Messages posted by : admin
J2Ski Snow Report - November 26th 2020
Started by User in Snow Forecasts and Snow Reports, 3 Replies |
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Thanks for the update Mike. Fingers crossed (for all of us)! |
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J2Ski Snow Report - November 26th 2020
Started by User in Snow Forecasts and Snow Reports, 3 Replies |
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J2Ski Snow Report 26th November 2020
Arapahoe Basin, USA, getting ready for Thanksgiving skiing... Doubts over Xmas skiing causing concern in the mountains. The mountains are waiting for us... please stay safe and follow local advice on travel. We can't all go skiing just yet but we can dream! The Snow Headlines - 26th November - French President says ski areas in France may not open until January. - Many ski areas open across the USA, but virus case increase sparks fears of closure. - Winter is coming to Europe from this weekend (cold, but not much snow - for now). - Sierra Nevada postpones opening and says unclear when it will be able to open. - Predominantly dry weather in the Alps limits snow-cover on lower slopes. - Heavy snowfall in Western Canada brings successive powder days for open areas. Another roller coaster week is underway in the mountains, and as it often has been since last March, the talk is of the virus, not of the snow. That may actually be a hidden blessing, though no one really cares at this stage, as there's precious little snow about for much of Europe, below the good coverage on the glaciers, and if they weren't forced to close anyway by the virus we'd probably be getting nervous about the lack of snow! The good news is a temperature drop and some snowfall is expected from the weekend. The bad news is that we're currently waiting to see if ski areas in the EU and perhaps still-open Switzerland as well, will be open at all for Christmas and New Year. Several national and regional leaders are calling for an EU-wide plan to delay opening until January to avoid fuelling the pandemic. Similar debates are playing out in North America although here restrictions are tending to be province by province in Canada and state by state in the US, rather than national. Infection rates are rising in North America whilst dipping now in much of Western Europe. Restrictions are increasing in Canada and the US; with more stringent measures in places like Alberta excluding ski area operations. Dozens of ski areas have however opened in the past few days across the continent with more good snowfalls in the West and finally cold weather for snow-making and some natural snowfall too in the East. In the Alpine Forecast Cooler temperatures, but not much snow in the forecast as yet. 
Some unusual names topping the forecast snowfall charts this week!
Europe Austria Austria is nearing the end of its lockdown – which runs into the first week of December - but at time of writing, there's no news on what comes next for ski areas. There's talk of an EU-wide move to stop them re-opening until January but reports indicate this idea is less popular in Austria than in France and Italy and perhaps Germany. In any case, all Austrian ski areas are closed to the general skiing public for another week. There have however been international competitions with World Cup Freestyle on the Stubai glacier last weekend and a delayed parallel slalom World Cup competition due in Zurs this coming weekend. The weather has continued mostly sunny, which means good conditions up on glaciers. Lower down the warm weather means slopes aren't very snowy yet, but colder temps are expected at the weekend. France France has been dominating ski world headlines over the past few days following the announcement by the country's President Macron that he thought it "impossible" that ski areas there would be able to open for Christmas/New Year. M.Macron's announcement came as some surprise to the ski areas, who were not expecting a decision until next week. A final decision is promised in the next 10 days and the president is hoping for a united response from EU ski nations so that all countries have the same policy on opening. Some ski resorts including Alpe d'Huez and Morzine have already said they plan to open for visitors over Christmas to enjoy the 'wide open spaces' even if ski lifts cannot open. If the country were not in lockdown Val Thorens would have opened for the season at the weekend and more would be doing so this coming weekend. The weather has been largely dry and sunny all week, although colder weather is expected from Sunday. Italy Italy remains in lockdown and at the present time, it's unclear if ski areas will be re-opening when the lockdown ends. The prime minister has advised Italians not to take their traditional Christmas ski break but has not yet talked about keeping ski areas closed after lockdown ends. The weather has been largely clear and sunny and although mostly sub-zero on higher slopes, down in the valleys it has generally been well above freezing, so there's not much, if any, snow around at many areas even if they could open. Up high, conditions appear great though with snow accumulation from earlier in the autumn still lying. Several glaciers like Cervinia are open for professional team training and report excellent conditions. Switzerland Switzerland continues to buck the Alpine trend in terms of being open to skiers while the three other main ski nations are in their November lockdowns. All of the open areas continue to stress that virus prevention is paramount and in several cantons almost all facilities, including public restaurants, are closed, although hotels and hotel restaurants for guest use are open. It has been a predominantly dry and sunny week again, with great conditions reported on glaciers for those willing and able to get on the slopes. 