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Excess Snowfall Triggers Unfortunate Series Of Events Culminating In Indoor Snow Centre Bankruptcy

The SnowDome De Uithof in the Netherland has filed for bankruptcy following a spate of major operational problems.

The centre, which was the country's fifth to open, ten years ago, first saw the roof of the adjoining ice rink collapse last winter due to the weight of snow.

Then the floor cooling system broke down and popular ice karting couldn´t go on.

The third negative development saw brewery Heineken remove their stock and yet another problem followed when the Ice Hockey club of The Hague took their business (value 180,000 €) out of the complex.

The slope at Uithof has a curved floor, whilst the centre's two lifts are Poma built and the piste maintained with a Kassbohrer groomer.

The facility includes a pre-existing 400 meter ice skating rink, an indoor ice hockey rink, a go-karting facility, an outdoor biking circuit and an indoor and outdoor climbing wall as well as other leisure facilities.

The Uithof is situated on the south-west side of Dutch capital Den Haag (The Hague) and is a 30 minute drive from the Hoek van Holland ferry terminal which links the Netherlands with the UK

The snow slope has been sponsored by Salzburgerland, Austria. The future of the complex, which its website says is currently closed, remains uncertain.

The Netherlands has seven other indoor snow centres and remains second in the world for the number of these, behind Japan with nice and ahead of the UK with six.

Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc

Work to improve and expand Le Massif ski area by the St Lawrence River in Quebec Canada is underway ahead of winter 2010-11.

The ski area is due to be transformed over the next few years following a $230m spend with expansion on the mountain, new lifts, a new base resort and a new railway line connection.

Work on the integration of a gondola, beginner area, and two other lifts serving this same new sector as well as four new trails and the expansion of the off-piste sector will all commence within a few weeks.

Land surveys have been conducted on future trail and gondola sites, and Doppelmayr has guaranteed timely turn-key lift delivery. Work will progress at a continuous rate over the months to come, to offer this full line-up of new installations by December 2010.

At the base of the mountain architects MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects are creating a master plan for The Mountain Pole which will incorporate lodging units (inn, chalets, loft-apartments, and signature homes), a public square, boutiques, restaurants, and cafés, along with public infrastructures comprised of a train station, terraces and promenades, a gondola and spa concept. Project plans are expected to be submitted by the end of July, with a public announcement delivered in the fall to determine subsequent work phases, as well as commencement and delivery dates.

Work is also underway on the restoration of a railway train with eight carriages which railcars will convey approximately 550 passengers along the newly restored rail line between Québec City and Clermont. Le Massif is one of some 21 municipalities that will be connected by the restored line which is due to be put into service by summer 2011.

Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc

Reported by the New Zealand Herald :-

Back-country skiers are being warned about avalanche risks after a ski patroller was buried by snow at the back of the Coronet Peak ski area on Tuesday.

The man, who dug himself out, was said to be rather shaken by the experience but did not want to talk about it publicly, Coronet Peak ski area manager Hamish McCrostie said.

Skifield owner NZSki said two ski patrol staff had been assessing the stability of the new snow cover about 2.30pm on Tuesday in an area called the Back Bowls. This is an ungroomed place within the ski area boundary just east of the top of the Coronet Express chairlift. It is marked "experts only".

When the patrollers passed through, an avalanche was triggered, sweeping one of them under the snow. His companion immediately alerted other patrollers in the area.

Patrollers are equipped with safety gear including transceiver, radio, shovel, probe and first aid kit, and the man caught in the snow was able to dig himself out unaided and without injury.

Mr McCrostie said the area is fenced off and not yet open to the public. It is monitored closely and only opened to the public when it is assessed as safe.

There is more information in the full article here.

Go carefully!

Definitely not... where's the snowiest webcam view today? 8)

Just weeks after their long 09-10 ski season ended in late May, Sunshine Mountain at Banff is starting work on installing a high-speed quad chairlift, bought second hand from Whistler where it was in use for the Olympic Games. The Alberta resort's 'Strawberry quad' will be in action for next winter 2010-11.

The Doppelmayr built quad lift – part of more than $60 million in upgrades undertaken in recent years at the resort is replacing the aging Strawberry fixed-grip triple chair. The high-speed quad is the ninth high-speed lift at the resort.

