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The ski season in the Pyrenees is expected to get started a week earlier than expected, with Spain's largest ski area Baqueira Beret announcing that they're opening some runs from Saturday 25th November, following snowfall this week. It's not yet clear if any other centres in the region will join Baqueira.
Most ski centres in the region plan to open for the first weekend of December, with the first full week of December a key one in the region with multiple public holidays in Andorra and Spain that week making it a good one for early-season bookings. Until the snowfall earlier this week it had been generally rather warm and dry for much of November in the region after some promising early snowfalls in late October and early this month. |
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Ischgl opens for its 23-24 season on Thursday 23rd November with 112km of slopes open from day one. It means it jumps to the top of the table for terrain open so far, overtaking fellow Tirol ski areas and Otztal neighbours Solden, which as reached 100km of slopes open and Obergurgl with 70km of slopes. Ischgl says that 32 lifts will be running and that the powder snow from November storms is lying up to 60cm (two feet) deep. It appears to be one of the best starts to the season in quite a few year, with Ischgl often needing to produce large amounts of snow through its massive snowmaking arsenal from the start of the season, that has not been so much of an issue this autumn. The resort with its cross border ski area to Samnuan in Switzerland often has one of the three largest ski areas open in late November and early December, often fighting areas like Zermatt/Cervinia to post the most early season terrain open in Europe and the world. Ischgl's opening weekend will see the Top of the Mountain Opening Concert with Demi Lovato take place on Saturday 25th November. |
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Saudi Arabia's first outdoor ski resort has been intriguing ski resort planners since it was first announced a few years ago. The ski area, known as Trojena, is part of the $500bn 'carbon neutral' Neom mega-city project, which is now unveiling a growing number of western companies as lined up to be a part of it. Trojena has already been granted host status for a revamped Asian Winter Games in 2029 before construction has begun. The main point of interest is how will the snow be made? At its location in one of the kingdom's highest point it's occasionally below freezing overnight, and even more occasionally there's a dusting on snow, but it doesn't seem to be cold enough for long enough for consistent conventional snowmaking. So guesswork has extended to an army of all-weather SnowFactory type units making snow in refrigerators chambers to spray onto the slopes, and/or artificial 'dry' ski surfaces. A promotional video showing animated skiers sliding uphill into a blizzard didn't really help much and PR agencies appointed by the project's managers didn't seem keen to provide answers. However the latest news, that a David McKenzie has left contractor Kier and been appointed executive director at Trojena, joining Philip Gullet, a former COO at Battersea Power Station has raised hopes of some answers. In August Mr Gullet told Al Arabiya English that the Trojena location was actually colder than was commonly believed,
At 2,400 metres above sea level in the Sarawat Mountains, temperatures range from a reported -17 C s to + 22 C it was claimed, with artificial snow 'topping up' the natural stuff. It was also revealed that the resort will have 36km of ski slopes. Snowmaking experts have said the usually dry conditions are a favourable aspect of snowmaking. Trojena is looking to have over 3,500 hotel rooms and 7,000 permanent residents and is hoping to attract more than 700,000 annual visitors by the end of the 2020s. Besides the snow slopes there'll be a 3,000 seat amphitheatre, over 100 indoor and outdoor activities and 42,000 sq m of retail and dining space. Marriott Hotels have also announced that their first W hotel in Saudi Arabia will be built at the country's new Trojena ski resort. They'll also build a second Marriott with different branding at the resort.
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US and many larger Canadian resorts are battling nature to open intime for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday weekend, for most in the US a bigger event than Christmas. After promising cold weather in October, the first half of November was largely warmer and drier than ski areas would have liked with little natural snowfall and temperatures too warm for snowmaking at times. Despite that several dozen larger ski areas have opened, albeit with just a few miles of runs open so far at each, including Breckenridge, Mammoth, Stowe and Vail as well as America's largest, Park City in Utah. In Colorado, Crested Butte's season gets underway Wednesday, November 22 with skiing and riding off Red Lady Express and Peachtree Express. The resort has seen some of the biggest accumulations of snow in America so far, with three feet of snowfall to date, although a chunk of that was back in October (the above picture was October 28th). However some including Heavenly, Northstar, Telluride and Stratton were forced to delay planned opening dates due to the unfavourable conditions. This week has seen temperatures drop again however and a well-timed foot of snow has fallen on the Rockies so Heavenly has announced it will open today and Northstar on Thursday, November 23. The East Coast is expected to have a better than average year for snowfall, the west below average thanks to El Nino (the Rockies, about average!) but so far there's not been much snow in New England. Along with Killington though, Sunday River and Sugarloaf in Maine are among the resorts that have opened with top to bottom cover thanks to snowmaking. |
