Messages posted by : admin
|
Good write-up, thanks! Not been there for many years but will head back one day (too many places to ski, so little time!).
|
|
|
J2Ski Snow Report 1st July 2020
Whakapapa just before the latest snow swept in... check roads before traveling! New Zealand opens with a flurry of snow (and high winds), and you can ski in Europe (if you can travel). The mountains are waiting for most of us... stay safe and follow your local authority's advice on travel. We can't all go skiing just yet but we can still read about it! The Snow Headlines - 1st July - Ski areas open in Australia, Lesotho and New Zealand. - A dozen ski areas re-opened in the Alps in June, most still open in July. - Huge snowfalls in the Andes to end June, but no resorts open yet. - Snow still up to 8m deep on Norwegian glaciers and more forecast. - Extended lockdowns mean 2020 season increasingly unlikely in South America and South Africa. - Quiet in North America - only one area likely to be open on 4th of July. The start of July would normally see the southern hemisphere's ski season really taking off and all of the Northern hemisphere's glacier areas open. We'd expect the number of open areas worldwide to be (just) back in triple figures a week or two into the month. This July is obviously different, but it's not all bad; the last weekend of June did see more than 20 ski areas open and we may be up to double that by mid-July. The "glass half empty" view of the present situation is that things are well below normal. Ski areas in the Andes of South America as well as in South Africa, representing half the ski nations in the southern hemisphere, still have no idea of when or if they might be able to open. The "glass half full" view though is that things continue to improve. This time last month we were in single figures for resorts open and were just passed an all-time low of 4 areas open worldwide in the last few days of May. Ski areas have since been able to open in Australia, Lesotho and New Zealand and pretty much all of the glacier ski areas that would normally be open in Europe in July are open, albeit with the 'new normal' pandemic-spread-prevention measures of off-slope face masks, hand cleaning, and on-lift social distancing making it all a bit strange. As to the snow; the best of it at the end of June was on the closed slopes of the Andes. At least when (if) ski areas in Argentina and Chile can open they should be able to do so with good cover. New Zealand also had a good end of June snowfall, although there are still early season-conditions at play here and in Australia (more reliant on snowmaking a present). In Europe glacier conditions for summer are reported to be better than normal with good depths and some fresh cover. 
Snow for New_Zealand, as the lifts open...
EUROPEAN ALPS June was quite a busy month in the Alps, especially the first week or so when ski areas were allowed to re-open as lockdowns were eased across Alpine nations. Crans Montana in Switzerland and the Kaunertal glacier in Austria were among those who opened, pretty much just to celebrate that they could and perhaps test how things work. Apart from the excitement of re-opening, there was the bonus of fairly good conditions and some significant fresh snowfall up high in mid-June with resorts reporting up to 50cm in 24 hours to bolster already fairly healthy summer glacier-snow-cover base depths – typically 2-3 metres. Austria In Austria, three glaciers are open with the Hintertux and Molltal scheduled to stay open right through into 2021, the Kitzsteinhorn until July 21st. France In France, Val d'Isere was first to open to the public, initially limiting numbers to 500 skiers. It was later joined by Tignes and at the end of the month Les 2 Alpes, which had previously opened at weekends to race teams. All three are currently open and Tignes and Les 2 Alpes are aiming to stay open through July; Val d'Isere until July 11th. Switzerland Switzerland is believed to be the only country not putting a limit on the number of skiers on its glacier, although the usual social distancing rules are in place. Zermatt, with Europe's highest slopes, has resumed its year-round operations. It will be joined by neighbouring Saas-Fee later in the month starting its nine-month season through to spring 2021. Italy Things changed fast in Italy which went from being one of the most locked-down nations in Europe to one of the first to open its borders. Passo Stelvio also opened earlier than expected, after operating for a few weeks for race teams only (although recent virus cases among the Italian World Cup team appear to have originated there). Cervinia has also re-opened, again several weeks earlier than expected, as the Swiss border re-opened meaning skiers based there can take the lifts up to ski on the glacier slopes of Zermatt, on the Swiss side, once more. Both will remain open through the summer and Cervinia says it will continue to run lifts to