J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

A huge snowstorm that has hit America's Pacific Coast over the last seven days has brought torrential rain and flooding to some low lying areas, but heavy snowfall to the region's ski areas.

Mammoth Mountain was one of the big winners, reporting 7 feet (2.1m) of snowfall in six days.

"Our base depth has been growing by the day as snow continues to fall on and off with the forecast finally calling for clearing this Thursday," a resort spokesperson said.

All the snow has come as something of a surprise because the region has been suffering mostly dry and warmer than average weather thanks to a strong El Nino system off The Pacific Ocean. However it appears that another weather staple of the area, a strong air current nicknamed 'the Pineapple express" from the tropics has brought in a lot of moisture just as air is cold enough, at altitude, for it to fall as snow.

Although Californian areas posted the most snowfall, in land there's been plenty of snow for the Rockies from Taos in New Mexico in the south posting 75cm of snowfall in 48 hours to Jackson Hole in the north in Wyoming adding 2 feet (60cm) to its base depth this week.

The past week's snowfall at Mammoth equaled its January snowfall total, both exceeding the very little snowfall in November and December.

Despite the good news of the snowfall, conditions continue to be mixed across North America, with ski areas as far north as Alberta and BC reporting rain and above freezing temperatures to high altitudes at the end of last week, although it is now cooler with snow rather than rain falling. On the East coast ski areas in New England and Quebec continue to see periods of rain between cold periods too.

And they've already announced they're buying resort 18, Arapahoe Basin.

The Alterra Mountain Company which was established in 2017 and run 17 of North America's leading ski areas including Mammoth, Deer Valley, Palisades, Steamboat and Tremblant, are reported to have raised a further $3 billion to invest in improvements at their resorts.

The investment comes from KSL Partners, a $21 billion private equity firm, and will be used to complete building projects and possibly buy more resorts.

The company is the main rival to Vail Resorts which now own more than 40 ski areas in the US, Canada, Australia and Switzerland and its Epic Pass, Alterera's version is the Ikon pass.

Storm Ingunn which battered northern Scotland with severe gale force winds but wasn't named in the UK, gathered force to become the most violent recorded storm in Scandinavia for 32 years, and where it was given a name, closing many ski areas in Norway and Sweden on Thursday and Friday. Winds of up to 180kph were reported, blizzard conditions and much damage done.

However in its wake it has left quite a lot of fresh snow the most of the season so far.

The fresh snowfall stats are just coming in but Bjorli Skisenter in Norway reported, "about 25 cm in the last 24 hours," As it reopened limited lifts and runs on Friday.

Voss said that damaged caused by lightning strikes were among the problems it is facing and that it would be staying closed through the weekend, reopening Monday with, it thinks, half-a-metre of fresh snow waiting.

However the impact of the fresh snow and strong winds are reported to have severely undermined the stability of the snowpack with the avalanche danger currently very high, so skiers and boarders are being strongly warned to only ski in areas deemed safe.

The new Mer de Glace gondola that takes skiers and boarders up from the glacier at the end of the world-longest lift-served ski run, the Vallée Blanche above Chamonix, has opened this morning.

The lift replaces a gondola built three decades ago to where the ice was in the early 1990s. Subsequently more than 550 metal steps had to be created below its base station and the glacier as it rapidly thawed away. Ascending the steps at the end of the run in your ski boots carrying your skis became a greater challenge than the run itself.

The new gondola reaches the ice about 600 metres further up, making the Vallée Blanche shorter for most skiers. It's expected steps will be needed again in the years to come but Chamonix's lift company say this will be the last gondola and tourism habits will just have to change.

The lift had been due to open at the start of the season two months ago, but construction delays, mainly associated with 'green construction techniques;' including avoiding the use of helicopters, delayed it.

Currently the gondola is available for skiers and boarders to use for return from the Vallée Blanche from 10:30 to 16:00 and used to go up hill from the Glacier to the Montenvers railway station for the return train ride to Chamonix. There is no pedestrian access using the new lift to get down to the glacier from Montenvers at the moment.

