Messages posted by : J2SkiNews
The company that runs the ChillFactore indoor snow centre near Manchester has announced it will host a snow show on the first weekend of October this year. Being staged partly on the centre's real indoor snow slope, the UK's longest, snow-goers will be able to test equipment and talk to manufacturers as well as receive discounted lift tickets and lessons. Admission to the show will be free of charge. The show will also include a host of talks led by industry professionals. The new show is being launched after it was announced that the former NEC Snow Show in Birmingham was being axed. "When we heard there would only be one Snow Show in London in 2024, we decided that we should make sure the rest of the country had opportunity to get their winter sports fix," explained John Robinson, Head of Marketing for Chill Factore (and the jointly run Snow Centre in Hemel Hempstead), who added,"We're creating something new here, building a community of enthusiasts and a network of dedicated brands. It won't be the biggest UK show this year, but we believe it will be the best. Something new, exciting, and a bit special for guests and dedicated Snowsports brands alike." There's more detail on the new show's website:
|
|
Two of Chile's biggest and best-known ski areas have joined the list of centres in the country that are opening 3-5 weeks early for their 2024 seasons after big snowfalls and cold weather through May. Three resorts have already opened earlier this month and two more, La Parva and El Colorado, had announced they're opening this coming weekend for their 24 seasons. Now one of the country's oldest and best known resorts. Portillo (pictured above earlier this month), says it will open for its 75th season from this weekend after 6 feet (1.8m) of snowfall last week. In addition one of the most modern, Valle Nevado, is opening from Friday, 31st May, saying it has four feet (1.2m) of snow lying.
Chilean resorts that already opened include Antillanca, Corralco, Nevados de Chillan and Lagunillas. Besides Portillo and Valle Nevado, at least two more, El Colorado and La Parva have announced they're opening early this weekend too. Some of the early openers have done so for one weekend only and closed again until the planned main season start on June 20/21, some are opening every weekend until then and others are opening every day. Portillo says it will be opening every weekend, Valle Nevado says it will review its plans after this weekend. |
|
Untamed Borders, which organises trips to off-the-beaten-track destinations, including for skiing adventures, has announced that it'll be heading back to Iraq next winter on a four-day trip. In February 2025 the company will be returning to the slopes in the mountains in the north of the country and visit Iraq's highest mountain Halgurd. The region, which is home to a single mountain resort, complete with gondola, sits close to the border with Iran and the aim is to take in routes which have rarely been skied before. Trip participants will also have the opportunity to take part in the Choman Winter Festival – a mixed abilities and gender ski touring race in the area - which Untamed Borders sponsors. The trip will also visit the city of Erbil and soak up Kurdish culture. The trip will be limited to a maximum of six participants with costs from $2,500 (US) per person. Untamed Borders also organise ski holidays to Afghanistan which resumed last year following the Taliban take over. Afghan woman are no longer allowed to ski in Afghanistan unfortunately, although Iraqi women are able to in Iraq.  |
|
The Ski Club of Great Britain, which now carries out surveys of British skier habits several times a year in conjunction with a number of ski industry partners, believes that the number of people going skiing from the UK is back to pre-pandemic levels and the best since 2018. In it's latest survey earlier this month, in conjunction with retailer Snow + Rock, ski show organisers Racoon Events and industry body Mountain Trade Network, the club says the findings indicate that almost 95% of skiers and snowboarders have now returned following the Covid-19 pandemic. Combining the new survey results of 780 people with other data from the Ski Club of Great Britain and the Mountain Trade Network, the estimated number of active UK skiers in 22/23 was around 1.8 million. Although only 34% of those who have ever skied or snowboarded took a snowsports holiday last year, 46% said they tend to go every year. In terms of potential long-term growth in British skier numbers, James Gambrill, the Chief Operating Officer of the Ski Club of Great Britain, commented:
Other survey findings included: • More skiers intend to take more than one ski holiday next winter compared to last year - 52% saying they will take one more holiday compared to 38% last year. • More skiers are booking earlier with 71% booking 3 months or before in advance of their holidays compared to 61% in the previous year. 26% have already booked their ski holiday for next winter. • France is still the number one skiing destination for British skiers with 59% saying they travelled there this winter compared to 51% the previous year • Early season dates in December that include Christmas and then into New Year has seen declines in numbers since pre-Covid years with 8% of the market saying they travel at Christmas compared to 16% pre-Covid • The chalet market has seen a decline since pre-Covid years with 13% staying in a catered chalet this past season compared to 38% pre-Covid. 