J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

Baqueira Beret Yesterday (24 Feb 11)

It's the Pyrenees turn for heavy snowfall with resorts reporting up to a metre of new snow in the past 48 hours, and accumulations of up to 1.35m (4.5 feet) over the course of the past week.
Spain's leading resort of Baqueira Beret is one of the big winners with its snow depth increasing from 125 to 195cm.
" 100% of the lifts are operational and 115 km of piste are open," said spokeswoman Josi Martinez.
On the French side of the mountain range there have been big falls too with Piau Engaly reporting the most snow in Europe in the past week with 1.35m of new snow. Cauterets has had 1.15m (nearly four feet) of snow too.
Unfortunately Andorra was not quite so lucky although it has had some good snowfalls recently including 15cm (six inches) on Wednesday 23rd February. Snow depths are currently 60-100cm at the leading area of GrandValira.

Apps that can tell you where you are at a ski resort, what's happening on the apres ski scene in a few hours time, which ex-friends or people you met 20 years ago and had hoped to never see again but agreed to be a Facebook friend too are actually in the same ski resort as you for the week or can call the blood wagon to your coordinates if you get injured or simply tell you where the nearest loo is are ten-a-penny now.
With apps passé, Whistler Blackcomb is moving on to the latest technology and "checking ino" the geo location world with an official Whistler Blackcomb Foursquare Badge.
What's Foursquare? Well it appears to be some kind of hi-tec badge collection system. Rather like the old I Spy books, you collect points if you visit certain locations in the resort and on its ski slopes.
The 'digital keepsake' can be obtained when Foursquare users check into any Whistler Blackcomb location. In total there are more than 60 venues comprised of mountain zones, lifts, retail/rental locations, mountaintop restaurants, bars, and ski runs. It also seems to be purveying 'special offers' at the same time.
"We've had a small presence on Foursquare for nearly a year now and when they contacted us about a partnership opportunity, we couldn't refuse," says Amber Turnau, Media Relations and Social Media Strategist for Whistler Blackcomb. "With geo location remaining the social media trend for 2011, it makes sense for Whistler Blackcomb to take every opportunity we can to increase our brand presence on Foursquare."
The digital badge will be available until the end of the ski and snowboard season, which at Blackcomb last to late May 2011.
To take part guests should check in from the slopes and become a friend of Whistler Blackcomb's Foursquare Brand Page.
"We are thrilled to be working with Whistler Blackcomb to provide our users with great Specials, a new custom badge, and Tips that will help them discover the best places on the mountain and around town," said Jake Furst, Business Development Manager for foursquare. "Foursquare can act as the perfect virtual concierge at Whistler Blackcomb and other first class ski resorts across the U.S."
There will also be a number of Whistler Blackcomb Foursquare specials running throughout the season and guests can identify them by looking for the orange "Special Here" icon that appears beside select venues.

Hitting 110mph on the roads of North America isn't wise if you don't want to appear on one of those real life TV cop shows, but it is legal in certain circumstances on the ski slopes of Canada. One such scenario is the 2011 Subaru Velocity Challenge (velocitychallenge.com) at Sun Peaks Resort which takes place next week from March 3-6, 2011.
40 of the world's fastest skiers will be in the BC resort where they're expected to reach speeds in excess of 175 km/h at North America's only speed skiing event.
"This event was started 22 years ago by six guys with shovels wanting to speed ski and now it's one of the best events in the world," said Event Organizer Adam Earle. "Having racers come from around the globe to compete at Sun Peaks is a true testament to the event and the support it receives from the locals, volunteers, businesses and beyond. It's the highlight of the ski season for people from around the world.
An official FIS World Cup race for the 9th year, racers from nine countries will compete at the 2011 event.
"We start preparing the Headwalls course over a month before the race is held, building up the start and finish areas, using snow fence to collect extra snow on to the course, and finally using a Pisten Bulley winch-cat," outlined Jamie Tattersfield, mountain operations manager for Sun Peaks Resort Corporation. "It's a steep and challenging course with an average grade of 55 percent that requires special attention from the most experienced members of our grooming team."
The steep and treacherous Headwalls Speed Track also includes several rolls that will most likely cause racers to become airborne during their controlled free-fall descent, creating some exciting moments for those watching the race.
"The Headwalls Speed Ski Track is considered one of the most difficult speed ski tracks in the world and it's always a wild ride at 175 km/h. Headwalls is convex, meaning you can't see the bottom from the top which raises a lot of eyebrows, even with the world's best racers," said Earle. "Imagine a ski racer wearing a Darth Vader-like helmet, a bright red skin-tight rubber suit and 240 centimetre long skis flying past you. Combine that with the sound the racers make as they cut through the air like a fighter jet and it becomes a spectacle not to be missed."
Anyone in Sun Peaks next week can view the event from the Sunburst Restaurant at mid-mountain, accessed by the Sunburst chairlift.

