J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

We may be entering an era where the debate on helmet wearing in snow sports moves on from whether skiers and boarders should or should not be required to wear one on personal safety versus personal freedom grounds, to one where helmet wearing has become 'the norm' and the question is about 'helmet spec.'

As with cars, manufacturers seem to be moving beyond talk of the safety aspects of helmets and instead are trying to out do one another on the technology they can pack in to this solid piece of kit more and more of us are choosing to put on our heads.

Helmet cams and helmets with sound systems connected to the ear pads have been with us for several seasons now and this winter Salomon introduced an advanced system of venting they described very much like an air con system for cars, or 'the ski helmet cabriolet' as they termed their Alium Thermo Control System (TCS) which will be on more of their range next winter.
And something that Bollé are claiming as a world first will also be with us soon ready for 2012-13 – the heated helmet.

Yes, thanks to Bollé your ears and head need never get cold on the slopes again if you invest £180 (RRP) in the company's new Synergy B-Hot Helmet (available in black or white).

The helmet uses a 'Therm-ic' heating system integrated into the ear pads making it invisible and the rechargable lithium battery will provide up to six hours of operation. Front and rear vents you're your head from over heating if you get too hot.

Throw on to your helmeted-head extra ski kit such as GPS enable Goggle which tell you where you are on the planet, your altitude, speed and heart rate in a mini VDU by your eyes and the safety issues may begin to become less one of protecting your head and more one of keeping aware of the world around you in your hi tec helmet.

Pic Courtesy of Bad Gastein Tourismusverdand © Claudia Ziegler

After a fairly quiet fortnight in much of Europe and north America for snowfall (the exceptions being the Pyrenees, southern Italy and Eastern Europe), heavy snowfall has returned in the Alps over the past 36 hours.

The ultra-cold weather has moved off Eastwards and a warmer, precipitation laden front from the Atlantic has brought the snow, particularly for Austria and Switzerland this time where most resorts reported at least 30cm (a foot) of new snow in the past day or two, some (Saalbach Hinterglemm) as much as 60cm (two feet).

The Pyrenees are still seeing good falls but Scandinavia too is having some big accumulations, the region's largest resort Are in Sweden reporting 50cm in 48 hours this week.

Things are less good closer to home with The Lecht ski area in Scotland forced to close its slopes due to the current thaw (it's been much warmer in Scotland than England) and the other four centres looking increasingly badly in need of fresh snow. This may come at the weekend with blizzards forecast on Scottish hills.

There's good news across the Atlantic though where snow-starved California has been reporting a foot or so of natural snowfall for most areas in the past few days.

Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows at Lake Tahoe just received a blast of up to 12 inches of new snow at the summit from last night's storm.

Combined with the 14 inches that fell a few days ago, the resorts have 26 inches (65cm) of new snow that has accumulated over the last few days.

A similar series of showers that recently hit the region are predicted over the coming weekend too and the two resorts now offer 5,000 acres of open terrain, 35 lifts, 6 terrain parks and a jib pipe - offering 54 terrain park features.

Kirkwood in the Lake Tahoe region may not be having its best ever season for snowfall, but the Californian resort, rated by some J2skiers as the world's best, has announced a $6 million spend for this winter on upgraded on-slope accommodation at its Mountain Club as well as new retail and some fresh events on the slopes.

These include the 'Girl Powder' Mountain Festival running from 2nd to 4th March which is described as, "A celebration of women and mountain culture including the Queen of the Park event, live women's DJ's, parties and entertainment."

Then three weeks later the Freeride Flow Festival will run from 23rd to 25th March, aiming to, "...blend training, empowerment and instruction from the biggest names in the snow-sports industry along with music, DJ's and plenty of fun."

At the resort base Kirkwood Outfitters is a new $1 million facility that's home to special clinics, high end shopping and demo gear rentals and is the new place to find private guide to the slopes and to backcountry awareness.

The Mountain Club now includes two-bedroom condos, spa and massage treatment facilities and a new restaurant along with a re-designed, state of the art rental facility.

CairnGorm Mountain above Aviemore in Scotland, which is celebrating 50 years of mechanised up lift this winter, will be opening for night skiing and boarding in the Ptarmigan Bowl sector of the slopes this Thursday 16 February from 4pm until 8pm.

Customers who have bought a full or ½ day ticket already can just keep on skiing. If they arrive after 4pm, tickets for the evening's skiing and snowboarding will be £9.95.

To help keep the energy levels up, the Ptarmigan Restaurant and Bar at the top station of the resort's funicular will be open late serving hot food such as venison burgers, homemade sausage rolls, and macaroni as well as mulled wine and hot chocolate. Outside there will be music on the mountain and the Red Bull Wings team will also be doing some sampling.

During the day on Thursday between 11.30am and 1.30pm and also on Friday 17 February, visitors going up on the funicular will be able to meet Moudy the search and rescue dog and his handler David Benson outside the Ptarmigan Top Station and hear about how he goes about his work. This is free for funicular ticket holders but donations are welcome to the Search and Rescue Dog Association Scotland.

On Sunday 19 February the first Roxy Girls Shred Day is being run at CairnGorm to give female boarders the chance to broaden their snowsports skills and take advantage of CairnGorm's current freestyle setup with the "Mini Shreds" providing an ideal learning zone. Participation costs £10 plus your snowsports ticket and you can register your interest on facebook.

