Colorado Ski Resorts Get November Snow

"Winter Storm Warning" are the three words every ski fanatic wants to hear in November. It means snow is on the way and they are that much closer to strapping on the board(s) and catching some time on the slopes. A big October storm followed by an even bigger November storm set up many Colorado resorts for stellar snowmaking.

The snow really started pounding right about the time the Colorado Ski & Snowboard Expo pulled into town at the Colorado Convention Center in Downtown Denver. Every resort in the state made it and was set up and ready to go. The snow messed up traffic and kept up through the weekend, getting everyone in the mood to ski and ride.

Snowmass received 16 inches up top in the mid-November blast. Eldora, outside of Boulder, is open with a 24-inch base, four lifts, and four trails. Loveland opened Chair 2, and the U.S. Ski Team is training there. Monarch opens Nov. 25 with 5 feet of snow so far, and a 36-inch base.

The winter blast turned Steamboat into a Winter Wonderland with 14 inches of snow on Storm Peak. "Snow is something we're used to here in Steamboat. The past two seasons have seen more than 400 inches of snow accumulate. This is just another in a series of storms that started in October and is an early season reminder of what's to come," says Andy Wirth, with Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp.

Indoor ski slope opens at Bootle’s Strand shopping centre

THE UK’s first ski slope in a shopping centre was unveiled in Merseyside.

The artificial slope, measuring 14m long and standing 3.5m high, was an immediate hit when it opened in Bootle last night. But it almost did not arrive when the truck transporting it to The Strand shopping centre broke down.

Bootle town centre manager Chris White said: “The slope has provoked loads of interest. We are looking forward to having office people on the ski slope in their lunch hour.”

It opens from 10am-3pm Fri 27th and Sat 28th Nov.

About 50 fancy dress runners also took part in a 1k race in North Park.

Foreign office to tackle alcohol misuse in ski resorts

A major safety awareness initiative by the Foreign Office to tackle alcohol misuse in ski resorts and emphasise the necessity of full travel insurance cover will come into full swing in December when the first British skiers will be heading for the French, Swiss and Italian ski slopes. This campaign is a security and safety awareness campaign. The theme is to ski safely in relation to the abuse of alcohol, which can lead to accidents during or after skiing.

The safety awareness programme has been initiated by the Foreign Office for areas in which many ski resorts are located. It has been supported by French police and rescue services, tourist offices and airports in the regions of Savoie, Haute Savoie, Isère, Rhône as well as Geneva airport and several major Swiss ski resorts. In Italy, which joined the project later, resorts in the province of Turin will be involved for the forthcoming season.

British tour operators including the number 1 UK ski specialist Crystal Ski, Thomson Ski, First Choice Ski as well as student specialists Off the Piste and Ski Alpine have agreed to collaborate. It is a poster campaign which supports a diverse range of exciting and innovative education projects that aim to reduce alcohol misuse and make a tangible change in ski resorts. Projects range from posters in restaurants, bars, airports and other public spaces, as well as leaflets and display material in British tour operator owned chalets, club hotels and bars.

This campaign was initiated after several accidents in ski resorts which were directly related to alcohol abuse by young people. The aim of this campaign is to avoid accidents and deaths in ski resorts as alcohol can affect you more quickly at high altitudes and seriously limits your awareness of danger and cold.

"We are committed to supporting educational projects which make a positive difference to people lives and ensure that they have good, safe fun on their holidays" said Mathew Prior, MD of TUI Ski.

New gondola opens in time for ski season at Sun Valley

The new Sun Valley Roundhouse Gondola celebrated its grand opening Saturday.

Nine Sun Valley Olympians were some of the first to ride the new gondola on Bald Mountain. A spokesperson with the Sun Valley Resort said that 3,200 people took advantage of the free gondola ride.

The gondola carries passengers up two-thousand feet in less than eight minutes to the resort's Roundhouse restaurant midway up the mountain. Sun Valley's 74th ski season starts on Thanksgiving Day.

Snow forecast good news for Colorado ski areas as holiday nears

Much of the Western Slope is under a winter weather advisory for 24 hours as another round of snow moves into Colorado, according to the National Weather Service office in Grand Junction.

A trough of low pressure could leave behind up to 7 inches of new snow on much of the northern and central mountains. Higher elevations could see up to 8 inches, according to forecasters. The advisory started at midnight. Skiers will feast on a smorgasbord of newly opened slopes for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Monarch Mountain, Crested Butte and Steamboat open Wednesday. Thursday is the season opening for Aspen Mountain, Snowmass and Telluride. Purgatory at Durango Mountain opens Friday, according to Colorado Ski Country USA. Snow showers but no significant accumulation are expected along the Front Range today.

Ski jumpers denied Games bid

Women ski jumpers have been grounded after a B.C. court denied their appeal but they say they’re fine with men still getting their chance to soar at next year’s Olympics.

The B.C. Court of Appeal ruled Friday that VANOC is not in breach of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by staging only men’s ski jumping at the Games. In the women’s original lawsuit, they asked that both sexes be allowed to jump or that the men be grounded as well. Spokesman Deborah Folka said the 14 plaintiffs don’t plan to protest at the Olympics: “We will not do anything to take the dignity of events from other athletes,” said Folka.

