Ski News from J2Ski

Ski Resort and Snow News - June 2009

Saas Fee RIDE 09 - 18th JULY

Published : 30-Jun-2009 01:43

This summer will once again see many of Europe's top freeskiers compete in the Allalin Snow Park on the Saas-Fee glacier at the Saas-Fee Ride 09. Last year's event was seen across the globe with a 26 minute TV programme showcasing just how good summer glacier skiing can be. It has just clocked up over 500 hours of television airtime and has given the 50+ athletes at the comp some much deserved publicity.

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Dolomites Declared Natural World Heritage Site

Published : 29-Jun-2009 10:44

The stunning Italian Dolomite mountains have been declared a Natural World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

The organisation made their decision at a meeting in Seville, Spain, on June 26th. The concluding report of the IUCN's international commission of experts, judged the Dolomites, with their particular geological, botanical and scenic qualities, to be unique in the world.

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Views : 3,720

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South American Ski Season Kicks Off With Big Snow

Published : 29-Jun-2009 08:10

Heavy snowfall in South America, reportedly measuring over two metres at some resorts, has led to most of the continents 30 or so ski areas in Argentina and Chile opening over the past week.

Las Lenas in Argentina has reported over seven feet (two metres) of snow on upper slopes and Portillo in Chile says it has 145cm (just under five feet) of snow on upper slopes and 70cm (28 inches) in resort.

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Views : 2,432

Also on J2Ski :- Big Snow Snow Forecast Ski Hotels

White Pass Expansion Underway

Published : 29-Jun-2009 07:53

Work is underway at White Pass ski resort in Washington state to expand the ski area over the coming two seasons.

One of the few new lift projects currently underway in North America, and one of the still rarer terrain expansions, is scheduled to be completed for winter 2010-2011 and will see two new quad chairlifts installed to open up the Hogback Basin area.

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Views : 2,351

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New Apple Patented Technology Could See Automatically Enforced Speed Limits On Ski Runs

Published : 29-Jun-2009 07:52

New patents granted to the Apple Corporation in North America last week include several that have implications for recreational winter sports men and women, as well as professional.

One clever new piece of kits allows for wireless heart rate monitoring and notification to resort medical crews if a skier goes in to cardiac arrest or has other medical events on the slopes.

Read the full Article : New Apple Patented Technology Could See Automatically Enforced Speed Limits On Ski Runs
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Views : 7,547

More Snowmaking For Lenzerheide

Published : 23-Jun-2009 03:59

Lenzerheide will be able to guarantee more snow cover next winter than in past years, so long as the temperatures are low enough for snowmaking.

New equipment has been installed in the Scalottas, Danis and Stätz regions, which makes these zones snow-sure from the start of the season.

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Views : 2,696

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Argentinian Ski Resort Makes Helmet Wearing Compulsory For Children

Published : 23-Jun-2009 12:04

The leading Argentinian ski resort of Las Lenas, which opened for its 2009 season this week, is the latest to make safety helmet wearing compulsory for children younger than 12 years of age.

The resort has purchased 600 new helmets this year and is offering them for rental.

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Views : 2,344

Kitzsteinhorn Plans Summer Ice Arena And Festival

Published : 23-Jun-2009 11:47

The Kitzsteinhorn Glacier above Kaprun, one of about a dozen European glacier ski areas still offering summer skiing, has announced added attractions in the coming weeks.

The Kitzsteinhorn's Ice arena will open next Friday, June 26th. Facilities include snow slides served by a magic carpet conveyor lift, a 'PistenBully' snow grooming vehicle for children to play on and a snow beach with Ice bar, a panorama terrace at the summit station and a 362m long panorama tunnel straight through the Kitzsteinhorn. In addition the Panorama terrace Glocknerkanzel provides a view of the Großglockner, Austria's highest mountain. There is also a secured glacier path across the eternal ice and a daily free guided panorama hike across the glacier on offer.

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Views : 3,165

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Sun Valley Ski Resort To Install New Gondola

Published : 23-Jun-2009 11:44

Sun Valley in Idaho, the resort that gave the world the chairlift and probably the hot tub, will unveil a new gondola next winter.

