J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

In an unprecedented move, St Moritz has announced that it is inviting 150 families of four to visit the resort for a free hotel stay over the Easter weekend -including half board, ski school lessons and lift passes for all.

The contest is in celebration of 150 years since the world's first winter sports holiday took place in the famous Swiss resort in the winter of 1864-65, when several Brits accepted a bet from a local hotelier that they would enjoy the winter stay there more than in London. The hotelier won his bet and the rest is skiing history!

The initiative is being organised by St. Moritz Hoteliers Association and the Swiss Ski School, both of which are also celebrating anniversaries, as well as the Engadin St. Moritz lift company.

The holiday prize is for three nights' half board accommodation from 3 to 6 April 2015 (Good Friday to Easter Monday)for the families, who each also receive ski passes valid for three days between 3 and 6 April 2015 for two adults and two children covering the Engadin St. Moritz snow sports region and group ski school lessons for two children for two days (Saturday, 4 April and Sunday, 5 April 2015) at the Swiss Ski School, St. Moritz. There will be a drinks reception to welcome all the families.

Families taking part should include two adults and two children aged up to 16, families with older children or more children can ask for a special rate for additional children. The prize does not include travel, hotels will be allocated closer to the date.

To enter familes should enter their details at http://www.engadin.stmoritz.ch/winter/en/familien-anmeldung-150jahre/ before the closing date for entries of Sunday, 18 January 2015

The latest snow reports in from Alpine resorts in the past 24 hours report still more heavy snowfall.

It's difficult to know whether to describe this as the third big snowstorm in the past 28 days, or as some forecasters predicted a fortnight ago, the latter half of 10+ days of sporadic snowfall across the region.

Certainly different areas have reported their big dumps on different days with French areas shouting the news loudest yesterday and more of an Austrian onus today. It follows reports of huge snowfalls of up to 1.5m by some Swiss resorts last week.

In between the snowfalls the 20 or so areas that are currently open have been reporting superb conditions.

Yesterday Avoriaz reported 50cm more fresh snow, today Solden has reported 30cm in the last 24 hours. In Italy the glacier chairlift at Passo tonale is slowly being buried (as shown above) with more than a metre of new snow reported there. Snow has been reported down to 1200m in places.

The only concerns being expressed at this point (and there always have to be some…) are that the big snowfalls are high up, and thawing fast where they reach lower elevations. With the start of the season only a week or two away now for most there's the normal twitchiness regarding resort level snow.

Across the Atlantic the snowfall has continued and increased with some areas in the Rockies now reporting over a metre of snow. Large numbers of American resorts now plan to open this weekend ahead of the thanksgiving Holiday next week, right across the country.

The internationally little known French ski area of Manigod has an unusual offer for families buying their children a lift pass – a free ski jacket with their ticket.

The offer from the local LaBelleMontagne lift company is for a free ski jacket with every purchase of a child's 6 day ski pass online.

The warm and stylish jacket for 5 – 12 year olds is produced by French brand SNC in bright colours and uses Novadry® Technologies for weather protection and Stratermic for a light, strong construction. Different sizes and colours are available.

The free jacket is offered on selected dates only – these include Christmas week from 20th to 27th December 2014, the first week of the February half term holidays from 7th – 14th February 2015, the last week from 28th February to 7th March and at the end of the season from 11th April.

In addition the company is offering six day's free child ski hire with every adult six day ski hire purchased and similarly six days of child group lessons free with the purchase of any adult six day group lessons package.

http://www.manigod.labellemontagne.com

Wild fluctuations in snow cover at Swiss resorts is currently being reported as some areas are being seriously dumped on, while other report cover from the big snowstorms of the past three weeks has thawed away.

Saas Fee is making the most excited claims, saying that they have had 1.5m (five feet) of fresh snow in the last few days.

But Crans Montana, which was due to open this weekend, has postponed doing so as its snow accumulation has been badly diminished by thawing, even 3000m up, and the resort has taken the unusually honest step (for ski resort snow reporting in general) of posting images showing that fact on social media, including the one above. It's not known for sure if the slopes are white again now.