She said that a very slim possibility of the women being allowed to jump rests with the International Olympic Committtee. “We will not make it to the 2010 Olympics by legal means, but there is still the possibility that the IOC changes its mind,” said Folka. VANOC responded that “(it) remains supportive .... of having women’s ski jumping added to the roster of future Olympic Winter Games.”

Big Opening Weekend for Skiing 09-10

Many of the world's major resorts in at least 10 countries are opening for 2009-10 season this weekend. In Europe, the ski season begins in Andorra with Grandvalira opening a fortnight early after heavy snowfall in the Pyrenees.

In the French Alps, Europe's highest major resort, Val Thorens is the second resort to open in France, joining Tignes which has been open for nearly two months already. In Austria, Obergurgl is opening and in Switzerland, Andermatt, Davos, Klosters, Flims and Laax join Engelberg, Zermatt, Verbier, Les Diablerets and Saas Fee which are already open.

In Italy, Livigno is opening early and is running its lifts free of charge this week with no lift pass required. More resorts are opening in Finland, Norway and Sweden joining the 20 or so already open in Scandinavia.

Across the Atlantic In Canada British Columbia's Big White, Sun peaks and whistler resorts have opened this weekend, joining Alberta's Banff resorts, Lake Louise, Marmot Basin and Nakiska which have opened in recent weeks.

More areas are opening in the today US too including Boreal in California and White Pass, they join the latest openers Mt Baker in Washington State and Breckenridge, Colorado, which opened a few days ago.

Female ski jumpers head back to court

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Female ski jumpers are heading back to court Thursday in another attempt to compete in the Vancouver Olympics.

Fourteen jumpers are appealing a lower court's decision that the Vancouver Olympic organizing committee doesn't control whether they can compete. The jumpers argue that organizers are subject to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and their failure to include women's ski jumping is discrimination.

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge ruled in July that the power to add sports rests solely with the International Olympic Committee. The IOC rejected women's ski jumping for the 2010 Games in 2006, arguing the sport had not yet met the criteria to be included.

The appeal will be heard over two days by a panel of judges in Vancouver.

Alpine ski season off to earliest ever start due to heavy snowfalls

Over the weekend, skiers and snowboarders enjoyed outstanding conditions for this time of year as a handful of European resorts opened earlier than expected following snowfalls of up to 20ins (50cm) in the past week.

In Saas Fee, Switzerland, snow depths have already reached more than 3ft (1m) on upper slopes, while the Austrian resort of Kitzbühel earlier set an 80-year record by opening on October 24.

In Switzerland, the resorts of Zermatt, Saas Fee, and Verbier have lifts running at weekends boasting “excellent” conditions following snowfalls in Thursday and overnight on Saturday. Resorts in France and Italy are also offering weekend skiing.

Despite not being among the highest of the Austrian resorts, Kitzbühel was one of the earliest to open its lifts last month, after heavy falls over the last three weeks.

Many Alpine resorts had been becoming increasingly nervous about the unseasonably warm weather of late, which saw temperatures as high as 65F (18C) – fearing a repeat of the dire season of 2006/7.

Concerns have also been raised over the impact of the global economic crisis and poor exchange rates that have forced up the cost of holidays in Europe, especially for British tourists.

Experts said that a plethora of cheap deals available this year are also helping fuel sales.

Last year many Alpine resorts experienced the best snow conditions in a generation.

Heavy snowfall has some Wash. ski areas opening

MOUNT BAKER, Wash. - Heavy snowfall in the Cascade Range has some Washington ski areas preparing to open.

Mount Baker Ski Area says it's received more than 45 inches of new snow in the last few days, and it plans to open on Thursday.

Crystal Mountain, meanwhile, says it's gotten about 2 feet recently and could open for limited operations on Wednesday.

New season on the Southampton ski slopes

An alpine activity firm is celebrating the launch of its seventh winter season running Southampton’s ski centre.

Filarinskis has been welcoming more than 50,000 skiers and snowboarders a year to the council facility at the sports centre in Bassett. City leisure chiefs hope that the forthcoming Winter Olympics will inspire even more people to give skiing a go on the centre’s dry slopes.

Ski holiday ideas in Slovenia

Slovenia is celebrating the 2009/2010 ski holiday season with the debut of a new cable car and ski piste linking the local Kanin resort to Italy’s Sella Nevea resort.

The joint ski area will be accessible with one lift pass, allowing skiers from both the Slovenian and the Italian sides of the mountain to enjoy the slopes at both resorts. The internationally connected ski centre will be the first of its kind in an area where, for most of the previous century, there was a strict border divide between the two countries.

The connected ski centre is expected to be called Kanin–Canin and will be one of the largest ski areas in Slovenia. Kanin is Slovenia’s only resort with slopes over 2,000m and the high altitude means its season often lasts into early May.

The resort has a good mixture of advanced, intermediate, beginner and cross-country trails. The link to Sella Nevea will provide an even greater choice of runs, particularly for beginner skiers.