11 Swiss ski area were open at the weekend and another half-dozen or so including Leukerbad, St Moritz and Adelboden are expected to open this coming weekend. Saas-Fee has more than 50km (30 miles) of runs open at present, more than anywhere else in the world and Zermatt, with a 2.2 metre base on its glacier, is posting the deepest base in the world but now only by an inch or so over the nearest contender in the Western US. Scandinavia After a warm few weeks temperatures have been dropping down to seasonal normal in Scandinavia, there's been some natural snowfall, and snow-making systems have been firing up. Not many areas are open still, partly due to the warm spell, partly virus concerns, but a lot of the region's bigger areas are expected to open this coming weekend. A few, notably Finland's Ruka and Levi, have already been open for two months, with Levi hosting World Cup ski racing last weekend. The pandemic appears to be impacting different countries in the region to differing degrees. Current reports indicate Finland and Norway are doing fairly well and that ski areas will generally be opening but with low expectations of much international travel. In Sweden however, concerns are higher. Pyrenees After the regular snowfalls in October, November has been a rather warmer month in the Pyrenees and the snowline has moved back up the slopes. It has now got colder again and after another sunny few days, snowfall is forecast in the latter half of the weekend. The lack of snow cover and pandemic spread concerns are muting the start of the season here too. Andorra is aiming to open on December 19th. Baqueira Beret has gone for December 11th, later than usual. Scotland A cold weather front in Scotland over the weekend brought in the first significant snow showers of the autumn, turning hilltops white for more than 24 hours for the first time since last spring. Most areas have said they plan to open for the season from mid-December, only Nevis Range saying it didn't expect to until overall pandemic, as well as snow conditions, improve. Glencoe got a little more specific than most, saying they plan to fire up their all-weather snow-making system and create a sledging run from 5th December and open for skiing from the 19th, or earlier. Eastern Europe After the dry and warm November, there's been some good news for Bulgaria with colder temperatures allowing snow-making systems to fire up and even a light dusting of natural snowfall for Pamporovo at the weekend. There's not much snow there for now though and daytime temperatures are still hitting the 'warm' level down in resort so it's looking like we'll be some way into December before ski areas can open. North America Canada Western Canada has seen some great snowfalls over the past week or two with Sunshine ski area near Banff posting about a metre of snowfall in total over 7 days up to the start of this week. More big-name resorts including Big Sky and Sun Peaks have opened in BC and its colder again in Quebec after a warm few weeks and snow-making is under way. Pandemic restrictions are increasing but Alberta announced on Tuesday that ski areas could stay open for the time being. Resorts continue to stress the need for everyone to abide by operating rules to stay safe and "save the season." USA There's been a big jump in the number of ski areas open across the US in the past week. This does normally happen this week anyway as resorts try to open to attract Thanksgiving crowds, this year that's a little different though as the surging pandemic cases mean resorts are strictly limiting skier numbers in order to maintain social distancing and are generally selling out of tickets anyway. The number of areas open is growing by the day but most ski states now have at least one ski area open and the likes of California and Colorado are at or past half-a-dozen. Conditions have been pretty good in the West with up to 20cm more snowfall reported in recent days at some areas in Colorado and snow depth of over two metres already in Idaho and Washington State in the Northwest. The season has got underway at half a dozen resorts in the North East too. It had been too warm for snow-making there until recently, but temperatures dropped at the weekend and there's even been a small amount of natural snowfall. Killington, Sugarloaf and Sunday River are among the open areas. |
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UK Arrivals Self-Quarantine Requirement Cut By Half if You Pay for A Test
Started by User in Ski News, 2 Replies |
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This is good news, so let's hope the test are priced sensibly...
