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WORLD SNOW ROUNDUP #67

Issued: 27th DECEMBER 2018 By Patrick "Snowhunter" Thorne Our latest roundup of snow conditions around the world. Each section that follows below goes into detail country by country. Clicking the map thumbnail will take you to our dynamic snow forecast map for the latest detail (where you can also overlay live weather & reported conditions). Weather outlooks for Europe and North America can be found at the end of this roundup. INTRODUCTION: The New year is nearly here and for most of the world's ski areas, this busiest week of the season is looking quite promising thanks to good snowfalls in November and December.Even ski regions that were a little late including parts of Japan and of North America on…

MarcD 27th December 2018
EventsLifestyle

Records Tumble As World’s Best Ski Racers Close in on All Time World Cup Wins Record

It has been a remarkable month, and particularly the past week, in the Alpine Skiing World Cup as the planet’s best ski racers prepare for their brief Christmas break ahead of 2019 and the World Championships in Are, Sweden in less than two months’ time. Among the records broken in recent days: America’s Mikaela Shiffrin (pictured top) has become the youngest person to notch up 50 World cup wins, still aged just 23. She’s one of only eight skiers to get to 50 World Cup wins. Her win in the slalom at Courchevel on Saturday also equalling the most slalom wins by any woman to date: 35. Austria’s Marchel Hirscher (29), pictured above, already a record holder for the most…

Snowhunter 24th December 2018 1
Uncategorised

Legendary Ski Racer and Famous Freerider Battle It Out From 4,000m Peak

The famous freerider Jérémie Heitz and ski racer Daron Rahlves Race have staged a unique giant slalom race down from a 4000-metre glacier summit. Billed as the “ultimate skiing showdown” by sponsors RedBull the duo’s Race the Face in a contest starting at over 4,000 metres down the face of Hohberghorn in Switzerland. The race was part of a film, the idea for which came to Heitz whilst he was filming for his groundbreaking La Liste as he tackled the toughest descents in the Alps for a documentary. His idea was a giant slalom contest from the 4,129m summit of Hohberghorn. His choice for his rival down its sheer face was an easy one. Heitz explained: “He’s my favourite skier. When…

Snowhunter 21st December 2018
Uncategorised

Media Reports Vail To Buy Two More Australian Ski Areas

An Australian publication has today claimed that Vail Resorts are about to purchase two more Australian ski areas giving them an unprecedented dominant position in the Australian ski market. There’s no official statement from Vail resorts as yet but The Australian Financial Review, part of a group which also publishes the Sydney Morning Herald, claim that the Colorado-based company will pay $120 million (Australian) for Hotham (pictured top and below last winter) and Falls Creek. Vail Resorts bought the country’s biggest resort, Perisher, in 2015.  Australia only really has 6 – 8 destination ski areas, depending on how you rank them, so by one measure Vail Resorts may soon own half of them. The company currently operates 18 ski areas in…

Snowhunter 20th December 2018
Uncategorised

Two New Ski Resorts Opening in Europe

New ski areas are a rarity in Europe these days, but two ski areas are set to open this month in Romania – one after more than 10 years’ of construction, the other initially opening just one run to test the market. The ski area at Rarău Massif near Cîmpulung Moldovenesc in the northeast of the country has been completed after 10 years of construction and a long-planned gondola is currently undergoing testing ahead of opening. The ski area has 765 metres of vertical from 1654m altitude and has two ski runs which are 2.8km and 1.4km long respectively. Work on the resort began back in 2009 but stalled in 2012 as funding ran out. However, they recommenced in 2016…

Snowhunter 19th December 2018
AdventuresSki ResortsTravel

The 5 best ski resorts for beginners in Austria

By CheckYeti In Austria, a total of around 450 ski resorts can be found. In order to find a beginner-friendly resort, factors like the slopes’ level of difficulty, the ski lesson offers, the availability of practice areas and the ski schools’ childcare facilities should be considered. © TVB St. Anton am Arlberg / Josef Mallaun St Anton Centrally located in the Austrian Alps, St Anton am Arlberg is the biggest ski resort in Austria and one of the 10 biggest worldwide. It can be reached in under 1.5h from Innsbruck and in around 3h from Munich and Salzburg. The ski resort, which includes more than 300km of slopes, has been known long before the Alpine Ski World Championship was held…

snowfore 18th December 2018
AdventuresLifestyleSki Resorts

New Biggest Ski Area in Central Switzerland Officially Opens

A ‘new’ ski area in Central Switzerland has become a reality after ten years of planning and an investment of nearly 130 million Swiss Francs. The ‘new’ SkiArena Andermatt Sedrun has been made by connecting the ski areas of Andermatt and Sedrun to create an area of 120km.  A further connection the separately-owned area of Disentis is due for completion next summer when a total of 160km The historic Andermatt and Sedrun ski areas have been completely renewed with around 10 new high-speed, high-capacity chair and gondola lifts installed and new created to complete the connection between the two resorts.  It is now being marketed as the “most modern” as well as the largest in Central Switzerland. The connection links…

Snowhunter 14th December 2018 1
Weather

Over 6ft (2m) of Snow Forecast for Pacific Northwest

A giant snowstorm current hitting the Pacific Northwest ofNorth America may deposit up to two metres of snow (over six feet) at some ski areas in Alaska, BC, Idaho, Oregon and Washington State by the start of next week. Mt Baker in Washington State (pictured below), which, on average, posts the most snowfall of any ski area in the world each season (16.3m) and holds the all-time single-season snowfall record (29m in '98-99) has received just over a metre of snowfall this week already, and there’s much more forecast. It’s good news for the region which had a warmer than average Autumn, with little natural snowfall and temperatures too warm forsnowmaking, forcing some ski centres to delay opening. https://www.facebook.com/mtbakerskiarea/videos/755671471462664/ Lookout…

Snowhunter 13th December 2018
Ski ResortsWeather

24 Hour Snowfall Totals Up to 80cm in the Alps

Following a tough start to the season, a big snowstorm that hit the Alps over the weekend and continues this week has led to some huge snow accumulations over the past 24 hours with some resorts claiming that as much as 80cm (32 inches) fell on Sunday. Many resorts report at least 50cm (20 inches) - and the snow is still falling. It appears to be great timing for this significant weather event that looks set to bring more than a metre of snow to some centres by the time it eases tomorrow. With the main ski season getting underway next weekend and two of the busiest weeks of winter over Christmas and New Year only a fortnight away, winter holidaymakers…

Snowhunter 10th December 2018 4
next 3 days alps snow forecast
Weather

Up To A Metre (3ft) of Snow Forecast for the Alps: Sat – Mon

The short-range weather forecast is increasingly pointing towards very heavy snowfalls hitting the Alps from tomorrow until Monday. It looks like it will keep snowing further into next week too. Recent image from Courchevel Sunday appears to be the day when the snowfall will be most intense, with a number of ski areas, particularly in the Western Alps, expected to get as much as 55cm in 24 hours on that day alone, but accumulations of 15-30cm are also forecast on Saturday and Monday. Our snow picks page ranks the resorts that will see the most snow. Most resorts in the Western Alps have 65-85cm of new snow over the next three days with some of the biggest forecasts given for…

Snowhunter 7th December 2018