Messages posted by : J2SkiNews
The world's largest ski area, Les 3 Vallées which encompasses the skiing around and above Val Thorens, Les Menuires, Méribel and Courchevel in France reports it now has more than 400km – 2/3 of its maximum potential terrain, open. The terrain is made up of more than 250 of the region's nearly 350 ski runs. As of Friday the region was posting 444km of slopes open, just under 75% of its maximum area. The amount of open terrain comes despite challenges caused by warm temperatures and rain to high altitudes over the Christmas weekend, which have negatively impacted more low lying ski regions. However over a dozen ski areas in Europe and North America are each reporting they now have more than 200km of slopes open, despite most having relatively thin snow cover, particularly at lower elevations, so far this season.
Switzerland's 4 Vallées around Verbier, La Tzoumaz, Nendaz and Veysonnaz also has about two-thirds of its terrain open, reporting 265 km of slopes skiable, in second place after Les 3 Vallées. Other areas posting more than 200km of slopes open already include the cross border (Italy / France) Via Lattea (Milky Way) region incorporating Sestriere, Sauze d'Oulx and Montgenèvre as well as other cross Border areas Cervinia / Zermatt (Italy/Switzerland) and Ischgl / Samnaun (Austria / Switzerland). In Austria the Skiwelt and Saalbcah Hinterglemm areas say they have 200km slopes open now, as do, in France, Tignes/Val d'Isère, Les 2 Alpes and Alpe d'Huez. US ski areas Park City in Utah, Aspen-Snowmass in Colorado and Big Sky Resort in Montana all have hundreds of kilometres of slopes open. |
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The Colorado Sun newspaper is reporting that the state's Summit County 911 Center is being swamped by automated calls from iPhones which report their owner has been in an accident, when they haven't. The new iPhone 14 and Watch 8 series automatically calls emergency services if they are moving at speed then stop abruptly, indicating a car crash may have occurred. However it appears skiers stopping suddenly on the slopes cause the system to call emergency services. 911 handlers then call the phone to check if there has been an accident or not, however with phones often deep in pockets and skiers wearing hats and helmets, most don't hear the calls ot don't respond if they do. Protocol then is to dispatch emergency services to the last known location of the phone. Summit Country reported an average of 60 automated crash notifications a day and a record so far of 71 in one day.
Apple are reported to now be aware of the conflict between skiers and the crash detection technology and say they have a team working on a fix. Separately Apple iPhones have also been praised for helping rescue skiers trapped or injured in potentially life threatening real emergencies when used manually to automatically call emergency services and send location data. |
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Most of Europe's larger destination resorts are managing to open more groomed terrain for the Christmas and New Year holidays despite challenging weather conditions in the Alps. The world's largest ski area, the 3 Valleys in France, reports more than 250 of its nearly 350 runs open for Christmas week. Other big areas are reporting they have 70-90% of their terrain open. They also report good conditions on groomed pistes, particularly above 2,000m, if not so much off. The fact that ski areas have been opening more terrain counters some of the more pessimistic weather reports which have focussed on mild air in the alps over Christmas weekend which brought rain above 2,000m altitudes, damaging snow cover which, below 1500m altitude in particular, was thin anyway after a largely dry and warmer-than-average autumn. Up high though, the rain did fall as snow with some areas with slopes up to or above 3,000m altitude reported up to 50cm of snowfall as the rain fell below. As a result around a quarter of ski areas have still been unable to open for the 22-23 ski season, although most of these are small, local ski hills with relatively low altitude slopes, not so much the destination resorts. It seems many of these had been holding back terrain that had been ready to open earlier in December until the Christmas and New Year crowds arrived to ski it. An added complication in the Alps though is that the rain and mild air, along with strong winds at times, has destabilised the snowpack to create high avalanche danger in many off-piste areas. Currently the region with the least terrain open is south eastern Europe where ski resorts in countries like Greece and Crystal Ski's new destination of Bosnia have been unable to open any runs while centres in Bulgaria, Serbia and Romania have opened with hardly any skiing possible so far with just short runs of machine made snow. This is due to very mild temperatures. |
