A new online competition at http://winterdream.austria.info allows anyone to post their details of their dream winter holiday in the Alps. The most original and imaginative will win their winter dream come true!
The competition’s organisers, the Austrian National Tourist Office, suggest entrants, “Let your imagination run free as you post your dreams.” And provide a few ideas of their own, including having the ice rink outside Vienna’s Town Hall all to yourself as you jump and twirl, or timing yourself on a speed skating lap.?
The best dreams will be judged by a panel, but your chances of winning will increase if as many of your friends as possible vote for you online.
One oi the most popular dreams so far comes from Mike who says, “I would wish for an unforgettable 10th anniversary for me and my wife. I’d like to ski down the closed – off piste, just the two of us, at the Sonnbergkogel, where we met 12 years ago, followed by a romantic overnight stay in the best local hotel.”
Another entrant wants to be driven in a 4-man bobsleigh down the run at Igls in Innsbruck by the Austrian national bobsleigh team.
While a more charity minded entrant, Vanessa, says her winter dream is to stroll round the Christmas Market in Salzburg on a snowy day with a group of 20 underprivileged children and to be able to fulfil their every wish.
The competition closes on 11th November.
Continents With Resorts Open For Skiing: 3
Countries With Resorts Open For Skiing: 10
Ski Areas Open (Approximately): 35
* Heavy snow in Western Canada
* A dozen ski areas open in Scandinavia.
* Bormio opens this weekend.
* Still skiing in New Zealand.
* Les 2 Alpes opens for a big party.
* Diablerets Glacier opens.
Heavy snow is reported in western Canada and a week of fresh snowfalls in many northern hemisphere ski areas including Colorado, parts of the Alps and Japan.
With Kitzbuhel’s earliest ever opening at the weekend, following the Planai above Schladming the week before that, as well as seven glaciers areas to choose from, Austria continues to offer the biggest choice of skiing in the Alps. The heavy snowfall there last week has set up some great conditions with most areas reporting a 90-150cm (3-5 foot) base. The other ski centres to choose from include Dachstein, Hintertux, Molltal, Kitzsteinhorn (Kaprun), Pitztal, Solden, Stubai, Tux).
In Switzerland the latest ski area to open is Glacier 3000 above les Diablerets near Gstaad. Currently the Dôme ski lift and the snow park are open where there are several lines of a different level with tables, rails as well as boxes ready for use. The area joins the Engelberg, Saas Fee and Zermatt glaciers which are all already open.
Exciting news from Italy too as Bormio has announced it will open early from this weekend, Halloween, too and the country has reported some of the best new snow this week, Livigno, not yet open, noting more than 30cm of fresh snow accumulated.
Bormio will run a cable car and a high speed chair serving 18km of slopes between 2,500m and 3,000m altitude.
It joins Cervinia (20cm) which will now be open daily after weekend opening through October, and still open summer ski areas Passo Stelvio and Val Senales.
In France les 2 Alpes is open this week for its new festival week, but will close again on Monday for four weeks until opening for the winter on November 28th. It has 20m of snow, a little more than Tignes, the other French resorts that has now been open for six weeks this season but is currently suffering from a snow shortage and needs more.
In the Pyrenees there are no areas open yet but the first heavy snowfalls have been reported. Formigal in Spain has reported the first snow of the season on their ski mountain’s slopes. The 5cm dusting at Spain’s largest resort is a good sign for the coming season and forecasters are predicting a further 15cm tonight. The Pyrenees received some of the best snow in decades at many resorts last winter, and it all began in Autumn last year, so the region is hoping for a repeat of winter 08-09.
There are more than a dozen ski areas currently open in Northern Europe.
Sweden currently has five ski areas to ski or board – Funäsdalen, Kåbdalis, Tänndalen, Tärnaby and Hemavan. Tänndalen is the only area that is open daily.
The country’s biggest resort, Sälen, is waiting for colder temperatures along with all other resorts. One that is standing by is Åre as under the right conditions, temp, humidity etc Åre can produce a 50cm snow layer on its main down hill slope in just 150 hours. However Sweden needs colder temps to open new areas and the weather forecast don’t look so promising for the rest of the week.
In Norway skiers have six different ski resorts to choose from the upcoming weekend. Gaustablikk and Bjorli opened already at 17th of October, and Gålå has announced their season starts this weekend. A ski season that starts in mid October is early, even in cold Norway, and this means that the first winter ski resort opened before the last summer ski resort closed (Galdhøpiggen Summer ski resort closed on 25th October). Kvitfjell, Trysil, Hafjell, Geilo, Kongsberg and Uvdal all aim to open on November 7th.
