J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

A recently opened Chinese indoor ski resort operated by Club Med has announced a 'phase 2' development which will see it add the world's longest indoor snow slope.

The combined slope area of the existing and new slopes will also give the new greatest indoor snow surface in the world at over a mile, as well as the biggest indoor vertical.

Since its opening last autumn, Club Med's Alps International Resort (the smaller indoor snow centre and hotel on the left of the image above) has garnered approximately 320,000 visitors.

With the launch of the Phase II project, Taicang Alps Resort is moving closer to its goal of becoming the "world's leading and largest indoor ice-snow vacation and entertainment destination." The goal, Club Med say, is to establish a globally recognized one-stop destination for winter sports tourism.

The longest slope in the Phase 2 development will be 690 metres, about 50 metres than the two current claimants of the longest slopes in the world in France and Germany, each around 620-640m long. The new slope will have a vertical drop of 120 metres, again the largest in the world.

Fosun, the Chinese company which own Club Med, say that, "the ski resort will cover a total area of approximately 190,000 square metres" which would make it about three times the area of the current largest in the world, in Harbin in Northeast China.

The Phase 2 indoor ski development, the larger structure in the rendering above, will feature three slopes: a freestyle slope, an intermediate slope, and an advanced slope to give a total slope length of 1,700 metres.

The Phase II project will also include snow-view hotels and themed hotels, offering a variety of themed rooms to create an immersive accommodation experience. The resort will also feature a comprehensive range of facilities, including a water park, hot springs, an aquarium and dining along with activities like bungee jumping, and interactive light shows.

The Phase 2 project, with a total investment exceeding 5 billion yuan (€640m), will be funded by the Taicang Municipal Government and managed by the Fosun Tourism Group. The development is located in Taicang in the Yangtze River Delta, just an hour's drive from downtown Shanghai. A target completion date for Phase 2 has not been announced.

There are more northerly ski lifts, but in terms of full ski resort facilities, the world's most northerly centre, Sweden's Riksgränsen, is re-opening for skiing and boarding this week, but for four days only.

The famous ski centre, which markets itself as 'Europe's spring skiing capital' is reporting the late June snow as still 70cm deep. There'll be five runs, serviced by three lifts, available as well as freeride terrain opportunities.

The re-opening is top celebrate Midsummer, a major event in Scandinavia, and with 24 hour daylight in the region, well within the Arctic Circle, since mid-May, Riksgränsen will aim to offer its famous midnight-sun skiing with the lifts operating between 11pm and 1am some evenings.

Riksgränsen's season usually begins at the end of winter each year after the period of polar night in the region ends and there are adequate daylight hours. It's season then runs for about three months to late may. Re-opening for Midsummer is a long-standing tradition but some years recently have been missed due to inadequate snow cover remaining.

It's usually very popular with resort accommodation selling out far in advance.

Andorra has gone public on its unhappiness at being unsuccessful in its bid to host either the 2029 or 2031 World Championships, recently awarded to Narvik and Val Gardena.

It's been wanting to host them for many years now and has got as far as staging the World Cup Finals as well as World Cup races and has previously even been part of a plans for a joint bid with France to host the Winter Olympics.
In a press release, the principality's organising committee wrote:

"The World Championships were the highest sporting goal to which an entire country and region aspired, and Andorra, for the second time, was left out. Politics and the clash between two large blocs of the FIS, on the one hand the countries favourable to the president of the international body, Johan Eliasch and on the other, his opponents, ended up penalizing the Andorran candidacy. Although the technical management of the FIS has repeatedly expressed the very high level of the Andorran proposal, and the athletes themselves, the teams, the sports family have done so, the verdict was resounding and the evaluation of the file put back in the background."

Even the country's president Xavier Espot, weighed in, saying,

"We have the capacity to ensure that Andorra is duly recognized for what it is and respected for the work accomplished. I am deeply proud to be head of government of a country that presented a candidacy that, without doubt, should have won."

David Hidalgo, director of Andorra's bid commented,

"It is time to reflect and wait for the FIS to truly commit to change. Currently, there was a movement of renewal, but it did not receive the support of the majority. We don't want to compete with the great classics but they didn't let us compete anyway. The vote reflects a context in which, rather than voting for the best proposal, it has moved towards a camp to support. This was based more on personal struggles and egos than on technical criteria and the values of the sport. It's a shame. We have done everything possible, and now it is up to us to be self-critical, to learn about what we can improve and to know how to read all situations for the future."

Narvik won the 2029 voting with receiving 11 votes, ahead of Val Gardena's with eight and Soldeu with one. In voting for 2031 Val Gardena, which previously hosted the biannual competition in 1970, received 14 votes, beating Soldeu's six votes.

