J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

Mt Norquay at the weekend

Canadian resorts have been opening early, in some cases the earliest ever, thanks to fresh snow and cold temperatures for snowmaking.

Mount Norquay in Banff was the first to open last week, it's earliest ever opening, thanks to low temperatures and a combination of 30 cm of natural and manmade snow providing the best opening skiing conditions ever.

Nakiska which was the first ski area in Canada to open in 2011, opened 24 hours later on 27th/ 28th October.

Following closely on the heels of Mt. Norquay is the Lake Louise Ski Area and Sunshine Village with opening dates currently scheduled for November 9th. Marmot Basin in Jasper is also due to open on 9th November. It and the Banff resorts will all stay open to next May, 2013.

Other resorts like Fernie and Kicking Horse may open early according the Matt Mosteller, marketing boss for owners Resorts of the Canadian Rockies.

"Stay tuned," he told local media "There's close to 50 centimetres in the bowl at Fernie and Kicking Horse right now. With that much snow, that says to me that the alpine snow is here to stay now. So winter is locked down."

Meanwhile further West it's just over three weeks to Whistler's official opening day of November 22 and the resort reports that snowmaking crews have already turned over 20 million gallons of water into snow already thanks to cooler than normal temperatures and 150 machines have been pumping out snow 24 hour a days since October 20. In addition to that, Whistler has already received snow to the valley several times.

Morzine – Avoriaz, two of the closest resorts to Geneva and indeed the Channel if you're driving south, and part of one of the world's largest ski areas, the Portes du Soleil (650km of piste straddling the French-Swiss border) has announced a number of price-reduction strategies for the coming winter.

Most involve buying you pass in advance on line in order to pay less, with the best savings in low season periods of course, but deals include reduced price passes throughout the season, and even free passes, free snowboarding lessons, or a free trip for the kids, on certain dates.
Firstly, act fast if you plan to ski in the region during the first six weeks of next year as there's 20 % off Morzine-Les Gets ski passes valid from 05/01/2013 to 16/02/2013 (passes of 6-14 days) when purchased before the end of tomorrow 31st POctober on www.skipass-morzine.com

There's a longer period to get a smaller discount (10%) off a full Portes du Soleil ski passes (minimum of 4 days) for all purchases made between 09/12/2012 on www.skipass-morzine.com – that's around a 20 Euro saving all season on a week's pass.

In addition there's 10% off Morzine-Les Gets ski passes when groups of 4+ buy at the same time for the same dates/duration, again at www.skipass-morzine.com and a similar saving on the full Portes du Soleil ski passes Valid for two adults and two children or young people up to 19.

The Portes du Soleil Ski Area is open from Saturday the 22nd of December 2012 to Sunday the 21st of April 2013.

Flaine Image Copyright Yann Havis/Flaine Tourist Office

Flaine (flaine.com), at the heart of the Grand Massif ski area with its 265km of piste, has announced new lifts and other on-slope improvements for the coming winter.

After the success of the new 6-seater chairlift, «Désert Blanc», last year, the Aup de Véran gondolas being replaced for 2012-13.

The benefits of the upgrade include faster access to the Aup de Véran faster sector as the new gondola doubles the capacity of the old lift and more comfort for passengers, with eight seats cabins and skis and boards carried within the cabins.

The lift itself also has a low environmental impact than its predecessor with a smaller arrival station, buried power lines and other initiatives to minimise the visual impression of the lift.

Other improvements for Flaine include increased number snowmaking on the Mephisto slope in Aup de Veran and a new beginner's terrain park managed by the ESF ski school incorporating smaller rails, boxes and other features for first-timers before they tackle Flaine's famous world-class full scale park!

Dougie Crawford

British ski team mates Dougie Crawford and TJ Baldwin have launched an innovative way of raising money to help fund their race season, as they begin qualification season for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.

