J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

Burton Snowboards are 'out' today (Friday, March 28th) as the company's worldwide team take the day of to go, well, boarding presumably.

The 'Annual Company Ride Day' has been a fixture in the iconic boarding company's annual calendar for 25 years.

The company closes their worldwide offices for a day so that employees can ride together and the answerphone message is set to,

"We're sorry we can't get to your call right now. We're out enjoying some springtime turns for our Company Ride Day."

This year is a little different to the past 24 however as it's the first time Burton's offices in Vermont, Montreal and Innsbruck have taken the same day off to snowboard together. Burton's regional sales reps in North America and Europe are also closing for the day and going snowboarding with their employees and local shops.

"It's a tradition that goes back since the early days of the company, and it just keeps getting bigger and better every season. The highlight is when Burton's Founder and CEO Jake Burton and Burton President Donna Carpenter lead hundreds of employees down the Gondolier run at Stowe for a group ride," said a company statement.

Britain's original large-scale indoor snow centre, the Snowdome at Tamworth in the West Midlands is 20 years old this year.

The Snowdome's birthday is a significant anniversary. Although there had been indoor snow centres built in Belgium, Australia and japan in the late 1980s and an indoor snow making test facility in Nearby Telford, the Snowdome (which has also trademarked the name 'snowdome' was the first to claim it uses 'real snow' rather than the snow-like chemical goo or 'sloping ice rink' of earlier versions.

The Snowdome is also one of the longest surviving indoor snow facilities, with most of the afore-mentioned centres which opened before it now closed. More than 70 more indoor snow centres have been built around the world since Tamworth opened, many of them using the 'real snow' first used there.

There are currently six indoor snow centres in the UK, credited as the home of the 'fridge kids' who gave Britain our best ever results at the Sochi Olympics.

The Snowdome will be staging a 20th birthday party on Saturday 17th May from 8.30pm, with discounted slope access (£20). They're encouraging attendees to ski or board in gear from the era and also running a photo competition looking for video and photos from anyone who has visited the centre over the past 20 years. Any submissions should be made by April 30th.

http://www.snowdome.co.uk/info-events/news/film-photo-appeal/

Four time Winter Olympian Chemmy Alcott has announced that she is to retire from ski racing after the British Alpine Championships 2014.

"After much deliberation, it is with a heavy heart that I announce my retirement from ski racing, a sport that has come to define me. However I am not retiring from skiing and believe that I still have much to offer the sport," said Chemmy.

Chemmy Alcott is Britain's most successful ever Alpine ski racer by most measures.

In a skiing career that has spanned over 23 years (and in spite of injury and lack of funding) Chemmy has gone from winning the World Children's Championships as a youngster to being ranked as high as 8th in the World as a senior racer. She has recorded five top 10 World Cup finishes, is the only British skier to have ever won a run in World Cup and has won the Senior British National Championships an unprecedented seven times. Most recently Chemmy finished 19th in the Women's Downhill at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

"It is my intention to take some time off over the summer, enjoy my forthcoming wedding to Dougie (Crawford) and return next season to the Alpine Racing World to use my wealth of experience to help other athletes," added Chemmy, "Looking back at my career I am incredibly proud that I have had the guts and mental strength to overcome the odds and compete for my country, I look forward to mentoring others and to continuing my charity and TV work, particularly in the challenging field of adventure – my future is bright."

A video of Chemmy announcing her plans for the future is online on her website: www.chemmyalcott.com

With ever more dubious popularity studies of ski resorts being published, it's refreshing to see a different approach to studying ski resort pricing – in Austria at least - produced by the Amsterdam based ski portal, www.snowplaza.co.uk

The Germknödel Index that examines the price of the traditional Austrian pudding, the germknödel, in the highest and most popular restaurants in 20 of the Austria's leading resorts.
The study found that germknödel prices varied between €4.60 in Sölden (highest restaurant at 2,796 m of altitude) up to €10 in Lech am Arlberg (highest restaurant at 2,350 m of altitude) and that the average price for a germknödel is €6.49.
For those few people who may not have heard of it, the germknödel is a yeast dumpling with vanilla sauce.

"The cost of meals, in general, are a good indicator of the budget needed for a ski holiday. The Germknödel is one of the most popular snacks/desserts on the Austrian slopes. The Germknödel is easily used as a comparison index between different resorts as the ingredients do not vary and therefore the end product neither," said a statement from the Spalder Media Group which runs Snowplaza.

The snow forecast for the past week has now started to make its presence felt this weekend with reports of large accumulations over the past 24-48 hours right across the Alps.

The heavy snowfall ends a period of warm mid-late springlike conditions that dominated through the first half of March with two weeks of non-stop sunshine for many resorts.

Now that spring id officially underway, we're back to mid-winter white out conditions at many ski areas across the Alps.

More than 100 leading resorts have reported at least 20cm of fresh snow in the last 24 hours – with reports coming in from France, Austria, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.

Unusually the l;one resort of Malbun in Liechtenstein has reported one of the biggest snowfalls – 35cm and counting.

There's also been significant fresh snow in Scotland and on-going snow in Scandinavia, which is the one part of Europe that had been getting new snow over the past week.

Obergurgl, Solden and Ischgl have reported 20-25cm of fresh snow in Austria.

In France many resorts reported 20-30cm of new snow with Avoriaz, la Plagne and Val Thorens among those reporting 25cm in 24 hours.

In Switzerland Saas Fee reports 21cm of new snow, Arosa reports 25cm.

