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RoundupsSki ResortsWeather

Australian Area Opening For Winter 22 Early, This Weekend

A huge snowstorm currently hitting Australia has led the country’s largest ski area, Perisher, to announce it will open a week earlier than planned, this coming weekend. With perfect timing for the start of the 2022 ski season, the storm has already brought more than 30cm (a foot) of snowfall to Perisher’s slopes and another end of the week. Other Australian ski areas are reporting similar accumulations with Mt Buller describing the storm as, “A ripper start to the season.” The resort has announced that the Perisher Front Valley slopes served by the Village 8 Express chairlift, Mitchell T-Bar and Carpet #4 will be open and that lifts will begin loading at 8:30am. “Early season protocols are in place: Early…

Snowhunter 31st 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

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

RoundupsSki Resorts

French 21-22 Season Business Above Pre-Covid Season Average

France has seen a return to pre-covid business levels at its ski resorts this past winter, and in fact is reporting numbers above the average for the winters prior to the first impacted by the pandemic, 2019-20. The good results come despite ongoing covid restrictions, particularly in the first half of the season, and the fact that travel from the key oversea ski market of the UK was banned over the peak Christmas/New Year period due to the Omicron surge at the time. “The season is good, with 4% more skier-days compared to the average for the last three seasons, before Covid-19,” Alexandre Maulin, president of Domaines skiables de France, told French newspaper Le Monde. The figures cover the period…

Snowhunter 28th April 2022

Roundups

International Report Finds 20/21 Season Worst of 21st Century For Skier Numbers

This 14th edition of the global ski industry’s main ski trends and stats has just been published, and, unsurprisingly, reports that skier visit numbers worldwide in winter 2020-21 were the worst this century, beating the previous worst, the season before, curtailed as it was by the start of the pandemic. The 14th edition of expert consultant Larent Vanat’s annual International Report on Snow & Mountain Tourism 2022 was unveiled at the opening conference of Mountain Planet International Exhibition in Grenoble. Vanat noted that although only six countries of the 68 ski countries included in the report were in full lockdown throughout winter 20-21, the global total dropped to 201.2 million skier visits, down by more than a third from the…

Snowhunter 26th April 2022

LifestyleRoundupsSki Resorts

Spring Terrain Park Shaped Daily Until June in Austria

Betterpark Hintertux on the Hintertux glacier in the Austrian Tirol is launching its annual Spring Park Sessions from Saturday, April 23rd onwards. The park, 3,200m up on the glacier, will be shaped daily until June 6th so that the freestyle can enjoy the best conditions for all riders, who haven’t had enough of winter yet. “The park is calling, with good snow conditions at the glacier right now,” a Hintertux spokesperson said. The park is built and maintain by Wille Kaufmann from betterparks.at who has worked on the park for 18 years and whose mission has always been to build parks, where everyone feels welcome with features for every riding-level. There’s something for everyone from first-timers enjoying their first freestyle-experiences…

Snowhunter 22nd April 2022

EventsRoundups

Ogiwara’s Backside 2160 Caps Off Unforgettable Week at The Nines in Crans Montana

Sixteen-year-old Japanese snowboarder Hiroto Ogiwara landed the world's first backside 2160 to cap off a breathtaking week of freestyle ski and snowboard action in Crans-Montana, Switzerland at The Nines progression session. Crans-Montana was the location for the 30th edition of the action sports series The Nines and the newly-designed course quickly became a breeding ground for world-first trickery, massive sends and viral moments. Matej Svancer performs at The Nines in Crans-Montana, Switzerland on April 5th, 2022. Pic Credit: The Nines / Red Bull Content Pool This year's edition included a massive big-air jump with additional bowl features, a mushroom-shaped obstacle called "The Sphere" and an innovative "Downward Spiral" inspired by skateboarding. Ogiwara's historic trick was one of many memorable moments…

Snowhunter 10th April 2022

RoundupsSki Resorts

South America’s Biggest Ski Centre Adding Lifts and Runs for 2022

Argentina’s Catedral Alta Patagonia ski area near Bariloche is working to install a new quad chairlift and create new slopes ahead of the 2022 season start in just under three months’ time. It has already been snowing there over the past week though, with autumn just getting started. The new lift and runs are the latest part of a modernisation master plan announced in 2020 as the ski centre, which has the most ski lifts on the continent, celebrated 80 years of operations. The plans also include snowmaking upgrades a remote avalanche triggering system. The new French-built POMA quad chairlift is being erected in the resort’s "Connection" sector climbing up to 1,900 metres above sea level with an uplift capacity…

Snowhunter 29th March 2022

Roundups

“1000 Chinese Ski Resorts By End of Year”

An optimistic post-Olympic round up of the state of the Chinese ski market has estimated that the country will have more than 1,000 ski areas by the end of 2022. Most recent counts have put the number of conventional ski areas – many of them small with just one or two surface lifts and runs – at approaching 800, although there are also now hundreds of dry slopes, conveyor ski simulators and more than 30 indoor snow centres. In the 1960s to 1980s there were ‘guesstimates’ that there might be more than 1,000 ski areas in both the USA and Japan, but both ae nearer to 500 now with many smaller centres in both countries closing over the past 50…

Snowhunter 9th March 2022

EnvironmentRoundupsWeather

The World’s Spring Ski Centres in Good Shape for 2022

The half-dozen ski areas in Asia, Europe and North America which only open in spring are mostly in good shape for their 2022 ski seasons. Riksgränsen (pictured below), the “world’s spring skiing capital” is due to open this weekend for its 2022 season which famously incorporates skiing under the midnight sun in May and usually a re-opening in late-June for Midsummer. It reports plenty of snowy lying. It’s also believed to be the only ski area in the world to have operated throughout the pandemic. However, the three Norwegian glacier centres of Fonna (pictured top earlier this month), Stryn (pictured below last week) and Galdhøpiggen are the ones posting images of lift towers almost completely buried by snow. They usually…

Snowhunter 28th February 2022

RoundupsWeather

Major Snowfall in Western USA

A snowstorm has deposited up to three feet (90cm) of snow so far in the Western US. Heavenly in California (pictured top) reported 50cm (20”) of new snowfall in total, Palisades Tahoe 43cm (17”) Further East ski areas across the Rockies report deep powder with Aspen in Colorado posting 19” in just 24 hours. The storm is being particularly welcomed as it’s the first major fall for two months, since the last big dump at the end of December. Ski areas had been open all or most of their terrain thanks to those early falls in December but have had little of the light powder snow skiing and boarding to offer for which they’re particularly renowned, until now. …

Snowhunter 24th February 2022

RoundupsUncategorised

Easter Ski Holiday Bookings Up Fast As Restrictions Ease

Easter ski holidays are reported to be booking up fast as countries ease restrictions on travel. With most countries going in to lockdown in early March 2020, this Easter will be the first that ski slopes in countries including Austria, France and Italy have been open to skiers. Some people who prefer to ski at Easter have actually held holidays booked for Easter 2020 twice, after being forced to miss last Easter too, to this Easter. Others who booked earlier this season but then couldn't reach the slopes due to lockdowns or other issues have also rebooked for Easter. Then at the same time pent-up demand from two-years of lockdown is being released as the restrictions on travel appear to…

Snowhunter 11th February 2022

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Roundups