J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by admin

No1 Willow wrote:Not that my head is in any way bigger than a normal size head!! :roll: .

Oh no, perish the thought... :wink:

Mine neither - Crowbars fit me fine though and I can see that if, hypothetically, I did have a head shaped like a lightbulb they would be good for that too... allegedly. :D

Of course, you should try them first to make sure they fit your hat/helmet/headband/ears as well...

More than 100,000 skiers and snowboarders have been enjoying some of the best snow Scotland has seen for decades since the start of the season. The good news is that the exceptional snow conditions look set to continue into February.

Scotland's five mountain ski areas had sold more than 107,500 tickets by the 27th January. This total excludes all the season ticket holders who have been visiting regularly, and some school and other groups. These are counted separately by some ski areas and are usually only included in the final total number of "skier days" at the end of the season.

This equates to 67% of last winter's skier days total, including season ticket holders and groups,however, these great early season results do have their down-side – there was a plan to offer this winter's 100,000th skier a free ticket and other goodies, but this had to be abandoned when it was realised that target had already been passed!

"We often find that, when the snow thaws elsewhere in the country, people find it hard to believe that the mountains still have good snow," said ski-scotland Chair Heather Negus. "But this year, with the high-profile story of CairnGorm's road, funicular and lifts having to be dug out of deep drifts, we're finding that people know we still have great snow which will last well into next month, and possibly longer. However, each of the five ski areas has their own separate access, so we've rarely had a day this year when all five have been closed at one time, and road and snow reports and real-time webcams are easy to find on the official ski-scotland.com website."

"The new ski-scotland all-area 5-day pass has been a real bonus," continued Heather. "It offers skiers a real alternative to overseas ski holidays. With five ski areas fairly close to each other, and a great choice of accommodation available within reach of all, the 5-day all-area pass means they can try a different ski area every day, just stick with their favourite, or go where the snow and access is best. With the adult ticket only £115 for five consecutive days, it offers tremendous value compared to what you'd pay in the Alps for anything similar."

The number of people who skied or snowboarded in Scotland in winter 2008-9 was 159,885, worth around £4m to the snowsports centres and at least £12m to the Scottish economy. The 107,500+ who have already bought tickets this winter will have generated at least £11m for the economy, both at the ski areas and in the surrounding area.

www.ski-scotland.com

Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc

:shock:

The check in hall at Düsseldorf International Airport is to create what is believed to be the world's first indoor-snow-ski-jump-in-an-airport as part of the seventh annual TravelSuperMart which will take place from February 6-7, a few days before the Winter Olympics kick off in Vancouver.

The 40m (130ft) long jump will allow snowboarders and freestyle skiers to make jumps of up to 10m from the real snow surface, which will be declared open by former British Olympic ski jumper Eddie "the Eagle" Edwards.

The ski jump is part of a wider entertainment programme associated with TravelSuperMart, a travel and tourism consumer show with exhibits by airlines, tour and cruise operators, destinations, and bureaus. The event is free and open on both days from 11:00 am – 6:00 pm.

More than 80,000 passengers and visitors are expected to pass by the exhibit at Germany's third largest airport.
Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc

Most competitors at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Whistler and Vancouver have now flown in to the region for acclimatization and final preparations, with the Games now less than two weeks away.

Snow conditions are varied across the venues as the region has had very heavy precipitation over the first two months of the season, with Whistler reporting around 10 metres of snowfall over the last 10 weeks, but the snow has been falling as rain at Cypress Mountain, venue for the freestyle and snowboarding events.

Maintaining the half pipe and other snow slopes has been particularly difficult with teams working 24 hours a day and measures including covering snow with straw and other protection and helicoptering in loads of fresh snow from higher up the mountain among measures taken.

Whistler's lower slopes have been thawing in the day then freezing overnight, leading to icy conditions on the bottom half of the mountain, hopefully good news for race surfaces if conditions continue.

Monumental snowfall over the last week has created perfect conditions at Mount Washington Alpine Resort, a key training area for arriving international teams. With a mid-mountain snow base of 320cm and 399cm at the top, the resort is once again the home of Canada's deepest snowpack. Indeed it has deeper snow than any other North American resort and is among the world top three for snow depth.

The news couldn't be any better for the first wave of Olympic athletes who arrive this week to train at the Island mountain.

"We received over a metre and a half of snow in the last six days," says Resort spokesperson Brent Curtain.

The Chinese Biathlon team arrived in the Comox Valley late Thursday and hit the snow on Friday, January 22nd. The team will train at the mountain's popular Nordic Centre, an obvious choice for numerous cross-country and biathlon teams over the next month. A total of 26 teams from 15 countries are performing their final on-snow preparations at Mount Washington before heading back to the Lower Mainland and Whistler for the Games.

