J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

A new half-hourly service that's started this winter means Zermatt is quicker to reach by train than ever before, the resort claims.

The new services introduce by The Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn increases the daily tally of trains on the route by a quarter, from 60 to 75, and Zermatt says that new connections made possible by the additional services means for guests arriving from Paris/Geneva and the French part of Switzerland should find their journey is 30 minutes shorter.

Along with the new services which began this week, new train compositions have also gone into operation. The new trains offer air conditioning, a new customer information system, level boarding with wide doors, wheelchair compartments and handicapped accessible toilets.

As British newspapers publish stories about too little snow in the Alps, it appears it's not as clear cut bad news as they imply as Val d'Isere has been forced to cancel World Cup training runs this morning due to too much snow on the course!

120 people are trying to clear the snow off in readiness for tomorrow's race which is forecast sunny.

Last night 15 cms of fresh snow fell in Val d'Isere from top to bottom. Temperatures were -4°C in the resort this morning butT 0°C on top of Solaise.

"The resort feels wintery for the first time this season and the place is buzzing with the World Cup in town," said one Brit currently in the resort.

The resort is currently working hard to get top to bottom of Solaise sorted and the nursery slopes open which were pisted properly last night.

"We're delighted to announce that all the high altitude sectors are open and the lionks over to Tiognes in the Espace Killy," said a resort spokesperson, adding, "Everyone can enjoy themselves, from beginners on gentle runs to experts on extreme tracks. So get your skis on and join us for a great run on the slopes – Fornet, Pissaillas, Solaise or Bellevarde…. The choice is yours,"

A small ski area in New Brunswick, Canada, has decided to require all its users to wear helmets, even though there's no law in the province that requires them to do so.

Poley Mountain is believed to be the first area in the world to require helmet use by all slope users, although it's increasingly common now for resorts to require on mountain employees and participants in their ski school programmes and similar to wear helmets.

The move comes after one Canadian province with several small to medium sized resorts, Nova Scotia, did make helmet wearing obligatory on its slopes last season.

"We've had our instructors, our patrollers, our staff and all our people in our programs for the last few years, all mandatory for helmets, so it's just one little step further," the area's general manager Bill Anderson told local media.

Local medical practitioners have welcomed the move.

It is not clear what Poley Mountain's actions will be if someone arrives at their slopes and refuses to wear a helmet. Helmets will be available to rent at the slope if required.

Ski resorts in the Alps are getting increasingly concerned about British media reports that it's the worst start to winter for 40 years, complete with pictures of summer in Les Arcs (Daily Mail)

Italy's Dolomiti Superski has launched a PR offensive wanting to get the news out that a quarter of its vast 1,200km of pistes are open, and that it expects "Almost all" to be open in a week's time for the Christmas holidays.

"We are able to guarantee 150 lifts are open with 300km of prepared slopes to enjoy thanks to the efficient snow making systems available," said resort spokesman Diego Clara, "Last week the temperatures dropped below 0 degrees which allowed the 4,700 snow machines of Dolomiti Superski to work at their best efficiency."

Mr Clara said a 'considerable number' of lifts and slopes were therefore open for the regions first weekend in December when 56,000 skiers and boarders took to the piste. There is natural snow cover above 1600m.

Snowfall is forecast in the coming days in higher regions and from Wednesday temperatures are supposed to drop again, what will allow the region to run the snow making systems again.

The Sellaronda will be ready to open next weekend (19-21 December) just in time for the big Ski World Cup events in Val Gardena (19th and 20th December with a SuperG and a Downhill race) and in Alta Badia (21st December with the GS on the Gran Risa slope) which have now been confirmed by FIS officials.

Mr Clara said that almost all lifts and runs should be open for Christmas and new year and that almost all accommodation in the region is now booked up over that period.

The 24th Bond film, and the fourth starring Daniel Craig, Spectre, is to be filmed in Tirol during January and February.

Suitably top secret negotiations led to the agreement which will see the internationally famous resort of Sölden in the Ӧtztal and less well known Obertilliach in the East Tirol region become venues for the film, which is already scheduled for release on 25th November 2015.

It is not known whether there will actually be ski or snowboarding content in the film, and it will all be on a closed set, so that may remain a mystery until release day, but the chances of anyone accidentally sharing a chairlift with Daniel Craig see sadly limited.

The British production company "B24" will be filming in the region from mid-January to mid-February. As well as lead actor, Daniel Craig, other stars of the 24th Bond film include Ralph Fiennes, Christoph Waltz, Monica Bellucci and Lea Seydoux. Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes ("American Beauty," "Revolutionary Road" and the last James Bond movie "Skyfall") will again be directing.

B24 had reputedly been searching the world for suitable locations for the past year but finally decided on Tirol after a package of logistical and financial support, convinced the director and production team to choose the locations of Oetztal and East Tirol.

A total of 22 filming days is planned in the Tirol, and at its peak the film crew will consist of 500 people, including 150 local filmmakers covering various positions. Tirol has calculated that the economic benefit to the region is huge and that 6 million euros will be spent there by the film company alone. It has not revealed how much it has spent bringing them there. The region's tourism body is already talking about Bond themed tours of the area once the film has been released.

