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EnvironmentSki ResortsTravel

Blackcomb Glacier Re-Opens For Summer Skiing After 3 Years

Summer skiing and snowboarding is possible again on the Blackcomb glacier above Whistler in BC from this weekend. It’s the first time that the glacier has operated in late spring/early summer for snow sports since 2019. It was possible for it to operate during the pandemic and other facilities in Whistler were open, leading to fears summer skiing and boarding were being dropped altogether until this year’s re-opening was announced.  The centre is due to operate for just over a month, to mid-July. However there is a change from before with the glacier exclusively reserved for private ‘summer camp’ ski and boarding schools’ use, not public access.     “Ski and Snowboard ability level must be advanced to expert, no exceptions.…

Snowhunter 12th June 2022
EnvironmentSki Resorts

Australian Resort Closed by Fire Unable to Re-open Due to Snow

In an ironic twist of events, and Australian ski area that was largely destroyed by bush fires at the start of 2020 and had been rebuilding with a big reopening planned on 2nd July, has now had to delay that date due to huge snowfalls in Australia in recent weeks stopping the final rebuilding work.   I appears that the resort will not now open at all this winter after all. Nichole Overall MP, member for Monaro said, “Given these incredible efforts, it makes the decision not to be able to open at this time – brought on by the very thing we’ve been wishing for, record snow – even more heart-breaking, for the operators, everyone on site and the…

Snowhunter 10th June 2022
Ski Resorts

New Zealand Ski Areas Work For Gender Equality in Snowsports

The jointly-owned New Zealand ski areas on Cardrona and Treble Cone have launched a campaign to encourage equal representation of women in snow sports.   “At the end of 2020, our team took stock of gender representation in our social media content,” says Laura Hedley, General Manager of Experience for Cardrona and Treble Cone. “It quickly became clear that we were perpetuating gender stereotypes, often reducing women to ‘lifestyle’ content.” The research revealed that Cardrona and Treble Cone social media audiences consist of nearly 45% women. Despite this, during Winter 2020, only 29% of skiing and snowboarding content featured women in any way. Posts showing women actively participating was even less, at 15% of total, and in many cases were…

Snowhunter 4th June 2022
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
Ski ResortsWeather

Only Summer-Only Ski Area in US Not opening in 2022

The Beartooth Basin summer ski area on the Montana – Wyoming state border won’t open this year. The area usually opens from late may or early June, once the access road that's buried for eight months of the year and then stays open so long as the snow cover lasts. The centre’s operators said earlier this month that, on a pre-opening visit, they were concerned to find low snow cover. At the time they said they would attempt to manage snow in order to be able to open but were not optimistic, and that picture has now been confirmed. Formerly known as the Red Lodge International Ski and Snowboard Camp, where athletes would train year-round, it was established in the…

Snowhunter 20th 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
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
LifestyleSki Resorts

Southern Hemisphere 2022 Ski Season Starts 2 Months Early

The 2022 ski season has got underway at South America’s largest ski area by uplift, Argentina’s Cerro Catedral are near the ski town of Baroiloche. There has been heavy snowfall in the Andes and other mountainous  areas of South America over the past week, and Cerro Catedral reports they’ve had a 1.5 metre (five foot) accumulation. This is unprecedented for April – which is still early autumn in the southern hemisphere. Chile's Nevados de Chillan this week. Cerro Catedral has opened limited terrain for this weekend only and for a maximum of 300 skiers and boarders. The terrain was prepared in less than 48 hours and access is limited to experienced skiers and boarders aged over 12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoEcpCFq-Xg South America’s…

Snowhunter 30th April 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
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
EnvironmentSki Resorts

Australian Ski Area Prepares to Reopen Two Years After Fire, Pandemic

An Australian ski centre that was destroyed by a forest fire months before the coronavirus pandemic closed the other Australian ski areas for much of the past two winters anyway, is aiming to reopen for the upcoming winter 2022 after a full rebuild. The Blyton Group which owns Selwyn Ski Area in Australia’s Victoria province committed to rebuilding the centre after catastrophic bushfires in January 2020 destroyed the resort’s buildings  and destroyed or badly damaged lifts. “Despite various challenges with COVID lockdowns, record rainfalls and supply chain delays, work is well underway on our rebuild,” a statement from the centre explained. The new Selwyn Centre base building will house an expanded ski and board hire operation, enhanced food and drink…

Snowhunter 18th April 2022
Ski Resorts

Passo Stelvio Announces 2022 Season Dates

Passo Stevio, Italy’s and the Alps’ sole summer ski only ski area, has announced it will open for its 2022 season on Friday May 27th this year. The high altitude centre is used by international race teams for summer training and although its season dates are unusual in the northern hemisphere – from late May to the end of October – it actually has one of the world’s longer ski seasons, over five months. The centre has about 9km of ski runs served by six lifts and offers public skiing and boarding as well as team training. Ski guiding, touring and tuition are all available through what the centre has deemed The University of Skiing. Stelvio was the first centre…

Snowhunter 10th April 2022