by Patrick Thorne with First Tracks!! Online Media staff reports
Kiltarlity, Scotland, UK – More of Europe’s glacier ski areas are opening and that they, along with the centers already open, are benefiting from heavy snowfalls in recent days. More ski areas have also been opening in the southern hemisphere, where resorts in New Zealand are reporting up to 25cm (10 in.) of new snow so far today. In addition, a third U.S. ski area has announced plans to open its slopes in July.n
North America
In North America the ski season in Utah ended a weekend later than expected when Snowbird decided to open last weekend after all, extending their 2009-10 ski and snowboard season to 189 total days. The resort’s Aerial Tram provided access to Little Cloud lift and skiing on Regulator Johnson. All additional terrain was closed and classified as “backcountry terrain.” Rumors mumbled on the Tram last weekend suggested that Snowbird may in fact try to reopen for the novelty of skiing on July 4th, the American Independence Day holiday.
That’s the date that California’s Mammoth Mountain will finally close their ski lifts and slopes this season. Mammoth, which currently has two to six feet (60-180cm) of snow, has been joined by another California resort – Boreal – which has now said they’ll open for one weekend only, on the 10th and 11th July, when lifts will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to enjoy the abundance of snow left from the snowy spring. A full terrain park will be built, accessed via the Castle Peak Quad and lift tickets will cost $20. And of course, America’s nearly year-round ski area, Timberline on Mt. Hood in Oregon, is still operating as well.
North of the border Whistler’s summer skiing and boarding area on the Blackcomb glacier is now open and the resort is also offering summer snowshoeing and tubing.
Western Europe
Low temperatures and heavy snow have prevailed on glaciers in the Alps in the past few days. With all three summer ski areas now open in France, this means that 10 ski areas are offering powder snow conditions on their slopes at the moment.
In Austria the Hintertux glacier has reported 45cm (18 inches) of new snow it has a 590m vertical with 20km of pistes open, and a 195cm (6.5 foot) base.
The Dachstein glacier has a 210cm (seven-foot) base and is reporting powder conditions. It’s beginner park and super park are both open.
The Kitzsteinhorn glacier above Kaprun has also reopened, reporting another 5cm (two inches) of fresh snow on Tuesday, on top of weekend snowfall and a full 750 meters of skiable vertical. The Mölltal glacier will re-open this Sunday, June 27 at 8 a.m. with about 9 km of groomed slopes open daily to 4 p.m. through to the end of August. The center currently reports up to 3.6m (12 foot) snow depths on the glacier.
Italy will also be up to four summer ski areas open by the weekend when Cervinia reopens with fresh snow. It will join the still-open Presena glacier above Passo Tonale where just two advanced to expert runs are open, as well as Passo Stelvio and Val Senales, which has reported 20cm (eight inches) of new snow in two storms over the past few days.
In Switzerland it’s still only Zermatt, Europe’s highest ski area, which has 8km of runs open.
In France the ski lifts began running again over the weekend at Tignes on the Grande Motte glacier and in neighboring Val d’Isere, joining Les 2 Alpes which reopened a week ago. In Tignes there’s 20km of piste and a giant terrain park open, the snow base is 120cm (four feet) covered by another 5cm (two inches) of fresh snow. The slopes are open from 7:15 a.m. to 1 p.m., and located at an altitude ranging from 3,000 to 3,456 meters. The glacier features 12 ski lifts and can be accessed in seven minutes by the underground funicular.
Les 2 Alpes has 80cm (2.6 feet) of snow at 2600m and 2.8m (over nine feet) up at 3200m with 12 slopes and the terrain park open at one of Europe’s largest summer ski areas.
Northern Europe
The only other places to ski in Europe are in Norway, where three glacier ski areas are open at Folgefonn with up to four meters of base, Galdhoppigen with up to five meters of snow on the ground and Stryn with up to 4.5 meters.
In Scotland more than 60 skiers took to the slopes at CairnGorm Mountain on the summer solstice on Monday to enjoy some midsummer skiing on the snow still on the ground in the Ptarmigan bowl. They were able to take advantage of the two rope tows which had been set up there by the resort’s operators. Skiers had traveled from as far away as the Isle of Mull in order to be able to say that they had skied at midsummer at CairnGorm.
The 21st was the 147th day of skiing at CairnGorm since the season started on Nov. 28, 2009 and brings to 145,007 the total number of skier days at the resort in what by any account has been an extraordinary season. There were 23 days when skiing was not possible due to high winds or access blocked by snow. Last year 65,000 skiers visited the resort and only three years ago they had their worst season ever with only 38,000 skiers.
South America
In South America Las Leñas is the first resort to open in Argentina with a meter of snow on upper slopes, but the country’s other leading resort, Catedral, says that with about a foot (30cm) on upper slopes it needs more snow before opening.
Conditions at most ski areas in Chile are looking good after receiving up to two feet (60cm) of snow in the past week, most of it just before the weekend. Chapa Verde has a 60cm (two-foot) base and Chapelco 50cm (20 inches).
Valle Nevado and the South American “Three Valleys” that surround it, however, currently have some of the best conditions on the continent with more than 1.6m (over five feet) of accumulated snowfall to date. Portillo, which delayed its opening by a week, is now on schedule to open this weekend.
Africa
In southern Africa there’s snow sports as well as World Cup soccer. Africa’s Tiffindell is open for skiing and Afriski in Lesotho has had more new snow, taking its base depth to 65cm (2.2 feet) with a 400m long slope open.
Australasia
In Australia there’s been no new natural snowfall for over a week now, but temperatures are continuing to stay quite low so most resorts with snowmaking are making more, and ski areas like Falls Creek, Mt. Hotham and Perisher have 40 or 50cm (16-20 inches) of snow on snowmaking areas, Thredbo has a little less.
More ski areas have been opening in New Zealand. Treble Cone, which has received excellent pre-season snow, will open tomorrow with the first lift running at 8:30 a.m. There’ll be Amisfield bubbles for the first 150 skiers on the lifts. Whakapapa is scheduled to open on Saturday.
Of the already-open areas, Turoa has 80cm (nearly three feet) of snow on upper slopes. The Remarkables has 85cm (nearly three feet) and has reported 10cm (four inches) of new snow earlier today. Coronet Peak has the same base depth and 15cm (six inches) of new snow so far today. But Mt. Hutt has trumped both with 25cm (10 inches) of new snow today and a meter-deep (3.3 foot) base.
After getting their first turns of the season on Treble Cone’s feeride terrain, skiers and snowboarders can spend the afternoon testing their aerial skills on The AirBag. The AirBag is a supersized, air-filled stunt cushion that provides a soft landing for skiers and snowboarders. The first time it has been seen in on-snow in New Zealand, The Airbag is used throughout Europe to develop the training techniques of Olympic and national aerial teams.
The giant 10mx15m cushion will be in full view of the Treble Cone deck and high-speed six seater chairlift for onlookers to check out all the aerial action as some of the region’s top pro freeskiers and snowboarders put it through its paces.