J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by admin

This thought-provoking account of being caught in an avalanche in the Lake District - last weekend (!) - is worth a read...

http://www.planetfear.com/news/Avalanched_in_the_Lakes_2412.html

:shock:

Never go off piste without your avy kit... even in the Lake District!

The China Daily newspaper has reported that a new indoor snow centre has opened in Shaoxing, a city of 4.4 million people, located in the Zhejiang province of northern China.

There is limited information on the new facility, except that it is located in the city's Ke'nan ' new area' and is, like the country's famous Beijing indoor slope, named after ice skater Ye Qiaobo.

The original Qiaobo Snow World in the Chinese capital is located 15 km from Beijing Capital International Airport in the city's Shunyi district.

The 40,000-sq-m snow dome houses a comprehensive facility for skiing, dining and accommodation, which together offer not only recreation, but also a leisure holiday away from the bustle of city life, it opened in 2001.

"It is very interesting as you can ski here all year round," said Ye Qiaobo, who is a frequent visitor to the facilities she has inspired and was the first Chinese athlete to win medals in the Winter Games and in the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville, she took home silver medals in the 500m and 1,000m skating events.

"It is extremely popular with children and provides one more choice for recreation in the city," she said. "A third indoor snow centre one is going to open soon in Nanjing."

The two new indoor slopes will take China's indoor snow slope facility to six, equal with the UK and Germany, just behind Japan and the Netherlands with 8 each.
Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc

The BBC report a 500 tonne avalanche in Snowdonia, and warnings from the local mountain rescue of continued danger :-


(image copyright Brian Wakeham / BBC)

The Ogwen Valley team warned that unstable snow was a problem and urged caution from visitors.

Spokesman Chris Lloyd said Aber Falls were partially frozen and people would be visiting the area, but he urged them to take care.

"The avalanche was in an area popular with walkers and easily accessible," he added.

The full report is here :- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/8458967.stm

As reported by Pablo in the Scottish Skiing thread, Cairngorm is closed for today (Friday 15th January 2010).

After a two-day blizzard, the operators have had to bring in huge caterpillar vehicles and snow blowers to try to clear the approach road and the slopes.

Colin Matthew, operations manager at the centre near Aviemore, said roads were blocked by 15ft snow drifts.

He said parts of the funicular railway track up the mountain and the ski-tows had been covered by snow.

Mr Matthew said: "It has blocked our access roads with about 15ft of snow and further up the mountain the drifting has buried our funicular railway track in about 10 places, and the tunnel mouth, and some of our ski-tow towers are just sticking out of the snow."

This is from the BBC News here.

CairnGorm has had its best Christmas holiday season in 14 years, with more than 8,000 skiers and snowboarders using its runs over a four-day period following Christmas Day.

:thumbup:

Fantastic!

T1berious wrote:I just thought I'd share a highlight from my trip to St Anton, I managed to get down my 1st Black runs :)

:thumbup:

Nice one... and being St.Anton, they'll be proper Blacks too!

Feel free to name the ski school - good experiences are always useful to hear about.

Group Hug for Snowb4ndit! But easy on the sympathy as you did get 3 Bluebird days by the sounds of it... :mrgreen:

Diversions due to weather is one thing, but leaving everyone's luggage in London requires that someone be shot I think. I'd better beef up the adult word filter for Tony's return! :shock:

Fingers crossed the school see sense; daft to not allow for the current travel situation.

Alicia Keys is to perform Ischgl's famous season closing concert at the resort's open air mountain top arena.

The US star - whose album The Elements of Freedom is riding high in the UK charts - will perform at Idalp at 2,300m on Saturday 1 May on the penultimate day of the 09-10 ski season.

The lunchtime concert is expected to attract a crowd of 20,000 skiers and boarders and wrap up the resort's five month-long season, which was launched at the end of November by fellow American Katy Perry.

Alicia and Katy join a glittering list of stars to have performed at Ischgl's Top of The Mountain concerts, which have launched and closed every winter since the 94-95 season, with recent acts including Elton John, Kylie Minogue, Lionel Richie, Rihanna, Leona Lewis, Gabriella Cilmi and The Pussycat Dolls.

Grammy award winning singer-songwriter-pianist Alicia has had chart successes with hits such as Doesn't Mean Anything, No One and If I Ain't Got You.

The concert stage is constructed in a natural bowl at the top of the Fimba and Silvretta gondola lifts with the stunning backdrop of the Silvretta mountains. Entrance is by valid lift ticket. An adult day pass for 1 May is Euro 75 and a three day pass covering the final weekend is Euro 108.
Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc