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May is perhaps the most difficult month of the year for finding a ski run to enjoy! Most of the resorts that have been open all winter close at the start of the month if they had not already, and most summer ski resorts close for a few months in May and June before re-opening for the summer. Even the ski resorts of the southern hemisphere don’t really get going until June.

But Skiinfo (www.skiinfo.com) tracks the latest opening information from more than 1,000 ski areas in Europe and with the great late-season snow coming on top of a spectacular winter season, there’s no reason to put your skis or board away just yet (if ever!).

The best snow of the past week has been in Austria where the Pitztal Glacier reported 30cm (12 inches) of fresh powder on May1st. All 28km of piste and the resort’s seven lifts are operating and will remain open until 18th May.

If you want to ski in Austria later in the month head to the Tux glacier which is currently reporting a 335cm (11 foot) base and is one of a handful of resorts that remains open year round. 13 lifts are open serving 61km of runs. A third glacier area, Kaprun, where there is over three metres (ten feet) of snow on the glacier, remains open to June 1st before closing for three weeks in June. The Kaunertal glacier is also open with 310cm (just over 10 feet) of snow at the top whilst the Stubai Glacier has recently announced that it will stay open in to July and has 280cm (nine feet, four
inches) of snow.

If you are looking for newly opened ski areas, Norway is the place to be, where the country’s three glacier ski areas all open this month. Folgefonn was the first to open last weekend and is reporting an incredible accumulation of eight metres (27 feet) of snow. The second ski area, Galdhøpiggen, opens this Saturday, May 10th. It is named after Scandinavia’s highest peak, nearby, and operates a 1.4km long T Bar installed in 2002, the longest glacier lift in the country. The final ski area to open is Alberto Tomba’s favourite, Stryn, which opens on 30th May.

In Sweden, the legendary period of skiing under the midnight sun is fast approaching at Riksgränsen where all 16 runs are open and snow depths are currently 144cm (just under five feet).

In Switzerland Engelberg claims the greatest snow depth with 495cm (16.5 feet) at the top and a 1200m skiable vertical. Zermatt, like Tux open 366 days in 2008, has 120cm (four feet) of snow on its lower slopes and 187cm (just over six feet) on Europe’s highest slopes more than a thousand metres above.

In France it’s the last weekend of the winter at the two resorts that are still enjoying the spectacular 2007-8 winter season. Chamonix has five runs open and six metres (20 feet) of snow on its highest slopes. Tignes has half the snow depth of Chamonix, but double the number of runs open.

In Italy three ski runs are open on the Presena Glacier above Passo Tonale, albeit only suited to advanced or intermediate skiers. Other summer ski areas at Passo Stelvio, Val Senales and Cervinia re-open on May 25th and June 14th respectively.

To check out current snow conditions, lifts and runs open and all other ski area information visit www.skiinfo.com. Skiinfo’s The Snowfinder feature projects snowfall over the next five days and Skiers’ Lounge allows anyone to post queries and comments to fellow skiers and boarders from across the continent and beyond.

After the first successful tests in 2006 the Weisse Arena Group which runs the Laax ski area in Switzerland has introduced a snow farming pilot project in collaboration with the Canton of Graubünden.

At the end of last winter in the area of Crap Sogn Gion, snow was put in the half pipe using snow machines and covered with a compound cover. The snow saved meant that the half pipe and snow parks could be built earlier and the energy costs for snow production were also reduced.

Last summer after tests the previous year, a section of the piste of approximately 20,000 square metres on the glacier was covered with a compound cover. This meant that two to three metres of snow could be saved during the summer and the piste machine hours could be reduced by around 40%.

The projects are currently being repeated and will be evaluated ecologically and scientifically for the next five years. The results will then be incorporated into a list of best practice criteria for snow farming and glacier covering.

Valle Nevado, close to Chile’s capital Santiago, will celebrate 20 years of operations when it opens for business this winter on 13th June.

The distinctively French designed resort claims to have the largest ski area in the southern hemisphere with 23,000 acres of terrain home to 23 miles (36km) of piste, that are lift linked to two neighbouring ski areas to create 'The Three Valleys of the Andes'.

Valle Nevado’s other claims–to-fame include 80% sunshine days (…but with great snowfall on the other days) and a snow park with half pipe that has enabled it to become the only site in the southern hemisphere to host the Snowboard World Cup.

As many will know, Laura Berry has been suffering from recurring breaks to her collar bone and recently won the Red Bull Home Run at The Brits with a floating break. Laura had her operation last Friday and is now the owner of a shiny new collarbone. The operation went better than expected, so hopefully she can now put the whole episode behind her and she can get on with what she loves the most... snowboarding.