"We've worked hard to attract teams over the last few years," explains Don Sharpe, Director of Business Operations. "You can feel the excitement with the impending arrival of each team. It's great to see our plan to make Mount Washington a training site for the Games come to fruition."

"We're the training destination of choice for many international teams," adds Sharpe. "Take Sweden for example. We're hosting their Cross-Country, Biathlon, Freestyle Ski, Ski Cross, Snowboard Race, and Paralympic Teams."

Mount Washington and delegates from the Comox Valley plan on holding some meet and greet events over the next month so the visiting public can catch a glimpse of the Olympians.

"The chances of a guest at the resort riding a chairlift with an Olympian or two are pretty good," says Sharpe. "It's important to remember that these athletes are here to focus on their training, their privacy is crucial and as their hosts we must do our part to respect that."

Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc

Wind back the cynicism please folks. None of us here know all the answers to everything and the OP clearly appreciates the information being offered. Be nice!

So you have four weeks in Europe? Brilliant, well ditch your clueless "agent" - and get some skiing sorted.

Little ski wrote:I would like to let other people out there how hard it is to go and ski there it's a joke.

Hmm. Well, about 10 million Europeans manage it each year, and a million Brits... and a rather large number of Aussies... 8)

Little ski wrote:all the ski fields in Europe only do 7 days min stay.

That's nonsense. There are loads of hotels in and around ski resorts that are nowadays quite happy to do flexible stays. There is an increasing quantity of accommodation available for odd durations and there are hundreds of independent chalet operators who are generally more than willing to accommodate.

You should have come here - we list hundreds of them.

If your holiday coincides with half-term (i.e. mid-February) then you will find the options more limited, but even half-term is not booked out this year.

Contacting the Tourist Office in your preferred resort (they all have e-mail and 99% speak English) is worth doing.

Little ski wrote:My travel agent said the only place in Europe we can go for 4 nights is st mortiz

:shock: Well, do let them know there are over a thousand ski resorts in Europe... did they just start with the most expensive and not bother with the rest? :roll:

Little ski wrote:NO NOT me I need it planed

Relax. Switzerland is superb for public transport and there are excellent "tourist" tickets that allow you to travel just about everywhere with minimal strife. We're lucky to have some English-speaking (!) Swiss residents as regulars and I'm sure they can help you out.

Little ski wrote:I so wished we had booked to go to Japan or America

Sounds like your agent would have stuffed that up too... 8)


So...

Tell us what you've got booked and where you want to go, and be prepared to do a little work yourself (that's gotta be better than paying an agent), and start looking forward to your trip! 8)

Intrawest, once the world's leading ski resort operator and still owner of nine major ski areas including next month's Olympic host Whistler Blackcomb has had its "assets seized" by lenders after it reportedly failed to make repayments on a $1.4 billion loan at the end of last year.

Lenders backing Intrawest, which is owned by a private equity firm Fortress Investment Group, which purchased the company for $2.8 billion at the height of the property boom in 2006, said in a notice published in major newspapers on Wednesday that they planned to sell off their ownership share in the company on February 19th, coincidentally in the middle of the Olympics.

Exactly how far the sale of assets threatens resort operations and Intrawest's overall ownership remains unclear. In the newspaper notice the asset lists two Canadian ski resorts, specifically Whistler and Blackcomb.

In a statement Intrawest said, "There have been inaccurate and misleading media reports surrounding the company. Fortress Investment Group continues to own and control Intrawest and all of its properties. Serious discussions with Intrawest's lenders are ongoing regarding refinancing and the company continues to operate 'business as usual' at all of its resort properties."

Some of the media reports Intrawest may be referring to include suggestions that the Olympic Games themselves may be in danger, but this has been rejected by Intrawest,

"We have a 2002 agreement with VANOC (The Vancouver Organising Committee) to host the Winter Olympics and have every confidence that VANOC will honour its financial commitments," said Intrawest CEO Bill Jensen. "Intrawest is looking forward to a successful Olympic Games."

Neither the banks involved in the loan to Intrawest not the Canadian government have made any official comment.

In another piece of bad news for the coming Olympics, snowboard venue Cypress Mountain is still suffering from warm weather and rain, organisers are now considering helicoptering in some snow.

Along with Whistler Blackcomb, Intrawest also own Panorama in British Columbia and on Canada's East Coast the resorts of Blue Mountain in Ontario and Mont Tremblant in Quebec. In the US Intrawest operate Steamboat and Winter Park in Colorado, Snowshoe in West Virginia, Stratton in Vermont and Mountain High in New Jersey.
Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc

AllyG wrote:Keep it up Dave, it is very interesting (and highly educational) :thumbup:

Indeed... you will shortly be anointed official J2Ski Saga Lout of 2010... 8)