J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

Two resorts, one of them Verbier, have said they'll be re-opening this weekend because of the cold weather in central Europe while the jet steam lingers too far south.

Verbier ran a Facebook campaign promising to re-open ungroomed slopes for snowsports this Saturday, June 2nds, only, if they got 1000 Facebook 'Likes' They quickly got double that and say they'll make a final 'weather dependent' decision shortly.

Meanwhile in the French Pyrenees the ski area of Porte Puymorens had already said it would definitely re-open this weekend, for the first ever time in June, and it will also be the only French resort open.

Four lifts are scheduled to operate over a 900 metre vertical and ruin from 9am to 1pm on Saturday and Sunday. A decision on whether to open on subsequent June weekends will be taken after the result of this weekend are considered. A maximum of 600 people will be allowed on the slopes.

The Pyrenees had huge snowfalls in the winter and with spring continuing cool on the continent, it is still lying metres deep.

North Korea is working on creating what could be Asia's largest ski area to date according to reports from the country's news agency.

The country's leader Kim Jong Un was photographed visiting the site of the Masik Pass Skiing Ground where the North Korean Army have been working to create a ski area with 110km of piste as well as hotels, other facilities and even a heli pad.

Kim Jong Un climbed to the 1360m peak off the ski slopes and told workers that the ski area was well located in an area known for its natural snow cover and with good road access to the North Korean capital Pyongyang.

Kim Jong Un said the Party was determined to build the skiing ground into a world class one and called on the soldier-builders to accelerate the construction so that the skiing ground may be operational for the coming winter 2013-14.

He also gave instructions for better drainage, more first- aid stations on the slopes and lift operation monitoring while also underlined the need to preserve the ecological environment and prevent pollution while building the skiing ground.

North Koreans have been skiing since at least the 1980s on Mt Paektu near Lake Samjiyon which has comprehensive winter sports facilities including a ski jump at Pegaebong Sports Village.

Other countries in the region are also developing ski areas, if not on the scale of Masik Pass. Last winter a new ski area opened in China at Changbaishan close to the North Korean border.

Skiing is also popular in South Korea which will host the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.

Spring boarding at Mammoth

Seven North American ski areas, six of them in the US, will be open for the country's Memorial Day long-weekend this Saturday to Monday.

For three of them it will be their last weekend of their 2012-13 ski season, while a fourth, Aspen, is re-opening a couple of runs at the top of the mountain for this weekend only, a month after it officially closed for the season.

Those that will close at the end of the ski day on Monday include Mammoth in California and Snowbird in Utah.

"Snowbird's closing weekend celebration is a fantastic way to end the season, with guests carrying on a tradition of skiing in costumes or t-shirts and shorts," said Dave Fields, Vice President of Resort Operations.

Offering the longest ski and snowboard season in Utah, Snowbird was open for 182 days of skiing and snowboarding this season receiving 410 inches (10.3m) of snow since November 1, 2012.

Three ski areas remain open in North America – there's another week of the season left, to June 2nd, at Arapahoe Basin in Colorado, Crystal Mountain In Washington State is open weekends to June 16th and Timberline in Oregon is normally open year round, conditions permitting, apart from a short maintenance closure in September.

Whistler Blackcomb re-opens for summer glacier skiing from June 22nd - July 28th, 2013.

Closer to home there has been heavy snow in the alps with 35cm in the past 24 hours reported at Hintertux but very few centres are currently open, with just a handful of glacier options (Zermatt in Switzerland, Dachstein and the Stubai in Austria)

The Giro d'Italia cycle race had to miss its stage near Passo Tonale today – ironically the only ski area currently open in Italy – because of the snow there. No ski areas are open in France although les 2 Alpes said the new snow was good news for its coming summer ski season.

In the UK the cold weather brought 12cm of snow overnight to Cairngorm which had said last week it planned to reopen for snowsports this weekend, but has now posted on its site that a thaw in the underlying base means it has decided to call it a day on winter 12-13 despite the fresh snow.

There's an update report here:

http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?c=setreg®ion=2&m_id=Y!dmT_vdY!&w_id=8983&news_id=2006547

The four in Africa are Morocco and Algeria in the north and Lesotho and South Africa in the south - only continent with ski areas in two hemispheres so fresh snow year round, kind of. North America has snow skiing with ski lifts in Canada, USA and Greenland and artificial surface slopes in Puerto Rico (at a US military base) and Mexico. Mexico also had snow on high peaks and proposed various ski areas over the years but to date the only ski lifts serve an artificial ski slope http://www.monterreal.com/index-4.html which does very occasionally get natural snow eg: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bosques_de_Monterreal_Coahuila_Mexico.JPG (looks like ski slope at the back). No lifts in Central America although the report mentions Nicaragua has highest peak with snow sometimes so if you wanted to walk up and timed it right you might be able to say you skied there...

