J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

There are major improvements at Italy's Cervinia ski resort this winter with the completion of a new cable car that climbs to the Swiss border and makes the connection to neighbouring Zermatt and Europe's highest lifts.

The new 140-place Cime Bianche Laghi – Plateau Rosà lift has all new cabins with panoramic windows for great views of the spectacular scenery.

Cervinia was one of Italy's first ski areas to open for this winter and other improvements guests can look forward to this winter includes several piste widening and regarding projects and better information panels around the slopes.

Events to look out for include ski tests every weekend, to try the latest models from the largest manufactures in the sector and if you're in the resort for New Years Eve don't miss the traditional Alpine Guide's and Ski Instructors torch-light procession and end of year party (30th December).
The resort also promises music on the slopes days throughout the season and wine tasting on the slopes with local Aosta Valley producers.

Guests can also sign up for moonlight descents with dinner in a mountain hut and then a safe descent with the pistes illuminated by the full moon, or an evening's snow-grooming shift and dinner with the Snow-cat pilots or the chance to enjoy first tracks, leaving your mark on the slopes before the official opening for the day, including a hot coffee on the cable car ride up
And that's not all. Activities to try in resort include a recently opened Ice-karting circuit, the cance to enjoy a snow-cat excursion with dinner in mountain restaurant or snowshoeing excursions on signposted and groomed tracks in the areas of Plan Maison to Cime Bianche Laghi and in the area of Salette in Valtournenche.

Many of Scotland's mountains turned white yesterday as blizzard conditions brought snowlines down to quite low levels. But the weather is currently in roller coaster mode and temperatures short back in to double figures today, thawing a lot of it.

CairnGorm Mountain (www.cairngormmountain.co.uk), which has attracted over a quarter of a million skiers in the course of the last two seasons and celebrates 50 years of mechanised uplift next month, has devoted significant effort and expense into the maintenance of CairnGorm Mountain's skiing infrastructure over the summer, and announced some improvements too.

Alongside the completion of the annual maintenance on the funicular a new heated tunnel door has been installed to the upper 'underground' section of the funicular to reduce icing problems and facilitate faster opening in the mornings. The piste-grooming fleet has all been overhauled and serviced and the Rolba snowblower which can shift 1200 tons of snow per hour is back and ready for use.

In order to reduce queuing times at the Base Station a new ticket office is nearing completion on level 3 of the Day Lodge as well as the commissioning of a new equipment hire computer system.

"The resort is keenly awaiting delivery of a Techno Alpin snow cannon for trial for the season following last season's instillation of a water sump at the top of the Sheiling tow. Glencoe are also trialling the same machine this season with a view to comparing trial results," said CairnGorm's Colin Kirkwood.

The maintenance team putting in lots of new ground anchors for the Winch Cat pisting machine; 20 new anchors are expected to be installed across the hillside in various places including the Lower slopes, Gun Barrel, Traverse, M1, White Lady, East Wall of the Lady, Aonach Bowl and No.1 Gully. These anchors will not only help grooming steeper runs, but also allow easier pushing of snow uphill.

Over 2000 snowsports fans have already purchased season tickets for CairnGorm, some 10% more than at the same point last year.
The first mechanised uplift at CairnGorm, the White Lady chairlift, opened to the public on 23rd December 1961.

Canada couldn't really hope for a better start to winter 2011-12. While snow deliveries to the Alps for the start of winter seem to have been put on hold and Scandinavia is sweltering under its warmest November for 100 years, Western Canadian resorts are reporting huge and on-going snowfalls that have brought more than 2 metres of snow so far this season to some and it seems 3m tallies are just days away as the snow continues.

Whistler is claiming to have more terrain open than any other resort on earth; Fernie, Panorama and Revelstoke are among resorts opening early and even on the east Coast conditions are right for resorts to start opening this weekend in Quebec.

It's looking good in Alberta, "With over 30cm of snow in the last 24 hours, conditions are great right now at Lake Louise.

All of our chair lifts are open and children will ski for free this weekend." Said the famous resort's Sales & Marketing Manager Mike Moynihan as it gears up to host World Cup racing and looks forward to more than five months of skiing and boarding through to May 2012.

Another of Banff's three resorts, Sunshine Village has opened up a new terrain park today which includes a 10ft downrail, 16ft flatbox, a 24 ft downbox, two rainbows, two mailboxes and more.
"This park is perfect as an early season warm up for the more experienced skiers and borders and a great place for beginners to develop some skills as we progress into larger park later in the season." Said a statement.

In BC Fernie and Revelstoke will open early this weekend for 'preview weekends ahead of main openings a week later, in Panorama's case their early opening will be the 5th of December, as they hadn't planned to open until the 9th.

Up until the 5th, Panorama is home to hundreds of National and International ski team athletes for early season race training. Heavy early season snowfalls and colder temperatures allowing for snowmaking have resulted in a jump start to the season. As of November 24, 2011 the mountain has received over 169 cm (close to 5.5 feet) of snow so far this season.

At Whistler, Blackcomb Mountain opened yesterday, joining Whistler Mountain which opened six days ago. 4,300 acres and over 4,085 vertical feet of skiing and riding served by 13 lifts is currently available, which the resort claims is more than anywhere else in the world at this time.

"We are very excited to open Blackcomb Mountain with such incredible snow conditions and coverage," explained Doug Macfarlane, Mountain Manager of Whistler Blackcomb. "To be able to offer 4,300 acres in November is really exciting, and offers our guests an amazing experience on both mountains."