A week after Australia's ski season began with half of centres opening without being able to offer any snowsports, this weekend sees all open centres offering some snowsports.

The improvement comes after a week of cold temperatures allowing for more snowmaking, as well as some light, natural snowfall.

"We've had a few amazing days here at Perisher with 26cm of natural snowfall and some super cold temperatures, which has been really good for snowmaking," said Olivia Mason, Perisher Marketing Coordinator, "and because of that we've been able to open Front Valley, the V8 and the Carpet is running, and everyone's having a great time!"

Australia's largest ski area has had all 167 snow guns firing and has the most terrain open in the country so far – but that's not a lot still, about 3.2km or two miles of runs, 5% of its total area.

Falls Creek, along with Mt Buller, Selwyn and Mt Hotham were among the areas unable to offer any snowsports at all in their first week of the 2024 season. That's changed today though with skiers there enjoyed their first turns in the beginner zone at the Mouse Trap Carpet.

"After 19cm of snowfall this week and great snowmaking conditions, Falls Creek is looking winter white, it's exciting times!" said Betony Pitcher, Falls Creek Field Marketing Manager. "Huge thanks to our operations teams for getting us to this point. We're now focused on getting Wombat's Ramble open as soon as possible so our guests can ski or snowboard back to the village on Australia's longest green run."

It's a similar story of only 1-5% of terrain open so far across Australia and the forecast for the coming week isn't yet showing any big snowfalls on the horizon, however overnight lows should allow more snowmaking.

"More terrain and lift openings are coming very soon – watch this space," promised Falls Creek.

New Zealand's 2024 season was due to have got started today with Coronet Peak and Mt Hutt due to open, however, unfortunately, neither have managed to do so.

As with Australia a week ago it's a mixed picture though, with Coronet Peak (pictured above on Wednesday), already having announced it was delaying for an unspecified period whilst awaiting "a few more centimetres"of snow. Mt Hutt though had planned to open limited terrain today but has been forced to delay doing so due to rain.

Mt Hutt now plans to open tomorrow (Saturday 15th), saying the rain should have turned to snow overnight. Two other areas, Cardrona and The Remarkables, are also scheduled to start their seasons tomorrow.

The Remarkables say their opening will be a limited one with just nursery slopes open however Cardrona does look more promising saying that not only their learner conveyors but also their McDougall's Chondola will operate.

The situation is a little better than Australia's a week ago though in that New Zealand's ski centres have had some natural snowfall and cold weather for snowmaking in the week running up to opening, just not that much yet. However Cardrona and Mt Hutt should have more than just beginner terrain open tomorrow, unlike any Australian resort.

What's been a mostly cold spring in the Alps has seen a second big "powder alarm" warranting snowfall on high slopes overnight in just under a fortnight.

Austria's Hintertux, which already has the deepest snow in the region at 5 metres, posted a 20cm overnight accumulation on its year round ski slopes this morning.

It's one of six glacier areas currently open for snowsports, also including fellow Austrian area Molltal, Les 2 Alpes and val d'Isere in France, Zermatt in Switzerland - also accessible from Cervinia in Italy and recently opened Passo Stelvio, also in Italy.

Although most of the snowfalls were above 2,500m, some resorts posted light coverings down as low as 2,000m. The current conditions are expected to continue for most of this week before more 'summery' weather at the weekend.

The latest snow sets centres up for one of the snowiest summer ski seasons in recent years, depending on how fast and high temperatures rise over the next month or two.

Australia's ski areas are looking a whole lot better than they did on the ski season opening day last Saturday as several days of forecast snowfall has gotten underway, along with much lower temperatures than in recent weeks.

Australia always begins its season with a three day long-weekend in early June that includes a public holiday on the Monday (yesterday) to celebrate King Charles III's birthday. Snow cover is often problematic this early in the winter and its not unusual for there to be little or no snow cover, although from media reports this year you'd think it had never happened before.

Thredbo and Perisher in New South Wales managed to create a few hundreds meters of snow slopes despite the challenges of short overnight snowmaking opportunities and warm days. Mt Buller and Mt Baw Baw did likewise, in their cases thanks to all-weather snowmaking machinery.

Now though several days of snowfall likely to bring 15-30cm snow total and much lower temperatures allowing more extensive periods of snowmaking have raised hopes that more can open and other centres start to offer 2024 season skiing and riding imminently.

"It's great to see the resort covered in white," said Falls Creek's Field Marketing Manager Betony Pitcher. "It's been snowing all morning and reminding us what a magical place it is on the mountain when it snows! We have more snowfall, cold temperatures and snow making forecast for this week and we're all getting excited for the ski and board season ahead."

Mayrhofen staging Altitide Comedy Fest, Snowbombing and now Brits I think? Cornering the UK ski events market :)