Ah yes, I should have included the donations link

http://www.justgiving.com/CairnGorm-Mountain

Looking a bit sad at the moment - target £1000, Raised £0. I better put a tenner in to ease my guilt...

More direct link to info on the event at:

http://www.cairngormmountain.co.uk/snow-sports/cairngorm-in-kilts-2011

A world record attempt to get the most number of people skiing together simultaneously wearing kilts is set to be repeated on the first weekend on March at Cairngorm ski area above Aviemore in Scotland.
The organisers hope to attract 400 kilt-wearing skiers and boarders to the slopes on March 5th and get them all heading downhill in one long line together, beating last year's world record 235 people (it's not clear if any other resorts are challenging for the record…).
The event is a fund raiser for local cancer charity Maggie's Highland and The Local Schools Skiing Programme.
"The 2010 record breaking attempt met with a great public response and with conditions looking good this year we want to repeat the event, have some fun and raise some money for good causes." Said Ian Whitaker, Chief Executive at CairnGorm Mountain.
Anyone wishing to take part is invited to pre-register and arrive at Cairngorm by 10am in order to be up on the mountain by 11am when the world record attempt is due to take place. It costs £5 to take part but that does entitle you to ski or board until 12.30, an hour or so more after the record-breaking ski attempt.
Skiers and boarders of intermediate standard or better are welcome to take part, adults and children, so long as children are accompanied by an adult. Registration is via http://www.cairngormmountain.co.uk and those registered will receive full details by email.
Hopefully the current warm weather in the highlands won't damage the snowpack too much over the next week or so but back-up days for the event in case of bad weather on the 5th are Sunday 6th March the following Saturday, 12th March.

Enjoy!

It ought to be getting some - I checked Skiinfo live report from the resort at: http://www.skiinfo.co.uk/Snowreport/LaPlagne-EFRPLAGNE-100-en.jhtml - and they say 6cm at 2000m, 15cm at 3200m on Sunday so if corect that should have freshened it up. Are you there or are you going?

Chamonix - got snow

The long awaited heavy snowfall has arrived in the Alps over the past 48 hours after a few flurries at the end of last week.
The first areas to benefit were around the French/Italian border when Bardonecchia and Courmayeur in Italy and Montgenevre and Serre Chevalier in France each reported receiving 20-30cm (up to a foot) of new snow in 24 hours by Friday.
At the weekend there was more snow in the French Alps with Serre Chevalier and then, moving north, La Clusaz, also reporting good falls.
Yesterday (Monday 21st February) the snow became more widespread and heavier with resorts in Switzerland and Austria joining France and Italy in reporting big falls. Those with the biggest accumulations included Gstaad and Crans Montana in Switzerland, Solden and Stubai in Austria, Chamonix in France and in the Dolomites, Cortina. Engelberg reported one of the biggest accumulations with 60cm (two feet) of snow.
The snow is still falling in many areas.
Although this is the first significant snowfall for most resorts in the Alps since the end of last year, the majority of major resorts had maintained relatively good conditions throughout the 'snow drought' after seeing heavy snow in November and December which built up good bases, particularly above 1600-180-m, which when topped up by snow making during cold spell, was maintained with little diminishing cover.
The biggest snowfalls this winter have been in Western North America, particularly California, where storms over 3-4 days at the end of last week brought three metre (10 feet) plus accumulations to resorts like Alpine meadows and Homewood. The latter in fact claimed it received over 5 metres (21 feet) of snow in the 7 days up to yesterday.