Fast Track Ski News

Snowmaking Underway At Whistler

pthorne — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 12:53:32 +0000

Whistler’s build up to its most important ever season, Olympic year 2010, is getting underway with snowmaking guns firing up to compliment the natural snowfall that has already blanketed the resort’s upper slopes.

Currently, over 160 snow guns are assisting Mother Nature to get a head start on winter with additional snow guns expected to be on-line within the next 24 hours as the freezing level continues to descend down the mountain.
Currently snowmaking production is converting over 7 million gallons of water into snow per day. This is equivalent to producing snow as high as a four-story building with a footprint the size of a football field, per day. As temperatures cool production levels can more than double.
“ Snowmaking is an important part of early season preparation at Whistler Blackcomb in any given year. This year, while extra efforts are focused on readying the Alpine Skiing venue for the 2010 Winter Games, crews are also hard at work across both mountains to open up as much terrain as quickly as possible. And with Mother Nature’s cooperation, the mountains have been pounded with snow over the past few days, with more on the way.” Said a resort spokesman.
This season Whistler Blackcomb’s snowmaking team is larger than ever, and is dedicated to providing an exceptional product for all guests while meeting or exceeding all criteria for the Games. Any concerns about Whistler Blackcomb focusing fewer snowmaking resources across the mountains in favour of the Olympic runs are unfounded, the resort says.
“Our goal is to get as much quality snow as possible across both mountains for our guests early season,” says Bob Pasch, snowmaking manager at Whistler Blackcomb. “More snow on the ground now not only helps us open up terrain early but also provides a thicker, durable base, benefitting the late season too.”
Priorities include establishing connector runs to the major lifts and restaurants, the development of children’s learning areas, construction of terrain park and special event features, and preparation of high traffic ski outs prior to the Christmas holidays, all in tandem with the Games race and training course preparations.
“Alpine temperatures have been working in our favour enabling us to keep our snow guns running,” says Pasch. Snowmaking can start with temperatures as warm as -1 Celsius and production levels increase substantially with every one degree drop in temperature. “Our snowmaking crews are working 24/7 to ensure our product is the best it can be on both Whistler and Blackcomb for opening day,” he continues.
And to assist snowmaking crews in their efforts, the Environment Canada Long Range forecast is calling for a strong weather system to roll through the Coastal Mountains bringing significant snowfall – potentially up to 60 centimetres – to the region over the next five days. The freezing level is expected to stay near the valley bottom, meaning optimal temperatures for natural snowfall and snowmaking across much of Whistler Blackcomb’s one-mile vertical rise.

Opening Day at Whistler Blackcomb is set for Nov 26, but if conditions continue to be as good as at present, an early opening is always possible.

Whistler “90% Open” During Olympic Fortnight

pthorne — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:40:21 +0000

With excitement reaching fever pitch as the 2010 Winter Olympic Games are now less than 100 days away, Whistler is seeking to reassure skiers and boarders that the ski area will be largely open during the Games and subsequent Paralympics in February and March.

Traditionally resorts hosting winter games see a dip in business during Olympic year, but then increased business in following seasons. Whistler is putting a positive spon on this probability by suggesting guests who do come to the resort this season will have more of the slopes to themselves.
“ The mountains are fully open outside the Games period and then 90 per cent open to the public during the competition period.” said a Whistler statement.
Three of the four base areas, accessing both mountains will be open during Games time, and the PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola will transport skiers, riders and sightseers between both mountains in just 11 minutes.
Whistler also points out that the Olympics are a once in a lifetime experience for guests in resort.
“When else will you be able to rub shoulders with world class athletes and cheer on your home team in their quest for Olympic gold?”
You can also gain bragging rights by skiing or riding down the soon to be famous Olympic and Paralympic Downhill courses before or after the Games and then brag to your friends. Olympians will be racing down those very courses in February and March at more than 120km per hour.
There’s no ticket needed to be part of the Winter Games experience in Whistler. You don’t need an Olympic ticket to be at the heart of the Games as Whistler Live! features free entertainment via a network of outdoor performance sites and programming throughout Whistler Village. The aim is to create an unforgettable Canadian cultural experience for spectators of all ages.
Whistler Live! sites include: Whistler Medals Plaza, Town Plaza, Village Common, Village Square, Mountain Square and Skiers’ Plaza.