Cumulatively this November, 237cm (7.7 feet) of snow has fallen, surpassing the average November snowfall of 165cm (5.4 Feet). Another 85cm (2.8 feet) of snow is forecasted to fall by Monday.

On the eastern side of the country Stoneham Mountain Resort in Quebec will open for night skiing today, Friday, November 25 at 4pm and Mont-Sainte-Anne will start operating this Saturday, November 26.

Two trails will be open on the North Side and beginners will have access to the school slope at the base, with the magic carpet lift running. At Stoneham,trail #2 will be open in addition to a small snow park at the base, to please freestyle lovers.

City slickers who want to get in shape for the coming winter are being offered a free 'boot camp' by ski celebrity, ex-Olympic skier, BBC presenter and all round good guy Graham Bell – all thanks to an initiative by Swiss International Air Lines kicks.

This event to kick off the season in style will take place on 1st December to coincide with the launch of Swiss's ski flights timetable at the One New Change shopping centre located in St Pauls.

Graham will provide fitness and safety tips for both existing ski fans and wannabe skiers in the city, who will be shown simple tips and exercises they can practice whilst on and off the slopes, to ensure they have a safe trip without any injuries. Those attending the event will have the chance to win a free return trip to Switzerland, courtesy of the airlin and attendees will also be handed SWISS gift bags filled with goodies from Switzerland.

"I am delighted to be working with SWISS to kick off the ski season this year. A vital part of my training as a ski racer was physical preparation, which is equally relevant for recreational skiers in such an intensive sport. I applaud the airline's effort to make their passengers aware of the benefits of safer skiing, and am excited to be helping them to do this in a fun and engaging way!" said Graham Bell.

"Our passengers are important to us. That's why we care about their well-being from the moment they take off to the moment they finally arrive back home" said Felix Rodel, Director of Ireland & UK at Swiss. "With the help of Graham Bell, we hope the boot camp will raise awareness of the importance of safe skiing and the need to prepare our bodies before hitting the slopes. We also want to say thank you to our current and prospective customers for choosing SWISS as their carrier to the snow by providing a fun- filled winter afternoon in the heart of the city".

Flights with SWISS (www.swiss.com/uk) start from £79 return. The airline offers routes from Zurich and Geneva to the slopes of Davos, Klosters, Engleburg, St Moritz, Villars, Verbier, Zermatt and Crans Montana. Passengers are offered free transport of their ski equipment to the slopes in addition to their standard luggage allowance.

I doubt they will become compulsory except at the more corporate resorts possibly - mostly due to fear of litigation ("I injured myself on your slopes because I wasn't wearing a helmet because you hadn't made me wear a helmet so give me 10 million pounds" legal logic). There's talk of laws after each nasty injury (which in some cases, as discussed, might have been as bad with helmets anyway, or not), but they usually get forgotten after the publicity dies down. More likely it will be like cycling and riding helmets, just gradually it will become 'the norm' for ever more people. although maybe there is a law on riding helmets?

Conditions aren't great in Europe at the moment, it's been too warm for the mighty arsenal of snow cannons to work much and the last good snowfalls were three weeks ago, and then only in places. The problem has affected everywhere on the continent it seems – from the Arctic Circle down to the Pyrenees and from the Western side to the east.

There are some 'positive signs' – Scandinavia, which has been too warm, for resorts to open for a month (usually 20 or 30 are open by now) did see half a dozen areas open at last at the weekend, thanks to temperatures there dropping and Val Thorens, the continent's highest resort, which postponed opening last weekend promises it will open tomorrow.

Although most of the 20 or so areas that are open (excluding those in Scandinavia) are glacier areas, a few big name resorts that don't rely on glaciers have opened – Bormio, Livigno and Obergurgl among them.

And although resorts like Grandvalira in Andorra due to open this weekend are already announcing postponements, one resort at least, the mightly Ischgl in Austria, is determined it will start its five month season with its 20,000 fans expected for the season-opening gig by Roxette.

The centre in the country's westerly Paznaun Valley which has a ski area linked to duty-free Samnaun in Switzerland where the Santa Claus World Championships are also due to take place this weekend, is reported by one media source to be spending half a million Euros a day on snowmaking at the moment, with a promise that more than 70km of piste will be available on opening day this Friday, 25th November.

If you want to be there the nearest airports to Ischgl are Innsbruck (BA; easyJet), Munich (BA; Lufthansa) and Zurich (BA; Swiss). British tour operators to the area with packages starting in a few weeks time include Inghams, Crystal, Ski Total, Ski Independence and First Choice.

I knew this was a great topical subject that would generate reams of comment but does Admin appreciate it???

I have no strong feelings either way on the helmet debate. I made my kids wear one (each!) and am glad i did as I recall their head first high speed collisions with metal snowmaking pump hydrants and an airborne boarders board. I started wearing one myself about three years ago after 30 years without. I think it has made no difference either way to me really - I haven't found it cumbersome or too hot or had a mad need to ski at high speed etc (thought would be nice really...). But interestingly, as a baldy, I do find it keeps my head warmer than any hat ever did, which is good on a fast cruiser on a cold day. The two times I feel I got protection from it was when a load of ice and snow fell off a roof on to a queue of us waiting to board a gondola at St Anton. One poor woman was taken way in an ambulance but I felt the impact but was fine. Another time a guy carrying his skis over his shoulder, badly, swung round and smacked me in the head, again I was glad to be wearing a helmet. So not really been any use to me as yet for on piste acciodents but useful when queuing for lifts etc! But each to their own :) I would like one of those new R2D2 helmets but sadly they're only for kids...