According to a recent survey for Ski Weekends (via Skipedia), people's willingness to go for this is dependent on the price...  |
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From information now in the public domain, it looks like the following - apparently ski-related - websites have also been breached at some point and have been included in a recent dump of hacked data.
NOTE :- the above is not an exhaustive list; some 24,000 websites are included in this data leak and those are just some with 'ski' in the name. There are likely others. If you had a log-in to any of the above sites, you should head there and change the passwords. If you've used the same password anywhere else... 1) give yourself a sound thrashing and 2) go and change it everywhere you've used it (but NOT to the same new password!). |
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Oof. Thanks for the heads-up, davidof.
If the password table was accessed, it's sensible to assume that any personal data held on Snowheads has also been extracted; contents of private messages (which are not usually encrypted), etc. |
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J2Ski Snow Report 19th November 2020
Park City Patrol, working through the night, opening tomorrow... More ski areas opening in the USA, as Europe waits for lockdowns to ease and snow to come... The mountains are waiting for us... please stay safe and respect local advice on travel. We can't all go skiing just yet but we can still dream! The Snow Headlines - 19th November - Newly open resorts include Breckenridge, Jasper and Mammoth Mountain. - Scotland's Nevis Range ski area 'closed' until snow and virus prospects improve. - Cypress Mountain first to open in BC, Canada - but lift tickets sell out. - Powder skiing in the Rockies as more snow falls. - Austria's Stubai and Finland's Levi to host World Cup events this weekend. - Some ski areas delay opening due to warm weather. - Big-names due to open this weekend are Are, Heavenly, Hemsedal, Park City, Stowe, Trysil and Vail. The ski season remains on hold for most of the Alps as Austria, France, Germany and Italy remain in November lockdowns, the former now tightening and extending theirs into early December. Swiss centres remain open but there was bad publicity with pictures of seemingly non-socially-distanced queues at Zermatt. Restrictions are tightening in Scandinavia too but several of the region's biggest resorts do plan to open for the season this coming weekend. Weather has been fairly dry with typical November temperatures, giving great conditions up on the glaciers, where open. In Scandinavia, things have turned cooler again after an unseasonably warm spell earlier in the month. In the Alps, warmer temperatures at lower elevations are having an impact as the main season draws nearer. Zermatt (again) says it will delay opening its full area by a week, to the start of December, due to warm temperatures in the valley with no snowfall and not much cold weather for snowmaking. That said, most higher slopes across much of western Europe did get a dusting of snow on Monday. After a few weeks where we've seen the number of open ski areas actually drop, due to early opening ski areas being closed by the pandemic lockdowns, the coming weekend should see several dozen ski areas open. A number of the world's leading resorts in Scandinavia and the USA, including northern Europe's largest resort (Sweden's Are) and the biggest ski area in the US (Utah's Park City) plan to open, among several dozen others. In North America COVID cases are increasing and so are restrictions but so far this is not impacting ski resort opening. However, resorts do have stricter operating rules in place including, in most cases, pre-booked lift-tickets being required. Limited numbers on the mountain have led many to sell out of lift tickets in advance of ski days. In the Alpine Forecast Fluctuating temperatures, with another mild spell next week, should give way to cold and un-settled (snow!) weather for the final days of November. More on that next week! 
Snow incoming for Norway this week...