Colorado Snow Storms Bring More Early Openings

pthorne — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:05:36 +0000

After more than two feet of snow fell on the slopes of Colorado in recent days, the first of the famous ski state’s larger international destination ski resorts will begin opening today.

Copper Mountain and Keystone will join three small areas that have already been open for several weeks, Arapahoe Basin, Loveland and Wolf Creek
Keystone Resort announced it will open earlier than planned, today November 5th, thanks to fresh snow on the mountain and a spate of cold temperatures that provided ideal conditions for Keystone’s talented snowmaking team.
The resort plans to open with top-to-bottom skiing today and ideal snow surface conditions. Keystone will also open with two jumps and more than 20 features from its A51 Terrain Park, the No. 2 ranked park in North America by Transworld Snowboarding Magazine.
Copper Mountain will open this weekend too, it already has ski teams training on the slopes.
Keystone’s sister resorts - Breckenridge, Vail and Beaver Creek are planning on opening in a week’s time on Nov. 12 for Breckenridge, Nov. 20 for Vail and Nov. 25 for Beaver Creek.
Last year, Keystone began operating a new state-of-the-art eight-passenger gondola in River Run Village. This year, the final phase of the project will be completed with a new skier bridge connecting the mountain back to the gondola vastly improving the guest experience and giving skiers a shorter walk from the slopes and making access to the gondola easier from the mountain.

For the latest videos please see http://public.me.com/vail.resorts.

Competitors From 26 Nations In Saas Fee For World Cup

pthorne — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:28:04 +0000

The best snowboarders from 26 countries are currently in the Swiss glacier resort of Saas Fee for the latest stage of the LG Snowboard FIS World Cup.

And www.skiinfo.co.uk reports that the racers are enjoying great conditions with 40cm (15 inches) of fresh snow fallen on the glacier in the past 24 hours, setting the area up for the main events later this week.
Around 130 riders are competing in the World Cup this week, among them leading names including Sergio Berger and Iouri Podladtchikov from Switzerland, Janne Korpi (the 2008 winner in Saas-Fee) and Antti Autti from Finland, Mathieu Crepel (FRA), Torah Bright (AUS) and Kazuhiro Kokubo (JAP).
Korath Wright who is the sole representative of Team Bahamas is also in resort and all the competitors are looking to score points for qualification for the upcoming 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver next February.
With the competition in Saas-Fee amongst the few that will be taking place before the Games the goal of the athletes competing in the resort’s Freestyle Park Allalin is to give the perfect performance.
Saas Fee has spent weeks on the glacier competing ‘the perfect pipe’ in the park, which, located at 3,300 metres above sea level, is open to all for much of the year, with Saas Fee’s glacier area open for snow sports almost year round.
In parallel with the competition pipe the training pipe is once again available for use by and open to everyone prior to and during the racing. This form of double pipe which Saas-Fee has now been making available to the athletes during the World Cup and the European Cup for three years in a row remains a highlight in the World Cup circus, meaning no waiting times between the rides, so the riders can also practice a few tricks during the competitions and the crowd and fans will have the opportunity to hurtle through the pipe side by side with the stars.
For the first time this year Roxy/Quiksilver are providing a varied party programme during the competition. There are movie nights, DJ rotations (with Fredy K), poker nights and fashion shows.
Six action-packed party nights will be held in the Livingroom or in the Popcorn bar altogether.
Training continues today (Wednesday 4th November) with the competition proper taking place on Thursday, 5th November with Friday a reserved day in case conditions are not perfect on Thursday.

Norway’s Leading Resort Hemsedal Opening Early

pthorne — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:41:48 +0000

Winter has arrived in Hemsedal, Norway, where after days of sub-zero temperatures - great conditions for snowmaking - Hemsedal Ski Centre has announced it will open on Saturday the 7th of November!

“When we open, we open for real,” said resort manager Trond H. Østby.
“Hemsedal has had lots of early snowfall, and together with optimal conditions for snowmaking we now have enough snow in Hemsedalsløypa to open the first weekend in November.”
A ”real” opening in Hemsedal means a vertical drop of 450m and at least 1.8km of runs.
The first run to open is nr 10. Hemsedalsløypa and served by the 8 person express chairlift Hollvin Ekspress.
“From the day we open we stay open every day until the 2nd of May 2010, and we count on opening the lift Hamarheisen and some lifts and runs in the children’s are before the 13th of November which was the original planned opening day.” added Mr Østby.
From the 13th of November, Hemsedal also offers a snow guarantee to its guests and guarantee a minimum of 710 m vertical drop!
To celebrate the opening Hemsedal Skisenter is offering a 50% discount on a number of accommodations close to the lifts if booked online at skistar.com/hemsedal this first weekend, and in addition the ski centre is offering 15% off first weekend-ski-passes.
A bit later in November two of Hemsedal ‘s five parks will open. The brand new Panoramaparken and Blåparken are both scheduled to open during November. The rest of the parks will open before Christmas.

