J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

Ski areas in Australia have been reporting their second wave of pre-season snowfall in the last week, with heavier falls, up to 20cm (8") so far, reported overnight. Temperatures have also been cold enough for ski centres to fire up snowmaking systems.

The 2023 ski season there is due to start in five weeks' on the King's Birthday long weekend in early June. Fall's Creek is pictured above.

Meanwhile Sunday 7th mark the end of the 22-23 ski season for ski areas still open in a number of northern hemisphere countries including Cervinia, the last area still open in Italy and Tignes, Val d'Isere and Val Thorens in France. These had been the three areas still open in France for the 22-23 season, although les 2 Alpes has since re-opened for late-spring/early-summer glacier skiing in May and June. Levi and Ruka will also close after 7-month seasons in Finland, the last centres still open there.

Elsewhere Austria's Pitztal and Solden glaciers close today, but there are four other glacier areas still open there and Lake Louise closes in Canada leaving the Blackcomb Mountain at Whistler and at Sunshine near Banff as well as Summit Saint Sauveur in Quebec the only centres still open there.

Half-a-dozen US ski areas are scheduled to close but nearly 20 remain open there and in Switzerland Adelboden, the Diavolezza glacier, Engelberg and Glacier 3000 ski areas are expected to close leaving only Zermatt still open and hoping to return to year-round glacier skiing after being forced to close for 7 weeks last August-September after snow cover melted from its glacier for the first time.

Australia's largest resort Perisher's historic 'Skitube' alpine railway train has been given a new lease of life thanks to artist Mike Shankster's new large-scale mural covering of four train carriages, created with help from Ukrainian artist Arina Apostolova. 

"Perisher holds a special place in my heart," said Mike, whose parents once owned Perisher Valley's Willow Lodge. "Spending time here brings back a lot of memories from my childhood skiing between Perisher and Smiggins with my brother and sister. The smell of bush and calm environment is something I'm always eager to get back to."

Shankster and Apostolova spent two weeks covering the carriages with nature-inspired abstract art depicting blurred landscapes, such as gum leaves, to mimic the view from a train's carriage as you're travelling through the Kosciuszko National Park on the way to Perisher Ski Resort. 

The Skitube alpine railway is a Swiss-designed rack-rail train system that opened in August 1988 and was introduced to improve entry to the Perisher Range ski fields, which can be affected by snow and ice during winter. It remains an easy and safe way to access the resort.  The train has carried over four million passengers over the 35 years it has been operating.

It travels through a tunnel in the Ramshead Range to Perisher Resort, stopping in the underground station at Perisher Valley. It then heads to Blue Cow via another tunnel through the Perisher Range. The tunnel is Australia's longest transport tunnel at 6.3km long, and at its deepest point is 550m below the surface.

The freshly painted carriages will be officially unveiled to the public on opening weekend of the 2023 snow season on 10 June.

Colorado has the most ski areas still open in the US as we start May with six centres still operating their lifts and runs into May to choose from.

Copper Mountain and Loveland will close this weekend on May 7 with Purgatory open two more weekends to the 14th when Winter Park also plans to close. Breckenridge has not announced a closing date yet, other than probably in May, and Arapahoe basin has so far extended its season to June 4th.

Utah has four centres open. Brian Head and Brighton resorts are now open weekends only, with the final one this coming Saturday/Sunday. final weekend May 6-7th

Brighton – Day skiing concludes on April 30, and then Brighton will reopen on May 5th for weekends to the end of the month. Solitude is into its longest season and deepest snow ever and is open daily until Sunday then plans two more weekend to May 21st. Snowbird hasn't announced a closing date but expects to stay open into June. Access to it has been limited this week though with the road to the resort closed due to high avalanche danger.

In California, there are also four areas still open. Mammoth Mountain has had the deepest snow all season and still has over 6 metres (20 feet) lying u high. It's due to stay open into August, probably, and has had fresh snowfall this week. Elsewhere Heavenly will close this coming weekend on May 7th and Kirkwood a week later on May 14th with Palisades Tahoe, posting the world's second deepest base at over 5 metres, expecting to stay open to at least July 4th

Over the stateline in Nevada Lee Canyon has announced it'll reopen this weekend to May 7th.

Other states with ski areas open include Oregon, with three centres still open: Mt Bachelor, Willamette Pass and Timberline – usually the last area open in the US until August, or even early September some years.
Crystal Mountain is still open in Washington State, Alyeska in Alaska, Bogus Basin in Idaho and Arizona Snowbowl too, most closing this Sunday May 7th.

In the east three centres remain open in Vermont – Jay Peak, Killington and Sugarbush and you can ski or board snow indoors at Big SNOW in New Jersey.

Ski areas in Australia have reported fresh snowfall with just over a month to go to the start of the 2023 season.

However ski centres, including Thredbo (pictured above today), reported gales of up to 100kph giving blizzard conditions at times.

Most Australian ski areas will open on the second weekend of June. This was traditionally due to a public holiday in honour of Queen Elizabeth II on the second Monday of the month, making it a long weekend and centres opened whether there was much snow cover or not. It's all change, in terms of the holiday's name, this winter though, as it is now the King's Birthday Weekend in honour of King Charles III, although his birthday is in November.

