J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

There's been good news over the past 72 hours for resorts in the southern Alps and Pyrenees which had been doing OK, in most cases, for snow cover this winter but were missing the spectacular accumulations reported in the Northern Alps.

That's changed to some extent since Saturday with falls of up to 105cm reported at resorts in France, Andorra and Spain with temperatures dropping as low as -12C

The result, the resorts marketing departments were quick to advise J2ski news office with a rapid battery of press releases, is "powder!"

The biggest fall of just over a metre was reported by the up market Spanish resort of Baqueira Beret, a favourite of the country's royal family.

The snowfall isn't just limited to the Pyrenees but has continued along the Mediterranean coast hitting resorts in the French and Italian southern Alps, including Isola 2000, Serre Chevalier and Limone.

One resort has come top in two studies in to the most expensive chalets and hotels in ski resorts worldwide.

Les Suites de la Pointière came top in a list of the 10 most expensive ski hotels published by American website www.luxury-hotels.com at an average price of $1958 (US) (about £1245)per night in January, while a chalet called Ormello, peaked at €200,000 Euros (a little over £168,000) a week according to the Oxford Skiing Company's annual report on what they believe are the best (not always the most expensive) luxury chalets at www.luxurychaletcollection.com

Both are in Courchevel, France.

Two other Courchevel properties made the www.luxury-hotels.com top 10 but are around half the price of Les Suites de la Pointière. Le Mélézin was an average of $1001 per night for a double room, La Sivoliere $951 per night.

Lech in Austria's Arlberg had three hotels in the top seven of the 10, including second placed Aurelio, $1423, fourth placed Almhof Schneider, $1185 and the seventh placed Gasthof Post, $1012.

Despite its reputation and the strength of the Swiss franc only two of St Moritz's five five star hotel were in the top ten. In this place was the Carlton Hotel at $1256 and in fifth the Suvretta House $1121.

The other two hotels were in the USA. The St. Regis at Deer Valley in Utah in sixth at $1037 and The Little Nell in Aspen, Colorado in eight at $1002

A number of large French regions are reporting snowfall there has hit 'record levels.'

In Chamonix's case the record was for snowfall last weekend, with at one point a metre falling in 24 hours, which the tourist office said was 'a record' but it's not clear if that's ever or just in January. Not that anybody cares much, conditions are phenomenal once the roads are clear and the maximum avalanche danger drops.

The record claimed by the Paradiski region that contains La Plagne and les Arcs with Peisey Vallandry in between and thier 425km of piste they share is a little more specific.

At heights of 1600 metres snow depths are now 1.75m (six feet) and up near the top of the slopes at 3000m it's up to 3.4m (11.3 feet) – depths that have not been reached for more than 45 years, in 1966.

It's all come in perfect time for the crucial French February school holiday period (although they could probably do with it stopping about now).

The area seems to be well set up for the rest of the season right through to 21st April this year.

Well it doesn't seem so very long ago that we were all getting excited about goggles with in built video cameras and GPS displays. Oh that's right it wasn't that long ago, only last year if memory serves, but now new software has been announced that will do so much more and turn our once tedious view of the ski slopes in to something more akin to Arnie the cyborg's view from inside his shades in Terminator 2.

The actual goggles are already for sale through good ski shops like Snow and Rock, but this latest innovation is still a few months off but will then be able to be added to the Goggles - an 'upgrade' if you will.

The company behind it all, Recon Instruments (www.reconinstruments.com), described by their PR company as an, "award winning innovator of Micro Optics Display (MOD) technology for action sport athletes," has announced that it has created a "Software Development Kit" or "(SDK)" which it will launch in May 2012 for the "Android based MOD Live"

Are you keeping up?

This in turn will be compatible with the Polar WearLink+ transmitter with Bluetooth.

What this all means is that the "Android-powered MOD Live near eye device" ....provides skiers and riders with a variety of instant information in front of their eyes within their googles.
However first of all application developers need to get it all designed and in production and Recon are currently working with strategic partners to develop apps for the MOD Live using a limited release SDK for Android.

