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May 2022

Environment

Latest Huge US Wildfire Threatens New Mexico Ski Resorts

Taos is the latest major North American ski town to be threatened by wildfires following the evacuation of South Lake Tahoe in California last Fall. The nearby ski area of Angel Fire is also under threat and residents have been told to prepare for an immediate evacuation order for the past three days. The Hermits Peak Calf Canyon fire approaching Taos has burned a 45-mile long path consuming over 235,000 acres (95,000+ hectares) of up the Sangre de Cristo mountains towards the ski town, which is also one of North America’s oldest continually settled communities with a thousand years of recorded history.  Nearly 2,000 firefighters are battling the blaze which is said to be about 35% contained. Much of Southwestern…

Snowhunter 16th May 2022
EnvironmentSki Resorts

Last US Ski Area Still Open on Vail’s Epic Pass For 21-22 Closing Early

The last US ski area on the Epic Pass is being forced to close two weeks earlier than hoped due to warm weather. Breckenridge in Colorado (pictured top in 2018) reported that after 185 days of skiing and riding this season they’ll end their 60th anniversary season on Sunday, May 15th, a little over a fortnight earlier than planned. “While our teams have worked hard to keep the skiing and riding rolling into mid-May, Mother Nature has the ultimate say. We’ve been experiencing warm daytime temps (in the 60s) and our night-time temps haven’t been dipping below freezing, so this has caused snow to begin to melt very quickly,” a statement from the resort explains. The centre had hoped to…

Snowhunter 14th May 2022
EnvironmentWeather

Will North America’s Sole Summer-Ski-Only Ski Area Open in 2022?

Beartooth Basin ski area on the Montana/Wyoming border has said it may not open this year due to inadequate snow cover, a final decision is due imminently. At the start of the month resort staff posted, “We made it to the Basin and were greeted by very low snow. Over the week, Mother Nature began to cooperate and has been snowing. A snowcat is heading up this week to help farm snow into Beartooth Basin. We plan to operate, but we cannot be certain of opening. No tickets are available until we are certain we are going to open. Fingers crossed!” Established in the mid-1960’s by Austrians Pepi Gramshammer, Eric Sailer and Anderl Molterer as an Alpine Ski Racing summer…

Snowhunter 12th May 2022
EnvironmentLifestyleRoundupsSki ResortsTechnique / SafetyTravel

Snow-Forecast’s Rolling News on Ski Resorts Re-Opening (2022)

Last Updated 16 May 2022 at 11.40 GMT (Updates so far since commenced on 6 May 2020: 1,269 The web's most comprehensive guide of ski resorts opening around the world during the pandemic. An estimated 70+ Ski Areas Are Currently Open Worldwide in at least 8 Countries on 3 Continents including: Asia: Japan Europe: Austria, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland. North America: Canada, USA Browse by country: North America: Canada USA Europe: Andorra Austria Bulgaria Finland France Germany Italy Norway Scotland Spain Sweden Switzerland Asia: China Japan NEW: Reports from Japan indicated the border there may be reopened to tourists soon, good news for winter 22-23, but yet to be confirmed. (May 12th)NEW: The EU has announced that airlines no longer need to insist passengers where masks although…

Snowhunter 11th May 2022
RoundupsWeather

Australian Ski Resorts Start Snowmaking as Snow Falls Before 2022 Season Starts

There’s excitement in Australia as cold temperatures have led to the first dustings of snow on ski slopes in Victoria and New South Wales.  The country’s 2022 ski season is just over a month away, all being well. The country’s largest ski resort, Perisher, is reported to have fired up their snow guns to make snow on top of the light natural falls. Most Australian ski areas start their seasons in early June every year, coinciding with the Queen’s Birthday holiday long weekend in the country. They open whether there’s snow or not, although the arrival of all-weather snowmaking systems mean that several have some snow cover regardless of natural conditions. Hotham 4.5.22 Recent seasons before the pandemic also saw…

Snowhunter 5th May 2022
Uncategorised

WORLD SNOW ROUNDUP #238

Issued: 05 May 2022 By Patrick "Snowhunter" Thorne European RoundupNorth American RoundupAsia Roundup WORLD OVERVIEW Cerro Catedral resort this week There have been plenty more pond-skimming and swimwear-skiing and boarding events across European and North American ski slopes over the past weekend. About two-thirds of the 150 ski areas that were open to see in the start of May have now ended their season, including big-name resorts like Chamonix, Vail and Verbier. But 50 or so including many more famous names, usually thanks to a northerly latitude, a glacier or just a huge winter snow pile that hasn't thawed yet, are soldiering on later into May.Some have had a fresh snow boost in the last seven days with fresh powder…

MarcD 4th May 2022
Ski Resorts

Ukraine Unveils One Of World’s Largest Dry Slope Areas

One of the world’s biggest dry slope ski areas has opened in Western Ukraine …and then been closed again because of the war. Work on the dry ski network at the Vynnyky ski resort was completed earlier this year, before the Russian invasion. The dry slope supplier was the German-based company Skitrax, who say they installed a total of 19,000 m2 their mats, over four slopes with a combined length of 1,190m. Vynnyky also gets plenty of natural snowfall, so with the ski mats can operate year round. 19,000 m2 is the fourth largest slope area in the world and the largest outside Asia. 1,190m of combined slope length is also one of the biggest combined lengths of slope in the…

Snowhunter 2nd May 2022
LifestyleRoundups

Ruka, Open to May 8th, Posts Record Skier Numbers

The 21-22 ski season which began nearly seven months ago at Ruka in Finland is not yet over, but the resort has already set an all-time record of ski days recorded passing the half-million for the first time in its history. The new historic half a million ski days was exceeded in sunny spring weather on Friday 22 April, with more than a fortnight of the season there left to run. The winter season started in Ruka on October 8th last year and will continue to May 8th for a seven month/ 213 day total – one of the world’s longest for a non-glacier ski area.  “Winter has been really successful due to the snow situation and the weather, and…

Snowhunter 1st May 2022