J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

Les 2 Alpes was one of the few French ski areas to report any fresh snow in the past week, if only a couple of inches. There's still a few weeks of winter 2010-11 to go there, but the resort which claims to operate the largest skiable glacier in Europe is already making preparations for summer 2011.
Since Chamonix, La Plagne and Val Thorens gave up the ghost there are only three summer ski areas left open in France (Tignes and Val d'Isere are the other two). None are open year-round any more (since Tignes stopped that) so there's now a 4-6 week gap from mid-May to late-June when nowhere is open for snowsports in France except the indoor slope (albeit the world's longest) at Amneville in the north of the country.
People have been enjoying summer skiing at Les 2 Alpes for more than 40 years and last summer 138,284 ski enthusiasts came up to the glacier during the summer season, an average of some 2,000 per day.
Skiing and boarding takes place between 2,900 metres and 3,600 metres, making for a 700 metre vertical; accessed from the resort in 30 minutes by high-speed lifts (that's faster than most summer skiing areas). The slopes are open between 7am and 1pm with an adult day pass in 2011 costing 34.20 Euros.
There are 90 hectares of runs comprising 4 blue, 2 green and 2 red, a freestyle zone and an off-piste area. 16 ski lifts will be running (compared to 50 in winter) and "Les Glaciers" high-altitude restaurant is open too.
To maximise summer skiing opportunities, the Deux Alpes Loisirs company has already begun getting the summer slopes ready during winter. Officials perform a series of snow cover measurements at 90 separate points, gauging temperature, thickness, melt rate and so forth.
This work goes on every day through the winter season and enables the resort to choose the right ways to prepare the slopes. Techniques include Snow Traps (storing snow with wooden barriers or a series of half-tubes dug into the glacier; once this is done, grooming machines take over, spreading and redistributing the collected snow across all of the glacier's pistes on a daily basis).
"Thanks to these endeavours the area remains skiable beyond the winter and the summer season is all set for success." Said a resort statement.
Les 2 Alpes summer ski season runs from Saturday 18 June to Sunday 28 August 2011.

There'll be skiing this bank holiday weekend at Cairngorm but probably not the Royal wedding/May Day bank holiday weekend after says the ski area above Aviemore in the Scottish Highlands.
CairnGorm Mountain has had another good season with over 120,000 skiing visitors so far, but though the ccentre opened early and has clocked up nearly six months of operations, the warm weather over the past few weeks means there'll be no repeat of skiing in to June as last season.
"CairnGorm expects to continue to offer skiing in the Cas and Ptarmigan areas of the mountain up to and including Easter Monday, but not beyond then." said a statement from the ski area, which has been the only one still operating in Scotland for the past two weeks.
The Volcom rail jam for boarders, the final Scottish snow event of the season, is also being held this Saturday.

Montgenèvre has announced plans to extend its ski area up to 3000m above sea level (the current highest lift is at 2700m). This would make it the only resort in the Southern Alps to have lifts and ski runs that high.
The resort, on the Italian border, has been a ski destination for more than a century and at 1860m is one of the highest 'traditional villages' in the Alps on a site visited 2000 years ago by Julius Ceasar and two centuries later by Hannibal with his elephants. It has undergone massive improvements in recent years with the busy border road that formerly ran through its heart now buried beneath the pistes and the centre pedestrianised and benefitting from major investments.
The new 3000m high ski area is being created as part of a 26 million Euro investment for the 2012/13 season around 3150m high Mount-Chaberton on the French/Italian border. It will give skiers the option to ski down in to Italy or back to the resort and from the top provide 360° panoramic views from Mont-Blanc to the Rhône or the river Pô.
It is not yet clear how many piste kilometres will be added to the Milky Way area pass the resort shares with its Italian 2006 Torino Olympic neighbours including Sestriere, Sauze d'Oulx and Sansicario. The area with more than 400km of piste is already one of the world's 10 biggest.