access the Zermatt glacier and skiing (which it should be noted is entirely in Switzerland, and the same glacier accessed from Zermatt, and run by the Zermatt lift company, not in Italy) until the end of September. It usually closes its summer season nearer the start of the month, before re-opening its lifts in October, so it looks like it will keep access to the Swiss glacier open almost until it opens in autumn anyway. A J2Ski reader has advised that Macugnaga are going to open the San Pietro drag lift at the weekend (4th and 5th July). There will be no charge for the use of the ski lift (operating hours from 8.30 to 12), but you will have to pay for the cable car (18 euros for adults, 11 euros for juniors between 4 and 14 years). "Given the rising temperatures next weekend might be the only summer ski weekend there this summer," J2Ski reader 'SwingBeep' advises. Northern Europe Although Scandinavia did not, as a whole, have a particularly cold or snowy winter, parts of the region – particularly the west and north - did set records and reported the most snow for more than 20 years. It literally took months to dig out the spring access roads to Norway's summer ski glacier areas like Stryn and Fonna, the latter opening with an incredible 15-metre base a few months ago. There was a final big snowfall in mid-May but the past six weeks have seen mostly warmer weather and that Fonna base, still very impressive for July (or any time of the year) at 8 metres, has nearly halved. Although there's been no real snowfall since May, the current forecast is for a temperature drop to 'unseasonal-sub-zero-lows' and possible snowfall to start July around the weekend. Fonna and Galdhoppigen are scheduled to stay open through July but Stryn, which only finally opened in early June after delays digging out the access road, is currently scheduled to end its short season on July 19th. North America It's looking like a quiet 4th of July for skiers in North America as, unless there's a last-minute change, almost none of the usual candidates for a 4th of July ski appear to be opening their slopes this year. The virus appears to be the main reason for this. Although some US areas re-opened in April, May and June - that did not include most of the resorts that would usually stay open to July such as Mammoth, Squaw Valley or Whistler. One that sometimes does, Arapahoe Basin in Colorado, did re-open in late May but closed after only a few weeks, much sooner than expected, as warm weather thawed away the snow cover. Only the near-year-round Timberline snowfield on Mt Hood in Oregon and the Beartooth Basin summer ski area on the Montana/ Wyoming border were open by the middle of last month. Beartooth has also now closed but Timberline should be open through July. Asia Japan's only summer ski area Gassan remains open although it normally ends its unusual April – July ski season sometime this month. Basically, it opens with a big snow base most years which then thaws away through spring and summer by which time it calls it a day. This year it opened on the first week of April with a nine-metre (30 feet) base which had shrunk to a little over two metres (seven feet) to start July but with temps averaging around 20C it can now easily lose the best part of a metre in a week, so the end of the season here is nigh. Southern Hemisphere There's a very mixed picture across the southern hemisphere as we enter July. If this were a normal year there would be dozens of ski areas open and the season would be starting to head into top gear. With the pandemic still strong in South America and South Africa, around half of the 100 or so ski areas in the southern hemisphere remain in lockdown. That's particularly ironic in Argentina and Chile as they've seen some of the best start-of-winter snowfalls for several winters, with areas like Portillo and Valle Nevado posting more than a metre of fresh snow in the last week of June Alas though Portillo, having originally delayed their planned opening date by a month to July 18th, has now 'postponed indefinitely'. This could be because Chile, one of South America and the world's worst hit countries by the virus, recently extended its state-of-emergency to mid-September, corresponding with the end of the country's ski season in a normal year. Others say they're ready to open as soon as it is safe to do so. Only Argentina's Las Lenas has ruled out opening altogether this winter whatever happens. New Zealand It's a very different story across the pacific in New Zealand where the successful suppression of the virus so far means that areas here can operate normally. The snow conditions for June are 'middling' with falls of around 50cm in the final week of last month laying down a fairly good base with cold weather for snow-making too. Mount Hutt, which opened first, has the most terrain open. It was joined by Cardrona, Coronet Peak and Treble Cone in the last days of June, along with smaller areas Ohau