Europe Austria Austria has seen record numbers of coronavirus cases in the past week which has led the country's Chancellor to both tighten and extend the current lockdown to at least December 6th. A number of ski resorts including St Anton and the Arlberg region, as well as Ischgl, had already announced they didn't plan to open until December 17th – around three weeks later than originally planned. Elite competition is allowed to continue, however, and the Stubai is scheduled to stage World cup freestyle competition, with no spectators of course, at the weekend. As to the snow conditions – well it has been mostly dry and sunny, around 5-15 degrees above Celsius in the valleys, closer to freezing up on the glaciers. More snowfall is expected later this week up high. France France remains in lockdown too although here the current talk is of most of the country's ski areas opening on the days they had planned to for the season - usually the first or second weekend of December. Only Tignes would have been open this week without a lockdown, probably, although we are now nearing the weekend when Val Thorens would have opened. Italy Italy is also in lockdown and here, like Austria, restrictions have been tightened in the past week as COVID cases have continued to rise. Parts of the country, including many ski regions in the north, such as the Aosta Valley and Lombardy, are on a higher level of alert than others. Val Senales, which had stayed open to the public until the weekend before last, when it switched to being open only for racers, has now closed completely due to the virus. Sulden has done the same, leaving only Cervinia still operating in the country, and just for ski racers at present. Italy went into its second lockdown before other countries and is due to come out of it on 24th November, but that date is now under review. Here too it has been a largely dry and sunny week although there was fresh snowfall on higher slopes in the Italian Alps and Dolomites on Monday. Switzerland Swiss ski centres have stayed open so far although it feels like they could be shut down at any moment with much of Switzerland under fairly tight lockdown restrictions. All have been stressing the need to follow the rules on social distancing but things weren't helped at the weekend when national newspapers published pictures of long, apparently non-socially-distanced queues. But looking at the positives, the sun was shining, temperatures were low and the snow up on the glaciers was in good shape, probably why those long queues formed. There was more terrain available at several centres with Saas-Fee now offering more than 50km of slopes, the most anywhere in the world at present. It and Zermatt, along with Engelberg are the three centres open daily, the rest at weekends. The other eight open were the same as a week ago (Andermatt, Arosa, Crans Montana, Davos, Gstaad, Laax, St Moritz, Verbier) but more, including Adelboden and Grimentz, are expected to open next weekend. There's also cold and snowy weather in the Swiss forecast to end the week. Scandinavia The weather in Scandinavia has turned a little more wintry after an unseasonably warm spell. Already-open resorts including Sweden's Idre Fjall and Finland's Levi, report fresh snow. The latter will host World Cup ski racing this coming weekend. A number of the regions big hitters are due to open this coming weekend including Norway's Beitostolen and Hemsedal and the region's largest resort and ski area, Are in Sweden. Pyrenees It has been pretty-much wall to wall sunshine in the Pyrenees over the past week. Temperatures have been freezing overnight on higher slopes but getting four or five degrees above in the daytime, and much warmer day and night down at the bases, so not great for snow. The season would normally be starting in a little over a week but colder and ideally snowier weather is needed. Scotland It has been a warm November in the Scottish Highlands so far although forecasts are for that to change later this week. Most of the country's ski areas have said they have no plans to open until shortly before Christmas anyway, although The Lecht can open at short notice at any time if there's a good snowfall and Glencoe often does too. The bad news was from Nevis Range, announcing they were temporarily closing until the snow was good and the prospects of trading in the pandemic better; indicating they hoped that would be some time in early 2021. They said they'd lost over £1 million through the pandemic and couldn't risk carrying on until they knew income would again exceed expenses. Eastern Europe Ski areas in Bulgaria posted images of snow