Several areas are also open in Finland, including the first to open there, Ruka.
In Western Canada the Canada Olympic Park near Calgary in Alberta is already open and resorts across Alberta and British Columbia have been reporting heavy snow falls ahead of planned opening dates in the next few weeks.
The first due to open is Mount Norquay at Banff, which plans to open at weekends from this Saturday, Halloween weekend, onwards. Other resorts in the region including Nakiska and Marmot Basin, both of which have new quad chairlifts, as well as Sunshine mountain will open within the next few weeks.
Resorts in British Columbia have been reporting heavy snow in recent days. “Sun Peaks Sports Director Alain Brunelle tested the powder up at Sun Peaks this morning. The last couple of days have brought 40cm of snow, bringing the base at Sun Peaks to 70cm. More storms are on the way, with snow expected Wednesday night, Thursday, and Saturday this week.” resort spokeswoman Melanie Simmons told Skiinfo.co.uk.
Fernie and Marmot Basin have also reported big snowfalls.
In the east of the Country Mont Saint Sauveur in Quebec was the first to open, thanks in part to an expanded snowmaking system, but has since had to close again because of warmer weather.
South of the border resorts in Colorado and Utah are amongst those announcing fresh snow. In the case of Loveland, Colorado, which has already been open for three weeks, that means more new terrain has opened as a “Halloween treat” for its guests. Its neighbours, Copper and Keystone plan to open within weeks.
Arapahoe Basin remains open although there’s no beginner terrain at the moment. Another two inches (5cm) of snow has fallen there is the past 24 hours and there’s an 18 inch (45cm) base mid mountain). Three runs including Ramrod are now open along! Visit the High Divide Terrain Park with 5 features.
On the east Coast Sunday River in Maine remains open with the resort’s full vertical skiable with two weeks of the season clocked up so far.
In the southern Hemisphere New Zealand’s Mt Ruapehu is about to open its ‘Snovember’ opening schedule. Turoa reports a base toll at over 2.4m (8 feet) so it’s anyone’s guess how long it can stay open, but the current plan is for another few weeks at least. The centre has re-opened for Christmas in recent years and more snow is expected in the next few days.
Mont Saint-Sauveur enjoyed its earliest ever opening on October 18th and was the first resort in Canada to open, just behind Canada’s Olympic park in Alberta, according to ski news website First Tracks (www.firsttracksonline.com)
Mont Saint-Sauveur sets a new record by opening 9 days earlier than its previous record of 1997 with an opening October 27. The station is also the first station in Canada to open the night skiing.
The trails 70 OUEST is now open for skiers and snowboarders served by the L’Étoile chairlift. Staff at Mont Saint-Sauveur says that as long as the weather keeps giving perfect conditions, snowmaking will go on and give more skiable terrain hour by hour.
Further east, Mont-Sainte-Anne near Quebec City isn’t open yet but it is already covered by over 15cm of fresh snow! The resort plans to open on November 14th with low temperatures projected for the next few weeks. Ironically, the first important snowfall of the season coincides with the arrival of Martin Larichelière, the resort’s new expert in snowmaking and grooming.
Mr. LaRichelière, a true ski passionate, has been a technical delegate International Ski Federation (FIS) and is also recognized as a Level 3 instructor and a Level 3 ski coach. To that effect, he has even been director of the National Training Center in Charlevoix.
He has also cumulated years of experience in managing operations at a Quebec ski resort and has even acquired special knowledge in snowmaking as Director of Sales and Marketing at Turbocristal enterprises, a leader in snowmaking technology.
Mr. Larichelière expects to fire 120 of his mobile snow guns during the first week of November. The powerful system will be entirely located on the famous North Side, to focus of some of the more popular slopes: La Quanick, La Printannière, La Mélanie Turgeon and La Paradeuse. Another initiative: an 800 meter cross-country skiing loop, dedicated to training purposes, will be created at the summit on the Western Side and will welcome teams form Quebec and abroad.
The resort is constantly improving its infrastructures. This year, a gondola restoration project has been initiated and is planned over the next 3 years, with an estimated value of 1.5 million dollars. Their mechanical system has been completely revised and the next step will be to refresh the actual gondolas.
