J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

Heavy snowfall in the past 24 hours in the Alps, particularly in Eastern Switzerland and Austria, has now resulted in accumulations of up to70cm being reported on glacier slopes that are already open for snowsports.

While there are currently mid-winter like white out conditions, with temperatures in the double digits below freezing, and several reports say the snow is 'heavy and wet' rather than powder, it is good news for building depleted base levels up on the glaciers and forming a base for areas where the start of the season is still nearly two months away.

Solden has reported the biggest snowfall to date with 70cm in the last 36 hours, and it is unclear whether that will actually be a problem for the resort which has been cleared by the FIS to stage the first northern hemisphere world cup races of the 2014-15 this weekend for men and women, due to kick off in less than 48 hours time. It's still snowing.

Other resorts posting big accumulations include the Kitzsteinhorn above Kaprun with 50cm overnight (pictures montage from this morning there above).

There are seven glaciers currently open in Austria and a further four in Switzerland (Diavolezza near St Moritz, Saas Fee and Zermatt) with Engelberg and Glacier 3000 between Gstaad and Les Diablerets due to open on Saturday.

It's snowing heavily in the Alps this morning. The picture above is from Verbier.

"A big, wet and windy NW system, very unusual for us this time of year, is certainly scouring ridge lines and coating the deep couloirs above Verbier with perhaps a metre of snow," a hopeful local told J2Ski.

The snow is good news for the dozen or so glacier ski areas already open in the Alps, which will be joined for a week by Les 2 Alpes on Saturday.

Assuming it is not followed by a super warm spell in the coming month it is also good news of course for all the other areas as they prepare for the 2014-15 ski season.

Resorts already offering glacier skiing include Tignes, Saas Fee, Cervinia (at weekends), Zermatt, Stubai, Kaprun, Pitztal and Molltal among others.

Solden has been icing its glacier slopes ready to stage the first World Cup racing events of the northern hemisphere's 2014-15 season at the weekend so it is not yea clear whether the new snow will be good news or bad news for that going ahead smoothly.

The number of mountain homes listed for home exchange on speciality website HomeExchange.com has grown by more than a third over the past two years, says the company.

British families who use HomeExchange.com have taken advantage of the service to make regular ski home exchange trips from the UK to Europe and America with properties in the Alps and Rockies among those listed.

The benefits of a home exchange for skiers can include the use of a comfortable home-from-home experience and flexible arrival and departure dates. Both parties are normally willing and able to avoid peak travel times, thus saving more money by tailoring the duration of the stay to their mutual convenience.

Another benefit is that ski kit and even cars can sometimes come as part of the exchange, reducing the hassle and expense of a typical winter holiday so long as sizes match and safety standards are legally met. www.homeexchange.com

Tour Operator Ski Himalaya which operates holidays to Gulmarg, India's leading ski area has decided to cancel trips to the area this season.

The company has operated in the resort for the past nine seasons but manager Peter Robinson said he made his decision after reading statements from Islamic State in which they called upon what Mr Robinson termed 'disturbed individuals' to "not discuss" the thought of killing an innocent person with anyone else, before doing so.

Mr Robinson said that this announcement followed events in July when hundreds protested in Gulmarg against Israel's invasion of Palestine and called for the obliteration of the 'Zionist nation.'

"Whilst the link to Kashmir may not be obvious, Kashmir's Muslim population is majority Sunni," he said, "I personally believe that It would be foolish to discount the possibility that a few disaffected Kashmir youths will have sympathy for Islamic State."

"Whilst I could delay the decision about the 2014-2015 season until closer to winter to see how events evolve, our hotel commitments would then compromise my ability to offer guests a refund of deposits," added Mr Robinson, who said customers would have the option of a full refund or to carry their booking over to 2016.

Ski Himalaya has hosted nearly 1,000 international guests at Gulmarg over the years and have previously only needed to cancel trips one Christmas, when late arriving snowfall meant the season start was delayed.

"We have not lost anyone in an avalanche incident (or any other incident in Kashmir) at any time in the past 9 years. We don't intend to lose any guest to an avalanche, or any other danger (however remote the risk), in the future," concluded Mr Robinson.

The ski season will kick off tomorrow, Friday 17th October, first in Finland then later in Colorado.

Although glacier ski areas or centres with 'glacier-like' permanent snow fields are already open in Europe and North America, the new openings are significant as they are the first for non-glacier resorts for 2014-15.

Both high-latitude Ruka in Lapland and high altitude Arapahoe Basin in Colorado have taken advantage of low temperatures for snowmaking, but both have also had good natural snowfalls, with six inches falling on A Basin's slopes last weekend.

Ruka's Sauraa main slope will be open thanks in part to the resort's snowmaking network being enhanced and even more extensive than previously.

"The snowmaking not only enables early start on the ski season but also maintains the slopes in good condition all the way to spring," said a resort statement, "The new automatic snow guns are constantly making adjustments to the water flow based on the outside temperature. This way we make sure to always get the best possible snow quality."
Meanwhile Arapahoe Basin Ski Area (A-Basin) will kick off Colorado's 2014-15 ski and snowboard season will begin around 9 hours later on Friday, October 17, 2014 thanks to the time difference.

