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A new gondola that forms part of €54m redevelopment of the historic Montenvers site above Chamonix is set to open at the end of next week, a few months later than had been hoped.

The gondola (pictured under construction in December) will provide direct access from the Mer de Glace glacier on which the world's longest lift-served ski run descends for the first time in more than three decades.

Most skiers tackling the Vallee Blanche end their descents below Montenvers. It can still be possible to ski all the way back to Chamonix on occasion with a guide but it requires adequate low level snow and some climbing skills negotiating the boulder field at the end of the receding glacier.

The previous gondola, which was installed nearly 35 years ago, originally recached the ice, but over the last three decades the ice level has dropped so dramatically due to climate change that more than 500 steps have had to be built at an increasingly fast rate between the gondola's base and the ice.

Skiers finishing their Vallee Blanche run normally had to face these steps, in ski boots, carrying up their skis, but from next weekend they'll be able to get straight into the all new gondola and the steps will be no more, for the time being at least.

In fact despite the Chamonix Valley posting the world's deepest snow for the past few months, now at over 4 metres, the Vallee Blanche has been largely closed as the old gondola and steps had already been decommissioned, and the new gondola had been due to open at the start of the season in early December.

However, delays were caused in part as a result of the construction team's strict adherence top minimal impact building techniques, including bringing all materials up on the historic railway rather than using helicopters, and mixing minimum CO2 concrete on site.

Most skiers tackling the Valle Blanche will find their descent of the world's longest run 600 metres shorter than it was to the bottom of the steps though, as the new gondola has been positioned further up the ice in a location that hopefully didn't need so many steps so quickly as the ice continues to melt.

After the new gondola begins operations work is due to commence on removing the old lift where a new 'Glaciorium' is due to be built through this year and open next winter in the second stage of the €54m Montenvers redevelopment.

Following the introduction of so-called 'autonomous gondolas', which can operate without staff at both the upper and lower station, Austrian and Swiss government authorities are reported to have granted permission for certain chairlifts equipped with the same remote operating facilities to go into service.

The autonomous operating lift model is being pushed by the world's largest ski lift company, Doppelmayr, who launched their autonomous AURO systems for gondola lifts back in 2020.

"As well as ensuring a high level of safety, this innovative system saves lift operators up to 35 percent in personnel costs," a Doppelmayr spokesperson enthused.

The company revealed that the Swiss Federal Office of Transport and the Federal Ministry of Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology in Austria each granted operating licenses for the autonomous operation of two chairlifts at the start of this season, with pilot installations at Wildhaus in Switzerland and in the Silvretta-Montafon ski area shared by Ischgl and Samnaun on the Austrian/Swiss border.

Autonomous chairlifts work in a similar way to autonomous gondolas, with one operator required at the base of the lift or even in a separate building. With the Doppelmayr AURO-CLD system, he or she is AI-assisted with software constantly analysing and evaluating location, image and video data in real time, and to trigger automatic responses, the company says, adding,

"The system identifies hazardous situations in the unloading area at the top station in fractions of a second and decides autonomously, depending on the situation, whether the installation can continue to operate, should be slowed or shut down."

As with AURO for gondola lifts, troubleshooting can be performed by one person from the Ropeway Operation Center (ROC) housed in the bottom station or in a separate building.

"Growing personnel shortages are increasing the pressure on operating companies when it comes to guaranteeing the availability of their lift installations. This is where AURO-CLD helps to alleviate the problem and can reduce the personnel requirements for a standard installation by up to 50 percent ….One employee can supervise several AURO chairlift installations. In addition, existing ropeways can be retrofitted with the appropriate equipment to make them AURO-compatible," Doppelmayr say.

The fourth ever Youth Winter Olympics opens in South Korea on Friday and there's a new Cool Runnings in town as three young Olympians from Tunisia are set to make history and become the first-ever athletes from the African country to participate in any Winter Olympics.

After 'The Snow Leopard' from Ghana competed in Vancouver, a Kenyan Alpine Skier, is Issa Gachingiri Laborde Dit Pere, the son of a ski patroller from Alpe d'Huez, will also be competing.