This winter will see the re-opening of the Selwyn Ski Area for the first time since winter 2019 after it was largely destroyed by bush fires in early 2000. It was close to re—opening last winter having been rebuilt through the pandemic but early heavy snowfall in autumn-winter 2022 led to a last minute postponement to this winter as the final bits of reconstruction work could not be completed.

It is ready to go for 2023 though and has been testing its new snowmaking systems this week.

Pre-season snowfall on high slopes has also been reported in the Andes and in New Zealand.

May has begun with heavy snowfall above about 1800m across much of the Alps. About 30 ski areas are still open for winter 22-23, although a chunk of these are due to close at the end of today.

In France, Tignes saw rain to about 2,000m yesterday (April 30th) but increasingly good snow conditions over the 1500 vertical metres of slopes above. May has started with slightly lower temperatures and very heavy snowfall giving white out conditions. The picture above was taken at 7am on May 1st, 2023

Skies are however due to clear from Tuesday giving the potential for a fabulous final week of the season. Neighbouring Val d'Isere as well as Val Thorens in the 3 Valleys are the two other French resorts still open until next weekend.

A fourth French resort, Les 2 Alpes, will open for two months of glacier late spring/summer skiing on Tuesday, May 2nd.

Austria's huge Arlberg region, home to world famous ski resorts including Lech and St Anton, will get another new gondola next winter.

The 40-year-old Albonabahn I double chairlift in Stuben am Arlberg will be replaced by a new gondola with cabins for 8 people.

"Freezing on the Albonabahn should be a thing of the past," a resort spokesperson joked on social media.

The Alonabahn allow skiers in Stuben am Arlberg to travel via the "Alpe Rauz" to reach the ski regions of St. Anton, St. Christoph, Zürs, Lech and even Warth-Schröcken on skis. A special feature of the Albona are the long north slope descents, which promise maximum skiing pleasure until late spring.

The new lift will climb 440 vertical metre over its 1,115m length reaching 1,845m Travelling at 5m/s and taking five minutes to make the ascent it will carry up to 1,600 P/h in 30 cabins.

The original "Albonabahn I" double chair lift was built in 1983. The new monocable gondola will have a new valley station and the route will remain almost the same, however the new mountain station will move about 200m towards the valley, right next to the existing mountain restaurant "Albona Mitte".

Construction work will last from May to November 2023 and be completed in time for the start of the 2023/24 ski season.

Although a lot of the focus of news from Zermatt and Cervinia this summer is likely to be on the completion of the long-planned Alpine Crossing by ultra-modern gondola between the two resorts, with the completion of the Matterhorn Glacier Ride II will start operating between Testa Grigia and the Klein Matterhorn due to open on 1st July, a second new cable car connecting Zermatt to Furi will also go into operation a few months later, in the autumn.

For an added novelty the new cable car will follow recent installations at the Dachstein Glacier in Austria and on the Grande Motte glacier in Tignes that allow users to ride in the open air in an enclosed 'balcony' on the roof of the cabin.

"The new state-of-the-art cabins will offer space for up to 100 people and feature a contemporary design with generous glass fronts promising a perfect view of the Matterhorn," a spokesperson for the lift company enthused, adding, "The first pylon immediately after the valley station has been constructed in the shape of a magnifying glass. Depending on the viewing angle, the cabins will pass through the magnifying glass construction with the Matterhorn in focus, creating a fascinating image."

French ski area Les 2 Alpes which claims the largest summer glacier ski area in the world is moving its summer ski season forward so that it runs through May and June, starting this coming Tuesday 2nd May.

"To adapt to the changes in weather patterns and to protect the glacier, SATA, the lift company, has decided to open for skiing earlier but to also close earlier (2 May to the 30 of June). However, pedestrian can still access the glacier all summer, and enjoy the breath-taking views and cooler temperatures," a resort statement explained.

Previously Les 2 Alpes has opened from mid-late June and aimed to stay open in to August, however in recent years all the snow has melted from the glacier leading to an early end to summer skiing with that schedule.

In 30 minutes, the Jandri Express cable-car takes skiers up from the resort at 1,600m up to the glacier at 3,200m with the funicular continuing up to 3,400m. Along with ski slopes there are 360-degree views from Mont-Blanc to Mont-Ventoux, from Massif Central to Italy via the Écrins National Park, the Aiguilles d'Arves, the Vercors and Chartreuse Mountain ranges. An adult summer 2023 1 day lift pass will be €45 or a 6-day pass €250.50 with a small discount for children (5 to 12 years old) of around 10% with a 1 day ticket €41 and 6-day €222.

The other two remaining French summer ski areas, Tignes and Val d'Isere, plan to stick to June openings into July but with shorter five-week target opening periods.

Les 2 Alpes re-opening on 2nd May means that skiing will continue to be possible in France throughout the spring. Three areas, Val Thorens as well as Tignes and Val d/Isere again, will still be completing their 22-23 winter seasons, due to end May 7th, as Les 2 Alpes, which ended theirs last weekend, re-opens. Usually there is a month or so gap between the last French winter season ending and the first summer glacier area re-opening.