A new study has attempted to quantify the number of countries where it is possible to ski.

The study, by ski resort research company Snow24 which has been collating ski resort data since the early 1990s, came up with five separate totals depending on which measurement you choose to use.

The biggest number was 97 countries but that figure includes every country with snow cover for at least three months of the year, usually and also includes nine countries with only indoor snow centres – like Dubai (UAE), or only dry slopes, like Ireland.

However it does not include sand skiing destinations like Namibia where you can ski on 300m high sand dunes or Oman and Qatar! Adding sand skiing on sand dunes would take the 'skiing countries' total up to 100.

Limiting the total to only countries with snow to ski on, indoors or out, the figure drops to 92, and for outdoor 'normal' snow the figure drops further to 86.

76 countries have ski lifts but that again includes some with only dry slopes or indoor slopes – the countries with regular outdoor ski areas served by lifts total 70.

Comparatively new countries to offer snow skiing with lifts include North Korea, Kosovo (the ski area is old but the country new) and Albania, where there has been skiing for many decades but the first lift was only recently installed. Eight countries were found to only have skiing on offer at all because of indoor snow centres or dry slopes.

Countries that once offered lift-assisted skiing but no longer do, include Columbia and Bolivia, which used to operate the world's highest lift. It is one of seven countries on the list which the report highlights as likely to lose all skiable snow due to climate change by 2030.

Ski areas with lifts were found on all seven continents. The country totals were Africa 4, Asia 21, Antarctica (1 permanent lift in the Chillean sector), Australasia 2, Europe 40, North America 5, South America 4.

However chilly it has been in Britain of late, temperatures have been dropping back to nearly double digit sub-zero on Alpine glaciers, and heavy rain has been falling as heavy snow on ski slopes.

Unfortunately very few ski areas are currently open to give a lift up to anyone planning to pop out to enjoy the fresh mid-May powder. Not many ski areas publish snowfall data at this time of year, but Engelberg's Titlis glacier reports 15cm in the last 24 hours. It's due to close on Monday after a final weekend of skiing, but is currently stormbound. There's also fresh snow at Glacier 3000 near Gstaad which is open another week to the 26th and at year-round Zermatt.

Kaunertal, one of five Austrian glaciers open, reports 25cm of new snow in the past seven days. The Dachstein, Kitzsteinhorn, Hintertux and Stubai glaciers are the other choices, the latter due to close this weekend but like Engelberg currently stormbound.

There are no ski areas open in France and in Italy only the Presena Glacier is reporting to be open with up to 25cm of snow falling on its two open runs. Folgaria says it may re-open because of the snow.

Closer to home Cairngorm is open in Scotland and had a few centimetres of fresh snow this week.

There's skiing under the midnight sun until the 23rd at Riksgransen in Sweden while Norway's Folgefonn glacier opened on May 1st and Galdhøpiggen is due to open for the season tomorrow 18th May. You can also ski at Ruka in Finland.

In North America Arapahoe Basin in Colorado, Mammoth in California, Mount Bachelor and Timberline in Oregon and Crystal Mountain In Washington State are open in the US, which is open weekends from now to June 16th. There's Sunshine (final weekend) and Whistler still open in Canada.

The season is not really underway yet in the southern hemisphere although after heavy pre-season snowfall in New Zealand and southern Africa earlier this month it has been the turn of Australian ski areas to report up to 20cm of new snow in the past 72 hours.

Fans of James Bond, and of snow sports, will be pleased to hear a large new Bond exhibition is to open this summer at the Schilthorn - Piz Gloria, a revolving restaurant above Murren in the Swiss Jungfrau.

The restaurant is inextricably linked with the Bond story as it was the main location for the film On Her Majesty's Secret Service. At the time of filming the restaurant was incomplete and facing financial problems to complete construction, however after filming was completed on the Bond movie, the film company paid enough to allow the restaurant to be completed, and start revolving.

The restaurant has housed a small exhibition and served up themed meals like 'Bond spahetti' for decades but the new 'BOND WORLD OO7' will be a much more serious initiative to capitalise on the Bong movie connection. This indoor attraction will be spread over 400m2 and tell guests the history of the films and, interactively, allow them to test their James Bond skills.

In addition, Schilthorn visitors will be led on a ledge walk of a different kind to the new viewing platform PIZ GLORIA VIEW from where there is a spectacular view towards the revolving restaurant Piz Gloria together with a unique perspective of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau.

A spiral built metal platform invites visitors to enjoy an all-round view and capture the moment digitally from a fixed photo-point.