J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

British wintersports history has been made with Jenny Jones taking the bronze medal in the new event of snowboard slopestyle.

Jenny qualified 3rd in the semi finals earlier this morning, progressing her through to finals.

During finals, Jenny scored an outstanding 87.25 in her second run, but due to starting second, Jenny and the crowd were left with an agonising wait for the final 10 riders for her place in history to be secured. Jenny, the Queen of British snowboarding has won the first Snowboard Olympic medal for Great Britain, and has become the first ever British female to win an Olympic medal on snow.

The BBC reported that Jones' parents had arrived secretly in Sochi to watch her compete.

It's the first medal for snowsports for Great Britain, since Alain Baxter's bronze in the slalom at Salt Lake City which was controversially taken from him.

Australia's Torah Bright who has made history by entering three boarding events at Sochi was out of the medals.

Chemmy Alcott, who is competing at her fourth Olympic Games, took part in women's downhill training at Rosa Khutor today.

Unlike most of the other competitors, this was Chemmy's first time on the course, having been out of action through injury during races there a year ago.

Her time, 1:45.89, ranked her 36th - 3.19 seconds behind the quickest skier, Switzerland's Fabienne Suter.

"I am really proud of my performance today. I am much closer to the leader even though I made a mistake on my run. I tried to charge it today and it worked," said Chemmy, "For the first time for ten years, I am a rookie on a downhill course. I just want to go out there and put down a clean run and be satisfied I put myself on the edge. I can't put numbers on it. I am just looking forward to getting out there and pushing myself."
Commenting on the course Chemmy said,

"The course is fantastic. It is the Olympics, the course has to be special. To throw yourself down an Olympic course five and a half months after surgery makes me proud."

Four British boarders from Team GB have been in competition in Sochi this morning as the 2014 Winter Olympics have got underway the day before the opening ceremony.

The four, two men, and two women, were competing in qualification events for the new Olympic discipline of Snowboard Slopestyle. In the process one of the make competitors, Billy Morgan, became the first person to compete at Sochi as well as in Olympic Snowboard Slopestyle, while in the women's competition a few hours later, Jenny Jones did the same thing and became the first woman to compete at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

The four boarders were competing in the event which American snowboarding superstar Shaun White dramatically pulled out of at the last minute yesterday, as we reported in our previous story, citing the course being potentially dangerous.

"The course is fine. There are always changes to be made but they sorted that out. The jumps are good and fast and fun. I was happy. I messed my first run up a bit but my second run was solid. I could clean it up a bit," said Billy Morgan who finished sixth in men's snowboard slopestyle qualifying heat one with a best score of 85.50 from his second run, advancing to the semi-finals.

Fellow Brit Jamie Nicholls finished fourth in men's snowboard slopestyle qualifying heat one with a best score of 86.75 from his second run, advancing straight to the final.

"I feel amazing. I can't explain it. I came here and all I wanted to do was land a run and landing a run and getting to the finals is a dream come true," said Jamie, "I am just going to go up there again in the final and try my best. I am just happy to have made it.
I went for it. The standard is crazy. To be able to go up there and do a run that I have never done in my life shows the standard is pretty high."

In the women's competition which started straight afterwards, Jenny Jones finished fifth in women's snowboard slopestyle qualifying heat one with a best score of 74.25 from her first run to advance to the semi-finals.

"I was really happy with the first run and then I was ready to step that up but unfortunately that wasn't the case. "I came off the cannon wrong [in the second run] and because I didn't land well I wouldn't have had enough speed to cut back over and get off the jump, so I just had to cut out," said Jenny.

Aimee Fuller finished tenth in women's snowboard slopestyle qualifying heat one with a best score of 44.50 from her first run to advance to the semi-finals.

"I am enjoying myself. I definitely didn't get down what I wanted to get down so I am a little disappointed there, but I see it as a good building block for Sunday's semi-finals. Riding in front of this big crowd is a completely new experience," said Aimee.

British skier Jamie Stevenson, who works for tour operator Ski Independence's Reservations Team, will attempt to break a Guinness World Record and raise money for Disability Snowsport UK next month.

Jamie is aiming to ski 20 different countries in only a month, travelling only by car and entirely on his own, covering a distance of over 6,500 miles throughout March, starting at Aviemore in Scotland and ending in Norway.

To beat the world record (which stands at 15 countries) he must ski a full run in each country and the run must be officially open, meaning it is crucial all resorts are open and have snow cover.

Jamie's trip will take him through the traditional skiing countries of France, Switzerland and Austria to those less well known by most skiers in the UK including Croatia, Hungary and Poland.

Ski Independence are sponsoring Jamie's efforts in France, Switzerland and Austria and he is seeking sponsors for other country legs of his trip via: facebook.com/skiworldrecord/

"I considered starting out in Oslo and finishing in Scotland, but I decided that the snow will be more 'guaranteed' in the Scandinavian countries, rather than the more temperate Scotland!" said Jamie.