and Roundhill meaning July begins with more resorts open here than any other country. Most of the rest of the ski areas in the country will open in July, including the largest, Mount Ruapehu (Turoa and Whakapapa) on the 1st. Here the issue is economic, with the country's commercial centres tending to get up to half of their income from overseas skiers flying in. That's not happening a present with borders more or less closed so resorts have taken measures including midweek closures to try to keep viable. July is busier for the domestic market though so more full-time operations have been announced. Australia Over in Australia, five ski areas have opened too with more hoping to in the first weeks of July. Here the issues are half virus related – with only limited numbers allowed on the slopes, and half (so far) snow-related, or lack of, which means there's less piste for skiers to fit on, socially distanced, anyway. That's led several areas to delay opening so far. The lack of lift ticket availability combined with pent-up demand has caused frustrations for Aussie skiers with some resorts already reported to be sold out of tickets until near the end of the season unless they can increase their quotas by then, which will largely depend on pandemic trends and of course snow. As we start July Charlotte Pass, Mount Buller, Thredbo, Perisher and Mount Baw Baw are open in Australia with Hotham and Falls Creek looking to open on the 6th having delayed planned openings in late June due to inadequate snow cover. Africa Finally, southern Africa. Lesotho's Afriski was the first ski area to open for 2020 in the southern hemisphere after the country, like New Zealand, largely suppressed the virus. Here though, masks and social distancing and the rest are all still required. They also have a similar problem to new Zealand – a closed border with most of their business usually coming from locked-down South Africa. That's where the region's other ski resort, Tiffindell, is located (currently closed), with no clear lockdown end date at present, unfortunately. The country's government has recently said tourism in the country can resume in September, but as the South African season usually ends at the end of August that's not looking promising. Until next month, keep safe... |
|
Yes, definitely - all the materials came straight from people we chat to at the ski club. As to why it's invisible on their own website... I'll ask! |
|
|
Just bumping this to the top... last day to take part (and enter the competition to win some most excellent gear), so if you've not done so...
Take the Ski Club Survey We'll be publishing the results here as soon as they've been analysed. Thanks for taking part! |
|
J2Ski's Solstice Snow Report - June 2020
Started by User in Snow Forecasts and Snow Reports, 5 Replies |
|
|
J2Ski Solstice Snow Report - 19th June 2020
We love this atmospheric shot from Passo Stelvio this week. Picture thanks to Phil Smith, Snoworks. June 20th is the solstice; the longest day of the year for the northen hemisphere (and the shortest in the southern). So here's a quick update as the seasons turn... The Snow Headlines - 1st June - Ski areas open on five continents for the 2020 summer solstice. - Skiing under the midnight sun in the Arctic Circle to be broadcast on Swedish TV - Fresh snowfall for the start of summer skiing in the US. - 2020 southern hemisphere ski season underway in Africa and New Zealand. - Ski areas have re-opened in France, Italy and Switzerland this month. - No winter solstice skiing in the Andes his year. - Australian ski areas prepare to open. After the strangeness of the last few months, with more ski areas open in May than there were for Easter, there are now around 20 centres on five continents open for midsummer (or midwinter) skiing. We can also report that it has been snowing on three of those continents in the past week too in both northern and southern hemispheres with snow reported up high in the Alps and Pyrenees, the Rockies and in New Zealand. There's also been snow on a fourth continent - South America - but alas this year there's nowhere open there yet. Along with a good spread of continents with open ski areas, there's a big range of countries too with resorts open in 10 different countries; the most (three each) in Austria and Norway ...although they'll soon be overtaken by Australia and New Zealand with about 20 more areas due to open in the next week. The final observation (before we go into detail) is how different areas in different countries are operating in the pandemic. Most, but not all, are limiting the numbers on the slopes, requiring the advanced online purchase of lit tickets, social distancing in resorts, stepping up hygiene and so on. But in Lesotho, New Zealand and Switzerland they are not limiting the numbers on the mountains and in New Zealand there's also no need for social distancing or face masks as they currently have the pandemic suppressed there. 
