J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

Bulgarian ski area Pamporovo will invest the equivalent of around £1.5 million ahead of next winter on upgrading its triple chairlift to Studenets.

The lift will undergo a makeover and the resort says will be faster, although it's not known how much faster.

In addition a new easy piste will be built from Snezhanka down to Stoikite village which will be floodlit for night skiing.

Pamporovo has largely escaped the latest controversy over Bulgarian ski resort development in the past few weeks.

This has largely centred on the successful resort of Bansko which last year was, after many years of disagreement, proven to have built lifts and runs illegally on national park land, which is also a UNESCO world heritage site.

UNESCO had out the park on the 'at risk' list as a result but after an inspection last autumn decided that the ski area had not caused enough damage to the park to lead to a de-listing, but rather than it would degrade the area around the ski slopes to 'buffer zone.' This, and the decision by the Bulgarian government to retrospectively make the illegal developments legal, and to change the law so that future development on national park land could go ahead without conventional legal requirements needing to be met.

This all incensed environmentalists who earlier this month blocked roads around capital Sofia in protest.

The latest developments are that the Bulgarian President has refused to sign the new law and ask the government to think again and UNESCO have said that although they had OKed developments to date, any more development would be a step too far.

Two new gondola lifts are currently being built at Méribel, France in the heart of the 3 Valleys, ready to open for the coming winter 2012-13.

By the main Méribel village, work on a new Saulire gondola in continuing. Section two of the lift was built last year and now section one is being replaced this summer.

The completed new lift will make the vertical ascent of more than 1250 metres in 12 minutes, cutting the previous journey time by nearly half.

Up the slopes in Mottaret, Méribel's purpose-built off-shoot, a new gondola at Plattières will replace a three decade old lift on the same route.

The new lift will be a single stage rather than the old two-stage lift and will dramatically cut journey times by more than 60% from more than 20 minutes to make the ascent, to less than ten minutes with the new lift. Capacity on the route will also increase by 40%. The third stage of the gondola will remain as before.

Méribel's lift company has invested nearly 40 million Euros in the two new lift systems.

The vast resort of La Plagne in France, lift-linked to Les Arcs to form this giant Paradiski area – has announced a lift upgrade which should, they hope, relieve queue-build-ups on a busy route.

Work is focused on Plagne Centre which is being reorganised along its snow front where the resort meets the slopes. Firstly the Becion quad chairlift at will be replaced by a fast six-person lift which should increase speed and capacity on the route, which often gets crowded.

The new lift will be realigned meaning the nearby Biolley tow lift will be rerouted too.

In addition to the new lift, another chair, the Colorado, will be extended to start lower down the hill. This will in turn lead to the removal of two drag lifts made redundant by the changes 'Cadri' and 'Z'.

These lift realignment and removals are connected to work on the key Mont Saint Sauveur piste, which is being widened and a new nursery slopes area created.

Switzerland's Jungfrau region (www.jungfrau.ch), which incorporates the ski areas of Grindelwald, Murren and Wengen as well as transport down to Lauterbrunnen and Interlaken below, has announced a lift ticket price freeze for 20120-13.

However skiers buying a lift pass valid for at least six consecutive days will be entitled to a free day pass for skiing at Zermatt, which has Europe's most expensive lift pass, from next winter on.

The Jungfrau region encompasses more than 200km of piste between 796 and 2970m above sea level, served by more than 45 lifts. There are three main sectors located above Murren, then across the valley between Wengen and Grindelwald and a third area, 'First' above Grindelwald.

The area is also famous for its spectacular mountain scenery and long skiing history with more than 110 years of ski heritage, much of it driven by early British ski pioneers.

A six day adult pass for 2012-13 will be 314 Francs with children aged 6 to 15 paying half price and discounted rates for young adults (16-19) of 251 Swiss Francs and seniors 62 and older (283 Francs). Children five and under are free.

Havbe done a few of them there summer ski trips and can highly recommend them. Skiing is usually a bit so-so (although great for novelty) but summer in the mountains is superb and the have loads of other stuff going on, often much better and for much less than similar in the UK as they're desperate to get people to visit in the summer. A lot of them do guest passes with free or discounted activities. I'm in Scotland too.

Surely all the more reason to do it? or is that just me?

(Les 2 Alpes this week)

The small summer ski area at Val d'Isere opened last weekend and the two big French ski areas with les 2 Alpes due to follow suit this coming weekend, opening on Saturday 16 June and Tignes from June 22nd.

The glaciers are reported to be in good shape for summer 2012 thanks to the heavy snowfall last winter and recent fresh snowfalls and cold temperatures.

However the slopes are normally open from early morning until lunchtime to provide the best conditions. Then skiers and boarders can enjoy summer mountain sports or just relax in the afternoon.

Val d'Isere, which has the shorted summer snowsports season of the three, lasting only five weeks to July 15th is open from 7.30am to 12.30am daily.

At Les 2 Alpes, which offers summer snowsports between 3200 and 3600m above sea level, the glacier will open slightly earlier every day, from 7.15 to 12.30, until Saturday 1st September 2012. Tignes will be operating its ski lifts from 7:15am to 1pm.

An average of 2,000 skiers ascend Les 2 Alpes' glacier every day, making a total of 135,201 skiers in a single summer with 40% of the resort's clientele in the summer coming to perfect their freestyle technique in the famous summer snowpark.

Established in 1993 it includes two pipes and has grown to cover 18 hectares served by two draglifts and a ski tow dedicated to the pipes, one of which is an Olympic-size super pipe. There are also hips, quarters, modules, whoops, hand rails, big airs and the park has a pro zone, an advanced zone and a fun zone.

At Tignes lifts serving 20 kilometres of runs on the Grande Motte glacier are open in the altitude range from 3,000 to 3,456 metres.

Thanks to the Perce Neige funicular which first opened in March 1993, it takes only seven minutes to reach the summer ski runs from the heart of Tignes, at an altitude of 2100 metres.

Chemmy Alcott (www.chemmyalcott.com), Britain's top downhill skier; prior-to-injury ranked eighth female racer in the world; three-time Olympian; the highest ever ranked British female skier; and (almost) equally importantly exercise and fitness guru for skiers and boarders on J2Ski.com; has returned to ski racing 18 months after a career-threatening fall in Lake Louise, Canada, back in December 2010 left her with a severely broken leg.

Just as she always said she would, Chemmy is now training with the aim of competing at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. She took to the slopes in Kaprun, Austria, to begin training for the upcoming 2012/2013 World Cup season and the 2013 Alpine World Championships in Schladming, Austria. Chemmy will join the Canadian Ski Team in September to continue training.

However Chemmy will not be financially supported by British Ski & Snowboard (BSS) for the coming winter and she has had to turn to friends, family and corporate sponsors to self-fund her return to racing. Despite so far falling short of the £75,000 needed per year to fund a world class programme, Chemmy is resolved to find a way.

"I'm over the moon to be back on my skis. My leg feels great and I'm confident about the season ahead. I'm obviously devastated that BSS has pulled much-needed funding from me, Dougie [Crawford] and TJ [Baldwin] but I won't let that stop my comeback. Getting a podium finish in Sochi is still my focus," commented Chemmy.

Chemmy's right leg is now in great shape following intensive rehabilitation helped by The Third Space gym and medical centre in Soho and training for ITV1's Dancing on Ice.

Chemmy returned to the UK last Friday (8th June) to take part in various activities leading up to the London 2012 Olympics. This will include carrying the Olympic torch through the London Borough of Ealing on 24th July. Alcott was nominated to carry the flame by her fellow teammates from the British Ski Team in recognition for all that she has done for skiing in the UK.