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The ADS Mountain Area Manager company that runs the vast Les Arcs/Peisey-Vallandry ski area has become the first of its kind in Europe to obtain B Corp™ certification. Internationally recognised as one of the most comprehensive certification programmes worldwide in terms of social, environmental and societal impact, BCorp™ certification has been awarded to 7,000 companies around the planet so far of which 300 are in France, with the Les Arcs region the first ski area. The award process saw the Les Arcs/Peisey-Vallandry Mountain Area screen the impact of its operations and business model against the five B Corp™ impact areas, namely Governance, Workers, Community, Environment and Customers. B Corp ™ certification rewards businesses that adopt stringent standards in terms of social and environmental impact, transparency and responsibility, and commits the company to continuing its CSR* approach. The B Corp™ label is based on a "Business Impact Assessment" (BIA) measuring a company's impacts across the board, certain initiatives bring the role of the mountain area's teams in the achievement into sharper focus. This recognition, which reflects on the entire region, is the result of several noteworthy initiatives carried out jointly with elected officials of the local authorities driving this area, as well as the practical rollout of initiatives undertaken by ADS's parent company, Compagnie des Alpes, which are now enshrined in the Group's Corporate Mission. The Mountain Area manager relies above all on a unique collective known as La Ruche, made up of a hundred committed employees who, for over four years, have been driving initiatives aimed at accelerating the environmental transformation of the Les Arcs/Peisey Vallandry Mountain Area, involving the company's employees in their implementation. Its successes include the regreening of mountain areas thanks to the planting of 900 trees in 2023, the restoration of several wetland areas, litter picking action days and the organisation of Climate workshops. Two essential levers for achieving the net zero carbon target by 2030 are covered by initiatives underway. First, there are the initiatives concerning internal mobility within the company, with the widespread use of HVO 100 fuel chosen by the Group for all its snow groomers, which has enabled the Les Arcs/Peisey-Vallandry Mountain Area to reduce CO2 emissions linked to grooming and company vehicles by over 80%. Secondly, the Les Arcs/Peisey-Vallandry/Villaroger Mountain Area is actively contributing to the mobility transition sought by the region's elected officials, relying in particular on the funicular railway. This link between the valley and high-altitude sites is a soft mobility tool that fits into the aim of offering a car-free and exclusively pedestrian pathway to the resort. The Mountain Area is contributing to this resolute regional commitment by offering free access to the funicular for all visitors arriving by train. Third is the Les Arcs/Peisey-Vallandry/Villaroger Mountain Area's involvement in the local economy where it employs 550 people and indirectly generates 2,500 employees jobs across the wider region, including in Bourg Saint Maurice in the valley below. The company has adopted a new responsible purchasing policy that focuses on the environmental impact of its suppliers, enabling it to make nearly 90% of its purchases in the local Auvergne Rhône--Alpes region. This B Corp certification is therefore both recognition of the Les Arcs/Peisey-Vallandry/Villaroger community's achievements to date and ongoing commitment to working collectively towards the same vision. The B Corp™ certification process also means that going forward there's an ongoing challenge encouraging all teams within the Les Arcs/Peisey-Vallandry/Villaroger Mountain Area and the wider Compagnie des Alpes Group to surpass themselves in order enhance their positive contribution to the world we live in, the group says. Image credit Raj Bundhoo |
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Montgenèvre ski resort, the only French centre on the Via Lattea (Milky Way) pass, which includes 2006 Winter Olympic resorts Sestriere, Sauze d'Oulx, Claviere, Pragelato and Sansicario on the Italian side, has announced a new gondola will go into service this winter to improve cross-border connectivity on the circuit. The new Telecabine du Rocher de L'Aigle ("rock of the eagle") lift will replace the slow old chairlift on the route which the resort described as "ancient". The new gondola will have cabins that can each carry up to 10 people and the resort promises a much more comfortable ride to the Italian border where once a passport-check was carried out at a border post. It will also cut the ascent time on the route to a third of wat it has been previously. Montgenèvre's ski season is scheduled to run from 2 December 2023 to 20 April 2024. |
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Two French ski resorts have opened, marking the start of the French 23-24 ski season. Tignes (pictured above earlier this month) and Val Thorens have both opened almost a week earlier than planned having both received more than a metre of snowfall in the first half of November. Despite reports of thawing, rain and avalanche danger on lower slopes in the French Alps this week following the big falls, both areas report over a metre of snow still lying on their higher runs. Val Thorens posted the most terrain open so far, with 10km of runs, while Tignes is believed to have the bigger lift served vertical of 1300 metres. However although "opening early", 18th November is believed to be the latest starting date of a French ski season since at least the 1970s, with Tignes previously aiming to open in September or October, which it has now given up trying. Les 2 Alpes also opens in October if it can, but this year there was not enough snow. France also has fewer resorts open than the three other main Alpine ski nations. Austria and Switzerland are already into double figures for number of areas open, while Italy has seven centres open already. The amount of terrain available is also growing fast with Solden now posting over 90km of runs and recently opened Obergurgl over 50km. |
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Switzerland looks set to overtake Austria and have the most ski centres open in Europe this weekend. Only the US has more areas open. Currently only three Swiss centres are open daily, but half-a-dozen have been opening for weekends in November and that number is set to grow by another half-a-dozen from November 18th. Big name resorts opening for their 23-24 seasons tomorrow include Andermatt (pictured above yesterday), which reports it has had 80cm of snowfall from the recent storms, Crans Montana, Grimentz and Laax. They'll join already open areas including Arosa, Davos, Glacier 3000, Saas Fee, St Moritz, Verbier and Zermatt. It's a big weekend for Zermatt which is hoping it will finally run World Cup downhill races on its cross border Grand Becca course after three previous failures to launch last season and last weekend. Two women's races are scheduled and currently the forecast finally looks favourable. However race training was cancelled due to strong winds on Friday morning. A number of Swiss areas that have been opening weekends up to now, will be open daily from the 18th, including Davos. The weather continues to bring snow showers on high slopes, although not as heavy in recent days as at the start pf the month. Lows of -8C on higher slopes, +8C in valleys. |
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