Solden is one of the world' most high profile resorts. With twin glaciers meaning it offers a 9 month ski season, it is the host of the first World Cup events of the season in the northern hemisphere each autumn, and is also a sponsor of various indoor snow centres around Europe, including The Snow Centre at Hemel Hempstead. The resort actually owns a large indoor ski centre in Germany outright.

There are long standing connections between Bond and the ski industry. Fleming himself studied in Kitzbuhel in the 1920s, whilst Murren has the production company for the 1969 Bond movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service to thank for financing the completion of their famous revolving mountain restaurant. 45 years on the Swiss resort still offers Bond exhibitions and tours. A later Bond movie starring Roger Moore in credited as the first time snowboarding was seen on screen and the scene where Bond skis off a cliff then opens a union jack parachute is seen as one of the best known in cinema. On yet another Bond movie shoot the crew then based in Chamonix were able to help with rescue after a major avalanche hit the valley, they had had rare permission to use helicopters in the area.

Whistler is the latest resort to offer free skiing to anyone arriving at the slopes dressed as Santa Claus. Or at least the first 100 people who turned up dressed like Santa or Mrs. Claus at 8am this morning got free tickets.

The idea is increasingly popular at ski areas around the world. Last weekend, Saturday, December 6, coincided with Saint Nicholas Day itself and, as reported on J2Ski, Verbier was among resorts opening with free skiing for people arriving to ski or board dressed as Santa.

The following day, Sunday 7th, saw the annual Santa Sunday at Sunday River ski resort in Maine staged for the 15th time. This event is used as a fund raiser for local charities and typically raised over $2000.

Here Santas do not ski free, up to 250 can pre-register however and in exchange for participation are given a second day ticket, to be used before Christmas week, free of charge.

Donations are collected on the day to raise money for the local rotary Club's toy drive. There's also a parade of Santas as part of the event.

"We filled in the 250 spots in three minutes," said a Sunday River spokesperson.

At Whistler Blackcomb all Santa and Mrs. Claus's upload the Whistler Village Gondola at 8am this morning then skied or rode to the bottom of Emerald Express for a group photo.

After the extreme 'weather bomb' hit Scotland on Wednesday and Thursday, bringing blizzards, 110mph gales, thunder and lightning storms, the weather conditions have eased dramatically overnight to make way for still conditions, blue skies and frosty weather.

Teams are up on the slopes at all five Scottish ski areas this morning assessing what's left – early reports indicate large drifts but in some cases main slopes scoured of snow cover by the gales, so centres are saying they'll need to plough slopes from the drifts on to the runs.

Access roads to The Lecht, Glenshee and Cairngorm (pictured above) have all been closed by snow over the past few days so these are needing to be cleared too.

All five centres are reported to be looking to see if they can open this weekend and most look likely to. The Lecht and Cairngorm have both said they definitely intend to open at least some terrain if they can. Cairngorm had also been snowmaking ahead of the storm.

Glenshee and Glencoe are also both saying they hope there'll be enough snow and for everything to be in a state of readiness for operational the weekend.

Only Nevis Range have said (yesterday) that they do not think they'll be able to open this weekend.

A statement from the operations team at Cairngorm said, "It is looking promising for opening for snow sports on Saturday, with at least a run to the middle and perhaps the Day Lodge using the Train for access . ….We will make an assessment today and have an update by the afternoon."

Although World Cup events from the weekend after this are now being approved to be staged as scheduled in the Alps, this weekend's races on the men's and women's tour scheduled for Val d'Isère and Courchevel have been moved to Åre, so both tours will meet there tomorrow. The Swedish resort is not reported to have much snow on the ground either, but it does offer consistent low temperatures at present which the FIS had doubts about for the Alps this weekend, although releases from the two less-than-happy French resorts indicate they did not.

The rescheduled competitions will be held on Friday 12 December with giant slalom for both men and ladies, on Saturday 13 December – Lucia Day- with ladies' slalom and on Sunday 14 December the men will race in slalom.

The decision to move the races was taken by the FIS last Friday, 5 December at the time of the ongoing FIS World Cup events in the US and Canada.

Åre, which beat Cortina d'Ampezzo in a bitter struggle to host the 2019 Alpine skiing world championships earlier this year, had already been allotted races in the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup on 12 to 14 March, 2015, but after proposals from the International Ski Federation, Åre agreed to host the cancelled races in the Alps.

"We have decided on a positive attitude to hosting additional FIS World Cup competitions, since we have a well-trimmed organisation and access to a permanent arena," said Nalle Hansson, Race & Arena Manager, World Cup Åre, "Åre's organising committee is delighted at the additional races and is now preparing for a hectic week. We are also hoping for a good crowd of spectators since the event coincides with the official season opening weekend."

"We are so happy to see our national team competing on home snow, and to have the opportunity to host races for both the men and ladies, which hasn't happened since the FIS World Cup Finals in 2009," said Karin Stolt Halvarsson, General Manager World Cup Åre AB, who added, "We are also grateful for all the response and support we are seeing from volunteers all over the country and the local business sector in Åre and the surrounding area. This is an early Christmas gift and the challenge and opportunity offered to us by FIS shall be honoured. I feel confident that we shall see great races."

Courchevel has now lost its World Cup races for this season but Val d'Isère has been given the go ahead to stage women's races next weekend. A decision will be made tomorrow (Friday 12th December 14) on whether the men can head to Val Gardena as planned.