J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

Gotta love those creative snow reports! LOL

Yeah I did think "I'm not really selling it..." OK I've lived here (near Inverness) 30 years and every season I get a few superb midweek, perfect blue sky, empty slope days on my local hills. Most often in April/May. When it's good it's really THE BEST IN THE WORLD. When you take in the views alone its worth it (People say, "oh the road from Vancouver to Whistler on the Sea to Sky Highway has amazing views but I did that and I thought, er, this isn't as good as the view from Glencoe or Nevis Range). Plus there's a great atmosphere, nice people. The problem is people say "I'm coming in February, how will it be?" or "I want to see in Scotland at Christmas, will there be snow?" And the short answer is - no one knows. It's the Russian Roulette of ski holidays, you may get superb conditions, you may get brown slopes, no snow. Or blizzards and gales making it unskiable. So you either have to book at short notice when you know conditions are good, or you have to come hoping you get lucky but accepting you might not and being prepared to make the best of it. Should add I am clearly a fair weather skier and should be rightly treated with contempt by hardened Scottish skiers who will brave whatever conditions are thrown at them.

True, but sadly too much snow with resulting drifting problems, though it still happens occasionally, maybe once every two or three seasons at each area, has been less of a cause of closure than periods with little or no snow this century. High winds stopping lifts remains fairly common though that's true - I've even been stuck at the top at Cairngorm, because it was deemed too windy to run the funicular train!

After taking a year off, the women's Audi FIS Ski World Cup racing is back this weekend at Aspen in Colorado as the world Cup tour crosses the Atlantic to North America.

Aspen's 'Winternational' takes place on Aspen Mountain this Saturday, November 29 and Sunday, November 30.

The race marks 75 years since the first sanctioned races took place on Aspen Mountain in 1939 and spectators in resort will be able to view the race from the base of Lift 1A which provides prime viewing of the finish line from the grandstands. They can also attend a host of free Aspen Winternational events surrounding the races. In Britain we can watch it on Eurosport.

Giant Slalom racing will start on Saturday at 10 m local time followed by the finals at 1pm. On Sunday, the Slalom races will begin at 10 a.m. with the finals starting at 1 p.m.

US stars competing will include young U.S. Ski Team athletes Mikaela Shiffrin, the Sochi Olympic slalom gold medallist as well as two slalom overall titles, and Julia Mancuso who has four Olympic medals under her belt including one gold in the Torino giant slalom. The races will also include top international athletes from 19 other countries.

"The perfect start to our ski season always includes plenty of snow and World Cup racing on Aspen Mountain," says John Rigney, Vice President of Sales & Events, "Aspen Winternational provides an opportunity to highlight Aspen Snowmass to a global television audience, brings the best women racers to town, and rewards our passionate skiers and loyal racing fans."

The races are surrounded by an array of free activities that turn the event into a weekend-long celebration. Beginning on Friday, November 28 a World Cup Kick-Off Party will take place at the Limelight Hotel in downtown Aspen from 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. featuring a U.S. Ski Team autograph signing from 5:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. followed by a public bib draw with announcer Chris Davenport from 6:30 p.m.-6:45 p.m.

In conjunction with the World Cup races, Aspen Mountain and Snowmass will be open for skiing and riding with an abundance of natural snowfall owing to the recent storm cycle that dropped up to 60cm inches of snow across the upper peaks plus more in the forecast for this coming weekend.

The International Ski Federation has also awarded Aspen the 2017 Audi FIS Ski World Cup Finals. This marks the first time the event has been held in the U.S. in 20 years. The Mar. 15-19, 2017 event will feature the best men's and women's alpine skiing athletes in the world, competing in downhill, super G, giant slalom, slalom and nation's team event.

The original question was "Can anyone recommend a decent resort and place to stay sometime during March?" The first answer is that snow is not guaranteed during March (or any other month) so it is unwise to book a place thinking there will be. Usually there is and if you book ahead with the attitude that you'll have a good outdoors holiday even if there's no snow you'll be happy. I think it was the season before last there was no snow in March then it came again in April. Last season it was 5 metres deep on the West, less so on the East. Totally unpredictable like all British weather. There are five ski areas. Aviemore/Cairngorm has been mentioned and is the main resort town but Fort william on the West is only a few miles from the newer area of Nevis Range which has a gondola and chairlift (rather than cramped funicular and aged drag lifts) and spectacular views over the West coast. Glencoe, half an hour south, is a second option if you base yourself there. The Lecht is a second more distant option if you stay in Aviemore and have transport - it has the cheapest lift tickets and is the easiest (along with Glenshee) to get straight on the slopes from the car park. Only other point of note is that IF snow is good these centres are likely to be heaving at weekends, with long queues, but fairly empty midweek.

