J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

Two linked ski areas in Montana have come under common ownership this autumn and are now being jointly promoting themselves as the 'Biggest Ski Area in America.'

Big Sky Resort and its neighbour Moonlight Basin offer a combined 5,750 acres of terrain, served by 30 lifts.

This is more than America's better known big ski areas Vail (5,289 acres), Heavenly (4,800 acres), Squaw Valley (4,000 acres) and Mammoth (3,500 acres).

Big Sky is the 'buyer' of Moonlight Basin and is currently using both names, although seems to be giving more prominence to the longer established Big Sky name. Moonlight Basin's website now redirects to Big Sky's site.

For 2013-14, Big Sky's 40th season, area has added more glade skiing and a redesigned beginner ski zone.

There is, uniquely for North America, a third linked ski area, the Yellowstone Club, making the ski area even bigger, but access to those slopes are limited to private owners of property at that resort.

Yellowstone has 2000 acres of terrain giving 7,750 acres of accessible skiing to those wealthy enough to holiday there, the second largest ski area in North America after Canada's Whistler Blackcomb

Whistler Blackcomb is installing a new high speed chairlift on each of its two mountains this winter, the start of which is now only a few weeks away.

Whistler Mountain's Harmony high-speed, quad chairlift will be replaced with a new Doppelmayr high-speed, detachable, six-pack chairlift capable while Blackcomb Mountain will also see a lift upgrade with a high-speed quad chairlift going into a new area in the Crystal Zone, currently accessed by a fixed-grip triple chair.

The new Crystal Ridge Express chair will increase skier carrying capacity on the route by two thirds over the lift it replaces, with a new capacity of 2,400 skiers per hour. It will deliver skiers and riders to the same location as the current triple chair next to the Crystal Hut.

However, the route of the new lift line is quite different to the previous lift, and will originate 158 metres lower than the old Crystal lift. The bottom terminal elevation will be 1,292m (4,239ft) and will be located along the Blackcomb Glacier Road ski-out, eliminating the need to utilize the Excelerator Chair to access many Crystal Zone trails including Ridge Runner, Rock 'N' Roll, and gladed trails like Outer Limits.

The new alignment will make it even quicker to return to the Glacier Express chair to access areas such as the Horstman Glacier, Blackcomb Glacier and Spanky's Ladder.

The new Harmony 6 high-speed chairlift will dramatically improve the uphill capacity in the Harmony Zone on Whistler Mountain by 50% to 3,600 skiers per hour and will keep the same alignment as the original chair.

The number of music festivals and gigs planned for the coming ski season looks set to break records as the choice or music-loving snowsports fans continues to grow.

Almost all of the ever extending list of festivals from last season are back, including the big name acts for Ischgl at the start and end of season concerts, along with a few new options, and the first names of acts booked to perform, along with the on snow fun and après ski antics promised, are beginning to emerge.

Rock The Pistes, the event which stages free gigs mid-afternoons for a week in late March will be back in the Portes du Soleil with the promise of more British acts.

Meanwhile at the biggest and one of the longest running festivals of them all, Snowbombing in Mayrhofen, The Prodigy, have been announced as one of the headliners who'll perform on the Forest Stage and The Chemical Brothers have also been announced as headline acts. The fifteenth edition of Snowbombing will take place from 7th to 12th April 2014 (www.snowbombing.com)

One new event – staged over three separate weeks between December and March in Meribel, will be Ibiza Rocks The Snow (ibizarocksthesnow.com).

Ibiza Rocks will, we're promise, "bring the heat of the Balearics to the cool of the Alps this Winter" and the first acts announced include Radio 1's MistaJam, Black Butter Records' live collective Clean Bandit, beatmaker and bass DJ Mele Ft. Slick Don, Radio 1's 'In New Music We Trust' underground tastemaker Monki.

Ibiza Rocks The Snow will take place over three weeks, 14—21 December, 8th -15th February and 29th March – 4th April and packages including flights, transfers, accommodation and all the parties are available from £399pp (ski pass not included).

Good point, thanks, will modify!

The full integration of the Bruson ski area with the rest of the 4 Valleys is about to become a reality.

14 months after the project began, a new gondola making the link between the slopes of Verbier and those of its neighbour Bruson much quicker and easier will be complete, the lift is due to open next month.