October Skiing On Fresh Snow In Vail

pthorne — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:50:44 +0000

They may not yet be open but enthusiastic locals have been hiking up the slopes at Vail in order to get ‘fresh tracks’ on the heavy snow that has been falling across much of Colorado including Vail’s four resorts in the state.

Keystone opens for the 2009-2010 season on Friday, November 6, followed closely by Breckenridge on Thursday, November 12. Vail and Heavenly are set to open November 20 and Beaver Creek will open November 25.
The company has a vast range of lift ticket options but they’re almost always cheaper if booked in advance with a ski holiday package or, if you’re flying direct, online at the resort’s website.
If you are planning to stay in the area for more than a week or return during the season then the Epic Season Pass (www.epicpass.com) may be for you. It gives unlimited, unrestricted access to six mountains – Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Arapahoe Basin and Heavenly (in California) for US$599, but is only available if purchased before November 22nd, 2009.

Less Than Half Of Brits Wear Helmets - Even When Provided Free

pthorne — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:46:14 +0000

A new study by ‘two-for-one’ ski equipment rental business Ski Republic and the Ski Club of Great Britain has found that less than half of British skiers wear ski helmets, despite a greatly heightened awareness of the danger and risk of head injury to skiers in recent years.

“Around 44% of skiers and boarders wear helmets” said Betony Garner of the Ski Club of Great Britain (www.skiclub.co.uk), “We urge people to take the risks very seriously and advise that all children under 13 wear ski helmets this winter and adults do so at their own discretion”.
Miss Garner noted that the numbers wearing helmets was rising significantly however.
Mark Warnes, Managing Director of Ski Republic (www.ski-republic.com) said, “We give all of our customers free ski helmet rental, yet time after time the offer is declined or the customer puts the helmet on one side. Brits are among the worst for this as most European skiers are far more likely to wear ski helmets, often bringing their own with them, or taking up our free ski helmet rental.”
“Helmets are essential in any sport where there is a possibility that the head may come into contact with a solid object and, without head protection, skiers are particularly vulnerable”. Mt Warnes continued.
According to www.skihelmets.com, 44% of skiers currently wear a helmet and 42% are intending to wear one the next time they go skiing. One reason for this growth is that out of 84,200 winter sports injuries recorded last season, 17,500 were head related.
It is believed that out of those 17,500, 7,700 injuries and 11 deaths – a little under 10% of the total - could have been avoided if the injured person had been wearing a helmet.
Another reason is that helmets are getting lighter and more comfortable to wear.
Recent research in Canada and Sweden has shown that serious head and spine injuries have becoming more common in recent years among both skiers and snowboarders, partly because of faster speeds but also due to more people who are not properly trained trying jumping and acrobatics, especially in the terrain parks.
Studies have found that snowboarders are between one-and-a-half times and four times more likely to have accidents than skiers. Men are more likely than women to get seriously injured, those under 35 years old are at higher risk of brain injury and that the most serious injuries usually happen to people not wearing a helmet.

Kitzbuhel Opens As More Resorts Open Early

pthorne — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 10:33:12 +0000

Kitzbuhel in Austria is the highest profile ski resort yet to open (very) early for winter 2009-10 as the ski season catches everyone by surprise by starting two months ahead of schedule!

Cold weather across much of the northern hemisphere, bringing with it heavy snow in some cases, or simply low enough temperatures for the snow guns to operate long enough to build up a good base for the ski runs has allowed over a dozen resorts to open early in Canada, the US, Austria, Italy, France and Switzerland as well as Scandinavian countries.

Snow has also been reported in the Indian Himalayas, the Japan Alps and the Spanish Pyrenees, where Formigal and Baqueira Beret both reported six inches of pre-season snow in the past few days.

Kitzbuhel’s opening comes two months ahead of its traditional opening in mid-December and beats last year’s early opening in November, which was six-weeks ahead of the planned opening date and , until this weekend, the earliest opening in the resort’s 80 year history.

