No skiing at Scottish resort -- too much snow

Skiers found the slopes at a Scottish resort closed on Friday, not because the snow was sparse, but rather there was too much of it, the resort's managers said.

Cairngorm Mountain in northeast Scotland more often deals with a lack of snow but this year it is grappling with a different problem -- 185 centimetres (73 inches) of snow since Christmas in the worst bout of winter weather since the 1970s.

Resort staff toiled all day Thursday to clear snow, but they arrived back Friday to find their hard work was in vain after strong winds blew snow across access roads, creating 15 foot (4.6 metre) high drifts.

"We have come in this morning and it feels like groundhog day -- all our work yesterday has been filled in again," said Colin Matthew, the head of ski patrol.

"The mountain and all facilities, access roads and car parks will be closed today to allow digging out after major drifting during the storm," he said.

The resort's snow ploughs cannot even get through the drifting and it has had to hire special heavy diggers, said resort spokesman Colin Kirkwood, adding it could be Monday before the resort reopens.

But despite the temporary closure, Kirkwood said this year's harsh conditions had provided a welcome boost for business at Cairngorm, which faced controversy in recent years after a funicular railway ran well over budget.

"We're about 300 percent up on the point we were at at the same point last year," he said.

Cairngorm, Britain's sixth highest mountain, is one of the main resorts in Britain's small ski industry north of the Scottish border, with 10 lifts and 30 kilometres (19 miles) of ski runs.

Most of Britain has seen substantial snowfalls over the last month, in the country's severest winter for decades, although warmer temperatures in the last few days have melted much of the snow and ice further south.

Child's life saved by ski helmet

A young girl who collided with a tre when skiing at Afton Alps ski area in Minnesota may have died had she not been wearing a helmet, according to a doctor who treated her. The 6 year old broke her nose and leg, but a dent in her helmet appears to indicate it saved her from more serious head trauma.

"The helmet is probably the thing that saved her from truly serious injury, " said Dr Michael McGonigal who treated the girl. He hoped Julia's accident would offer an example to parents about the difference a helmet can make. "You've got to get them tuned in with the people that are doing it, and probably one of the most important things is to get them involved in wearing those things at a very young age, so it's just a natural thing."

Ski lift fault traps skiers in gondolas

Skiers had to be airlifted to safety yesterday, after a broken-down ski lift trapped 43 passengers in gondolas for several hours at a southern German resort.

A technical failure in the lift system at the alpine Brauneck resort in Bavaria triggered the automatic shutdown of the whole system, leaving skiers hanging up to 70 metres above the ground in 30 four-person gondolas. The rescue operation took almost three hours.

About 100 firefighters and mountain rescue specialists helped to lower many of the trapped skiers to safety, while others had to be rescued by helicopter, said police spokesman Harald Bauer. None of the skiers were injured, despite below-freezing temperatures. The resort is about 60km (40 miles) south of Munich.

"I was stuck up there for two and a half hours until the helicopter came to rescue me," skier Peter Gutmann told Associated Press. He said he was trapped alone in a gondola dangling more than 50ft (15m) above the ground.

UK weather colder than European ski resorts

Parts of the UK were colder than European ski resorts last night as temperatures matched their lowest levels so far this winter.

The temperature in Benson, Oxfordshire, and Woodford, Greater Manchester, reached -18C, a degree lower than some manufacturers recommend for freezing food at home and 2C warmer than the south pole – although it is the height of summer in the southern hemisphere. By comparison, the popular ski destinations of Davos, in Switzerland, and St Anton, in Austria, saw temperatures of -12C and -8C respectively.

A low of -18C was recorded earlier this winter – in Braemar, Aberdeenshire, on 29 December.

Snow brings delight to ski centres

Scotland's ski centres said they had enjoyed the best start to the season in decades thanks to the continued cold snap.

Heavy snowfalls and consistently low temperatures have led to a bumper year for ski centre visitors, despite severe weather warnings and problems on many of the surrounding roads.