Previously you used to have to take a cable car down to Le Châble from Verbier and then a bus to Bruson but this only ran every 30 minutes, you'd then have to get a lift up at Bruson to get to the point where the new lift ends up. This would take a minimum of 45 minutes if you timed the bus connection right.

The new gondola runs from Le Châble to Les Mayens de Bruson. The Bruson ski area has always been popular with those looking to escape crowds and bad weather with 95% of the area being under the tree line making for some great skiing with 44km of piste accessible for all.

After a week of low temperatures and frequent snow showers across Scotland, Cairngorm Mountain has announced plans to open a ski run this Saturday, November 9th.

The ski area close to Aviemore, currently in the process of being sold from state to private ownership, intends to operate one trail along side the Ciste tow near the top of the ski runs.

It has reported the snowline is down to 700m, nearly 400 vertical metres below the top of the lifts.

Tickets will be approximately half the full price for 13-14 at £15 for adults and £10 for children.

Ski hire will not be available on site but can be ordered at various shops in the area if required.

The centre has noted that currently the tow has not had its bars out in place for the new season and while the team working at Cairngorm plan to do that today, forecast strong winds gusting at up to 70mph may hamper the process, in which case it may need to be completed on Saturday morning, possibly delaying the planed start of the ski day at 10am.

Scotland's other four centres have also reported healthy snowfalls but no others have reported plans to open as yet.

Nevis Range said snow cover there so far, "looks pretty but there is no base." Glencoe says snow is now beginning to fill in the upper runs but that their access chair is closed for the next few weeks for essential maintenance. Glenshee and The Lecht do not have updated information and web cam images appear to show inadequate cover, at least at The Lecht.

The appeal against a French court decision that 'ski hosting' (also known as 'social skiing') by British tour operator reps was illegal, due to be heard yesterday, 6 November 2013, has been postponed to next May.

The Court of Appeals in Chambery (France) agreed to defer the hearing about social skiing being illegal, to mid-May 2014, at the joint request of both the Ecole du Ski Français (ESF) and tour operator Le Ski which is the British tour operator that the French authorities took to court over the issue.

Both parties concur in considering that the European legal issues raised by the case are complex and require careful examination. This highlights the importance of the decision which the Court will take and of the need to ensure the best possible preparation of such decision by all parties concerned.

Le Ski, which has operated in the French Alps for 30 years bringing tens of thousands of skiers to the slopes, is being supported by most of the leading British tour operators to France including Alpine Elements, Crystal Ski, Inghams, Mark Warner, Neilson, Ski Esprit, Ski Olympic, Ski Total, Skiworld and Thomson in its court battle.

The postponement means that traditional social skiing where a representative from the holiday company takes guests on familiarisation tours of the slopes, show them good lunch spots and how to avoid queues but does not instruct, teach or train the guests, nor go on black runs or off piste will not happen in France this year.

However some operators have arranged alternatives. Crystal is working with a different ski school in some French resorts to provide a similar service to its guests and is positioning non-skiing staff at lifts at other resorts to advise them as required without skiing with them.

The ski hosting issue, which has rumbled on in various guises for several decades, only seems to be an issue in France. Similar schemes operate in other countries around the world without any major problems.

A new live online ski fitness class has been launched by a company called Instructor Live.

The idea is that these live fitness classes are broadcast over the internet so you can join in wherever you are. If the time they happen live doesn't fit your schedule, you can also access them at any time via an On Demand feature.

The classes are led by Nadya Fairweather who is a keen skier and also a professional fitness trainer who came up with this unique class, designed to get you fit and ready for skiing.

The first SkiFit class went live this morning on InstructorLive.com and will be live each Wednesday from now on at 11am (UK time).

Classes encompass a full body workout giving special attention to the lower body mimicking the ski positions, providing a workout that focuses on both strength, endurance, and knee stability. Having a strong core and lower back are also key to a successful ski holiday so this area will also be worked.

Nadya will also focus the essential bingo wings / triceps to get you poling on the flats and up to the essential hot chocolate break cafe perched on the precipice. Each week will follow a similar routine but the pace and levels will increase to help push fitness levels.

Instructor Live offer free membership for the first month, although registration is required, then it's a £5.99 monthly fee. To access the class visit http://instructorlive.com/class/2956