Whistler - Extended Season

Whistler Blackcomb is the latest resort to announce an extended ski season following the incredible snowfall on North America's west coast that has seen Squaw Valley, Mammoth and several others post 'most-ever' snowfall totals in recent weeks.
So far Squaw has said it will open weekends through May and Mammoth says it will be open daily until at least July 4th. Both areas have snow bases of more than six metres/20 feet after receiving more than 15m/50 feet of snow in the past six months.
Snowbird in Utah will also be open through May and whistler Blackcomb says they'll be open until the end of May too – before re-opening for summer glacier ski and board camps a few weeks later.
"This winter has been incredible for skiers and snowboarders but people are definitely ready for spring," says Doug MacFarlane, Whistler Blackcomb mountain operations manager. "Goggle tans, Gaper Days and Slush Cups are all classic elements of spring skiing and riding and we haven't been able to enjoy any of these with the mid-winter conditions that keep pummeling the mountains. The decision to keep Blackcomb Mountain open one week longer so we can all enjoy some of the best spring conditions we've ever had; it's a no brainer."
Over in Europe the Alps suffered their latest major melt down last weekend when temperatures hit 20C at some resorts. However conditions picked up dramatically over the past 48 hours, at least in the West of the Region, with St Anton, Gstaad, Kaprun, Solden and others reporting heavy snowfall bringing fresh accumulations of up to 50cm, so all is not lost for the late Easter week!

Quite envious! I did get to Niseko Feb 09 and liked the whole experience far more than I had expected and would love to go back!

Niseko

The tourism promotion body at Niseko, the best known Japanese ski area for most international guests, has published a statement regarding the impact of the earthquake and radiation leak that occurred a month ago.
The resort has attempted to balance sensitivity about the horrific human toll as ca result of the disaster with the need to move forward for the good of the local and greater Japanese economy and thus the immediate survivors of the earthquake and tsunami.
It's an attitude echoed in the UK by tour operators who have said they want to do all they can to help the Japanese economy by continuing to offer ski holidays to anyone wanting to go. Crystal say they have already taken bookings to ski Japan for 2011-12 and Ski Independence are planning to offer trips.
Niseko, which is located 500km north of the epicentre of the earthquake on the separate northern island of Hokkaido suffered little direct physical impact from the quake itself. The resort says it has a separate power supply to the grid affected by the nuclear power plant, that Hokkaido is not included in travel advisories to Japan, and that radiation levels never reached dangerous levels and are now falling.
The resort has however been part of the effort to help the region that has been devastated by the disaster and has raised over two million yen locally to help with the massive effort to combat its ongoing affects.
Those who do travel to Niseko next winter will find several new hotels – work on which is already underway, and an enhanced experience on the mountain as a new high speed gondola with eight passenger cabin will open at Hirafu, cutting journey times to five minutes. Such new lifts have been a rarity in Japan for decades, regardless of the current issues. The resort is also building a new base building with childcare and other state-of-the-art facilities.

Val Thorens, Europe's highest resort, has broken the usual French rule of not announcing it's news for next season before the autumn and has already let it be known that two nice new hotels will be open next December, as well as the resort's fourth funitel lift.
Funitels are sort of half-gondola, half cable-car – running on two parallel wires instead of one like a cable car for maximum stability, but with multiple cabins going around in a loop, rather than back and fourth, like a gondola.
The extra stability is particularly useful at high altitudes where windy conditions can be a problem for regular lifts, which could be why Val Thorens is so keen on them.
The lift will serve two new runs, a red (les Asters) and a blue (le Chocard).
The new Swiss-built lift has cabins each capable of carrying up to 33 passengers and overall can lift up to 1500 people per hour on its short two minute ascent between 2780 and 3000m.

The latest chapter in the saga of the huge snowfalls in California has seen Squaw Valley pass it's all time snowfall record this week, announcing it will extend its season by more than three weeks to at least the end of may, and possibly open for US Independence Day on July 4th.
Already known as America's Spring Skiing Capital, a $199 spring season pass is available from today. Now valid for two months, anyone buying it and skiing to the end of the season pays less than $4 a day. Opening after May 7th is for long weekends only – not midweek.
Squaw Valley passed the season-total 50 foot snowfall mark a few weeks ago for only the fourth time since it began compiling data in 1970, and the first time ever in March. It has now passed the previous record total and hit 691 inches (17.3m) thanks to a further fortnight of heavy snow showers which have brought more than 150 inches (3.75m) more fresh powder to the resort.
The total is already nearly three feet more than the previous highest season snowfall total on record of 662 inches (16.55m) set in the 1994-1995 winter season.
"With this much snow, Squaw Valley will have great coverage through May 30 and possibly even longer," said Andy Wirth, Squaw Valley's Chief Executive Officer. "We will certainly be examining the possibility of opening for July 4, conditions permitting."
With the resort's popular on mountain Swimming Lagoon and Hot Tub set to open today (April 1) and other High Camp activities, spring at Squaw can provide almost as much excitement off the slopes, as it does on them. Next weekend on April 9th guests can join Olympic Gold Medalist Julia Mancuso at the Julia Mancuso Kiss My Tiara Pool Party followed by a free outdoor concert by Donavan Frankenreiter on the KT Sundeck.