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

Last Updated: 4 August 2020 at 9.20 GMT (Updates so far since 5 May: 100) The web's most comprehensive guide of ski resorts opening around the world. More Than 35 Ski Areas Have Currently Re-Opened Worldwide In 10 Countries on 5 Continents:  Africa: Lesotho; Asia: Japan. Europe: Austria, France, Italy, Norway, Switzerland. North America: USA. Oceania: Australia and New Zealand. South America: Argentina. Countries where ski areas would normally be open but are currently unable to do so due to the COVID-19 pandemic are: Chile and South Africa. 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: With the surge in virus cases in the…

Snowhunter 29th July 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 2
Ski ResortsTechnique / Safety

2020 Ski Season Ends at Two Australian Resorts After Only 3 Days

Two ski areas in the COVID-19 hit Australian province of Victoria will not re-open this winter their operators, Vail Resorts, have announced. Mt Hotham and Falls Creek would normally open for the ski season in early June but the COVID-19 Pandemic lockdown in Australia delayed the usual opening date for all Australian areas to at least June 22nd, when ski areas were allowed to re-open, with strict pandemic-virus-spread-prevention measures in place as the lockdown eased. However Falls Creek and Mt Hotham continued to delay their opening date for several more weeks as lack of snow cover meant they couldn’t open trails, eventually doing so in early July. But a resurgence of the virus in Melbourne, Victoria’s capital, led to Vail…

Snowhunter 4th August 2020
RoundupsSki ResortsTechnique / Safety

World’s Most Southerly Ski Area Opening For 2020 Season on Saturday

The world’s most southerly ‘proper’ ski area Cerro Castor in Southern Argentina, says it will begin running its ski lifts and open downhill runs from this Saturday, 1st August. Lifts will run from 10 am to 4.45 five days per week, with skiing only intended for people living in the region. Cerro Castor was the first mountain resort in South America to re-open to local tourists, in mid-July, but initially has only been opening its base facilities including a restaurant, ice rink and cross-country ski trails to locals at weekends, not its downhill runs. Argentina’s largest ski resort, Catedral near Bariloche, more than 2,000km (1250 miles) north of Cerro Castor opened its ski trails to people living in its locality…

Snowhunter 29th July 2020
Technique / Safety

The Different Approaches to Social Distancing in Ski Areas Around the World

Around 50 ski areas are currently open on six continents around the world. Almost all are operating in a post-lockdown, pandemic-suppression mode which means things like social-distancing and mask-wearing in public indoor space is the norm for most. But how these new rules of behaviour are policed is being approached differently on different continents. In Europe there were initially movers to apply social-distancing on lifts with spaces left on seats between people from separate groups, but these seem to have been relaxed at most mountain resorts open for summer business. Resorts in the Alps are doing their bit to promote social-distancing and mask-wearing with staff wearing masks themselves, spaces marked out on floors, hand-sanitiser available everywhere and lot of information…

Snowhunter 29th July 2020
RoundupsSki Resorts

New Zealand Ski Area Opens Extra Days As Demand Exceeds Expectations

A New Zealand ski area that had expected to close midweek have decided to stay open seven days a week for at least one more week due to the number of skiers wishing to hit the slopes. Despite a lack of international skiers which normally make up close to half the clientele, the Remarkables and Coronet Peak reported their best daily visit stats in seven years reported 10,000 visitors across its Queenstown pistes on one day in the country’s school holidays. The centre’s car parks were full by early in the day and centres appealed for skiers to car share or take the bus. The numbers seem to result from a combination of good conditions and skiers heeding the call…

Snowhunter 24th July 2020
Roundups

WORLD SNOW ROUNDUP #149

Issued: 22 July 2020 By Patrick "Snowhunter" Thorne North American RoundupEuropean RoundupAsia Roundup SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE OVERVIEW SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE INTRO|  The big question in the Southern Hemisphere this week is: are ski lifts about to turn for the first time in 2020 in the Andes/South America? The answer seems to be yes, and by the time you're reading this they may already be doing so; however, at the time of writing, not yet.  In Argentina, where lockdown has been easing region by region, the lifts may begin turning this week according to local media reports in the famous ski town of Bariloche. Unlike Chile, on the other side of the continent, which is now one of the worst-hit countries in the…

MarcD 22nd July 2020
Ski ResortsTechnique / SafetyWeather

First Ski Area to Open For 2020 Season in the Andes

Catedral ski area in Argentina has announced it will open for the 2020 season at 9.30 am on Thursday, 23rd July. Argentina has not been as badly hit by the virus as most other South American countries (including neighbouring Chile which is sadly now one of the 10 worst hit in the world by some measures) after an early lockdown and as a result is carefully now easing restrictions. The country is slightly lifting its lockdowns on a regional basis, with decisions on what can and cannot open being made region by region, and travel within Argentina still highly restricted, as is international travel, so what’s opening is intended for locally-based skiers only. The country’s most southerly ski area, Cerro…

Snowhunter 22nd July 2020
LifestyleSki ResortsTravel

The changing shape of ski holidays

As it becomes increasingly clear that holiday travel is becoming possible again in Europe, skiers and ski holiday companies alike are planning for next season. After a difficult year, we're all looking forward to being able to enjoy the simple delights of a great ski holiday this winter. Nothing beats a log fire, great food and comfortable surroundings after a day on the pistes. Ski resorts will be making some changes to how they handle lift queues and other everyday activities in and around the resort, but those have mostly yet to be announced. The ski industry has been listening to skiers and it's clear we will have different priorities, concerns and requirements when looking for a ski holiday this…

MarcD 20th July 2020
RoundupsSki Resorts

The Quiet Months in Japan

June and July is traditionally the quietest part of the year for people involved in the ski industry here in Japan. Ski areas that offer summer activities - such as sightseeing lift operations, camping, golf and the like - are currently busy getting on with those activities, while others take some time off while at the same time try to make their plans for the winter. Of course, this year those plans have been hugely complicated by the covid-19 situation which has brought up many unanswered questions and delaying of decisions. Japan seemed to have done well in keeping (official) case numbers lower than many other countries, helped along by a period of many businesses voluntarily closing during May and…

David T 20th July 2020
Weather

Will 20-21 Be A La Niña Winter?

In the hunt for good news ahead of the northern hemisphere’s 2020-21 ski season, ski resorts around the Pacific have been getting very excited by the announcement that it may be a ‘La Niña winter’.  What does La Niña mean and refer to? Well La Niña and El Niño are opposite phases of what is known as the ‘El Niño-Southern Oscillation cycle’ a scientific term that describes the fluctuations in temperature between the ocean and atmosphere in the east-central Equatorial Pacific (approximately between the International Date Line and 120 degrees West). La Niña is sometimes referred to as the cold phase of the cycle and El Niño as the warm phase. It’s a lot more complicated than that, of course,…

Snowhunter 19th July 2020