Skiers and snowboarders will be able to make turns on the intermediate High Noon trail starting at 9am. Guests will take the Black Mountain Express high-speed quad chairlift to the top of the run at mid-mountain.

"Conditions have been outstanding for snowmaking and we are very excited to open this Friday," said Alan Henceroth, A-Basin's Chief Operating Officer. "It is always great to watch people have fun skiing and riding. I look forward to catching up with old friends and getting The Basin rolling."

A-Basin's mountain operations team started making snow on October 2, 2014, and they were able to create the 18-inch base necessary for opening over the course of several days. The ski area also received about a foot of natural snow in the weeks prior to opening.

It's a problem many of us have faced in one of the world's giant ski areas, when we are many valleys away from our hotel and apartment and the sun is starting to go down, at what point do we need to start heading back in order to make all the successive lift connections we need to make in order to be at the bottom of the last lift we need to take to get home before it closes for the day. If we haven't been victims ourselves there are always tales of horrific taxi fares required for rescue from a remote valley from those who got their calculations wrong.

Now the giant Portes d Soleil ski area that straddles the French swiss border linking the slopes above a dozen resorts in to a 650km network believes it has the answer with the latest version of its app.

The app upgrade adds a GPS function which calculates when you need to start heading back by keeping track of your movements around the ski area once you have set your base location that you need to get back to. The app is supposed to work in real time so that if pistes or lifts are closed it takes this in to account in its calculations. It is not clear if it takes queue time at lifts in to account too.

The existing Portes du Soleil app already features speed measuring, weather predicting and augmented reality mapping functions.

The 'facts' are somewhat 'fluid' and vary a little depending on the source but from what I can gather his own qualifications still seem to be an issue and not 'sorted out.' It becomes very complex very quickly and again there are differing opinions but I'm sure you are right that there was also an issue him, 'employing lower level instructors' but I would hazard a guess that Mr Butler will be certain that from his perspective he did not break any rules there either, or at least that the rules themselves are contrary to European employment law, although from the French side i expect they believe he did.

Simon Butler, the British ski teacher who has also run a ski holiday business in the French resort of Megeve for the past 30 years, has opened a new division of his company in Crans Montana, Switzerland.

Mr Butler has fought a long-running legal battle with French authorities to be allowed to teach in France and was arrested on the slopes in winter 2012-13 on the grounds that he did not hold adequate teaching certifications to be allowed to teach in France.

Mr Butler was initially threatened with jail and a fine but at the latest court case this summer instead received the option of a 30,000 Euro fine or a 200 day jail sentence.

"If I had paid that was the end of the case and admitting my guilt so I refused to pay and take the 200 days," said Mr Butler, "I have not had to serve the time as yet because we appealed immediately."

Mr Butler is now appealing the case and expects two more stages of the legal process to take place in France in January and then late 2015, before the case can move to the European Court. Mr Butler believes he is unlikely to win his case in the French courts, but having met EC officials who have told him that he does have the qualifications to teach in France under European equal employment rights legislation, he should win in the European Courts. He says that his legal fees are in six figures.

Mr Butler's new business in Switzerland will allow him to ski with his guests as he had in Megeve, but he will continue to operate his popular holiday business in France (which has a top rating on Trip Advisor), giving his guests the option to ski with colleagues who do hold qualifications accepted by the authorities there.

Mr Butler has secured a three-star luxury Hotel du Lac chalet over the Swiss border in Crans-Montana are his company has already taken dozens of bookings from regular clients eager to sample the Sweiss slopes as well as the town's après buzz, which has numerous bars and restaurants.
A week long package starts from £525 per person, which includes accommodation, Swiss buffet breakfast, afternoon tea, five course dinner, and two hours of instruction each day.

Mr Butler's legal battle centres on his certification. He does hold the top-level ISTD level 4 Diploma ski qualification which under EC law, Mr Butler believes and says he has had confirmed by EC officials, should allow him to teach in France and any EC country.

He points out that he can teach in Switzerland because Switzerland and the EU have reciprocal laws which allow him to teach with EC recognised qualifications, although, ironically as he points out, the French who are actually in the EC, do not recognise them.

However the story is more complicated because a little over a decade ago, when the French introduced the Eurotest qualification, an agreement with BASI meant that British ski instructors in France with Mr Butler's high level qualifications were made exempt from needing to take the Eurotest. At some point what is described as an 'administrative error' appears to have occurred so that Mr Butler's exemption was not recognised, although the common consensus seems to be that it should have been. Retrospective correction of that error has not as yet occurred for also unexplained reasons. It is not clear if the 'administrative error' took place in France or the UK.

"Many people know about my public battle against the French authorities and how they have discriminated against me," said Mr Butler,

"But in fact it has encouraged me to expand my business. I am turning this public battle into a personal victory and having sourced one of the most stunning locations in Switzerland I am confident that we are turning my troubles in France into a success story.

"Crans-Montana is perfect for what we do because it is just a couple of hours from Geneva Airport and has an excellent range of pistes which are great for teaching. I have a personal connection to the area as I taught there as a young ski instructor many years ago.

"I will be kitted up from mid-December, ready to take on clients new and old and discover new journeys together."

www.simonbutlerskiing.co.uk