The Winter Youth Olympic Games, Gangwon 2024, will reuse several of the facilities from the 2018 Winter Olympics, they're also the first of the Youth Olympics, which launched in Innsbruck in 2012, ever to be staged in Asia. Teenagers aged from 15 to 18 take part.

The young Kenyan ski racer along with Tunisian bobsleighers Jonathan Lourimi, Beya Mokrani and Sophie Ghorbel (pictured above) are all part of the PyeongChang Legacy Foundation's New Horizons Camp, which helps athletes from non-winter sport nations and thus helps facilitate the emergence of new winter sport nations.

"I played soccer and hockey and watched sports since I was young. Then, by chance, we found a program in Korea that supports winter sports. It [bobsleigh] is a sport that's little known in Tunisia. We'll do our best to win medals not only for Gangwon 2024, but also for the upcoming Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina 2026," said Jonathan Lourimi.

The programme – which is an integral part of International Olympic Committee's requirements from host cities – has so far enabled athletes from countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia and Thailand to develop their winter sports skills, and support the establishment of national federations.

For the 2024 Games, 25 athletes representing Brazil (7), Thailand (6), Mongolia (4), Tunisia (3), Jamaica (1), Singapore (1), Kenya (1), Chinese Taipei (1), and Columbia (1) have qualified from the PLF New Horizons Academy.

For all information on the 4th Winter Youth Olympic Games taking place in Gangwon, South Korea, which will run until 1st February, visit: https://olympics.com/en/gangwon-2024/

Although one of the world's most famous ski resorts has been at the forefront of winter sports many times over the past 100 years or so, the next few weeks are significant anniversaries for Chamonix, as it nears the centenary of hosting the world's first ever Winter Olympic Games in January – February 1924, in just over a week's time.

At the first Winter Olympics which ran from 25 Jan – 5 Feb 1924, there were less than 300 competitors from 16 nations with about 10,000 fans in resort. The concept proved popular from the start and by the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics there were nearly 3,000 competitors from more than 90 nations and a global TV audience in the hundreds of millions.

Although there was no downhill skiing at the original Games (that finally happened in Garmisch in 1936), it still saw the foundation of the International Ski Federation, which does after all also represent cross country skiers and ski jumpers, who were present at the 1924 Games. This Kandahar World Cup ski races next month on 2-4 February coincides with the centenary of the FIS being founded.

Visitors to Chamonix won't find a lot remaining from the Games of a century ago, the old bobsleigh run is lost in the woods, the original Aiguille du Midi lift (The bottom stage of which was used to lift bobsleighs up the slopes) was discontinued before completion after WW2 after the current route was deemed better, but the original ski jumping ramp is still there and there's an ice rink on the site of the 1924 Olympic facilities. You can also stay or eat in one of the luxury hotels used to host athletes, media and others in 1924.

Along with a commemorative book (English edition available) there are also two exhibitions to visit. 'The Invention of the Olympic Winter Games' is being staged at the Maison de la Mémoire et du Patrimoine in the resort centre and 'Champions at the Olympic Games' in the Maison de Village in Argentière.

There are several anniversary parades planned, including one to coincide with the centenary of the games starting, another on March 16th. Things will come full circle in June when the torch relay for the 2024 Paris Olympics will pass through.

Nevis Range have now announced they'll open some terrain from Thursday but have not given detail yet on what exactly.

A week of cold weather and snowfall forecast for the Scottish Highlands will hopefully mean more terrain opening at the country's five centres this week.

So far the winter has been more consistently cold and frequently subzero than it usually has been this century, but it has also been quite dry with limited snowfall, so there's not much of a base on slopes.

Cairngorm above Aviemore has some of the best conditions but has the ongoing frustration of its funicular which accesses much of its terrain being out of action once again with no sign of when these will be completed and winter continuing to increase its grip.

"We are still waiting on information from the contractors and our parent company on when the Mountain Railway may be handed back to us. As soon as we do, we will let you all know," a spokesperson said.

