J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

Gstaad is currently boasting the deepest snow in the Alps at 510cm (17 feet) and is one of only five leading ski areas worldwide with a 5m+ base as we enter April. The ski season here will also continue in to May thanks to the Glacier 3000 ski area,

The glacier will host "freeridedays.ch" next weekend on 6 and 7 April when some of Europe's best pro riders and experienced mountain guides will take anyone signed up to try it on the day to check out the powder slopes on the glacier. Highlights will also include a big 2013-14 season ski test and the chance to abseil over 60 metres during a run. There'll also be a big party taking place in the evening.

Then the following weekend of 13 and 14 April, freestyle snowboarders from all over Switzerland will meet on the glacier for the season finale of the Audi Snowboard Series 2012/13.

Then live music and a good atmosphere await visitors on 20th April at the beach party in the Mountain Restaurant Oldegg and the après-ski event in the evening in the Rooster Bar Reusch.

Gstaad recently came out top in the "Best Swiss Luxury Hotel category", in a poll of 80,000 readers of the online portal Premium Switzerland.

The Grand Hotel Park took first place while a top 3 ranking in the "Best Spa Hotels" category was given to Gstaad Palace. Gstaad itself has been listed among the top 3 of "Best Luxury Resorts" and "Best Family Resorts."

(Pic Credit Steven McKenna / Ski Scotland)

The snow which has caused logistical problems across much of Britain through the latter half of March has been more good news for Scottish ski areas enjoying one of their best winters of the past few decades.

This time last year all five centres had been closed for all or most of March with warm weather melting away and snow, this winter, reported to be the coldest for just over a century in the UK all five centres are fully open with top to bottom snow cover and have been for months now. There's also lots of fresh snow on top of the hard packed bases.

The latest weakening of the pound against the Euro is also making Scottish skiing rather more affordable against the Alps.

"Not only have the storms brought huge dumps of snow, but it's amazing quality for the time of year," said Heather Negus, Chair of Ski-Scotland,, "As far as we're concerned, there's no such thing as 'the wrong sort of snow' – we welcome it all! However, at this time of year, we'd expect spring snow, which is usually quite wet, but what all the ski areas are reporting is lovely soft fluffy snow and loads of fresh powder."

As this is Scotland, resorts were closed last weekend and at the start of this week at various times by gale force winds and snow blocking access roads, but the past 72 hours have been largely still, sunny and cold giving beautiful conditions, with a few flurries to freshen up cover.

There are also some special Easter events including half price at Nevis Range today for people wearing fancy dress on Good Friday, a charity "onesie" event at CairnGorm Mountain on Easter Saturday and fun events such as Easter egg hunts at Glencoe Mountain on Easter Sunday, 31st March. Later in the holidays, on 6th April, CairnGorm Mountain will also host the Vans New Big Air Competition.

As weather forecasts can change as quickly as the weather itself, Ski-Scotland recommends that everyone checks the latest snow, road and weather on the official website www.ski-scotland.com/conditions before setting out. It is useful to plan ahead and book ski and snowboard equipment and accommodation in advance, and the website also includes user-friendly information about this.

Up to and including last Sunday 24 March, the five mountain snowsports areas have recorded just under 179,000 'skier days'.

Zermatt, with Europe's highest ski slopes open year round, has announced plans to invest over a billion Swiss Francs (CHF1.2bn = £835 million) on improvements over the next decade.

Exactly when and where the money will be spent has not been fully detailed so far, but key initiatives within the overall 'Strategy 2018' include 'expansion' of the resort's summer skiing business which, along with Hintertux in Austria, is one of only two resorts worldwide that operates 365 days a year for snow sports. Zermatt's glacier is shrinking but the resort invested heavily in an all-weather snowmaking system which can make snow in positive temperatures, one of only two such systems operating worldwide.

Initial reports also mention the creation of a World Cup ski run, creating a 'spectacular ski jump run' over the Gornergratbahn tunnel and "strengthening and securing its heliski business."

There will also be investment in year-round non-snowsports facilities including a planned 'stellarium' and observatory on the Gornergrat. The existing sports facilities will be improved and made available for indoor and outdoor use and a medium-sized events centre added and there'll be investment in more accommodation options.

"Large and long-term investments secure our competitiveness," said Daniel Luggen, director of Zermatt Tourismus, who stressed that the secret of the success was everyone in the resort working together for the success of Zermatt.

There's something of a history developing of April Fools involving indoor snow centres.

A few years ago a Scottish newspaper ran a story of a major new indoor ski centre development in the Highlands and a similar story was mooted in California. The ski website Iglu launched a new cruise ship incorporating an indoor snow centre (truth very close to reality on that one) on April 1st a few years back too. Of course a few phoney snowdome developpers have fooled coimmunities into investing in proposals in locations around the world without anything ever being liklely to be built too.

That's not to say that we should treat a press release just in from the Manchester based indoor snow centre Chill Factore with any scepticism whatsoever.

They report says that a group of local knitters have joined forces to make the world's biggest bobble hat. Working through the night, the 40m x 30m hat has been constructed to sit atop the spectacular building.

