stats there's another possible stat to use – biggest by area – which is probably Snoworld Landgraaf, former host of indoor FIS World Cup events, which has a 550m long main slope but more width than the two longer areas giving it the biggest area of indoor snow – around 30,000 square metres.

So the four new contenders are each going for one or more of these two records.

An indoor snow centre in Harbin, NE China (artist's impression pictured above), is actually under construction and claiming it will be the world's biggest when it opens in 2017. It appears the claim is based on area as the longest slope is reported to be 500m long, but slope width up to 500m and there are claimed to be up to six slopes each at least 480m long.
Another indoor centre going for the 'area' title is Lorensburg Winter Park, to be located close to the capital Oslo. It will have 36,000 square metres of year-round snow covered slopes, however the Oslo slope will be 505m long so not the longest and the snow area title seems to include some cross country tracks and a ski jump that are also part of the plan. The centre is reported to have got the go ahead for construction but it's unclear if work has begun.

In Dubai, a new indoor snow centre at Medran is reported to be aiming at 700 metres long, which would take the clear 'longest in the world' title. However the UAE does have form for announcing very long slopes (One at 2km long was announced before the economic crash) without them actually being built.

Finally in the US, American Dream Florida is also claiming its indoor snow centre would be the world's largest, although published stats do not so far seem to back that claim up on length or area.

The American Dream franchise is now owned by the Triple Five group which own North America's two biggest malls, including the Mall of America, and biggest tourist attractions, each receiving around 50 million visitors annually. They took over a $4 billion mall in New Jersey which is home to North America's first indoor snow slope which was built in 2008 by one of the project's three previous owners, but has never opened. It's scheduled to now in 2017 with the rest of the huge mall, and Triple Five are already planning the second mall.

Ski areas around the world are reported to be grappling with concern about the rapid growth in drone usage and the potential danger to safety, particularly in regard to collisions with ski lifts, snowmaking and skiers. Skier privacy is also being cited as a concern.

In the US the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has projected that more than a million mini quadcopters will be given as gifts this Christmas.

Most ski resorts are reported to be looking at bans on the use of drones by their customers if they do not already have them in place (as aspen has announced) or are not located in a country where private helicopter flight in banned under normal conditions anyway such as France.

The American Ski Resorts Association (the NSAA) are also reported to have drawn up a standard legal document which ski areas can adopt if they wish to add a drone ban to their list of prohibitions.

However some are also reported to be grappling with the popularity of drones and seeing whether some form of limited use might be possible such as a hopefully safe 'drone zone' where visiting skiers and boarders can fly their drones.

There are also reported to be commercial drone filming companies in conversation with leading ski resorts with the suggestion that they set up an exclusive drone filming service for resort guests in partnership with the resort whilst the wider private use of drones is banned.

A new lift pass covering all the skiing at three of France's largest ski regions has gone on sale at the eye watering price of €340 (£251) for a six day adult pass – nearly 50 Euros more than its nearest rival and previously 'most expensive', the Chamonix Regional pass.

The new 'Alpine Legends' pass covers a total of 1325km of piste comprising all the skiing of the 3 Vallées with 600 kilometres of runs, Paradiski (La Plagne and Les Arcs) with 425 kilometres of runs and Espace Killy (Tignes-Val d'Isère) with 300 kilometres of runs.

Some people living in the area have pointed out that they believed that formerly six day passes purchased at one of these areas were normally valid at the other anyway at no extra cost. A similar version of the pass, the Olympic Pass, which covered a claimed 1500km of piste, was also offered after the Albertville Winter Games.

Although believed to be the most expensive in the Euro-zone, the strength of the Swiss Franc means that the Zermatt-Aosta Valley 6 day pass pass at 463 Swiss Francs (£314) remains Europe's most expensive ticket overall, although it can be purchased for considerably less on the Italian side of the border.