As it's the upper mountain terrain that's open, the lack of funicular access is a particular problem, but things are improving. Last week it was a 15 minute uphill hike for "experienced skiers only" in ski gear carrying kit to the base of The M1 Poma to access red pistes on the descent from the Top Station, (the White Lady Piste and M1 Piste) from the top of the conveyors on the beginner slope which is maintained by all weather snowmaking equipment.

However the Sunkid platter lift is now also in action so it's now an eight minute walk to ride that and then a short walk again to the M1 Poma. It's worth the effort though according to Cairngorm staff,

"These pistes are in good condition, groomed overnight and were skiing soft and grippy."

The M1 exit is via the M1 crossover into the Gunbarrel. There is not enough snow in the 105 and lower zig zags which are both closed. However the Coire na Ciste T bar and the Fairway run (via the top of the M2 run) are open, with fresh drifted snow from yesterday.

Elsewhere Glenshee has the most terrain open, with seven runs at time of writing and the Sunnyside, Claybokie, Baddoch Chair, Plastic, Dink Dink and Rope Tow lifts operating.

The Lecht had three beginner slopes open at the weekend but is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

So far Glencoe and Nevis Range on the West Coast have not been able to offer more than sledging and (at Glencoe) a beginner slope. However Glencoe is running its access chairlift for ski tourers to access snow above the ski slopes up to the summit above.

After too little snowfall for the first month or so of the season in Western Canada was followed by stormy weather and some substantial accumulations over recent days and weeks, ski areas in Alberta and BC are being hit by extreme cold.

Banff and the wider Alberta/Eastern BC region is experiencing overnight lows down to -40° with a daytime high of -31° forecasted today.

"We've made the decision to close all lifts on Friday, January 12. Saturday is looking warmer and we'll keep you posted on all weather related developments," a spokesperson for the local Mt Norquay ski centre advised.

Norquay isn't the only one with most resorts in the region deciding to close. Marmot Basin up near Jasper, one of the world's most northerly major ski areas was closed on Thursday as well.



However temperatures are not quite so bad (daytime 'only' -20s) closer to the coast and centres like Red Mountain and Whistler Blackcomb are currently reported to be staying open with daytime temperatures in the -20 to -30C range).

In extreme cold frostbite can occur to exposed areas like ears, noses and fingers within one ski run (lift ascent and decent) but one of the wider fears is mechanical failure of a lift leaving skiers and boarders stranded.

Until now ski areas in The Pyrenees (and resorts in other mountain ranges in Spain and Portugal) have had a difficult first few months of the season with dry, warm, weather dominating.

Spain saw its warmest December on record with the result that snowmaking was limited or impossible and smaller resorts could not open at all in many cases and those that did have had very limited terrain open in most cases.

Thankfully though the bad conditions have ended over the past week with significant snowfalls and several centres seeing more than half-a-metre snow totals overt the last seven days. Consistent cold temperatures have also allowed snowmaking systems to fire up and run at maximum capacity.



Smaller centres have therefore now started their seasons including Portugal's sole area, Serra da Estrela.

Spain's largest area Baqueira Beret has managed keep the largest amount of terrain open in the Pyrenees through the tough weeks, about 60% of its runs, but is now up to almost 90% with 145km of runs open for this weekend. It is also the first to report snow lying more than a metre deep, 1.5m (five feet) deep up high in fact.

The region's biggest area, Andorra's GrandValira, which includes Soldeu El Tarter, Pas de la Casa and others, has struggled with only about 40% of its slopes open and links between sectors only possible by lift in some cases with slopes closed, but it too is now up to 60% open, about 125km of slopes.

On the French side it has been a mixed picture all winter to date with some areas 100% open over New Year and others completely closed. It has seen some of the biggest snowfalls this week though. The Font-Romeu and Pyrénées 2000 area is 65% open with a 1.2 metre base, La Mongie/Barèges have been the only one reporting their 100km of slopes 100% open since Christmas.