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Mt Washington This Week

The heavy snowfall in Western North America last winter (well, even heavier than usual), means that more ski areas have decided to open for summer skiing there than ever before – three in fact.
Along with the usual option of glacier skiing on Whistler's Blackcomb, the snow slopes will open for a second year at weekends at Mount Washington in Vancouver Island (pictured) and also – new this year - at Grouse Mountain above Vancouver.
Mount Washington Alpine Resort will open from 11am to 4pm on June 18 and 19 and tickets will be $25 per person. Mount Washington's current plans are to open Whiskey Jack, Coaster, and the Stomping Ground Terrain Park. This provides two additional trails when compared to the June event last year.
What started out as wishful thinking for hardcore snow sliders last year has now turned into a bit of a tradition, thanks to back-to-back plentiful snow seasons.
"This is starting to look familiar," jokes resort spokesperson Brent Curtain. "If we can match the picture perfect weather we had during our ski weekend last June, this year should be amazing with all of the snow we have on the mountain. We received over 19 metres of snow this winter, the deepest winter in resort history, and we still have depths of up to 4 metres mid-mountain,"
Meanwhile due to that same, "significant late season snowpack," Whistler Blackcomb will be opening a summer tube park in the Whistler alpine.
Guests heading up the mountain will be able to experience the thrill of sliding on snow in June for as long as the snowpack allows. The Coca Cola Tube consists of three lanes located at the top of the Whistler Village Gondola near the Whistler PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola terminal. Tickets are $5 for unlimited runs and are available at the Roundhouse Traders desk in the Roundhouse Lodge.
Then for those who cannot wait until next winter season, the Horstman Glacier will be open for summer skiing/riding June 18 to July 24 from noon-3 p.m. daily.
"The conditions are expected to be excellent on the glacier this year after terrific late season snowfall." Said a resort statement.
The 'glacier experience' is perfect for intermediate to advanced skiers and riders and also offers the opportunity for guests to improve their jump and freestyle skills.
A number of ski and snowboard camps will also use the Horstman Glacier during the summer months with Olympic champions and some of the hottest pros in the industry as coaches. Upload to the glacier begins at 11a.m. from the base of Blackcomb Mountain via the Wizard Express and Solar Coaster chairs to the Rendezvous. Skiers and boarders can then take a shuttle bus to the 7th Heaven Express Chair which takes them to the top of Blackcomb Mountain.

Squaw Valley by Lake Tahoe in California, one of a doazen US resorts still open or re-opening for snow sports for the country's Memorial Day weekend is offering free skiing to active American military personnel.
"In honour of Memorial Day and those that protect the nation, Squaw Valley will extend free lift tickets to active duty military personnel for the entire long weekend." said a resort statement.
In fact, throughout their long ski season, the resort offers complimentary lift tickets to active members of the military Sunday through Friday with the Military Discount Program.
Over the past seven years, Squaw Valley has contributed over 90,000 lift tickets as part of the Military Discount Program, which have a combined value of over $6.5 million ($4m).
"We want to thank all the men and women of the armed forces, past and present, for their sacrifices, dedication and service to our country," said Andy Wirth Squaw Valley's President and Chief Executive Officer. "We invite US military men and women to come enjoy a long weekend of skiing on us as a thank you for all that you do."

The Kitzsteinhorn Mountain above Kaprun, one of the five glacier ski areas in Austria where the 2010-11 ski season is still in full swing, has announced a big party in July.
The Mountain Festival on Sunday, 3rd July, will be, the resort says,
"A festival for the whole family at Salzburg's coolest mountain with everything free."
On the agenda are guided summit tour up to 3203 metres with a ranger from the local National
Park, an Ice Arena with sliding areas and a snow beach and the chance to ride in a piste basher over the summer snow. There'll be extra fun activities all day for kids who also receive free use of the lifts from the village to the glacier on the day - right up to age 18.
Adults pay 20 Euros for a return ticket on the day, or 29 Euros if they want to go skiing or boarding too.
Kaprun currently has a base of more than two metres (seven feet) on the glacier. Other Austrian glaciers still open with similar conditions include Dachstein, Kaunertal, Stubai and Tux.
Stubai had planned to close a week ago but will now stay open at least to mid-June, it says, because of the good conditions. Tux, which is the only glacier ski area besides Switzerland's Zermatt which tries to operate every day of the year, has the most terrain currently open with 45km of runs.

Northstar-at-Tahoe

Vail Resorts, which owns four ski areas in Colorado (Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Vail) and now two in California has announced plans to lavish $30m in upgrades on its newest purchase, Northstar-at-Tahoe.
Vail purchased Northstar-at-Tahoe shortly before the start of last winter 2010-11 and did not have time to make many changes at the resort, that will all change for next winter with full Vail operasting models in place.
This will include inclusion in multi-resort ticket deals, including an option including the company's other Tahoe resort, Heavenly, and the introduction of Vail's first-of-its-kind online and mobile application EpicMix, introduced last winter at Vail's five other resorts.
$30 Million in capital improvement projects will include the creation of new 'gladed' (thinly wooded) terrain and ski trails that will increase skiable terrain by 10 percent, a new high-speed detachable quad chairlift on "The Backside," new snowmaking and a new on-mountain restaurant near the top of the Tahoe Zephyr Express Lift with indoor seating for 500 and outdoor seating for 200.
Down in the resort village there'll be new Patagonia and Burton retail shops and an expanded North Face store in a new location as well as a new 'signature restaurant.'
Construction of these new facilities on and off the mountain has already begun with completion expected prior to the start of the 2011-2012 winter season.