3* and 4* hotels are now the most popular choice with 61% saying they stay in these categories • Despite huge intent from skiers to take the train, numbers over the past few years have declined with 2% taking the train to the Alps this winter compared to 6% pre-Covid • The short break market has seen a recovery over the past two seasons with 21% saying they took a break of 4 nights or fewer this season compared to 14% in the 2022-23 winter, but it is still behind pre-Covid years when 30% said they took a short ski break • There's been a reversal of tour operator compared to independent bookings since pre-Covid years with 43% now booking with a tour operator compared with 63% before and 57% saying they book independently compared with 37% before • The size of the ski area continues to be the number factor when choosing a skiing destination with resort altitude coming in second and growing – quality of accommodation, food choices and ski-in-ski-out accommodation have seen some of the largest growth in decision making factors since pre-Covid years • Resort websites have become the number one place that skiers search for information and advice since pre-Covid years but newspapers (online and print) - now 27% instead of 20% and snowsports websites – now 41% instead of 35% have seen solid growth • Rising prices in ski resorts is seen as a major factor for the future as 33% say it will 'very significantly' impact how much they ski, but it has softened slightly since October 2023 when 40% were saying this • 66% of skiers say that the resorts environmental policies 'significantly' or 'very significantly' impact their destination choices but in reality it still scores as the lowest factor when it comes down to what drives their booking choice • Canada and Japan are the top two 'dream destinations' for skiers, but Switzerland, Austria and Italy have seen growth since pre-Covid years whilst other countries have declined |
|
Mont Sutton ski area, located down near the US border in southern Quebec, has won a $5,000,000 subsidy from the Quebec government's Tourism Industry Recovery Assistance Program (known as PARIT). The bulk of the grant will be invested in a new quad chairlift equipped with a boarding carpet, to be positioned on the ski area's west side, replacing the three existing lifts in this sector with the higher capacity, faster and easier to use new lift. The money will also go on new RFID terminals for handsfree lift access and on new year-round glamping sites, close to chairlift V. Finally, a part of the grant will be spent to also ensure the development of Mont Sutton's open-air museum, currently featuring 12 sculptures by bromisquois artists representing elements of the local flora and fauna. These works of art, positioned in the forest along trails and paths, are created in collaboration with the non-profit organization Les Arts à la montagne. The aim is to expand the collection to 25 sculptures on the resort's grounds for an original cultural and recreational experience.
|
|
Chile is set to post the most ski centres of any country in the world for the last few days of May and first week of June as at least five of the country's resorts open early for their 2024 season following huge snowfalls in the Andes. May 2024 has been one of the snowiest months in recent history in Argentina and Chile with some areas seeing more than three metres (10 feet) of snowfall from multiple storms through the month. It's also been a cold month on the whole with temperatures consistently at or below freezing for most of it. Famous ski area Portillo posted a 1.5m (5 foot) snowfall in 72 hours on Wednesday-Friday this week. The south American ski season is due to start around 20/21 June, but three Chilean ski areas – Corralco, Antillanca and Nevados de Chillan - have already opened early, some just at weekends but others daily. Now two more, El Colorado and la Parva, say they'll open on Friday and more may join them. Currently the USA has the most centres still open, at nine across six states, but most of these will close after the Memorial Day public holiday on Monday, leaving only 3 or 4 open into June. |
|
Polish skier Bartek Ziemski has skied his fifth 8,000m+ peak of the 14 that exist in the world, all, of course, in the Himalaya. Ziemski skied Makalu (8,485m), the world's fifth highest peak, earlier this week, repeating a feat achieved by American extreme ski mountaineer Adrian Ballinger two years ago, although Ziemski is reported to have been able to make his descent from the very summit, whereas Ballinger began skiing 15 metres below the very top. His ski descent was about 2,500 vertical metres in total, down to the snowline at 6,000m. It was completed over two days with a break at Camp 3 overnight and some sections where skis had to come off and they were impassable. Ziemski's five 8,000m+ ski descents is the second most anyone has achieved, one less than his compatriot, Andrzej Bargiel, famous for being the first to make a successful descent on skis of K2 in 2018. Poles are currently dominating ski descents from 8,000m+ peaks with Livigno-based Anna Tybor, another Pole, the first woman to ski (8,161m) in 2021 and Broad Peak (8,047m) and this year attempting Dhaulagiri (8,167m) and Pakistan's Nanga Parbat (8,126m) later this spring. What the Polish skiers have in common is that they usually make their ski ascents and descents fast and light, without supplementary oxygen or sherpas. Ziemski is now heading to Kangchenjunga (8,586m), the world's third highest peak and now the only one left not to have been skied in its entirety. Image credit: Oswald Rodrigo Pereira |
|
The Arizona Snowbowl ski area says it will open on Saturday, June 1st for the latest closing date that the state of Arizona have ever seen. The resort is currently one of 9 US ski centres in six US states that is still operating in late May, more than any other country, however most of these have said they'll be ending their seasons at the end of next Monday, the Memorial Day holiday in the US, leaving only a couple of others likely to stay open into June.
|
|