dusting higher slopes at the weekend as temperatures finally dropped there. This was not the case further north in the Tatras and Eastern Alps where slopes remained dry. Ski seasons normally get underway from late-November to mid-December in most of the region. North America Canada It's looking good in Western Canada with Marmot Basin up near Jasper the latest area to open in Alberta and Cypress Mountain north of Vancouver on the West coast the first to do so in BC. There's been plenty of fresh snow falling leading to great powder conditions at already open resorts including Banff's Sunshine and Lake Louise a little further north. The news for Eastern Canada has been less exciting with warm weather leading several areas including the biggest, Tremblant, to announce a delayed opening date to later this month. Colder weather has now arrived and snow-making systems have been able to fire up. Mont Ste Sauveur which had been the first to open in the region, but then had to close due to the warm weather, says it will re-open on Friday. USA There's a rapid increase in the number of ski areas in the US opening and by this coming weekend, the country will be ahead of everywhere else in terms of what's available. The good news is that the weather is cooperating, on the whole, with more fresh snow in the west (resorts in Colorado and Utah posted several feet more fresh snowfall) and, after a warm period over the first few weeks of November, colder weather has arrived in the East too. Among the new openings are Colorado's Breckenridge, and Mammoth Mountain in California. All are limiting skier numbers on the slopes leading to day passes selling out in advance. COVID does lurk in the background of operations as it does everywhere. Mountain High in California, which was going to have been first to open in California last week, delayed their plans when four employees tested positive. Oregon has introduced stricter restrictions on business operating but they do not stop ski resorts operating and Timberline says they plan to open. Big names opening in the next few days include Heavenly, Vail, Solitude and the country's largest ski area Park City. Killington has also announced that it will open this Friday too. |
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J2Ski Snow Report 12th November 2020
Mammoth Mountain, California, which opens tomorrow! Switzerland's the place to go in Europe, with more ski areas opening in the USA. The mountains are waiting for us... please stay safe and respect local advice on travel. We can't all go skiing just yet but we can still dream! The Snow Headlines - 12th November - Keystone in the US, Crans Montana in Switzerland, Nakiska and Sunshine in Canada open. - World Cup in Austria this weekend postponed, next leg (Finland) still on. - Three Italian ski areas open to racer training, but now closed to public. - Heavy snowfall in California, Colorado and rest of Western US; up to 28 inches/70cm. - 11 ski areas open in Switzerland at weekend (no lockdown there). - Number of ski areas open in North America now in double figures. - Andermatt sells out of lift tickets, again, with limited numbers allowed. It has been a quiet week in most of Europe for pre-season weather with mostly sunny skies and little precipitation. The Pyrenees probably had the best of it in the past seven days with another good fall at the end of last week. Attention is focussed on the pandemic, however, and the question of whether November lockdowns will end at the end of the month and allow ski areas to open from the start of December. So far the jury is out on that one. After a bit of a lull in the winter weather and some warm temperatures in Western North America it's been much colder, with good snowfalls, on mountains right across the west from Alberta to New Mexico. More resorts have opened in Colorado (Arapahoe Basin, Keystone, Loveland) and Alberta (Nakiska, Sunshine) and the first in California is due to follow any day now. On the other side of the Pacific in Japan, more areas have been opening runs using all-weather snowmaking machines but things are looking promising for the start of the main season with a 40cm snowfall reported in Niseko. They'll be hoping for no repeat of last year's warm and dry start to the season. For those who still dare to dream of still more exotic destinations, we've been told by Shymbulak Mountain Resort in Kazakhstan that they plan to open next Monday 16th, with social distancing of course. In the Alpine Forecast Generally mild and settled for the week ahead, with possibilities of cooler weather in the long-range forecasts. 
Snow incoming for the USA this week...