The largest ski area coverage its possible to buy on one 6 day ticket is believed to still be Austria's Salzburg Super Ski Card in Austria which covers more than 2,500km of piste at more than 20 ski regions containing around 90 villages. It costs 238 Euros (£176) for an adult six day pass in low season, 256 Euros (£190) in peak season.

www.thealpinelegends.com

The high profile Freeze Big Air Festival that was supposed to have been staged in London next month has been postponed until the New Year according to a statement on the Festival's website.

The Festival, which had only recently announced that Niles Rodgers of Chic would be the headline act for the musical side of the festival, which was also to feature an FIS sanctioned big air competition using a huge snow covered ramp to be constructed in the Queen Elizabeth Park, gave no explanation for the postponement in its online statement.

This reads that Festival goers can get refunds within seven days by calling or emailing a number given, or that their ticket's will be valid at the re-scheduled event if they hold on to them.

However early reaction on social media has not been happy, with some people pointing out that non-refundable flights and hotel nights had been booked by those planning to attend the event.

Freeze Big Air was to have been staged one week after the revamped, rescheduled and relocated London Ski and Snowboard Show which has also been increasing its live action and music elements including a presence from the Altitude Comedy Festival and the Snowbombing Music Festival.

http://www.freezebigair.com/postponed

Stylish Swiss resort Laax will unveil a spectacular new gondola this winter accessing the La Siala mountain station.

Following on from their special chairlift designed by Porsche several seasons ago, the new lift has 10 passenger cabins designed by Pininfarina, the company famous for designing Ferraris. So far Laax has steered clear of choosing VW designers.

The new 3.3-kilometre (2.1 mile) long La Siala lift replaces the old triple chairlift and will take skiers and boarders from the Alp Sogn Martin base station up to the La Siala mountain station in just nine minutes.
"The journey is a real experience. The completion of the new cable car also means that the ''revolution on the mountain'' infrastructure project is now finished," said a Laax statement.

The Porsche chairlift has several innovations including the fact that the chairs can tilt to face outwards on a horizontal axis to allow riders a better view of the scenery rather than the back of the chairlift ahead of them.

Ruka in Finnish Lapland have announced they're aiming to open for winter 2015-16 on Friday 16th October.

The high-latitude resort has built a reputation for having the longest ski season of any non-glacier ski area in the world, usually open for around eight month from October to June although last season it closed in May.

Arapahoe Basin in Colorado which stayed open to late June must have been close to Ruka on the open days count for 14-15.

Ruka has published pictures of its snowmaking arsenal firing up for the winter today.



Elsewhere snowmaking is also go in Colorado at several ski areas and Mountain High in California has had fresh snow and indicated it might open in the next few weeks if the hoped for El Nino weather pattern begins to kick in and temperatures remain low enough for snowmaking there.

Sunday River in Maine, another resort with a reputation for a long ski season, has also had a 'test run' of its snowmaking.

Another band of significant snowfall has been passing through the Alps in the last day or so, leaving significant fresh accumulations on glacier ski areas and meaning powder conditions at already open areas.

The biggest snowfall reported was at Saas Fee (Pictured above) in Switzerland which says it has had 60cm (two feet) of snow in the recent weather cycle. Saas Fee, which re-opened in July and will stay open to next may 2016, reported a 30cm snowfall last month too. Many other glacier areas, open and not, have reported fresh snow, including Tignes which opened on Saturday.



Across the Atlantic there was fresh snow at altitude in the Rockies too with resorts from Breckenridge in Colorado to Lake Louise in Alberta reporting a transformation in conditions to 'winter like'

Copper Mountain used the temperature dip to fire up its snowmaking arsenal for the first time (pictured above) – believed to be the first non-glacier ski resort in the northern hemisphere to do so for the 15-16 ski season. It is among three or four high altitude Colorado ski areas, also including Arapahoe Basin, Keystone and Loveland, that are among the 20 highest ski areas in the world and often open in October each year thanks to snowmaking.