I'd like to thank on behalf of myself and Laura all her friends and sponsors who have supported her over these recent injury-ridden years and also Mr Flynn and his magic hands.

For those that like the gory details:

She was supposed to have a graft taken from her hip but the doc said as she needed to be on her feet asap that he would try to use any excess bone from her collarbone. There was enough to use by trimming the bones so she didn't get hacked open at her hip, which was just as well as the incision would have been HUGE.

We thought actual bone is placed in the gap but it's not like that.They grind up bone to fill the gap. She also has a low-profile titanium plate and screws so no sticky out screw heads or bulky plate. The doc was the best. He works with a lot of sports people so was very sympathic and on the ball.

[From Laura's mum, Lesley (SCUK: Lesley)]

The growth in snowmaking, which now covers a third of the slopes in the Alps, was discussed at the European Geosciences Union annual conference in Vienna last week.

"Snow cannons have become more and more intelligent," said hydrologist Carmen de Jong of the University of Savoy in France., explaining that when it's cold enough but the wind is blowing too hard, the machines stay off for example, rather than wasting water and energy in the wrong weather conditions.

On the down side however, "Artificial snow melts two to three weeks later (than normal snow)," Christian Rixen of the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research commented, noting also that artificial snow melt contains more minerals and nutrients than regular melt water resulting in a change in the eco-system so that plants with higher nutritional requirements suddenly begin to dominate.

The use of artificial snow is also reported to interfere with the ancient Alpine water table. Water for snow production has to be collected in man made reservoirs which don’t allow water to seep back to the water table like natural lakes. They also collect water over the course of the year before the ski season during which time a sizeable percentage of the water evaporates and is lost, according to the researchers.

De Jong warns that an excessive dependence on snow cannons would disrupt the Alpine ecosystem: "You can't practice winter tourism at the expense of the summer. In 20 or 30 years, people will be coming to the cool mountains instead of heading to the hot Mediterranean. There, global warming will have brought about extremely high temperatures, which are bad for tourism. If you look at it this way, climate change is also an opportunity for the Alps."

Verbier has unveiled a list of innovative initiatives in the resort’s on-going efforts to minimize its environmental impact.

One of the most innovative is to install sonar machines beneath its trail grooming equipment. This ensures that the resort’s lift company is aware of snow depth across the piste and does not waste water and energy making snow where it is not needed. It also means that grooming can be suspended where snow cover is too thin or does not need grooming for any other reason, avoiding the risk of damage to underlying vegetation and ground.

The lift company also uses bio-diesel for the grooming machines and some of their vehicles (cars on mini-vans).

In addition, the Commune de Bagnes encourages the building of houses with geothermal heating. The increase has then been really important over the last three to five years according to the architects of Verbier.

The community also produces electricity by using the waterfalls of the channels for the drinkable or used water. Every year, these” micro-poweer-plants”(three in total) produce the power for 2,000 people - about a third of the Commune’s residents.

The Commune de Bagnes has also ordered an analysis of the traffic in the resort and has initiated a plan to be enacted during the period from 2010 to 2015.

The main projects are to reduce traffic in the centre of the resort; create pedestrian areas and zones with priority to pedestrians in the centre. Public transports will be further developed and people encouraged to leave their cars at home.

When possible, the Commune the Bagnes, the lift company, the tourist office and events organisers already encourage people to come by train – or leave their car in Le Châble – and use the gondola to reach the resort and/or the slopes.

www.verbier.ch

Although Easter, a month ago already, was good enough, Skiinfo (www.skiinfo.com) is reporting that snow conditions in the Alps are currently amongst the best they have been all season.

Recent snowfalls have added more than a metre of snow (106cm/ 42 inches) at Serre Chevalier in France over the past week. Cervinia in Italy has reported 55cm (22 inches) in the same period whilst Saas Fee in Switzerland has added 51cm (21 inches) - setting itself up for a great summer ski season on the glacier. Verbier (Switzerland) and La Plagne (France) have both reported more than a foot (30cm) of fresh snow in the past seven days too.

Many resorts are still open and some have extended their seasons because of the great conditions and bargain basement prices for late bookers. Big falls are currently continuing across the Alps with Austria's high altitude Obertauern the biggest beneficiary in the past 24 hours, reporting a whopping 30cm (12 inches) more snow. Flaine, Tignes and La Clusaz in France, Andermatt in Switzerland and Austria's Stubai Glacier are all reporting fresh snow for lucky skiers and boarders today.

The most impressive snow depths at present are at Chamonix (France) which claims a huge 650cm (22 feet). Switzerland's Engelberg has a 530cm (16 foot) base whilst in Italy, Livigno has snow lying up to 245cm (eight feet) deep. Many other famous name resorts across Europe are reporting current snow depths of between two and three metres (seven to ten feet).