The pair, who are two of Britain's top ranking Alpine skiers, are running a raffle to help pay the costs of skiing for the British Ski Team after funding was cut. This year British Ski and Snowboard have opted to fund only slalom. TJ and Dougie have to pay for their own coach as well as their own travel, lift passes and accommodation. With the Olympic qualification period beginning and the World Championships in the New Year, 2012/2013 is shaping up to be big season for the boys and will pave the way for their end goal of Sochi, 2014.

The raffle will help pay for the pair to join the US Ski Team to train, providing them with world class coaching and a competitive training group. They are planning to do the early season world cups in Canada and America as well as the Nor-am cup races before coming back to Europe for World Cup races, the Europa cup season and the World Championships in February 2013.

Dougie and TJ have paired up with travel company Canadian Affair, which has provided a top prize of a week skiing for two people in Banff, Canada, including flights, accommodation, lift passes and transfers. Other prizes to be won in the raffle include a week's summer accommodation in Zell am See and a pair of skis from Head and Atomic.

Raffle tickets are priced at £10 each and to take part in the raffle visit www.dougiecrawford.com/raffle-2/ The draw will take place on 22nd December 2012.

Preliminary findings from a now annual survey sponsored by Post Office® Travel Money has found that costs for skiers in resorts across Europe should be lower this winter thanks to the increasing value of Sterling compared to winter 2012-13.

In terms of the lowest-prices, the Post Office's annual Ski Resort Report – produced in conjunction with Crystal Ski – is Bansko in Bulgaria, where skiers will find their pounds stretch even further this winter as Sterling buys 7.5 per cent more Bulgarian lev than last season.

Skiers staying closer to home and travelling to the Eurozone will get 6.6 per cent more for their money.

The pound has also recovered some of the lost ground against the Swiss Franc too, back up 4.6 per cent better off after the pound had previously plunged 9.1 percent.

The full report featuring resort research from 27 ski resorts across Europe and North America, comparing the prices of ski passes, equipment hire and ski school, plus drinks and lunch on the slopes will be published at the end of November but preliminary findings (based on eight resorts) include:

• Kranjska Gora (Slovenia) offers best value in the eurozone, followed by Ellmau (Austria) and Livigno (Italy)

• Bansko offers the cheapest ski pass and equipment hire – 25 per cent less than runner-up Kranjska Gora, another Eastern European destination.

• Livigno offers the lowest-priced ski school (£75.44) – 49 per cent cheaper than Nendaz

• A two-course lunch on the slopes will hit skiers harder in Ruka (Finland) and Ellmau – £17.54 and £16.05 respectively – more than double the cost in Bansko (£6.91)

• Beer (25cl) is cheapest in Bansko (£1.15) – 71 per cent cheaper than Ruka (£3.95)

• In Livigno (Italy), the benefit of the strong pound is compounded by a three per cent drop in resort costs, bringing prices in nine per cent lower than last year, once the exchange rate has been applied.

A Resqski Tag

A new electronic gizmo called Resqski (www.resqski.com) promises to solve that nightmare faced by powder skiers – what happens when you lose your ski and it disappears under the soft, fluffy snow. Somewhere.

The revolutionary electronic ski finder aims to be the answer as it can locate skis buried up to a metre deep in the snow and up to from 30 metres from wherever you come to rest!

Using RF (radio frequency), Resqski connects a credit card-sized handheld transceiver with waterproof and shockproof (and removable) homing tags attached to each ski and leads you to the lost ski using flashing lights and sonic beeps. The lights move from red to green and the beeps get ever louder and more frequent as you get closer to the ski.

"The idea was born out of my own experience," says Chris Chadwick, Creator of Resqski, "Skiing off-piste near Veysonnaz in Switzerland, I make a careless turn that catapulted me 10 metres below my skis. I quickly found one but it took me 45 minutes of hard digging to find the other."