Europe Austria There would, of course, be about eight glacier ski areas open in Austria this week if the country were not in a November lockdown. Mid-November is also when some of the higher, more snow-sure resorts like Obergurgl and Obertauern, tend to open for the season in a normal year. As it is, everything is closed until at least December 1st and reports this week indicate some areas, including Ischgl which normally makes a big event of its late November opening, don't now plan to open until mid-December for the main season even if allowed to open sooner. As to the current weather – mostly dry and sunny in the Austrian Alps – glaciers have been posting tantalising images of near-perfect conditions... France It's November lockdown, and sadly high case numbers, in France too. That said, there seems to be confidence, in public announcements at least, that resorts will be opening at the start of December, and for the majority that normally open in December anyway, they're so far sticking to planned dates. Only Tignes would normally be open this week and next anyway; Val Thorens had been hoping to open the weekend after next but that's obviously now on hold. Here too there's been largely good weather, although the French Pyrenees reported heavy snowfall again late last week. Italy Italy is also in lockdown but may be the first to end it in a few weeks, although there are also reports of cases increasing in some ski regions. The two centres that had stayed open to the public when Cervinia closed a fortnight ago (Val Senales and Sulden) have now done the same, ending general opening on Sunday. However all three areas are still operating lifts and grooming ruins – but just for ski team training. Switzerland Switzerland is really leading the way in Europe with an 11th ski area opening for the season at the weekend following the country's decision not to go into a November lockdown, unlike most of its neighbours and despite having some of the highest numbers of virus cases per population numbers, according to reports. Crans Montana opened its glacier slopes joining Andermatt, Arosa, Davos, Engelberg, Gstaad (Glacier 3000), Laax, Saas-Fee, St Moritz (Diavolezza Glacier), Verbier and Zermatt. With the ski slopes over to Cervinia from Zermatt currently closed following their brief opening and closure again on the last weekend of October, before Italy's lockdown, Saas-Fee is believed to have the most terrain open in the country, and currently the world, with 40km of runs open. Despite warmer weather, last week conditions on the glaciers/high slopes are reported to remain excellent. All of the Swiss centres are stressing the importance of abiding by the pandemic safety rules and some including Andermatt have various limits in place on numbers on the slopes and/or in lift cabins. Andermatt sold out of tickets for the second successive weekend last weekend. Although not in lockdown, restrictions in Valais have been tightened with most restaurants closing although resorts are stressing that hotels and hotel restaurants remain open and many restaurants are doing meal delivery services. Scandinavia Scandinavia reported some warmer weather in the past week and a number of areas that normally open in late October or early November have delayed doing so, so far. However things are still moving forward; Ruka and Levi are open in Finnish Lapland, the latter now due to stage the next round in the FIS Ski World cup the weekend after next. Two areas are also open in Sweden although with the closure of the final summer ski area that had still been open, Galfdhoppigen, none in Norway at present – for the first time since last April. Pyrenees The Pyrenees were the last area to see significant snowfall in Europe this month, with resorts in Andorra posting up to 20cm of snowfall at the end of last week, and good accumulations on the French and Spanish sides of the border too. Scotland After a fortnight of mostly rainy weather, the past week has seen some glorious sunny days in the Scottish Highlands. Although it dropped well below freezing overnight, double-digit Centigrade daytime highs have put paid to most of the early high-altitude snow cover. It's getting cooler again though and centres are testing out their all-weather snow-making systems. Eastern Europe Little sign of winter in eastern Europe and mostly warm, sunny autumn weather this past week. Clear skies have led to freezing overnight temperatures on the ski slopes but there's no snow lying at present. Larger centres have been testing snow-making systems with the season start for most 3-6 weeks away. North America Canada We're up to five ski areas open in Canada now with Nakiska and Sunshine in Alberta opening on Saturday and Monday respectively, joining already open (since October) Mount Norquay and Lake Louise. That's all three Banff areas open now and reporting good conditions after a warm blip with cold temps and some fresh snow. A fifth Alberta area, Marmot Basin up at Jasper, is due to open next this coming weekend. The other area open, over in Quebec, is Sommet St Sauveur, with a ribbon