The Nevis Range centre in Fort William has enjoyed its busiest start to the ski season for a decade, while the Cairngorms centre, near Aviemore, reported the best snowfall it had seen since 1996.

Avalanche buries ski patroller

A member of the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort ski patrol suffered critical injuries when he was buried in an avalanche Wednesday, officials said.

Mark Wolling, 58, was caught in the slide at about 8:25 a.m., before the slopes were open to the public, as he and other patrollers conducted avalanche hazard reduction work in the Cheyenne Bowl at an elevation of 9,350 feet. Wolling, a Jackson resident known by the nickname "Big Wally," and another patrol member were setting off explosive devices called hand charges when the avalanche triggered above them, according to a resort news release.

The other patroller was able to stop himself on a tree but Wolling was swept up in the sliding snow. Wolling was carried along for most of the 1,000-foot slide, including over a 25-foot cliff, according to the resort. It took fellow patrollers about 10 minutes to find Wolling, who was buried in about 6 feet of snow.

Wolling was rushed to the Teton Village Clinic and then St. John's Medical Center in Jackson. He was flown Wednesday afternoon to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls, where a hospital spokeswoman said he was in critical condition. "It has been an extremely tough morning for all our patrollers and staff," Jerry Blann, resort president, said in a statement. "I am very grateful to everyone for their efforts. Our thoughts and prayers are with Mark and his family right now."

Wolling has been on the ski patrol since 1989 and has worked for the resort in other capacities since 1978, said Anna Olson, a resort spokeswoman. "His family are aware, and we have a lot of people looking out for him," Olson said.

Jackson Hole Mountain Resort had received 10 inches of snow in the 24 hours before the avalanche occurred and substantial snowfall in the previous week. Wolling was in the upper area of the Cheyenne Bowl when the avalanche occurred, Olson said. The area has not been open to the public this season because of insufficient snow.

11 year old boy collapses & dies while skiing down hill

An 11-year-old Newton boy reportedly collapsed and died while skiing with his father and brothers Sunday in New Hampshire.

The boy was identified by school officials as Joseph Kelly Heilbron, a fifth-grader at the Pierce School, according to the Newton Tab. Josephwas the youngest of six children. Police in Henniker were unavailable for comment last night. The ski facility Pat’s Peak in Henniker, N.H., did not return a call for comment.

Officials at Joseph’s school told the newspaper the boy’s death has shocked and saddened the entire community. “The mood of the school is very sad and (this was) very sudden. This was a very sweet child that was an integral part of our school,” Interim Principal Ruth H. Chapman told the paper.

According to a letter Chapman sent home to parents, Joseph was on the last run down a hill and winning a race with his father and brothers when his body gave out and he collapsed, she wrote. Grief counselors were on hand for students at the boy’s school yesterday.

Girl falls from ski-lift

Police are looking for a German couple who fled after a 10 year old girl was seriously injured when she plunged 30ft from a ski lift.

Emily O'Rourke from Mullingar, Ireland, dangled for nearly a minute before she slipped from the grasp of fellow skiers onto the ice and snow below in Westendorf, Austria. Yesterday she was being treated for three cracked vertebrae in hospital in nearby Sankt Johann. Soctors said they expected her to make a full recovery after Sunday's fall.

Skiers watching from the ground said they had seen the unidentified German pair clinging onto the child. Police said they grabbed Emily and according to witnesses tried to hang on to her until the lift could reach the landing station – but she fell to the ground when they could no longer hold on. The couple were initially praised but refused to discuss how the lift bar had been raised during the trip and then fled saying they wanted to enjoy their remaining time on the slopes.

Hansjoerg Kogler, the boss of the lift company Bergbahnen Westendorf, said: "I really cannot understand their behaviour. We wanted to question the couple about the events, but they were not co-operative, they had nothing to say, they said they only had half day passes and therefore wanted to go skiing.

"There are still many open questions about how the accident could have occurred. The couple did not even leave their contact details in case of any inquiries and of course now we need to speak to them to see what went wrong."

Police said that adults travelling with children had a duty of responsibility to make sure the safety bar was down and that they were secure.