(The Pyrenees in snowier times...)

The ski season in the Pyrenees looks set to be delayed with temperatures currently too warm for snowmaking, little recent natural snowfall and no change currently predicted.

Most areas originally aimed to open this weekend, on the 29th of November, but its currently unclear whether any will be able to.

Grandvalira in Andorra which incorporates the villages of Pas de la Casa and Soldeu El Tarter and is the region's largest with 210km of piste, has announced an undetermined delay in its opening,

"Due to rising temperatures during these past few days, the weather conditions are not favourable for the opening on Saturday 29th. The beginning of the season will take place when the weather conditions can ensure the highest quality of service. We will keep you posted!"

The other Andorran ski area conglomerate, VallNord, posted on its social media feed last Friday that it was making snow while waiting for the natural stuff, but has not said since whether it still aims to open on the 29th.

There's also no news as yet from ski areas on the French and Spanish sides of the southern European mountain range.

Promotional body Snowsport England report that there was a 12% increase in dry slope and indoor snow slope use, year on year (from 2013 to 2014) during the period February to April due to what has been termed the 'Sochi Effect'

The stats, part of the regularly updated 'SlopeTracker' report compiled by Spike Marketing on behslf of the body, also found an 11% increase year on year during the period May to August.

"These figures support anecdotal evidence from slopes and centres around the country reporting on the 'Sochi Effect'" said a Snowsport England statement, "The Snow Centre in Hemel Hempstead reported their best ever October half term figures, whilst at Tamworth SnowDome their annual Big Bang Snowboard Show was hugely successful with over 560 people taking snowboard taster sessions and a further 168 three to five year olds getting a feel for snowboarding in the Burton Riglet Park over the weekend.

During the 30 Days of Snowsport event at Pendle Ski Club, 45-minute taster sessions were fully booked for the whole day, with three classes (two ski and one snowboard) running at the same time. Swadlincote Ski and Snowboard Centre reported that the winter had started early for them. Centre Manager Kelly Grewcock said: "many lessons are reaching maximum capacity which has meant we are putting on extra group lessons to cope with the demand".

The latest figures from Snowsport England's GO SKI GO BOARD campaign also show a positive trend, with Sport England targets already being met and overtaken. Since the start of the campaign in April 2013 to date, over 25,000 people have taken a one off GO SKI GO BOARD 'TRY' taster session.

The study also found that almost 65% of people said they were extremely likely to continue using a centre and close to 60% of people said they would recommend the centre to friends and colleagues.

"The latest SlopeTracker report has confirmed the positive trend we expected, which is great news for the snowsports industry in this country. From the close work we do with slopes and clubs we have been hearing positive stories about how busy many of them are and the buzz created by the Winter Olympics. We can of course celebrate these figures, but more importantly what we must do now is to try and sustain this upwards trend and keep people coming back to practice snowsports and indeed continue to attract new people to both skiing and snowboarding.

http://www.snowsportengland.co.uk

A number of leading resorts will be opening for the ski season today (Friday 21st November) and tomorrow, in some cases earlier than planned and also reporting some of the best early season conditions in years.

Among resorts opening early is Whistler in BC, Canada, which is opening five days ahead of schedule thanks to some natural snowfall and what the resort says has been good snowmaking weather. Inland Sun Peaks is also opening early this weekend. On the eastern side of Canada in Quebec Mont Tremblant will also be open, and reports 'exceptional' early season cover after snowfall linked to the snowstorms in North Eastern North America.

South of the border the most successful resort in America, Vail, will be opening today, and the first resorts in Utah, including Snowbird (pictured above) which says it is opening early because of good pre-season conditions, will also open. Many other areas are opening across the country too thanks to good snowfall and snowmaking conditions in many areas and the fact that the key Thanksgiving holiday long weekend is coming up. Conditions in Colorado are particularly good this early in the season with bases typically around the two feet/60cm mark after up to a metre of snow fell around last weekend.

Resorts opening in the Alps this weekend include Adelboden and the Jungfrau in Switzerland and La Clusaz and Val Thorens in France.

La Clusaz is opening several weeks ahead of its scheduled opening date and at weekends only. The ski patrol director there is reported to have said that snow conditions at higher elevations are the best they have been in at least 15 years or 'this century.'