of snow down a green and brown hillside in unseasonably warm temperatures recently there. USA After a warm week last week for much of the US, the winds of change blew in towards the end of the weekend bringing heavy snowfall to much of the west of the continent. Ski areas in California, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico and Idaho all reported big falls over the first 48 hours of this week – many said they'd had a foot (30cm), some as much as 28 inches (70cm). Keystone was the second Colorado ski area to open (before the snow arrived) last Friday, then Arapahoe Basin joined them on Monday and Loveland on Wednesday. Wolf Creek, already open since October, had one of the biggest snowfalls at the weekend – getting several feet more and opening more terrain. Breckenridge and Loveland expect to open over the next few days. In California the season is due to get going imminently too with Mountain High and Mammoth Mountain both saying they plan to open too. More challenging conditions further east where the snow hasn't reached and hoped-for openings have been postponed but it is looking more promising for colder weather and snow here too at the start of next week. |
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J2Ski Snow Report 5th November 2020
The view from Arosa, Switzerland, this morning... China and Japan open, European lockdown widens... The mountains are waiting for us... please stay safe and respect local advice on travel. We can't all go skiing just yet but we can still dream! The Snow Headlines - 5th November October - French November lockdown closes Tignes. - 10 Swiss Ski Areas Opened At Weekend on Halloween. - Ski areas still operating in Italy's November lockdown but soon for racers only. - Austria also begins a month's lockdown - eight glacier areas and Kitzbuhel close. - Ski areas including Andermatt, Glacier 3000 and Laax limit skier numbers. - Germany's November lockdown delays Zugspitze opening. - China and Japan's 20-21 seasons underway. The past week in mainland Europe has regrettably seen the focus switch from snowfall to the pandemic as three of the big-four Alpine nations go into November lockdowns, closing around a dozen already-open ski areas. Switzerland is, so far, the exception and the number of areas open here jumped from six to 10 at the weekend just as resorts in other countries began closing. Swiss areas report great conditions for early November but also increased COVID prevention measures. Elsewhere, so far, Scandinavian areas continue to open for the season as normal and across the Atlantic, more resorts have been opening in Canada and the USA, including the first on the continent's East Coast, for 2020-21. Further afield the season has also got underway in Japan and China with the first areas opening there thanks to snow-making. In the Alpine Forecast Generally mild and settled for the week ahead. 
Snow incoming for Scandinavia this week...
Europe Austria Austria announced a month-long lockdown on the same afternoon that England announced theirs. Austria shut down large parts of the country from Tuesday so the country's eight glacier ski areas which had already opened for the 20-21 season, along with Kitzbuhel, which was opening weekends, have now closed until the start of December. Most were reporting great conditions and Hintertux had recently expanded the area it had open to over 40km so it's obviously sad news. However, the areas are now focused on re-opening next month which, for most Austrian ski areas, is when they'd be opening for the season anyway. France France also announced a November lockdown last week which led to the two open ski areas – Les 2 Alpes and Tignes - closing at the end of last week (although Les 2 Alpes had in fact been due to close at the weekend anyway). As with Austria, most French areas don't open until early-mid December anyway and they all say they're planning to open as normal on the first or second weekend of December when the lockdown is due to be over. A few would have aimed for November operations and will now have to delay; Val Thorens which normally has a big season opener in the latter half of this month the most obvious case. Italy Italy was the first major Alpine nation to go into a month-long lockdown, just as it was with the first lockdown back in March. However, support for lockdown among the country's ski areas is not as universal as it was back in the spring. Two of the three areas that planned to be open this week, Val Senales and Sulden, are still open despite the national directive to close, as the semi-autonomous region where they're located isn't insisting they close. The two centres themselves say they have safety protocols in place that should stop any virus spread and that they consider that on balance, the mental and physical health-giving benefits of a ski holiday outweigh the risks. However on Wednesday 4th they did announce that, from the 8th, they would close to the public and remain open only for race team training. The other area that should be open is Cervinia – it re-opened late last week but is now also just