Davos and Engelberg are reported to have opened/re-opened for the season OK this weekend, joining already open Andermatt, Glacier 3000 above Les Diablerets, the Diavolezza glacier near St Moritz and Zermatt.

Verbier, which is currently aiming to open at weekends after opening early last weekend following heavy snow, reported yesterday that rain in resort had turned to snow and that today was expected to be a powder Sunday.

Andermatt has reported 20cm of fresh snow in the last 24 hours and Glacier 3000 a similar accumulation in recent days.

The new season is just a few weeks away in Japan, and the latest news is in from the leading resorts of Rusutsu, Tomamu, Hanazono and Myoko.

On The Slopes:

Tomamu, one of Japan's newest resorts celebrating its 30th season this winter, has invested £4 million on a new a high-speed quad lift and new runs. Tomamu also installed a separate quad lift last season, making it one of the top investors in its lift facilities in Japan in recent years.

The resort will also offer a guided service to ski around Mt. Asahidake and Mt. Furanodake from 13 December 2014 to 31 March 2015. It will also run a daily return bus service to the nearby ski areas of Sahoro and Furano giving their guests the chance to ski different areas.

Hoshino Resort Tomamu is the only hotel in Hokkaido that has its own snow CAT operation. Tomamu's deep powder specialist, the Powder Team, operate CAT tours every weekend from 10 January until 29 March 2015, for those who want to experience the most pristine powder snow.

Meanwhile Salomon and Rusutsu have teamed up to create a new terrain park, easily accessible from the West Tiger Pair Lift. The park is built entirely with wood, with giant log features, jibs and jumps as a playground for pros and everyday shredders.

In Niseko's the onus this winter is on facilities for families with the resort's first designated kids learning trails. The Strawberry Bells Adventure Trails cater to kids' love skiing the trees and make it safe, fun and great for learning. It is located on the right side of Strawberry Fields, with colourful bells and sign posts to guide classes over and around the best features for learning and development. It is bound to be noisy, fun, colourful, safe and a new exciting way to learn.

In addition NISS, Niseko's premier snow sports school is celebrating 10 years of offering snow sports services to ski and snowboard enthusiasts from around the globe. To mark the occasion, they will be holding special events throughout the season, see their website for details. NISS is an official resort-operated Snow sports School with two convenient locations in Hanazono and Hirafu.

By the 1930's Myoko Kogen had become Japan's first international winter resort. It is a traditional winter holiday destination for Japan's imperial family and each year receives an average of 14 metres of snow, with the Seki Onsen Ski Resort area getting as much as 24m of snow from December to March and a maximum snow depth of 8m!

Myoko has strengthened its appeal to family skiers with enhancement to its kids programmes at the Myoko Snow Sports International Ski School. Learning is made easy with two dedicated kids' ski areas, an indoor kids' centre and easy lift access to excellent terrain. Their caring instructors will ensure your little one has a positive ski experience with other children of similar ability.

Enchanted forests to explore, adventures to pursue and games to play all create a fantastic learning environment, leaving your child with a real love of skiing. Lessons are available in English, German and French and ski school staff numbers have grown to 40 professionals from around the world.

Off the slopes:

Back in Tomamu the resort's Ice Village should be better and open longer for this winter thanks to new snow making machines to ensure the Ice Village can be open from 1 December 2014 up until 31 March 2015.

In Niseko, Japan's most westernised resort, the newly expanded Restaurant and Café Hanazono 308 will give you the chance to start the day with a homemade muffin and a Lavazza coffee or a hot chocolate freshly prepared by a barista at the 308 Café. Or you can stop in for lunch at the newly expanded 330 seat restaurant, offering a great range of tasty options including the famous Kani Ramen. www.hanazononiseko.com.

New for rental this year in Myoko is The Red House. Whether you plan to stay for just a weekend or several weeks, the Red House has all the facilities you need to enjoy your Myoko stay in comfort. This wooden house is new, warm and comfortable—you'll soon feel like you're in your second home.

The Red House is equipped with everything you would need in a house. Additionaly, it also has WiFi access throughout and comes with the house's Mitsubishi Delica car for trips to the supermarket and to explore the area.