Developers who use Recon's Android SDK will be able to take advantage of MOD Live features including 2D graphics at up to 30 frames per second (which sounds fast); Bluetooth connectivity (which means different gozmos placed around the body can transmit data to your goggles for display); and GPS type data like location, speed and altitude registers plus skiing and snowboarding statistical registers like time, jump analytics, vertical and distance.

"The Polar app is the first app created using the SDK for MOD Live," said Darcy Hughes, Chief Marketing Officer Recon Instruments. "The app transforms our display into a biometric reader that delivers an athlete's heart rate in real time while they ski or snowboard."

The app allows the Polar WearLink+ transmitter with Bluetooth to communicate with the MOD Live via Bluetooth. The real time beats per minute (BPM) widget appears in the Recon Instruments' dashboard app, which also displays speed, temperature, and vertical on MOD Live's virtual 14 inch display.

The hoped for snow storms in California finally materialised earlier this week when, after ac foot or two fell over the weekend (not enough(, a much more impressive dump arrived Monday/Tuesday allowing resorts top claim accumulations of up to 1.8m (six feet) transforming fairly bare slopes.

That said although the situation is less desperate than it has been for the first two months of the season, resorts are hopping for more top be able to get back to normal winter operations.
After three days of snowfall, Squaw Valley has received five feet of snow in 72 hours on the upper mountain, and Alpine Meadows has received six feet in 72 hours at the summit.

"As a result of the phenomenal snowfall, more than any other Tahoe resort, both Squaw and Alpine Meadows have been able to open substantially more terrain – with 1,550 acres and 21 lifts now open between the two resorts (650 acres at Squaw, 900 acres at Alpine Meadows)."

Across the lake at Northstar the resort reports four feet / 1.3m of snow has fallen at the summit in the last week. They now have 15 lifts open and 57 trails open. In both resorts, the natural snow has to the existing machine-made coverage.

At South Lake Tahoe Heavenly Mountain Resort has received two to three feet / 1m of snow since last week and is expecting additional snow over the next few days. Heavenly is Lake Tahoe's highest resort and they are currently operating 24 of 30 lifts, accessing 30 trails and more than 19 miles of terrain, and anticipate being able to open more terrain soon.

The expanded figures remain only a small part of the usual skiable terrain at all resorts.

In Mammoth Mountain to the south the snow started falling on Friday and as of 8am Monday morning, Mammoth had picked up four feet / 1.3m of snow and more is expected over the next couple of days. The much needed powder will, the resort expects, allow Mammoth to open all lifts and terrain by the end of this week.

If you've ever fancied eating at lots of different restaurants and skiing very fast between them then the catchilly-titled 'Luttman-Johnson Challenge' could be for you.

The aim of the Challenge is to ski between pre-determined restaurants in Zermatt's vast ski area and spend as long as you can at each one. This generally means skiing as quickly as possible between each one.

But it wasn't dreamed up by Zermatt's marketing department, the contest, back for its 38th staging next week, is in fact the longest-running mountain event that's organised by our very own Ski Club of Great Britain (skiclub.co.uk).

Attracting more than 40 teams of skiers and snowboarders each winter since the first race in 1974, some in fancy dress, the race is open to all – although Ski Club members pay slightly less to enter (30 Swiss francs per team of two), than non-member who pay 35 Francs per team.

"Race times are calculated using a special formula, with the most points achieved by those who calculate the optimum route. Tricks of the Luttman-Johnson trade include skiing or snowboarding as fast as you can between restaurants and lingering as long as possible in each station." Sais a statement from the Club.

Competitors can enter the Trail (for those who prefer a more relaxed pace) or the Race (for the more serious contenders) with this year's race scheduled to take place on Wednesday 1 February 2012.

Italy's Alta Badia region, home to villages in the tour op brochures like Corvara – one of six in the region- has built a reputation as a Mecca for gourmet cuisine, generally at more affordable prices than you would expect, and both in the resort villages and up in the mountain restaurants.