The opening patterns of Europe's glacier snow sports areas in the summer change each year, and seem to have little rhyme or reason to them.
At the turn of the century (that's 20th to 21st) there were about 20 ski areas open at some point each summer in the Alps and half a dozen open year round. That numbers now halved to 20 with only two – Tux in Austria and Zermatt in Switzerland - the continent's highest ski area touching 3899m in summer – open year round, weather permitting.
May is the quietest month and currently no summer ski areas are open in France (Val d'Isere, Tignes and Les 2 Alpes will open for 5 -10 weeks from mid—June, but summer skiing At Chamonix, Alpe d'Huez, Val Thorens and La Plagne is no more).
Switzerland has had four summer ski areas open at Gstaad (Glacier 3000), St Moritz and Engelberg but these too are due to close after this weekend, leaving only Zermatt.
Italy is going in the other direction. Having only had two reds on the Presena glacier open in May, a second option at Passo Stelvio opens at the weekend followed by a third at Val Senales early in June. A fourth Italian option, Cervinia, follows later in the month.
Val Senales will run summer camp in its Gentlemen riders Nitro Snowpark from 11th June to 24th July on their glacier 3200m above the sea. There'll also be a special Rookie Summer Camp from 25th June to 9th July designed for children aged 10 to 17 years.
Austria has the most summer skiing opportunities in Europe though with up to ten glacier areas open at some point or another between May and October. Five are currently open with Tux having the most terrain available – 45km. The other choices include the Dachstein, Kaunertal, Kitzsteinhorn (at Kaprun) and Stubai glaciers.
Elsewhere in Europe three summer ski centres are open in Norway, with the continent's deepest snow – lying up to 7m (23 feet) deep. You can also ski at Riksgransen in the Swedish arctic until late June, under the midnight sun twice each week if you like or on a single run kept open at Ruka in Finland.

Zermatt - always open.

May 20th isn't usually the biggest day in the skiing year, and perhaps it's a tad tenuous to claim is this year. But although this is the low point of 2011 in terms of the number of ski areas open worldwide – less than 30 in fact, or 0.5% of the world total - the stars seem to be in alignment for it to be a significant date for the snowsports obsessed.
First up it'll be the first day this year that we have lift-accessed skiing in both the north and south sides of the planet, as Australia's biggest resort, Perisher plans to open a couple of runs, with all lift ticket sales going to charity, to capitalise on a foot of fresh snow last week followed by cold weather for snowmaking this. Its opening is three weeks ahead of the usual date, and even that is normally optimistic.
Secondly, there's powder snow to be had at most of the 25 or so ski areas that are still operating in the Alps and Western North America. Glaciers in Austria and Switzerland have reported up to 30cm of fresh snow in the past week, at Lake Tahoe the biggest dumps are 50cm.
Thirdly it's the start of the 'ski under the midnight sun' at Riksgransen in the Arctic Circle as the resort moves in to 24 hour daylight. It'll run its lifts through to the small hours on Fridays and Tuesdays each week for the rest of the season.
Still open options in North America, according to skiinfo.co.uk, include Squaw Valley, Mammoth and Donner pass in California; A Basin in Colorado, Mt Bachelor and Timberline in Oregon; Crystal mountain in Washington State and Snowbird in Utah. North of the border we have Whistler and Banff (Last weekend of season for Sunshine) in Canada with Grouse mountain above Vancouver planning to re-open through June after a maintenance shut down – the snow is lying 6m/20 feet deep there. In Europe look out for Dachstein, Tux, Kaunertal and Stubai (Last weekend) in Austria; Engelberg, Grstaad, St Morirtz and Zermatt in Switzerland; the Presena glacier in Italy, three small summer ski centres in Norway and Ruka in Finland has one run open.

Whistler's annual Crud 2 Mud race is lined up for May 29th this year.
The race which combines snowsports on skis or board and mud, on a mountain bike, is described as, "the ultimate rite of passage for true mountain living," by its organisers.
The race marks the end of Whistler Blackcomb;'s six – seven month ski season, which this year has seen the m,ost ever snow fall, over 15 metres, with fresh snow still falling at the top of the mountain in the past few days where base depths are still more than three metres.
In the race teams or individuals start from the top of Whistler Mountain to the bottom of the snow line then jump on their bikes for the final leg of the race through the Whistler Mountain Bike Park.
Competitors must remove ski or board boots before starting on their bikes, descending on a route through the Whistler Mountain Bike Park that is not decided until close to race time.
Only strong intermediate to expert skiers, snowboarders and mountain bikers are allowed to participation, advance reservation and helmet wearing is mandatory. That includes full face helmets for the mountain biking section. Competitors must also attend a pre-race meeting the day before the event.
The race will be followed by 'après-bike' – the biking world's equivalent of après ski (very similar) as well as race awards at the Garibaldi Lift Company.

Perisher

After pre-season snowfalls in New Zealand last month it's Australia's turn to see some healthy snowfalls in the past 24 hours.
The country's largest resort, Perisher in New South Wales, turned on the snow guns for the first time last night (May 10) as temperatures dropped, but then the natural snowfall began, depositing 15cm (six inches) over night. The resort says that it expects the snow to fall through to Friday.
Traditionally the Southern hemisphere's ski season kicks off in early June in Argentina, Australia, Chile and New Zealand.
Coronet Peak near Queenstown in New Zealand is often one of the first to open and this year is looking for a June 4th opening. There's no snow there at present but overnight temperatures are dropping to freezing.
The small ski area of Tiffindell in South Africa is traditionally one of the first areas south of the border to open, but it is about to be auctioned for new owners so it is not clear if it will open this year.
The other Southern African resort of Afriski in Lesotho also hopes to open soon. It saw initial snowfall on April 126th and reports precipitation levels have been higher than usual in the past few months raising expectation of a snowy African winter.