"Whatever the weather it's sure to be an experience I will never forget and something I am really looking forward to."

Many thousands of people going skiing every year without thinking how hard it must be to ski with a disability. The Ski World Record attempt aims to raise enough funds to purchase a sit ski for Disability Snowsport Scotland, which in turn will help hundreds of people enjoy this exhilarating sport.

Jamie will be contributing to a Ski World Record video blog which will be regularly uploaded to the Ski Independence blog www.ski-i.com/blog

I get sent 'powder alerts' whenever any resort in the world gets more than 20cm of snow - so more than 500 emails in my in box each day at the weekend (Yipee!). I did notice Arabba had 'unbelievable' figures, I think they said 1.5m in 24 hours on one day and 2 metres in 24 hours the next. Sounds a bit too phenomenal to be true but would explain the closed pass!

Ski areas in Colorado have been claiming 'the storm of the century' this weekend with up to 90cm (three feet) of powder descending in 48 hours.

Aspen Snowmass has done particularly well out of the abundance of powder, which they report is lying 'poles deep' on the piste, leading to superb conditions once terrain is made avalanche safe.

Further west there's palpable relief in California after the two month drought finally ended and big snowfalls were reported at resorts around Tahoe and down as far as Mammoth.

December and January had seen almost no snow fall at world famous resorts liked Heavenly, Squaw Valley and Mammoth – normally famous for their deep bases of pacific powder, which frequently allows them to stay open well in to spring and sometimes summer if they wish.

Squaw Valley opened four lifts for the first time this season yesterday following the storm that brought 10 inches (25cm) of fresh snow to both Squaw Valley and neighbouring Alpine Meadows.

"The new openings provide access to some of Squaw's most popular terrain. Mountain Meadow lift services the mountain-top beginner area, giving first-time skiers and riders the opportunity to progress amid stunning views of Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada," said a resort statement, "Off of Shirley Lake Express, skiers and riders will find five wide, tree-cut runs, perfect for intermediate to advanced skiers and riders. Siberia Run and Siberia Bowl will be open off of Siberia Express, offering wide, open terrain for advanced skiers and riders."

(A chairlift is nearly buried at Bad Kleinkirchheim this afternoon - a week ago there was limited snow cover at the resort)

What a difference a week makes. Less than seven days after there were doubts that the Hahnenkamm might be staged with too little snow and too warm temperatures following near drought conditions for two months, there have been huge snowfalls in Austria over the past 48 hours.

The snow is reported to be still falling and in parts of the country the government is advising people to stay indoors if possible and not to travel with many roads closed.

The south of Austria (Carinthia) extending in to Italy's South Tyrol is the most heavily affected with reports of up to 1.5 metres of snow in 48 hours, the snow is still falling.

Austrian television is claiming this is the "100-year snowfall," the largest single snow storm since 1917.

Where ski areas are able to open, the avalanche risk on slopes that have not been made safe and in off piste areas is reported to be, "off-the-scale."

The snowfall is causing serious travel problems for those who have to travel, even in the south heading down to the Adriatic coasty roads between Cortina and Venice airport are closed.

Across the Atlantic Colorado has also been reporting significant snowfalls with up to 80cm of powder reported in the last 48 hours by some resorts, Aspen Snowmass has especially deep fresh snow.

(Glenshee yesterday)

Although you might not know it if you're down in Aviemore or Fort William in the valleys, the snow on Scottish ski slopes above is nearly ten feet deep after five to six weeks of near constant snowfalls.

The warm and wet weather that has affected much of Britain has quite simply been dumping snow on Scottish mountain tops (Norwegian areas have done well from the same systems), and now at least one resort, Glencoe, reports the snow as deep as it was in the last 'mega winter' of 2009-10.

The BBC in Scotland has gleefully been noting that reported Scottish snow depths are head of many leading resorts in the world including the last Olympic venue Whistler, and the next one, Sochi. They didn't mention South Korea's 2018 venue.

Four of the five areas are in particularly good shape with almost all slopes open and top to bottom cover, only The Lecht in the east has not done so well and tended to get more of the British rain than the highland snow, although at the moment is also has several runs open.

"It can be hard for customers to believe we have good snow when there is rain and even snowdrops flowering in the Lowlands and by the coast," said Heather Negus of SkiScotland, "We therefore suggest skiers and boarders check out the webcams on the official website and look at the ski areas' Facebook pages where they'll see just how much snow we have and the excellent sliding we can offer."

This being Blighty, weather can be a tad changable and Ski-Scotland advises everyone to check snow, weather and road conditions before leaving to go skiing on their slopes on the official, mobile-and tablet-friendly website www.ski-scotland.com/conditions and to wrap up warmly – despite the forecast low wind speeds, wind chill could still be significant.