The biggest 24 hour accumulations have been reported by Italian areas with Pinzolo, Cervinia and Madesimo reporting 30-40cm since Saturday morning.

The snowstorm is ongoing.

(Delancy celebrates new BSS principal sponsor role with Jenny Jones - (from left to right) Dave Edwards, Ben Kilner, Posy Musgrave, Roy Steudle, Sir John Ritblat, Billy Morgan, Jenny Jones, Dom Harington, Katie Ormerod, Dan Charlish)

Sir John Ritblat, President of British Snow Sport (BSS) and Chairman of the Advisory Board at Delancey, a company which is a leading backer of elite British snow sport, has called for more support for British skiers and snowboarders.

"The British have been a leading force in winter sports for over a hundred years, and though skiing has had many Royal patrons and over two million recreational skiers, it is still treated as a second-class sport to football, rugby and many summer Olympic sports," said Sir John, "Many of us recall the names of Konrad Bartelski, Graham and Martin Bell, Alain Baxter and Finlay Mickel, but few remember that they all ranked in the top 15 in the world, nor the success they achieved against the international Alpine nations against whom they competed. It is wonderful that the likes of Jenny Jones, Chemmy Alcott, Dave Ryding and Billy Morgan are finally getting the recognition they deserve."

Ski John was speaking at a post Sochi celebratory party staged at the Arts Club in Dover Street, Central London this week and attended by top British performers at the recent Games including Jenny Jones and Billy Morgan led the celebrations at a party marking the achievements of Great Britain's skiers and snowboarders at the recent Winter Olympic Games.

Snowboarders Billy Morgan, Ben Kilner, Dom Harington and Katie Ormerod, skier Roy Steudle and cross country skier Posy Musgrave were also in attendance.

"This is my 36th year of supporting British snowsports, and we are extremely proud that Delancey has been able to play its own small part in supporting our nation's dedicated athletes. British skiers have more than enough talent to continue do well internationally, however they do need to be decently financed if this is to happen, and if future success is to be fostered from the ground roots up."

Delancey were announced as new Principal Sponsor of British Ski and Snowboard prior to the Sochi Winter Olympic Games, and the company's funding has already provided Olympic support and will be critical to the future development of British snowsports – providing training and development funding for Alpine, Snowboard, Freestyle and Cross Country athletes.

It will now support those working towards the 2018 Olympic Winter Games and will also reach younger stars, giving them the opportunity to pursue their passion via the provision of facilities and training in the UK and internationally.

"Delancey's support during the last four years has been invaluable. This new, exciting arrangement will enable us to continue the work that we have started and will help us to create an even stronger team of athletes who can win multiple medals in Pyeongchang in 2018 and win World Cup and World Championship medals on their way there," said BSS Chief Executive Dave Edwards.

The headline sponsorship is in addition to Delancey's fourth year of title sponsorship for the Delancey British National Alpine Championships - which takes place in Meribel from the 30th March to 11th April this year.

Unlike in the Alps, inter-connecting Canadian and US resorts with one another, even when they share a common boundary, is very rare. Alta and Snowbird in Utah, Stowe and smugglers' Notch in Vermont are among the very few examples.

But now long, long discussed plans to interconnect seven ski areas in Utah look like they just might happen. A press conference due to be staged later today is due to set out the possibilities. That's a milestone in itself as while the idea has long been quietly talked about in darkened room, an official state ski tourism body has never before come out and said in public that it was in favour and drawing up plans.

The idea is of course first and foremost commercially sensible. The combined area would be by far the largest in North America, taking Whistler Blackcomb's long held title there, and would be one it would be difficult for other regions – where ski areas are mostly more widely dispersed – to attempt to emulate.

Despite staging the winter Olympics in 2002, Utah lags way behind other major US skiing nations, most notably Colorado which draws in around three times as many skiers.

Leaks in advance of the press conference which takes place at 9pm tonight, UK time, indicate that the plans have been quietly discussed by the seven resorts for some time and involve connections across private land – this could be crucial as it may mean it can happen quite quickly without the need for length enquiries that would be required if US national forestry land were involved.

The seven areas include the three Park City resorts of Deer Valley, Canyons and Park City Mountain Resort (PCMR), pictured above, along with Alta and Snowbird (which as mentioned are already connected) along with Brighton and Solitude.

The list includes two of the three resorts in the US (and possibly the world) that still ban snowboarders from their slopes – Alta and Deer Valley. It also includes two resorts currently in a legal dispute over land rights – neighbours PCMR and canyons, the latter now run by Vail Resorts.

Jade Etherington, the visually-impaired skier and her guide Caroline Powell have today become the most successful British women in Winter Paralympic history after winning a fourth medal at the Sochi Games.

Their tally takes them past a 30 year-old record set by ice sledge speed racer Denise Smith, who won three silvers medals at the Innsbruck Games of 1984.

The pair won silver in the super combined on Friday. They trailed Russian athlete Aleksandra Frantceva by 3.12 seconds after the slalom, reducing the gap to 0.63 seconds in today's Super-G stage.

"It was a really tough run but we really went for it over the jumps and carried a really good line throughout the different parts of the course and made up a couple of seconds," Etherington told BBC Sport.

The medal was Etherington's third silver after taking the same position in the Downhill last Saturday and the slalom on Wednesday. She also won bronze in the super-G on Tuesday.

Etherington and Powell have a chance to win a fifth medal competing in Sunday's giant slalom.