J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

Following the decision by Alpe d'Huez, Aspen, Whistler and Kitzbuhel to open several weeks early last weekend, more resorts have announced they'll be running the lifts earlier than expected this coming weekend.

French ski areas seem to dominate the list of unexpectedly early openings, thanks to the large snowfalls – typically of at least several feet – over the past week.

Courchevel has made the most exciting announcement – saying that it will run its lifts free-of-charge on Saturday (only) before closing again until the resort's originally planned opening date of December 7th. La Clusaz has announced that it will open early for the season this weekend. Val Thorens was scheduled to open for the season this Saturday anyway.

The first resort to open in the Pyrenees may be Baqueira Beret in Spain, it will open on Saturday too, a week earlier than planned, following 62sm of snow over five days up to Tuesday.

Baqueira Beret in the Spanish Pyrenees has announced it will open some terrain a week early due to the heavy snow that has been falling.

The resort, like most in the Pyrenees, had been due to open on Saturday, November 30th but will instead open this Saturday, November 23rd.

Up to 80cm of snow has fallen over the past four days and more than a foot of that in the last 24 hours.

From 23rd to 29th November four lifts will be open, more than just the North Face lift which the resort first considered opening after strong interest was recorded from skiers and boarders.

A low priced day pass will be available priced at 30 € for adults and 20 € for children.

It is not yet known if other resorts in the Pyrenees, including those in Andorra, France and other Spanish resort will open early too.

The Compagnie du Mont Blanc lift company which runs several ski areas in the Chamonix Valley has announced proposals for major lift upgrades and improvements over the next five years (2014-19) as the first stage of a 40 year, €477m investment programme.

The proposals, which need to be accepted by Chamonix's mayor in December if they are to go ahead, include plans for three gondolas, two chairlifts and two new beginner areas between the Bevent-Flegere, Le Tour and Grands Montets ski areas.

"This agreement is the culmination of nearly a year of intense work to imagine the future of the ski areas of Chamonix," said Mathieu Dechavanne, CEO of Compagnie du Mont -Blanc, "The contract provides the opportunity to invest heavily in the early years and to plan for the long term . This new dynamic to meet the expectations of our customers and partners , enabling them to create a unique sports and entertainment experience at the foot of Mont Blanc."

The proposed developments include a new Plan Joran gondola at Grands Montets ski area for 2014-15, a new beginners area at (Brevent – Flegère ski area) for 2015-16, a new detachable chairlift Parsa, also at Brevent Flegère and a new beginners area at Argentiere's Grands Montets ski area both for 2016-17. Then for 2017-18 a new Charamillon gondola at Le Tour ski area and for 2019-20 a new chairlift Tabé / Marmottons at Grands Montets ski area and a new access gondola to Flegère.

doh! Sorry, don't know what I was thinking to put April, always wonder where my brain drags in random errors like that from, will put right. I did a nice one on a royal visit to Banff when I called the Duke of Cambridge (Prince William) the Duke of Windsor (aka abdicating King Edward 8th). I better stress by the way that that's a pic on file of Alpe d'Huez not a recent snap this week, though it is pretty snowy... but probably not that sunny.

We've just heard that Kitzbuhel has opened early for the season today too. On the snowfall front along with the good news from France Stubai has also posted 20cm and Obergurgl which opened yesterday 30cm.

(Pic Copyright: NUTS Agency)

The healthy November snowfalls in the Alps, the Rockies and many other areas has led to some of the world's leading resorts announcing they'll be opening for their 2013-14 ski seasons up to three weeks early – this weekend.

In North America Aspen Mountain and Whistler Blackcomb, two of the continent's most famous resorts, will both be opening 12 days earlier than planned on Saturday, both saying it's due to excellent pre-season snowfalls. In Aspen's case top-to-bottom skiing over 1,000 vertical metres is promised.

Alpe d'Huez in France will be open for the next three weekends before opening full time as planned on 6th December. It's very unusual for and French resort other than Tignes to be open in mid-November, with Val Thorens usually the second to open towards the end of the month. The move follows Alpe d'Huez's decision to open for summer skiing last summer for the first time in many years. Most resorts in France received up to 50cm of fresh snow at higher altitude at the weekend.

The early-openings this weekend follow Cairngorm's opening last weekend, the earliest Scottish area opening in five years. A decision will be made on Friday morning as to whether to open again there this weekend. Nevis Range is also close to opening, especially if heavy snow predicted for north of the UK next week materialises.

Obergurgl has opened in Austria, the first resort in the Alps to open without requiring glacier skiing, it has a base of up to 60cm after 30cm of snow overnight on the 14/15th November. Kitzbuhel has also announced it has opened early.

Hello! I'm compiling a report for the International Ski Federation on the cost of lift tickets for children which of course vary greatly from resort to resort and country to country. I put together a little survey with 7 quick questions and the chance to comment and would be grateful if anyone interested could fill it in (Before 22nd November), link below, Thanks: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/W8B3SX5

Here at J2Ski.com we don't normally 'push product' in our news pages but for glasses-wearing skiers the new Sportviz ski mask is an actual news story, we feel, not just because it brings clear vision on the piste (which has of course been done before), but because it does so affordably. So it feels like a genuine news story worth letting people know about...

Sportviz (www.sportviz.com)make high quality goggles (which they supply in a nice microfiber pouch, for cleaning, inside a nice box, for safe storage) but the different thing for glasses-wearing skiers is that they also create a snap in 'inzert' matched to your prescription which sits in front of your eyes as you look through the goggles and provides the perfect vision your glasses do.

The remarkable thing is that the 'Sportviz ski mask' (the goggles) is priced at £44.95 and the prescription lens 'Inzert' can then be purchased for as little as £25 for single vision lenses. Production normally takes five working days and all items are sent via Royal Mail First Class Signed For from £6.95.

The snap in prescription lens 'Inzert', is fitted with CR39 ophthalmic lenses to match the wearer's exact prescription. The goggles provide clear 20/20 vision for all glasses wearers, including Bifocal and Varifocal lenses.

The high quality, lightweight TPU Sportviz Ski Mask ensures cold temperature flexibility and triple layer face foam guarantees not only warmth, but a perfectly comfortable 'mask to face' fit which seals out all wintry elements. The Double Spherical lens design offers full UV protection and incorporates decentred technology for exceptional clarity, comfort and performance.

Of course, the added bonus is plenty of opportunity for après ski bar jokes about how you hadn't realised just how scary run X was until you finally saw it clearly.