Two days later skiing in Zermatt with a ski instructor, Chadwick was told that the instructor had lost no fewer than three skis in the past few seasons with a good pair of off-piste skis now costing up to £700!

"The thought occurred that there must be a better solution for powder hounds. The idea for Resqski was born!"

Resqui is a British invention with patent pending and is available for £98. The company is exhibiting at the Ski & Snowboard Show at Earl's Court, London, from 31st October to 4th November on stand Stand D85.

Squaw Valley Yesterday

Resorts in California have been reporting heavy snow over the past 36 hours and expect that up to a metres (40 inches) of new snow may have fallen by the time the current storm is expected to end tomorrow.

After last winter's historically low snowfall in the region (which followed record snowfall in 2010-11) the resorts are hoping that this is a sign that long term weather predictions for 2012-13 of at least above average snowfall will prove correct.

In North Lake Tahoe the first snow storm of the 2012-13 winter season has already delivered 90cm (36 inches) of snow and in celebration of this good fortune, Squaw Valley will run the Searchlight chairlift this Thursday (October 25) from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. to offer skiing and riding with a voluntary $20 donation lift ticket with all proceeds going to the Squaw Valley & Alpine Meadows Teams Foundation.

"With the excitement of this abundant first snowfall we want to give our customers a taste of winter," said Andy Wirth, president and CEO of Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows. "We hope everyone will take this opportunity to get out on the slopes in celebration of the new snow and to help support the Squaw Valley & Alpine Meadows Teams Foundation."

In addition to natural snowfall in South Lake Tahoe too, Heavenly Mountain Resort has fired up their snowmaking system, the largest on the West Coast, ahead of a scheduled opening in a few weeks' time. The resort has begun making snow at the top of Gondola, on California Trail and Orion's Run. If Mother Nature doesn't come through as anticipated, under optimum conditions, Heavenly can cover 73 percent of its 97 trails in machine-made snow. In more visual terms, Heavenly can produce three-and-a-half feet of snow over one acre in an hour. That's enough snow to blanket a football field with eight-and-a-half feet during an average three-hour game.

"Last season, our guests saw how important snowmaking is to the overall ski and ride experience," said Pete Sonntag, Heavenly's general manager. "This early natural snow is encouraging and is, hopefully, an indicator for a big season of snowfall ahead. But, if that doesn't happen, our guests can be confident in our commitment to provide the best possible snow conditions."

"Historically, almost every year that Heavenly has experienced significant snowfall in October, the following winter was above average. The average October snowfall total is 3.06 inches, with October 2004 experiencing the most recent largest snowfall for the month (24"). The 2004-05 winter recorded the fifth biggest snowfall season on record. With outlets like Accuweather calling for a return to normal snowfall for winter 2012-13, Lake Tahoe's high annual snowfall average should position Heavenly for a big winter," said a resort statement.

Killington in Vermont has joined Aspen, Colorado in announcing it will have methane powered lifts this winter.

But the methane – which is used to power a turbine to generate electricity comes from a different source. While Aspen is using gas trapped in old mine workings to cover all the resort's power needs, Killington is buying in enough methane generated green energy to cover the operating requirements of one of its gondolas from a green energy company that makes methane from cow manure.

Green Mountain Power mix the 'cow waste' with waste water from the dairy process and leave it to brew for about three weeks before warming it to generate a lot of methane. This in turn powers a turbine.
'Cow Power ' is a popular initiative in Vermont at it not only has positive PR spin-offs for innovative green energy creation, but also highlight's the state's strong dairy industry (think Ben and Jerry's…)

"Large customers like Killington Resort with significant demand can make important contributions to the continued development of this innovative renewable resource," said Mary Powell, President and CEO of Green Mountain Power. "Through their investment, they will help us continue to expand the GMP Cow Power program making this opportunity available to more Vermont dairy farms. These farms are the backbone of Vermont's agricultural economy; therefore Killington is to be commended for its commitment to both renewable energy and Vermont farming."