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Snow Oman in the new Mall of Oman is due to open on December 24th, bringing snow to the Arabian sultanate for the first time. The facility has been developed by the Majid Al Futtaim group, famous for Ski Dubai and more recently Ski Egypt, but as the name change implies, the Oman facility will be about snow, not skiing. The indoor snow park, which is spread over 14,830 square metres, features around a dozen 'rides' and snow and ice fun attractions, many combining traditional Arabian themes, with snow. The Majid Al Futtaim signature attraction of indoor king and gentoo penguins have also arrived. The Majid Al Futtaim Group say their presence helps fund scientific research into the penguins in the wild. There's a frozen Omani port town complete with shipwreck and a frozen lighthouse and an Ice Skating Trail designed for both novice and experienced ice skaters. There';s also sledging on snow-covered 'desert dunes'. |
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Ski areas across the Midwest of the US have announced they're closing, in most cases through to the Christmas weekend, ahead of "Winter Storm Elliot" which is currently crossing the continent from west to east. Temperatures as low as -57C are possible by the end of the week in some locations according to The National Weather Service (NWS) with -50F (-45C) a more common low. Temperatures have already reached the -20s in the Rockies leading to hundreds of flight cancellations. As the storm moves East through Friday, bringing strong winds with it, the "weather bomb" effect is expected to occur across the eastern half of the continent with blizzard conditions as heavy snowfall and strong winds combine.
Western Canada has already been seeing temperatures dip as low as 30 degrees below freezing and a number of areas including Jasper's Marmot Basin ski area in Alberta have closed for several days as a safety measure as a result. Many other areas have partially closed, particularly ski lifts in more exposed locations. This is less unusual in the region however and temperatures are expected to rise for Christmas weekend. The advice for those heading to the slopes are to cover all exposed skin if possible and to only be outdoors for brief periods. Skiers should also wear multiple layers and watch other skiers for signs of frostbite, which can begin within five minutes at very low temperatures. Another reason for closing lifts is to avoid the risk of mechanical failure and leaving people exposed to the elements on stationary chairs. Cold weather is popular with climate change deniers who can't accept climate change exists is happening if it sometimes gets cold. Climate change scientists counter that increasingly violent weather extremes are to be expected as the planet warms. |
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A huge sinkhole is reported to have appeared next to the Russian ski resort of Sheregesh. The 30 metre wide smoking sinkhole, dubbed "the Gate to Hell" by locals, led to four homes being evacuated, but no reported injuries. The sinkhole is being linked to a coal mine which stretches 30 miles underground beneath the ski area, and reported to be owned by a company owned by oligarch Roman Abramovich. Sheregesh was previously best known for its annual spring mass skiing-in-swimsuits day when it battled with Spain's Sierra Nevada to post the world record for the most people on the slopes in skiwear. |
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Very low temperatures, in the minus 30s Celsius, are forecast for Western Canada over the next few days, leading ski resorts in the region to limit operations. Very cold temperatures for a few days are not unusual in the region at this point of mid-winter, it's also fairly common for temperature inversions to bring warmer weather to mountain tops and keep valleys colder.
Very cold weather can cause malfunctions and operational failures of lifts and risks skiers being stuck in the air in very low temperatures. Sometimes ski areas close entirely while the cold spell passes, however Fernie will remain open and anticipate being able to operate their fixed grip chairlifts and surface lifts during through the cold snap. These lifts include the Mighty Moose, Mini Moose, Deer Chair, Elk Chair, Boomerang Chair and Haul Back T-Bar. |
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Italy's Sofia Goggia overcame a broken hand and emergency surgery less than 24 hours before to record her 20th career World Cup win in St Moritz on Saturday. In the women's downhill race at St. Moritz on Friday, Goggia came second 0.29s behind compatriot Elena Curtoni but hit a gate so hard on her descent, fractured her hand in two places. She was flown by helicopter to Milan for emergency surgery where doctors put a plate and nine screws in her left hand. On Saturday, Goggia - with a pole taped to her damaged left hand - earned her third downhill win of the season as her blistering time of 1:28.85 saw her finish 0.43s ahead of Slovenian Ilka Stuhec.
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