The famous Tirolean resort had announced it will open at weekends for the next few weeks and then full time. Many other Austrian resorts have enough snow too open, but are waiting until their normal opening date anyway because the cost of preparing the pistes and running lifts exceeds likely income from ticket sales at this time of year.

In the US half a dozen ski areas are open including Sunday River in Maine. To the north Mont Saint Sauveur in Canada has opened as had Olympic Park near Calgary in Alberta.

In Scandinavia half a dozen resorts open include Ruka in Finland and Funasdalen in Sweden. Bormio in Italy has announced it will open on Halloween, October 31st, joining Cervinia.

Ski Resorts Open Early

pthorne — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 18:54:29 +0000

Heavy snow and cold temperatures has led to resorts in Austria, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the US to open earlier than expected – in some cases their earliest opening for 40 years.

Big name resorts to open this weekend include Sunday River and Mammoth in the US, Schladming in Austria, Ruka in Finland and Funasdalen in Sweden.
It’s the earliest ever opening for Schladming and the resort may close again before its planned opening, still 6 weeks away, if temperatures rise dramatically.
Many resorts across Austria reported between 40 and 180cm (15 inches – six feet) of fresh snow on their slopes but few have decided to open early until they are sure the snow will last and that there’s enough Autumn demand to make it worthwhile to employ staff, groom trails and run lifts to open.
However seven ski areas were open in the country before the heavy snowfall began, as they offered glacier skiing. The new snow has dramatically improved conditions at these centres, which had been suffering after a summer of high temperatures and clear skies. Now resorts like Solden, Hintertux, Kaprun all have great powder snow skiing and boarding.

Heavy Snow In The Alps Plus Finland’s Season Starts

pthorne — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:15:19 +0000

Heavy snow has been reported falling across Europe’s already-open glacier ski areas in France, Italy, Switzerland and Austria and there has also been up to 10cm (4 inches) of fresh snow down at resort level in famous ski areas like Obergurgl in Austria and Klosters in Switzerland which are not due to open until next month.

Snow reporting agency www.skiinfo.co.uk posted details of falls of up to a metre (over three feet) at Hintertux in Austria - the year-round ski area which first reported huge snowfalls in the same second-week of October lst year, which proved to be the start of nearly three months of snowfall, setting the Alps up for a great snow season last winter. It looks like history is repeating itself.

In Kaprun, the fresh snow has arrived in perfect time for a series of freestyle workshops that the Kitzsteinhorn glacier is planning to run from this Saturday onwards. It reports up to 76cm (30 inches) of new snow taking base depths on the glacier up to 1.5m (five feet).

Also in Austria, which continues to have the most choice of seven glacier ski areas open, the Stubai glacier has reported 135cm (14 inches) of new snow taking snow depths to a metre and the Molltal glacier was another to generate a Skiinfo.co.uk powder alarm with a 40cm (16 inch fall). There’s also new snow at Pitztal, on the Dachstein and at Solden where the World cup kicks off next weekend.

Snow has also been falling on the open glacier ski areas of France, Italy and Switzerland. Tignes received a much needed 5cm (two inch) top up on its Grand Motte glacier and the snow was also good news for Cervinia in Italy which now joins Val Senales and Passo Stelvio as a third skiing choice in the country, although only opening at weekends until November when it resumes full time operations.

In Switzerland Saas Fee and Zermatt remain the two choices with 90 – 150cm (3-5 feet) bases. Plans for Engelberg and the Diavolezza glacier near St Moritz appear to be on hold until more snow falls. Glacier 3000 at Diablerets has opened today for cross country skiing following fresh snow there.

In Scandinavia Ruka in Finland has opened for winter 09-10 and announced that it intends to stay open until at least June 10th, 2010. Two runs with two lifts are currently fully open with another five runs with snowmaking nearing completion of cover,

“Only the European glaciers beat Ruka in the race of opening for winter season during autumn. Ruka has never been forced to shut down prematurely due to lack of snow, so we can proudly call ourselves the most certain choice for skiing in Europe!” said a resort statement. “The secret to this accomplishment lies in the climate, as well as in the high-quality snowmaking machinery - not to forget the snow-how! The 70 snowguns in Ruka produce 1,250 square metres of snow in an hour at full capacity. In good conditions this means the first slope, Saarua number 12, can be opened after a bit over 24 hours of snowmaking beginning.”