open for athlete training, in line with the national directive, not to the general skiing public. Switzerland Switzerland overtook Austria at the weekend to post the most ski areas open in one country – hitting double-figures for the first time for a northern hemisphere country this season. Quite a few have opened early due to the great October snowfalls and whilst there's been less fresh snowfall and warmer weather over the past week most are still reporting great snow. Seven of the 10 areas are currently open weekends only though and one, Laax, was only open to season pass holders on its opening weekend. There was a marked change of tone at the weekend with much more onus on pandemic prevention measures than previously as Switzerland became, so far, the only major Alpine nation not to have announced a full lockdown – although some cantons have tightened rules on things like maximum group sizes and hospitality opening hours. Against this the country has dropped its requirement for people arriving from several countries, including the UK, to self-isolate on arrival, to the excitement of tour operators. Andermatt, one of the four to open for the first time this season at the weekend, limited numbers of skiers to 1000 on its Gemsstock mountain, half the usual amount. Glacier 3000 near Gstaad / Les Diablerets said it was limiting numbers in its cable car cabins. Verbier and Arosa were the other new openers. The three areas open daily are Saas-Fee, Zermatt and Engelberg, with Saas-Fee now posting the largest area open of any currently open resort (Following the closure of Hintertux and Cervinia) with 36km of trails open. Davos and St Moritz (Diavolezza glacier) are also open. Scandinavia Scandinavian ski areas have reported some fresh snowfall (up to 15cm/6 inches in some areas) but also some warmer temperatures than might be hoped for early November (Idre Fjall in Sweden temporarily closed it's cross country trails). There's not much change in what's open so far – half-a-dozen areas, most open thanks to snow farming from last season but now with fresh autumn snowfall on top – a couple each in Finland, Norway and Sweden. However, things are due to gather pace through November with more areas due to open every weekend this month. Pyrenees Not much change on a week ago for the Pyrenees either. After the frequent October snowstorms built a base on higher slopes it has been quieter and a little warmer over the weekend. However, Wednesday saw a return of the snow with fresh falls reported in Andorra and on the French and Spanish sides – up to 20cm more fell. Ski areas here are due to start opening in about four weeks, all being well. Scotland Scottish slopes have seen their biggest snow covering of the autumn so far with Tuesday seeing snow almost down to the valley floor in Cairngorm. There's a long way to go yet until there's real snow depth and it's likely lower snow cover will thaw again before winter is properly here. Meanwhile, Cairngorm Mountain itself created a large pile of snow last Friday from its all-weather snow-making system during a pre-season test operation, so some sledging fun was to be had over the Halloween weekend. Eastern Europe The weather has been getting cooler in Eastern Europe's mountains and there has been some snowfall on higher slopes again. However there's no sign of any areas opening imminently, and most will aim to do so in early December, in 4-6 weeks. North America Canada Alberta continues to post excellent early season conditions with cold weather and regular snowfalls. Lake Louise was the second ski area to open there, joining Banff's Mt Norquay, both posting their earliest ever openings. Nakiska delayed opening by a week to this Friday though, and Sunshine and Marmot Basin are also expected to open very soon. Over on the east side of the country, there was some cold weather in Quebec allowing snow-making systems to fire up, as well as a bit of natural snowfall. Mont Ste Sauveur was the first to open there, with thin cover. Warmer weather forecast this week may cause some problems but it is due to get colder next weekend. USA America's ski season is slowly gaining ground with four areas now open. The latest, the Grand Divide ski area in Montana, opened for Halloween, joining already-open Wolf Creek in Colorado and two small ski areas in the US Midwest. There hasn't been a whole lot of fresh snow over the past seven days with most of the country dry and often sunny but the Northeast did see quite a large snowstorm on Monday and Tuesday this week, reporting up to a foot (30cm) of snowfall in New York state and Vermont, with snowfall extending over a wider area. Although Wolf Creek is open, it is unusual for resorts like Arapahoe Basin and Loveland to have not managed to get people skiing before the end of October. This coming weekend, with more snow and cold weather forecast, should see more opening. Keystone is scheduled to start winter 20-21 for the vast Vail empire, it's first North American opening since the pandemic early closure last March. |
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