The old gondola has been decommissioned and is due to be removed and replaced by a new 'Glaciorium' glacier information centre being built through this year.

It can still be possible to ski the full Vallée Blanche past the gondola to the town when there's enough snow but it requires removing skis and boards and some ropes skills to negotiate the boulder field at the base of the glacier.

February has started well in California with the biggest snowstorm of the season so far hitting yesterday and more snow on the way.

Officially Mammoth Mountain reported 12-14 inches (30-35cm) at its main Lodge yesterday morning, but unofficially there was much more higher up the slopes too

"First Chair on Broadway Express – Look at all the Fresh Powder! 18-24 inches of new snow with moderate to heavy snowfall at times this morning. Lot's more snow on the way over the next week. Yahoo Winters Back! Ski ya later," posted local snow expert the Mammoth Mountain Snowman.

A few days of calmer weather and expected before the next in a series of storms is due to hit on Sunday, with Mammoth mountain's official forecast predicting "Blizzard conditions and thundersnow."

Although California is seeing the most snowfall the front is moving in across the US West Coast and is expected to bring snowfall to the Rockies at the weekend too.

After the warm, dry start to the season , blamed, possibly, on a strong El Nino system in the Pacific, there have been regular snowfalls across North America in January and most ski areas there, although not experiencing a bumper winter, do now have most of their slopes open.

With the heavy snowfall in the US we now have the reverse of November/December when it was predominantly cold with heavy snowfall in Europe but warm and dry in North America.

A professional ski mountaineer, Jakob Herrmann, has set a new world record by ascending a total of 24,242 vertical metres in 24 hours.

This beat the previous record of 23,486 vertical metre set by Kilian Jornet in Norway five years ago by 756 vertical metres.

Herrmann completed his epic task at his home ski area of Radstadt in Austria where he made 34 ascents of a 710 metre vertical ascents. Each climb was 2.5km long for a total of 85 kilometre (53 miles) of uphill skiing by distance.

"A 24-hour record is something very special. The monotony of the movement is within you and synchronizes with your breathing and heartbeat," commented Kilian Jornet on Herrmann's achievement, adding, "I think for athletes accustomed to running fast, it is important to start a bit slower because after 10-12 hours, especially at night, conditions become tougher. The excitement of the first hours is gone, the energy from food is barely there, and the muscles start to ache a bit. These are the moments when it is crucial to maintain the pace. Jakob has done that, and I am happy for him and congratulate him on the new record."

Herrmann, who is sponsored by Dynafit, didn't stop to sleep and took only short breaks to consume rice, potatoes, isotonic drinks, gels, energy bars and homemade banana bread. He was supported on the slope during his record attempt by partners, friends, and family.

"It has always been a dream of mine to be on touring skis for 24 hours straight and see how many vertical meters I can achieve," said Herrmann, adding, "I just wanted to know what limits one can reach and how far beyond you can go. I have a great support team around me, and I love simply skiing for hours. The most challenging part was skiing overnight with 14 hours of darkness. Now I am overjoyed and proud that I made it."

One of the world's steepest groomed slopes which opened last winter at Glacier 3000 near Gstaad in Switzerland has been forced to close after major cracks appeared in its snow surface.

The cracks appeared after a rapid and sustained rise in temperatures across the Alps with the freezing point moving high above 3,000m, something that has rarely happened before in January.

"Unfortunately we have had to temporarily close the Black Wall. The recent rise in temperatures has made the snow layer unstable on an already warm, slippery ground. Our track maintenance leader has never seen this in his 30 years career," a statement from the centre reads, adding, "We're looking forward to the return of winter and more snow to be able to reopen."

The Black Wall run opened last winter after the centre dug a 265m long tunnel to provide access to the descent in the Pierres Pointes sector. The 3km (nearly 2 miles) long black run that drops away from the end of the tunnel at a pitch of up to 41 degrees has a huge 1,000m+ vertical descent down to Pillon (1546m) in the valley below.