The top assembly of the new lift is already in place – transported over snow, so that the installation has no impact on the fragile vegetation. Over the summer, new towers will be airlifted into place once foundation work is complete, and the rest of the lift assembled and tested.

The new lift, used at Whistler Blackcomb resort for the 2010 Games, has a rated capacity of 1,800 guests per hour, using a total of 45 chairs. The Strawberry lift has a design capacity of 2,100 riders per hour, but has been running at a rate of 1,520.

The 35-year-old, three-passenger Strawberry lift has reached the end of its service life. The company that made it, Hall Ski Lift Co., is no long in business, creating maintenance challenges. The fate of the old lift is undetermined. It will either be sold as a complete unit to another ski resort, or for parts.

When Sunshine opens once again on November 11 (weather permitting), skiers will not only find the new lift, but also major renovations to the Creekside restaurant building at the gondola base. The restaurant, retail area, snack bar and skier services areas are all being completely redone, to improve customer convenience.

Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc

Baqueira Beret Spending €6m+ On New 6 Seater Chairlift

Spain's leading resort, Baqueira Beret, has announced that it will install a new six-seater chairlift this summer ahead of winter 2010-11.

Baqueira Beret is investing 6.5 million euros on the new Doppelmayr chairlift, which will be named after the resort's founder, Jorge Pozas Jordan. Jordan was the main founder and promoter of Baqueira Beret of which he was President from its foundation in 1962 until his death in1999.

The 2.3km long, high-speed detachable lift will link the Orri sector with Cap Baqueira over a 630m vertical, accessing some of the resort's nest known runs including the North Face, Luis Arias and Escornacrabes among others. Travelling at five metres per second it will ultimately carry 2,800 people per hour.

Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc

The southern hemisphere's 2010 ski season is under way with Coronet peak in New Zealand opening Saturday, June 5th with a 50cm (20 inch) base including 15cm (six inches) of new snow that fell on Tuesday. Thousands of Queenslanders hit the piste to celebrate.

Conditions are actually looking good across the country and most of New Zealand's resorts will open in the next three weeks. First Tracks were reported at Treble Cone earlier in the week, for those prepared to hike up, with 30cm of new snow and The Remarkables currently has a 60cm (2 foot) base although no plans to open for another two weeks. Mt Hutt, with a full one metre (3.3 foot) base, will open next Saturday June 12th. Cardrona and Mt Ruapehu will open later this month.

Ski Dobson possibly has the deepest base in the southern hemisphere at preset with 1.3m, (4.3 feet) but it will not open until the weekend on June 20/21 and full-time from the following weekend.

In Australia most resorts had some natural snow last month and currently have low temperatures and are able to commence snowmaking. Falls Creek, Mt Hotham, Thredbo and Perisher are all snowmaking at the moment ahead of opening in the next few weeks.

In South Africa the country's only ski area of Tiffindell has a snow covering and with low temperatures continuing should be able to open quite soon. The same is true of Afriski in neighbouring Lesotho which had hoped to open on June 1st.

In South America many ski areas are reporting cold temperatures and are starting to open in Chile. Chile's Valle Nevado will be opening shortly and Portillo on the 19th.
In Argentina Las Lenas reports 4cm of snow remains on the tops of the mountains following a big 30cm (12 inch) fall last month.

Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc

Cairngorm Mountain above Aviemore in the Scottish Highlands has announced plans to open for the first weekend of June, next Saturday 5th/6th.

A fortnight later on June 21st Northern Scotland celebrates the start of summer with near-24 hour daylight, thanks to the region's northerly latitude.

The ski area is enjoying a record breaking year approaching eight months of near continual operation (all closures due to too much snow, extreme weather or more recently too few visitors, rather than any lack of snow).

There was more fresh snow last week with temperatures hovering around zero at the top of the slopes.

The centre has been open at weekends through May and on English Bank Holiday May 31st. The Ptarmigan lift is running and the train makes mid-station stops if it is possible to ski to the middle using the gunbarrel. The terrain park and the sledge park are open.
Opening hours are from 10am - 4pm and snowsports tickets will be available for the whole day or for 3 hour sessions.

www.cairngormmountain.org