"The new Gondola on the River Run side of Bald Mountain will carry passengers from the base of River Run to the Roundhouse mid-way up the mountain." said resort spokesperson Shannon Besoyan

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Views : 2,931

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Kumi Yama in Les 2 Alpes

Published : 23-Jun-2009 06:41

Les 2 Alpes will stage the Japanese themed 'board sport event' on its glacier on July 3, 4 and 5, 2009 with 10,000 Euros and trip to Tokyo up for grabs to the winner.

Describing the contest as, "THE boardsport event of the summer," Kumi Yama follows on from last year's successful Taravana freestyle with its Tahiti theme.

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Views : 2,522

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Latest New Zealand Ski Area Opens For Season

Published : 23-Jun-2009 06:40

Bright sunshine, excellent snow cover and all lifts operating made for a beautiful day in the mountains at The Remarkables ski area near Queenstown in New Zealand for the start of the 2009 winter season.

It was all smiles at the alpine resort as people drove up through the low cloud over Queenstown to discover the mountains bathed in sunshine. First on the chair honours went to Will Orr, Adie Lawrence, Connor Gambles and Conor Dolman all of Queenstown (pictured). The four arrived at 5.30am to secure their first on the chair spot in the lift queue.

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Views : 2,281

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Tignes Opens For Summer Skiing In Bikinis

Published : 23-Jun-2009 06:37

Tignes is the second French resort to open for summer skiing after Les 2 Alpes a week ago. To celebrate the resort staged a bikini ski event in which a small number of enthusiasts took to the snow slopes clad only in swimwear and ski boots. Ski gloves, eye protection and sun cream were also allowed in this 'competition.'

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Views : 8,352

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Spectacular New Bridge for Bad Gastein

Published : 15-Jun-2009 09:46

Bad Gastein is currently building a spectacular 140m long 'hanging bridge' from the summit station of the Stubnerkogel lift to the Sender.

At the northern end of the bridge a footbridge leads from the existing hiking trail to the hanging bridge, which is anchored to the solid rock. At the southern end of the bridge there will be a connection to the terrace of the existing summit restaurant.

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Views : 3,497

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Wind Turbine Planned For Second New England Resort

Published : 15-Jun-2009 09:04

New Hampshire's Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort was the first ski area to erect a wind turbine, one of the largest ever built by a private company, but now a second New England ski resort will construct a big turbine to generate power itself.

The smaller Berkshire East ski area will built a smaller windmill generating 600-kilowatts instead of the 1.5 megawatts generated by Jiminy Peak, producing power to meet a third of its energy needs.

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Views : 2,763

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Australia’s Ski Areas Get Snow

Published : 15-Jun-2009 08:31

Several of Australia's ski areas opened with little or no snow on June 5th/6th, but that has all changed in the past week with snow falling at most centres, leading to excellent early –season conditions.

Perisher opened its Mt Perisher ski slopes last week reporting conditions for this early in the season, "the best in a decade."

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Views : 2,421

Also on J2Ski :- Perisher Snow Forecast Ski Hotels

Whistler’s Glacier “Shrank By Half...”

Published : 15-Jun-2009 07:43

Whistler Blackcomb's 7,000 Year Old Glacier "Shrank By Half in Past Century"

A report in Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper says that the 7,000-year-old Horstman Glacier has lost half its volume in the past century, and that the rate of melt has accelerated in the past decade with more than 10 per cent lost since 1999.

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Views : 2,948

Australia Joins New Zealand As More Southern Ski Resorts Open

Published : 09-Jun-2009 12:52

More of New Zealand's ski areas opened at the weekend, joining Mt Hutt in enjoying a great start to the winter after a snowy May. In Australia the country's major ski areas opened although with scant snow cover on Saturday, June 6th – the traditional opening weekend.