Snow for South America... although the resorts are shut...
EUROPEAN ALPS After Austrian ski areas began re-opening as lockdowns eased in Europe at the end of May things have moved quickly and as of Saturday, 20th June, there will be eight glaciers open in the Alps. Borders have also re-opened within the EU in the past few days, although travelling from outwith the EU remains problematic, particularly from the UK, where officially all but essential travel is not allowed anyway. These are three glaciers open in Austria (Hintertux, Molltal and the Kizsteinhorn), two to the public in France (Tignes and Val d'Isere, with Les 2 Alps open for race training only but open to the public from the 27th), two in Italy (Passo Stelvio and Cervinia) and one in Switzerland (Zermatt). Cervinia and Tignes are the latest to reopen, on the 20th, Cervinia saying they'll be staying open later in the year than usual, for three months through to the 27th September. Oh, and we must not forget Austria's Kaunertal glacier and Crans Montana in Switzerland have already re-opened and then closed again. As to the snow – well conditions are pretty good. It is of course summer skiing so the usual rules of start early and be finished by lunchtime apply, but recent weeks have seen some unusually cold weather for June and fresh snow on the glaciers. With lifts re-opened at many of the classic resorts of the alps like Chamonix that don't officially offer summer skiing, some die-hards have been using them to access the remaining off-piste ski touring too. Northern Europe We are down to the three glacier ski areas in Norway now open, with the last, Stryn, finally opening a week ago and two weeks later than planned, after delays digging out its access road following heavier than usual winter and spring snowfalls. This has left the snow still lying more than 10 metres deep at another of the areas, Fonna. The third open area is Scandinavia's highest, Galdhopiggen. For this weekend only, Riksgransen in the Swedish Arctic Circle has re-opened for three days of skiing and boarding – Friday to Sunday 19-21 June over the summer solstice. It's a traditional event, with the resort re-opening about a month after ending its main season. Usually, it sells out well in advance but this year it's a little more muted due to the virus. However, the highlight, skiing under the midnight sun into the summer solstice on Midsummer's Eve (Friday into Saturday) is on the agenda. This year the resort will broadcast live video of the event on its Facebook page and VisitSweden are planning to stream it too. North America The US began June with four ski areas open and there were hopes that summer skiing might take place at Whistler and that resorts that quite often offer skiing into June and July like Mammoth and squaw Valley might reopen their slopes. That hasn't happened though and two of the areas, Arapahoe Basin and crystal Mountain had closed again a week into June. So we are left with two still-open areas, the Timberline snowfield on Mt Hood in Oregon and the Beartooth Basin summer ski area just inside Wyoming on the Montana border. Both have actually seen fresh snowfall in the past week and the access road to Beartooth was cut off by snow at one point. However, it has warned that its short season is nearing its end as trees and rocks begin to appear through the snow. It says it will open over the summer solstice but after that will delay operations by the day. Asia We're down to Japan's sole summer ski area, Gassan, as the only ski area open in the country, at least with snow (a 1km long artificial surface ski slope opens from Saturday 20th June at Nozawa Onsen). Gassan is not like your standard glacier, it just opens in early April with a huge snow depth (8 metres this year) and stays open until the snow thaws away, usually by late July. Right now more than half has gone, down to 4.2 metres lying with temperatures reaching +20C. Southern Hemisphere There are definitely not as many ski areas open in the southern hemisphere as there would normally be for the start of winter. Around a dozen Australian areas would usually have opened in early June, at least half-a-dozen by now in New Zealand and quite a few in the Andes as well as southern Africa too. As it is we only have two areas open so far, thanks to the virus, but a good many