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

Last Updated 21 September 2021 at 10.15 GMT (Updates so far since commenced on 5 May 2020: 914) The web's most comprehensive guide of ski resorts opening around the world during the pandemic. An estimated 60+ Ski Areas Are Currently Open Worldwide in at least 6 Countries on 3 Continents including: Europe: Austria, Italy, Switzerland. Oceania: Australia, New Zealand South America: Argentina, Chile Browse by country: North America: Canada USA Europe: Andorra Austria Bulgaria Czech Republic Finland France Germany Italy Norway Poland Scotland Slovak Republic Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Asia: China Japan NEW: Vail Resorts say guests and employees will continue to need to wear masks indoors this winter. (21 September)NEW: New Zealand's Mt Hutt says it plans to extend its season to 21st October. (21 September)The White…

Snowhunter 18th September 2021 3
Technique / Safety

Colorado Ski Area Requires All Staff To Be Fully Vaccinated

Arapahoe Basin ski area in Colorado has announced that all staff must be fully vaccinated in order to be able to work there this season. The resort, one of the world’s highest and often the first non-glacier area in the northern hemisphere to open for the season in late October or early November, says that right now about 90% of our staff are vaccinated. Its new rules are that of the remaining 10% all will have had to have had their second shot by 2nd November.  New employees will have one week from their start date to begin the vaccination process and six weeks to receive their final shot. “Managing Arapahoe Basin through the COVID era has been an extraordinary…

Snowhunter 21st September 2021
Weather

Snowfall on Both Sides of The World

There has been simultaneous snowfall in both the northern and southern hemisphere to start the week and begin spring/autumn (by the astronomical measure of the seasons) depending on where you are in the world. Snowfall has been reported in the last 48 hours in Australia, the European Alps and mountains across Western North America. The 2021 season is winding down in Australia but there's relief that ski areas have been allowed to reopen there and fresh snowfall for the final weeks too with 5-10cm (2-4") reported in the past 24 hours. Falls Creek pictured. There have been several snowfalls already in North America where no ski areas are currently open, but its hope some will be next month. Jackson Hole…

Snowhunter 20th September 2021
Adventures

2022 Freeride World Tour Adds New Stop in Spain

There’ll be two stops in the Pyrenees on the five date Freeride World Tour (FWT) this winter with Spain’s Baqueira Beret unveiled as the new starting point for the famous tour. “If you had told me ten years ago it was possible for a skier from Spain to podium at the Xtreme Verbier, I would have said you were crazy. And now there’s going to be an FWT competition at my home mountain, Baqueira Beret!” said rising Spanish Freeride star Aymar Navarro. The 15th season of the tour will also include what the organisers describe as “progressive Tour format updates.” This include a ‘cut’ of the entrants after the first stage in Canada before two legs of finals in Austria…

Snowhunter 14th September 2021
Ski Resorts

Squaw Valley Changes Name – Now ‘Palisades Tahoe’

The famous Californian ski resort of Squaw Valley, host of the 1960 Winter Olympics, has announced it will henceforth be known as Palisades Tahoe. The name change follows a period of soul-searching by many organisations in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement and the resort says it removes a word widely considered to be a racist and sexist slur. The resort, which is in the process of building a gondola link to the jointly-owned ski area of Alpine Meadows and had most recently been known as Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows as a result, issued the lengthy statement below: “Today, Palisades Tahoe introduced its new name and logo that honour the resort’s history as a land of legends—home to…

Snowhunter 13th September 2021 1
Lifestyle

New Ethical Coffee & Vegan & Gluten-Free Café Opens in Tignes

A brand-new café in Tignes ticks all the boxes for the ethical-eater with a focus on being both socially and environment-friendly, as well as offering vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free food and drink. The new Oxygène Café is run by instructors Federico Luzuy and Beatrice Davico, from the Oxygene Val d’Isère team who know Tignes and the people well having lived and worked in the area. Their ambition was to open their own ski school, with a café, in neighbouring Tignes and that dream has now become reality. Federico and Beatrice have partnered with Caffè Vergnano, a socially and environmentally-friendly Italian brand that supports coffee projects run by women. In 2018, they launched the Women In Coffee programme in partnership with…

Snowhunter 12th September 2021 1
Uncategorised

WORLD SNOW ROUNDUP #207

Issued: 08 September 2021 By Patrick "Snowhunter" Thorne European RoundupNorth American RoundupSouthern Hemisphere WORLD OVERVIEW With September and (by the meteorological measure of time) springtime here, it's the last full month of winter 2021 in the southern hemisphere, although some centres stay open into October, even November in a few cases. In Australia, lockdown extensions are taking us very close to what would be the end of the season anyway, to the great frustration of ski areas that have had more fresh snow and report their slopes in perfect condition.For New Zealand, it's a brighter picture with ski areas able to re-open from the 8th, so many should see a month more of skiing, with conditions generally among the best they've…

MarcD 8th September 2021
Ski ResortsTechnique / Safety

New Zealand Ski Areas Re-Open At Level 2

New Zealand’s ski areas have re-opened at the country’s Level 2 of pandemic restrictions on  Wednesday after what grew from an initial three-day lockdown to a nearly three-week long one, to try to suppress an outbreak of the Delta variant in the country. Most of the country’s larger centres have 3-5 weeks of the normal season left, although centres on Mt Ruapehu on the North Island usually stay open to late October or November.  For most conditions are currently among the best they’ve been all winter. Level 2 does not yet mean a return to pre-pandemic type life, which New Zealand has enjoyed for much of the past 18 months.  Instead it is more like much of the rest of…

Snowhunter 7th September 2021
Environment

Ski Resorts Threatened By Huge Ongoing Forest Fire Appear To Have Survived So Far

Three Californian ski resorts in the path of the devastating Caldor fire appear to have escaped major damage, according to reports so far, but firefighters have warned the battle is not over yet. The Caldor fire, which began in mid-August, had grown to more than 200,000 acres and it was reported to take two hours to drove from one end of it to the other by the time it reached Sierra-at-Tahoe ski area last Sunday evening. By midweek it was threatening the major resort-town of South Lake Tahoe, driven towards it on strong winds. The holiday town, population 22,000, is located on the California/Nevada border, and is located directly below Heavenly Mountain Resort. It quickly became difficult to breath there…

Snowhunter 4th September 2021
Adventures

Ice on Mars a “Remnant of Ancient Dusty Snowfalls”

While most of the current interest in Mars is focussed on the new Perseverance rover and remarkable Ingenuity helicopter, scientists are still busy working on findings from earlier missions. These include a study of NASA's earlier Phoenix lander’s discovery of snow a few centimetres below the planet’s surface back in 2008 (pictured below). “Mars is a dusty planet, so much of its ice is also dusty and much darker than the fresh snow we might see on Earth. The dustier the ice is, the darker and thus warmer the ice gets, which can affect both its stability and evolution through time. Under certain conditions, this might also mean that the ice could melt on Mars,” a NASA spokesperson explained. A…

Snowhunter 3rd September 2021