This winter Michelin-starred British chef Hywel Jones is lending his support to the valley's 'Taste of Skiing' promotions in collaboration with the Piz Arlara hut in Corvara.

Alta Badia has a trio of Michelin stars of its own and runs promotions to celebrate food throughout the winter season and include a Taste for Skiing showcasing Michelin-star dining on quality South Tyrol produce at 11 traditional mountain huts, wine-ski safaris, cookery courses (local Ladin or gourmet cuisine), a weekly early morning excursion for Breakfast with Powder Snow, and the annual Chef's Cup Südtirol event which kicks off tomorrow (January 22-27) when a host of the world's leading chefs gather in the villages to swap ideas and compete at cooking and skiing. Visitors to the valley at this time benefit from wonderful food tastings and a party atmosphere.

Hywel Jones, who is the Michelin starred executive chef of the Lucknam Park Hotel near Bath, joins 10 distinguished chefs from Italy's South Tyrol (including Alta Badia's three local celebrities, the Dolomitci), Austria, Germany and Spain in sharing their expertise with 11 mountain hut partners to work with suckling pig in the recipe.

Hywel has worked with Piz Arlara in Corvara using roast diver scallops with local Speck PGI, cauliflower salad and an apple, honey and truffle vinaigrette. Each participating hut will name list their Michelin dish as 'A taste for skiing' on the menu for ease of recognition; a classic South Tyrolean wine will be recommended to accompany it.

The Taste for Skiing dish is available throughout the winter season and priced between €12 and €25 per dish.

The Alta Badia region was designated a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site in 2009. It is part of the Dolomiti Superski area with 1200km of piste served by 510 lifts across 12 valleys, all covered by a single lift pass.

At its heart is the spectacular 26km Sella Ronda ski circuit linking four different valleys (including Alta Badia) with 500km of piste around the Sella Mountain. With most of the skiing above 2000m, and snow-making machines covering 90% of the pistes, snow conditions stay reliable from opening to the end of the season on April 15 2012.

Didier Cuche, who announced he will retire at the end of the season, posted the fastest time in training for the Hahnenkamm race in Kitzbühel tomorrow with a time of 1 minute, 58.10 seconds.

The 37 year old Swiss racer has won 4 of the past 5 World Cup Downhill titles.

"I'm in top form and I can still aspire to win races. It's in this condition that I wish to retire from the World Cup," he said.

The 72nd Hahnenkamm race weekend opens today (Friday 20 Jan) with super-G, followed by the famous downhill on Saturday, seen by many as THE race to win, or at least do will in, in the annual ski world cup calendar; including our own dear Graham Bell who rates his twelfth place in the race above his five Olympic appearances.

The race meeting, which is the biggest sports event of any kind in Austria each year, concludes with the slalom on Sunday, as well as the special Kitzbühel combined.

The latest edition of the Hahnenkamm Races also sees a new record in prize money awarded with the purse totalling € 564,000. € 175,000 is shared among the top 30 racers in both downhill and slalom events whilst € 130,000 will be awarded for the super-G and € 84,000 will be divided up amongst the top three in the classic combined.

The winning athlete in both downhill and slalom will receive € 70,000. Super-G and combined winners can look forward to a winner's cheque of € 50,000 each.

For the first time, the Hahnenkamm Races can be seen completely worldwide as for those countries where there is no television coverage, a live broadcast will be available on the internet (in over 200 countries!) for, the FIS says, "a small fee."

Commentary will be in English and the races can also be viewed with a time delay. This means that the races can be followed for the first time in countries such as Thailand, Cuba, Brazil or New Zealand. To view users must simply register on hahnenkamm.com/live-view.html. Direct TV coverage will be broadcast in Austria, Germany, Norway, Sweden, USA, Switzerland, Italy, Finland and Japan.

In addition a newly available App for IPhones and Android mobile phones enables ski fans to keep close tabs on the Hahnenkamm Races with a mobile version of the website for other operating systems such as Windows Phone and Blackberry available on m.hahnenkamm.com.