Daily Archive for August 20th, 2008

August skiing in Europe?

Our friends at Skiinfo recently sent us this copy on places where you can ski in Europe this time a year despite the high temperatures and melting glaciers. So if you are near one of these ski resorts and you fancy some skiing, so you can get early bragging rights on the season then you know what to do :-)

Warm temperatures on Europe’s glaciers have led some summer ski resorts to close early, but the majority remain open and the leading snow-reporting service Skiinfo.com has snow depth details for all of them. The company tracks snow conditions several times daily, year round, at more than a thousand European ski resorts, including the dozen that are currently offering summer snow sports. Remarkably, ski areas in Austria, France, Italy and Switzerland have all reported fresh snow falling at times over the past fortnight.

The Tux glacier in Austria was amongst those recording fresh snowfall in the past week, topping up snow depths on the glacier to 105cm. Although temperatures have been variable, reaching +9C degrees at the bottom of the glacier ski area and +4C at the top, the centre currently has 13km of piste open , served by the three giant Glacier Bus lifts, one chair and five drag lifts. The ski day starts at 8.15 in the morning with the ski area winding down by 1pm daily because of the heat. The action then moves to the Treffpunkt Panoramaterrasse restaurant which also has specials on between 11am and 1pm. The lifts back down run to 4.30pm so there’s no need to hurry!

You can also ski on the Dachstein Glacier, which has two kilometers of piste on a 180cm base available although the terrain park is now closed until
(hopefully) September. The Molltal glacier is currently running three
lifts, serving nine kilometers of slopes.
A fourth choice, Kaprun, has about 70cm of snow on the Kitzsteinhorn glacier and five runs open served by six lifts. Several more glacier ski areas in Austria are due to re-open in September, including the Kaunertal, Pitztal and Stubai areas.

In France Val d’Isere’s glacier did close slightly earlier than expected usual after temperatures at 3000m reached 13 degrees Celcius, however Les 2 Alpes and Tignes both intend to stay open for the remainder of this month.

Les 2 Alpes has over 110 hectares of piste, including a popular terrain park, on a 400m vertical between 3,200 and 3,600 metres available to August 30th. Currently around 15 lifts are serving a dozen easy to intermediate grade pistes.

At Tignes the summer ski area on the Grand Motte glacier is open every day to 31st August, from 7.15am to 1pm daily. There are 20km of piste between 3,000m and 3,656m altitude available with 750m of vertical - as big as the biggest lift served vertical in the southern hemisphere. There are 12 ski lifts and a snow park to enjoy, with a new boarder cross course open this summer, as well as a mini slalom. Current snow depth is 40cm (16 inches).

In Italy Passo Stelvio has the most skiing available in the country at present. Sitting up at 2760 metres, the bottom lift station at Italy’s Passo Stelvio ( Stilfserjoch ) is the highest lift base in Europe, with trails up to 3450 metres, giving a near 700 metre vertical. The current snow depth varies between one and three metres with fresh snow a few weeks ago. The centre, one of Europe’s largest summer skiing areas, has 10 runs, with 20km of piste currently open. All but one of which are graded ‘red’ or of intermediate/more difficult standard, the other is an easy trail. A second Italian glacier ski area, the Val Senales glacier, is also open but with only a kilometer of skiing currently available.

The Matterhorn Ski Paradise in Switzerland, above Zermatt and also accessed from Cervinia in Italy, is Europe’s highest ski area, one of the largest summer snow operators, and one of the few remaining year-round operators.
Following recent snowfalls glacier snow depths are around 190cm with 10km of runs available served by six lifts. The resort is currently installing a pioneering new snowmaking system from Israel that can make snow in plus temperatures which the resort hopes will bridge a piste-gap that has grown at the base of the glacier where it has melted away, so skiers no longer need to walk to the lift station but can ski there as they could 20 years ago.

Norway’s three summer ski destinations remain open. Galdhoppigen has two
kilometers of skiing and a snow depth of 180cm, Folgefonn four kilometers of piste and a snow depth of 120cm and Stryn five kilometres and a 150cm base.

New Indoor Snow Centre Choose HEAD’s Innovative Fitting System

Stephen Jordan, Head of Marketing for the new indoor Snow Centre under construction at Hemel Hempstead has recently announced a decision to award supply of all snow sports equipment to HEAD – confirming an agreement to be the first UK snow sports centre to use HEAD’s innovative BYS system for rented skis and boards.
‘The equipment meets all our requirements with regard to quality, technological specification across the full range and its ability to cope with the demands of constant multi-user hire,’ said Stephen.

But most important was the development of the BYS system which will significantly streamline the hire process, reducing the amount of time taken to set up each customer with appropriate skis and boots.

The BYS (Black, Yellow and Silver) system, which is already proving successful at resorts in Europe, Canada and the US, reduces the amount of time taken to fit boots and skis – allowing customers the maximum amount of time on the slopes.

The system works with HEAD Ski Boots being available in just three fixed sole-lengths with the adjustment for individual foot sizes made inside the boot – which means the boots can fit perfectly into pre-adjusted bindings. The boots and skis are colour coded – black, yellow and silver – matching the base colour of the boot to the ski. The only additional setting is DIN adjustment to allow for the correct release setting.

To make things even more efficient all customer settings and details will be recorded so on subsequent visits individual snow ticket information will ensure that customers have the same boots, skis or board so they can get out on the snow even more quickly.

The HEAD Speed Disc Snowboard system works in a similar way to provide customers with a perfectly set board in less than a minute without the need for tools - regular to goofy happens in seconds!
Stephen said, ‘We’re delighted to be working with HEAD and in particular to be the first UK operator to offer our customers the benefit of the speedy and innovative system for fitting boots, skis and boards. Our aim is to allow visitors to the Snow Centre the maximum time on the slopes. Making the process of getting kitted out more efficient will help provide the best possible indoor snow experience.’
The Snow Centre at Hemel Hempstead is on target for opening to the public at the end of April 2009.
www.snowcentre.com