more are scheduled to open in Australia and New Zealand over the last week or so of June, perhaps hitting double figures by the start of July. Let's look at the positives first. Only a month or so ago it was unclear whether ski areas in the southern hemisphere would be able to open at all this winter. Whilst that's still the case for South America and South Africa, the lockdown in New Zealand has eased to such an extent that ski areas there are able to open without even requiring social distancing or face masks required to be worn. Australian ski areas will have those now common restrictions when they open over the next few days – a fortnight later than usual but earlier than the previously hoped for base-case-scenario of July. For Australia, the big opening days are this Monday 22nd and Wednesday 24th June when most resorts in the country will open. For New Zealand most of the country's larger centres will open around next weekend: Cardrona, Coronet Peak and Porters all aim to open on Friday 26th, Treble Cone and Turoa the next day Saturday 27th. But the first area to open in the event was little Afriski in Lesotho. Like New Zealand and most other countries in the southern hemisphere the borders remain closed, and as it's heavily reliant on South African skiers that's not good news financially (as indeed is the case with the ongoing closure of South Africa's own ski area, Tiffindell, for everyone living there). So local skiers have the slopes to themselves, making use of a newly expanded snowmaking system that has been pumping out snow during low temperatures through June. As for snow conditions everywhere else, the past week has seen some heavy snowfall in both the Andes and New Zealand, with up to 50cm reported in 24 hours at the latter, great news with resorts opening imminently. In the Andes, the snowfall has been rather more frustrating with no sign as to when areas might be able to open there with cases of the virus sill rising and lockdowns remaining in place. One famous ski area in Chile, Portillo, has set its opening date back a month to July 18th, although it remains unclear if it will be able to open then. Others including Nevados de Chillan are warning a growing number of backcountry skiers on their slopes that no avalanche mitigation work is being carried out and there's no ski patrol around to provide emergency assistance if any accidents happen. It's a very similar picture to that in Europe and North America a month or so back when the lockdown was at is height in the spring skiing season. We'll be back next month, with the days getting shorter in the North! |
|
|
It's that time of year...
Take part in the Ski Club of Great Britain survey for the chance to WIN one of the following prizes :- - a SNOW+ROCK VOUCHER worth £350, - a pair of SALOMON QST skis, - a SALOMON ASSASSIN snowboard, - or a SALOMON QST CHARGE helmet! Our friends at the Ski Club of Great Britain want to find out more about what today's skiers and snowboarders are looking for from their snowsports holidays and are running this survey in collaboration with their partners. All you need to do is fill in the questionnaire before the 30th June 2020 – it should take no more than 15-20 minutes and all your answers will remain anonymous (they'll need your email to enter the competition). Use this link to enter - Join the Ski Club Survey Good luck and thanks for your help! |
|
|
Following the re-opening of Italian borders with most European countries earlier this week, visitors from the UK and elsewhere can now travel to Italy's mountains. We've been getting news from the Italian Alps and Dolomites; the latest PR from Cortina d'Ampezzo follows.
The precise regulations on travel to Italy can be found at Italian nationals returning to Italy and foreigners in Italy. 
Cortina d'Ampezzo - picture courtesy of www.bandion.it
Lagazuoi cable car - photo courtesy of Giacomo-Pompanin |
|
|
In another small step back toward something like normality, Les Deux Alpes will start their summer season tomorrow; with weekend openings until late June when they open full-time for the summer.
Note that the summer skiing on the glacier will be open to professionals only until the 27th June. 
The full press release (and a gratuitous video to accompany your next coffee) follows...
For more info, check out www.les2alpes.com |
|