Read the full Article : Australia Joins New Zealand As More Southern Ski Resorts Open
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Views : 2,442

Also on J2Ski :- Perisher Snow Forecast Ski Hotels

Artificial Ski Slope Under Construction in Himalayas

Published : 09-Jun-2009 11:47

An artificial ski slope is reported to be currently under construction at Auli, a tourist spot and well known ski centre located at an altitude of 2,500m in the Indian Himalayas.

The area, one of India's best known ski resorts although with facilities including a chairlift and cable car, will host the Asian winter games this December, however some reports claim that there has been very little natural snowfall for the past two winters, possibly due to global warming, and thus the local authorities are investing in the artificial surface slope as well as a new snowmaking system.

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Views : 2,254

New Six Seat Chairlift For Three Valleys

Published : 09-Jun-2009 11:09

A new six-seater detachable chairlift with easy access is being installed to upgrade the existing quad in the Reberty-Les Bruyeres sector of the Belleville Valley, shared by Les Menuires and St Martin de Belleville and part of the world's largest lift-linked ski area, the Three Valleys in France.

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Views : 2,299

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New Pan-European Ski Federation Launched

Published : 09-Jun-2009 10:18

A new international ski body, the European Ski Federation, has been established by the Austrian, French, Italian, and Swiss ski federations. They say they do not intend to compete with the International Ski Federation, but that the Alpine nations of central Europe planned to stand together in the face of the current economic crisis.

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Views : 6,372

Cardrona Readies For 2009 Opening

Published : 03-Jun-2009 02:27

Cardrona Alpine Resort in New Zealand is gearing up for the 2009 ski season, a little over three weeks away, with the best pre-season snow base levels in over a decade, 120cm on the upper mountain and 80cm in the base area.

"We've had some pretty extreme weather in May bringing heavy snow falls, the mountain is looking amazing, from top to bottom. It's been great to get such a solid snow base but I know our operations team is grateful this week has brought some settled weather to continue with pre-season preparations," said Nadia Ellis, sales and marketing manager.

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Views : 2,739

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2010 Winter Olympics Bookings “Steady”

Published : 03-Jun-2009 06:37

Whistler.com reports steady bookings at average $600 Nightly Room Rate

"Whistler.com is seeing between 100 to 200 enquiries per day for accommodation, and we've been able to connect many Games-time visitors with accommodation providers at prices that are acceptable to both. We've become the 'go-to' site for people seeking accommodation in Whistler during Games time," says Diana Lyons, vice-president of operations for Tourism Whistler, which co-owns and operates whistler.com.

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Views : 4,130

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Compagnie des Alpes reports Second Best Ski Season

Published : 01-Jun-2009 01:00

Ski Business Down, But Still Second Best Season Ever

The world's largest ski lift operator, the French-based Compagnie des Alpes, has reported that throughout the 2008-2009 winter season, which ended May 10, 2009, the Group's French ski areas had what it describes in a statement as, "very satisfactory business, reflecting the quality of the sites and the strength of the ski market."

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Views : 2,690

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Whistler Closes for Snowsports Earlier than Planned

Published : 01-Jun-2009 07:49

Yesterday was the last day for skiing and riding at the last ski area still open for the 2008/2009 season in Canada. Whistler Mountain ended the season on Sunday, May 31st, two weeks ahead of the publicised closing date of June 14th.

"Epic spring conditions that were enjoyed up until this past weekend have deteriorated very quickly over the past few days," says Bob Dufour, Whistler Blackcomb's vice president of operations. "The snow quality is quickly diminishing and posing more hazards by the day. Looking at the warm weather and sunshine in the forecast, the conditions will obviously deteriorate further."

Read the full Article : Whistler Closes for Snowsports Earlier than Planned
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Views : 2,645

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New Six Seater Lifts in the Grand Massif

Published : 01-Jun-2009 07:46

Two new six-seater chairlifts are currently under construction in the French Grand Massif region which includes the resorts of Flaine, Morillon, Samoens, Sixt and Les Carroz.

The first lift in Samoens, the new "Chariande Express," will cut transfer time from bottom to top of the Samoens ski area by a third and more than double capacity on the route. The lift replaces two old chairlifts and one old ski lift.

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Views : 4,612

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