Following the decision to end the service known as 'ski hosting' or 'social skiing' on French slopes two seasons ago, leading British tour operators are now set to withdraw the service from Italian resorts too.

'Ski hosting' is typically when an employee of a tour operator who, crucially, may not have formal ski teaching qualifications, takes guests on a basic orientation tour of the easy slopes at the base of the runs. The service is run in many ways in many countries but is currently the subject of an ongoing legal case in France with British tour operators arguing it should be allowed, and the French authorities saying it breaches laws there.

In September, all tour operators operating in the Italian Piemonte region, just over the French border, were contacted by the local Ski School Association advising them that they were in breach of Italian regulations regarding social skiing services on the mountain.

As a result of this, the biggest operator Crystal and it is understood other UK operators have taken the decision to remove social skiing from all resorts in Italy for this winter.

"('Social Skiing')… is classed as a criminal offence, and if caught could result in our reps being fined and prosecuted," said a Crystal statement, "Due to local legal restrictions our social skiing service in Italy has been suspended for this winter. Crystal customers will continue to be supported by our expert in-resort teams and the new Crystal Ski Explorer app."

The world famous violinist and British citizen Vanessa Mae, who became the first person to represent Thailand in snow sports at a winter Olympics in Sochi earlier this year has been banned from competition for the next four years after an International Ski Federation (FIS) 'Hearing panel' decided she cheated in achieving the number of points required to qualify for the Olympics.

The hearing panel met after the Slovenian ski association highlighted 'issues' with certain racers in July and suspended several officials.

It is unclear whether the 36 year old, who finished joint last in her event at Sochi, had any intention of competing again. It is also not yet clear if her Olympic result will be cancelled, the FIS say they have transmitted their findings to the IOC. Wikipedia has also stopped referring to Mae as "a British violinist and Alpine ski racer" following the ruling. Mae may appeal via the FIS or the Participants to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne (CAS) in application of the Code of Sports-related Arbitration within 21 days if she wishes.

The ban results from Mae's participation in four giant slalom competitions for ladies that were organised by the Alpine Ski Club Triglav at the Krvavec Ski area in Solvenia between 17th and 19th January 2014.

The competitions were organised at the request of the management of Vanessa Vanankorn (Mae's full name is Vanessa-Mae Vanakorn Nicholson, through the Thai Olympic Committee in its capacity as the FIS member National Ski Association. The Krvavec competitions were the last opportunity for Vanessa Vanakorn to achieve the necessary FIS points to qualify for the Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014.

The Hearing Panel found that:

• The results of two giant slalom races on 19th January included a competitor who was not present at, and did not participate in the Krvavec Competitions.
• Another competitor was placed 2nd in one race despite the fact she fell. Her time is understood to have been adjusted afterwards by more than 10 seconds.
• At least one competitor started away from the starting gate outside the automatic timing wand that was manually opened by the starter when she was already on the course.
• A previously retired competitor with the best FIS points in the competition took part for the sole purpose of lowering the penalty to the benefit the participants in the races.
• The weather conditions were so bad that no regular race could be held and "any comparable competition in Slovenia would have been cancelled" according to the competition referee.
• The races courses were not changed for the second runs as is required by the FIS rules.
• Approximately 23 competitors participated in the two races held on 18th January 2014, however at least two competitors on the official results were not in attendance.
• Only eight competitors were on the start list for the two races on January 19th 2014 and only six achieved a result.

Along with Mae's ban, five officials received 1-2 year bans.

That sounds ideal from Dublin, just what you need. There are a myriad of different rules according to the airline, ticket type etc. I've sometimes got two pairs of skis in one big bag and paid once no problem, other times I've packed skiwear in with them as you say, but others I've been told to open the bag and only have the one pair of skis in it - nothing else. On a long haul I've had the 'max bag length 1.6m' thing but I just stood at the check in counter saying that was nonsensical when the airline claimed to carry skis and got through it. Generally I find airport staff are as confused as everyone else and unless they're primed to deal with a lot of skiers they just want rid of you asap.