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EnvironmentLifestyleRoundupsSki ResortsTechnique / SafetyTravel

Snow-Forecast’s Rolling News on Ski Resorts Re-Opening (2020-21)

1Last Updated: 18 Sepember 2020 at 12.50 GMT (Updates so far since 5 May: 144) The web's most comprehensive guide of ski resorts opening around the world. More Than 40 Ski Areas Are Currently Open Worldwide In 8 Countries on 3 Continents: Europe: Austria, Italy, Norway, Switzerland. Oceania: Australia and New Zealand. South America: Chile and Argentina. Browse by country: North America: Canada USA South America: Argentina Chile Europe: Austria France Italy Norway Scotland Slovak Republic Slovenia Sweden Switzerland Africa: Lesotho South Africa Asia: China Japan Oceania: Australia New Zealand New: Val Senales has opened for its 2020-21 ski season in Italy, joining already-open Passo Stelvio (18 September). New: Sun Peaks, which operates the second largest ski area in Canada, has announced it has sold out of season passes…

Snowhunter 18th September 2020 1
Gear

What did we discover during lockdown?

Back when we all thought the world would end due to the Millennium Bug (it didn't), we made a t-shirt. It was the first one we produced and features an early logo derived from the fridge in our home office. If you're like us, you may have whiled away some lockdown hours tidying your shed. "be part of snow-forecasting history with a chance to own one of our first ever t-shirts!" That's what I did, and in a Tesco bag full of broken snowboard bindings I discovered this rare example. It gave us an idea: make a limited run of these shirts and surprise the first few hundred Snow-Forecast.com fans who subscribed by sending them one. Now you can own…

Nick Russill 22nd June 2020 3
Ski Resorts

First 8 Seat Chairlift Coming to New Zealand

Mt Hutt ski area in New Zealand has announced that it will be installing the country’s first eight-seater express chairlift during the coming southern-hemisphere summer, subject to regulatory approval and any virus-related limitations on the project. Mt Hutt is often the first ski area in the southern hemisphere to open for the ski season each autumn, and is also already home to the South Island’s highest chairlift. https://youtu.be/jc6PM1viNAw The lift should dramatically improve access to the mountain, taking two-minutes to ascend against the seven-minutes of the quad chair it will replace. It will also double capacity on the route from 1500 to a capacity of 3000 people per hour. “This lift will follow the same path up the mountain as…

Snowhunter 18th September 2020
Environment

Snow Competency Centre Aims To Cut Snow Waste

A novel new organisation based in Norway has begun operations with the aim of helping ski resorts manage snow more efficiently, and thus cut energy use and help the environment. The Snow Competency Centre has grown out of a research project called Snow For the Future and has won some big name backers including the International Ski Federation (FIS). The centre’s website, published in English and Norwegian, is choc-full of ideas on how ski destinations can make best use of their snow resources, with the minimum energy use. Ruka snow-farming The four key sections of the site include: Snow Production – how to maximise efficiency in a warming climate; Snow storage – efficient storage through summer (the increasingly popular “snow-farming”…

Snowhunter 11th September 2020
Ski ResortsWeather

Snow In The Rockies After 60 Degree Temperature Plunge

Ski areas in Western North America have been reporting record high temperatures in recent weeks with Mammoth Mountain and Timberline among resorts closed to summer visitors due to forest fire danger. But the start of this week saw a massive temperature drop in a little over 24 hours with the mercury plummeting from the high 80s (and even over 100F in some cases) to the low 30s in the Rockies and other mountain areas nearby. The result was a late summer snowfall from Alberta (Banff pictured above on Tuesday) and BC in the north down to southern Colorado and New Mexico. There had been an earlier light snowfall a week earlier reported on high slopes but this time the snow…