The army of 120 knitters apparently worked for 350 hours, using 200kg of wool in the process. Chill Factore, the UK's longest real snow slope dips to temperatures as low as -2C, so naturally, the knitters of Manchester were concerned and wanted to keep the attraction snug.

"Our needles have been smoking, all the ladies have been working over time to get the bobble hat the right size. We're really proud of our effort, so to celebrate, we're going to kick back with a brew," said Irene Flynn, 68.

Chill Factore says the hat will remain on the roof until 12pm on 1st April.

From what I can gather, there are two tables (at least). The one where France is 7th is in 'business competitiveness' (the main one). They are not top 10 in the separate 'friendliness to tourists' table. Sorry if you realised that anyway and were just commenting on the buisiness competitiveness one! Or indeed if I've got it round my neck myself... Despite all the sources they quote I can't really see how they came up withy the table. On my travels I found the Russians a bit hit and miss - either ultra hospitable or ultra rude; and I've only heard good things about Iranians (well, apart from the top man and his cronies anyway...).

A new 500 page study on the competitiveness of 144 nations worldwide in terms of travel and tourism has attracted media attention as it includes a ranking of 140 of those nations in terms of their friendliness to tourists arriving on their shores.

This has generated a more eclectic list that the fairly obvious major-European and North American nations dominated top 20 in terms of economic competitiveness.

The report has been compiled by the World Economic Forum, a major global think tank based in Switzerland which famously stages an annual get together of world political and business leaders in Davos each January and, they say, pulls in data from dozens of sources worldwide including the likes of UNESCO ), the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) as well as major airlines and many other travel bodies.

The majority of the top 10 most friendly, and indeed several of those placed from 130 to 140 at the bottom of the table (so presumably 'least welcoming') are, to a greater or lesser extent, ski nations.

Iceland, home to around a dozen small ski areas, which has become very affordable since its post-economic crash currency devaluation tops the friendliness table while Austria, at number 5, is the highest placed major ski nation for friendliness says the report.

Also in the top 10 were the Southern hemisphere ski nation of New Zealand at number 2, home to Atlas mountains skiing Morocco at number 3, and former Yugoslav Republic and home to half a dozen ski centres Macedonia at number 4. Portugal at number 7 and former winter Olympics venue Bosnia and Herzegovina at number 8 were the two other ski nations in the top 10.

Bolivia, once home to the world's highest lift-served ski run at Chacaltaya was rated 140th and world's least friendly nation, but 2014 Winter Olympic hosts Russia, were 138th – the third most unfriendly.

Other countries with ski areas in the bottom 10 for friendliness included Iran, Pakistan, the Slovak Republic, Mongolia and the budget destination in British tour operator programmes – Bulgaria

The full 500 page report is available to download for some light bedtime reading at http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_TT_Competitiveness_Report_2013.pdf

A new study on the actual size of ski areas in terms of piste length has caused controversy in some of the major Alpine nations.

The study by German ski author and cartographer Christoph Schrahe, who has been working on ski area data collection for more than 20 years, used precise terrain mapping with Google Earth and other digital services to generate comparable statistics.

The key finding was that in almost all cases, the claimed ski area runs length stat was greater than the reality, and in some cases by a very large margin.

The report opened a debate in Austrian and Swiss newspapers where resorts explained differences with claims including one that wide runs could be counted up to three times in the measurements list, as you could ski either side or down the middle on separate descents. Now resorts in Ausstria are planning to try to create a standard measuring system.

Schrahe's findings, published in a detailed report 'The 50 Biggest Ski Areas in The World,' compares ski areas on a number of criteria including lift capacity, actual trail length and actual area (compared to the stats published by resorts).

Many areas are only around 20% smaller than they officially claim according to Schrahe, but hius figures found that some, including the French-Italian Milky Way and the Swiss 4 Valleys are much smaller than they claim.

Other interesting findings are that Whistler Blackcomb is in the world top five on size, Vail in the top 10 and the 3 Valleys of the Andes around Valle Nevado in Chile in the world top 15 – the largest ski area in the southern hemisphere, and more highly placed on a global measure than previously generally realised.

To order the report, priced at 99 Euros, please contact Christoph Schrahe schrahe@ski-weltweit.de An English language version is available.

The longest Giant Slalom ski race in the world is due to be staged again next month in Italy's Val Gardena.

The Gardenissima race (gardenissima.eu) descends 1033 vertical metres over its 6km length down from the start gate on Seceda at 2518m above sea level to 1033m as competitors negotiate 115 gates on Saturday, 4th April, when the race will be staged for the 17th time.

The race attracts over 650 both amateur and professional racers and this year the start list includes World cup racers Andrea Fischbacher , Stefanie Moser, Isolde Kostner and Peter Runggaldier.

But as the race is 3-4 times longer than an average World Cup giant slalom, not only amateur skiers but also famous racers have to invest all their stamina when they leave to compete against the clock and rush to the finish area along the fastest line.

Competitors are divided in to more than 50 different individual and team categories according to age, gender, pro or amateur status, disability - if any, but the race organisers say that the priority is that a good time is had by all.

"The success of this unique giant slalom is the result of a perfect mix of adrenaline, physical performance and atmosphere, all at the foot of the majestic Dolomite peaks, a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site," says local Val Gardena councillor Dr. Hans Berger.