"It is several years since we were able to provide floodlit snowsports so we are delighted to be able to offer our half term customers the opportunity for a longer day's skiing by floodlighting the Ptarmigan bowl as well as an opportunity for people who live locally to come and ski or board after work," said CairnGorm Mountain marketing manager Colin Kirkwood.

The Pic du Midi is a highlight of the French Pyrénées, surrounded by nine conventional ski areas (Peyragudes, Val Louron, Saint Lary-Soulan, Piau Engaly, Grand Tourmalet, Gavarnie, Luz Ardiden, Cauterets and Hautacam) it is a high altitude observatory which someone had the good idea of creating an exciting off piste ski route down from.

Previously access to the Pic du Midi was quite limited but this year it's open all day and all night this winter and spring (to 7th May 2012), for the very first time ever!

This is when the luminosity of the skies is at its very best for spectacular star gazing for overnight guests.

Also new this winter is a 'tyrolienne' – a kind of horizontal zip wire you pull yourself along, as well as a climbing wall – quite something when you are already at 2,877metres. You can also now buy an iPhone and Android App in English.

Also new is 'AquaPic' a special ticket which includes a return cable-car trip to the Pic du Midi and an Aqua-Pass for Aquensis with two hours to luxuriate in the Bagnères-de-Bigorre thermal spa, all for €42 per person.

Tour operators are reporting Easter this year is looking to be the best for them for many winters and report that they are already selling out for the 'first week' of the main holiday period for departures on 31st March. Those looking for the best deals remaining are advised to consider 7th April departures.

The huge snowfalls in the Alps over the past two months have left most resorts with the biggest bases they've had in years and with Easter falling in the first fortnight of April, rather than the last fortnight in spring 2011, everything is currently looking good for the final big holiday period of the season.
"We have been incredibly busy and I expect we will finish the season well up on last year. For March we are already 140% up on last year's final booking figure and we are still taking a lot of bookings for March/April. Given the amount of accumulated snow we expect that April will be a big hit too," Xavier Schouller boss of French specialist ski tour operator Peak Retreats told J2Ski.com.

"We've had many clients who could not get anything for this February half-term (11/2) who have booked for Easter instead (31/3 and 7/4 departures). The first Easter holiday week (31/3) is already massively booked-up with little left but there is still availability for the second week (7/4)."

Despite the big snow base and the relatively early Easter dates, the advice for late season booking remains the same – aim high in altitude or latitude of your chosen ski destination and expect freeze/thaw conditions with icy slopes in early morning most likely than good skiing until mid-afternoon when it may get slushy. And pack then wear lots of sun cream.

Breckenridge ski area in Colorado, the ski area at which is celebrating 50 years in operation this winter, has announced it will be throwing a month long 'Spring Fever Festival' both on the mountain and in the resort with it all kicking off on St Patrick's day next month, March 17 and running through to the end of the season on April 15, 2012.

Breckenridge Ski Resort launched Spring Fever (www.BreckSpringFever.com) last year to celebrate and embrace the 'biological change' which occurs in humans as the seasons switch from winter to spring. Wikipedia defines spring fever as: "A term applied to several sets of physical and psychological symptoms associated with the arrival of spring, and an increase in energy and vitality."

"We're very excited to announce this year's line up of Spring Fever festivities," said Kieran Cain, Breck's director of marketing. "Last year's inaugural season of the festival set the bar high for providing the best spring party in the Rocky Mountains for our guests, and we're looking forward to taking our month-long celebration to an entirely new level this year to coincide with this Breck 50th Anniversary Season."

The Bud Light Live Concert Series brings the party to Breck with six days of live acts on Saturday and Sunday afternoons on a specially-constructed stage at the base of Peak 8.

The 2012 music line up with be announced soon; last year's acts included Ozomatli, The Wailers, moe, DeVotchKa and the Flobots.

St Anton is the latest resort (of many) to launch a new App.
Their 'iSki Tracker' has many of the features of other ski resort apps giving visitors the chance to, record, document, analyse, share or compare their personal experiences on the piste in the famous Austrian resort with fellow skiers. It also provides information on current weather and snow conditions among other features.

For people living outside Austria, as is the case when downloading an app in any country other than your own, there can be unpredicted 'roaming' charges from the mobile phone company, and it's the avoidance of these with their new app that St Anton are most proud of.

The local Arlberger Bergbahnen lift company working with technology company Feratel and uses GPS tracking so there are no usage charges – you just need a properly equipped phone.
This App stores not only the number of kilometres covered, metres in altitude and speeds (maximum, average), but also the altitude profile, entire duration of your day on the piste (begin, end), journeys completed on the lifts as well as locations. In addition to all this data, all information on the resort itself (snow, weather, avalanche, lift and piste status) can be accessed via the 'plan' menu option.

Tracking and recording via GPS guarantees a high level of data accuracy as well as a visual evaluation in map form. Photos taken on the Smartphone can be assigned directly to the exact position in which they were taken in resort.

iSkier users can then transfer all data stored on their phone to the www.arlbergerbergbahnen.com website for a full documentation of their day on the slopes.

The App is available for Apple, Android and Blackberry and is now as a free download.