Snowhunter 10th September 2020
Roundups

WORLD SNOW ROUNDUP #156

Issued: 09 September 2020 By Patrick "Snowhunter" Thorne North American RoundupEuropean RoundupAsia Roundup SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE OVERVIEW SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE INTRO|  Winter 2020 is definitely winding down in the Southern Hemisphere now. September is normally the last month for many areas in this part of the world; however, this year COVID-19 restrictions seem to be curtailing everything, on top of which is the present impact of the spring thaw.But winter has not finished yet in some areas and this past week it has been the turn of New Zealand, with ski areas there seeing some big snowfalls over the past week, to really get a full blast of it. n Australia, all eyes have been on the province of Victoria where two…

MarcD 9th September 2020
AdventuresEnvironmentLifestyle

Skier Aims To Fund Planting of 100,000 Trees By Climbing 100,000 Metres on Skis 

A professional skier based in New-Zealand, Pete Oswald, is funding the reforestation of by skiing uphill. Pete Oswald's 'Ski For Trees' initiative has already proved so successful that it has funded the planting of nearly 50,000 trees in Madagascar, and Pete hopes to reach 100,000 trees by the time the snow has gone. The initiative seeks donations for every metre Pete skis uphill, so far that total has passed 26,000 vertical metres climbed, mostly at Coronet Peak and The Remarkables ski areas, and enough money donated to plant more than 48,000 trees so far. "I've set it up to draw attention to how little money it costs to put a lot of trees in the ground in a place where…

Snowhunter 8th September 2020
Ski ResortsTechnique / Safety

Copper Mountain To Start Season Later than Usual

Copper Mountain in Colorado has announced it will start its 20-21 season later than usual, on Monday, November 30th. The resort, which is one of the most snowsure in North America (it maintained a summer snow park to mid-August, pictured below), and operates one of the highest ski areas in the world, is normally among the first in North America to open in the first-half of November. The move is part of a long-list of measures aimed at minimising and risk of coronavirus spread the ski area in under taking, “We’re confident that starting our season later than we have historically opened, with more acreage and lifts open, will help guests spread out and maintain appropriate distance while also providing…

Snowhunter 6th September 2020
Weather

Best Conditions of the Season in New Zealand

Conditions at ski areas across New Zealand are reported to be the best of the season so far, with some claiming Wednesday 2nd September was the best ski day in the past five years. There were blue sky conditions after the country’s ski areas reported between 20 and 42cm of light powder snowfall in the previous 48 hours. The Remarkables is pictured top, Mt Dobson below. The great conditions did however cause issues at a number of areas as large numbers of skiers attempted to reach the slopes whilst New Zealand remains under COVID-19 Level 2 pandemic restrictions which limited the numbers on the mountain.  Car parks at several areas were full by 9am. With queues of up to 5km…

Snowhunter 3rd September 2020
Roundups

WORLD SNOW ROUNDUP #156

Issued: 02 September 2020 By Patrick "Snowhunter" Thorne North American RoundupEuropean RoundupAsia Roundup SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE OVERVIEW SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE INTRO|  It’s the start of spring in the Southern Hemisphere, if you follow the season change dates around the 1st of March, June, September and December. So this is the last full month of the season, in a normal year, for most Southern Hemisphere ski areas, most in New Zealand, South America and some in Australia that is. Others in Australia often close by late September and for southern Africa the season ends at the end of August. Sadly, the 2020 season has now finished there, never getting started in South Africa itself thanks to COVID-19. The virus news, which seems as…

MarcD 2nd September 2020
Ski Resorts

Vail Resorts To Limit Early-Season Slope Access to Season Pass Holders

Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz has released a letter outlining the operating plans for the 34 North American resorts owned by what is now the world’s biggest ski-resorts operator by most measures. Their resorts inventory includes many famous names in North American skiing: Breckenridge, Park City, Whistler, Stowe, Heavenly and Park City to name a few. Among the initiatives announced are measures being adopted at most ski resorts around the world – around COVID testing of employees and guests, increased cleaning, online ticket sales only, refunds in certain scenarios, the wearing of face coverings in most locations and social distancing.  The group are also reducing capacity on their mountains and requiring all skiers to register for the days they want…

Snowhunter 2nd September 2020