Skiinfo reports on snow conditions from more than 1,000 ski areas across Europe, updated direct from the resorts several times a day. The company has staff working in 12 European nations and site visitors can check snow conditions online or opt to select which resorts they want to receive snow information, powder alerts and snowfall forecasts for. Skiinfo also operates the multinational Skiers Lounge where skiers can exchange news and views or post pictures and video with other snow fans from across the continent.

Report Predicts Little or No Snow In The Pyrenees By End of Century

A study by Spain's High Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) in to the future of the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain, including Andorra, warns that average temperatures will rise by at least 2.8ºC by 2100 in a best case scenario in which greenhouse gas emissions are low, and by around 4ºC in the worst-case, high-emissions scenario. At the same time, the amount of rain and snow fall is expected to plunge by between 10.7 percent and 14.8 percent per year.

The researchers predict that this will mean much less precipitation and a far shorter snow season, if there is one at all.

The study is based on six regional climate models that were able to accurately estimate climatic conditions between 1960 and 1990 in the Pyrenees.

Latest Study On Helmet Wearing Confirms Finding of Earlier Studies

A new study in to ski injuries by Professor Peter Cummings of the University of Washington has concluded that wearing a helmet reduces the chances of injury by 15 per cent.

The study was based on reports of 4224 face, neck and head injuries during the period from 2000 to 2005 in three resorts. Between 21 and 25 per cent of those who suffered injuries were wearing helmets.

Previous studies in Canada and Italy had also concluded that helmet wearing increased chances of avoiding injury from a head impact, although the earlier studies found that the increase in safety was up to 60 per cent.

The study did not find that any skier level or gender or any other group was more likely to be helped by wearing helmet and confirmed the findings of the earlier studies that there was no truth in the urban myth that wearing a helmet increased the risk of neck injury.

Climbers have voiced concerns that the Sportscotland Avalanche Information Service (SAIS) has ended for the season despite conditions remaining potentially dangerous.

As most of the world’s ski resorts close for winter 07-08, Whistler has announced more than two months of its long snowsports season is still ahead.

Skiing and riding on Whistler Mountain will continue until April 20th. Spring skiing then continues on Blackcomb Mountain from Monday, April 21 through to Sunday, June 8th. After that the Blackcomb glacier is open for summer snow sports.

The resort currently has a snow base of 265cm and will have 3,000 to 2,500 acres remaining open for May and the first week of June.

From Monday, April 21st, access to Blackcomb Mountain will be from Excalibur Gondola in Whistler Village. The lifts open for skiing will be Excalibur Gondola, Excelerator Chair, Jersey Cream Express, 7th Heaven Express, Glacier Express, and Horstman T-bar. Crystal Chair will open on weekends, but the skiing and riding in the Crystal Zone will remain open, accessible by Glacier Express, seven days a week as the ski out allows. Mountain hours of operation starting Monday, April 21 will be 9am to 4pm with the last upload from the valley at 4pm.

The Wizard Chair and the Solar Coaster Chair will both be closed for maintenance from April 21st through to June 8th, reopening on June 9th for glacier skiing and sightseeing June 9 through July 27 on Blackcomb Mountain.

Blackcomb Mountain will also debut a new terrain park through to the end of May in the Jersey Cream area. Opening on April 21st, it will feature a mix of small, medium as well as large jibs and jumps built for the Orage Masters. The Nintendo Highest Level Park will close on April 20th to accommodate Peak 2 Peak construction, as such there will be no XL jumps requiring an extra pass.

Throughout the spring, the most current lift and operations schedule will be available on whistlerblackcomb.com

Anybody travelling to the Brits this weekend with British Airways are advised to check on the www.ba.com website as services to Frankfurt were canceled yesterday at Heathrow's new T5 and there may be further delays over the weekend.

Check flights here: www.britishairways.com/travel/flightops/public/en_gb?p_faqid=3192
News from the BBC here: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7317909.stm

Good luck!

The Nike 6.0 crew are pleased to announce a new edition to their UK Snow Team, local Tamworth ripper, Chris Kightley. Chris has spent the last few seasons honing his skills in Breckenridge, Colorado, and is now making a big noise on the UK shred scene.

Watch out as Chris joins Jamie Nicholls, Sparrow Knox, Billy Neilson and Henry Shackleton to represent Nike 6.0 at the British Championships in Laax, Switzerland at the start of April 2008.

Whitelines caught up with Jenny Jones just before the weekend's Burton US Open slopestyle event at Stratton, Vermont.

As previewed at the start of the season, Taos in New Mexico, one of four US resorts that still banned snowboarders, has opened its slopes to all after its final ‘skiers only’ day, ahead of unrestricted opening from next winter on.

Thousands of boarders from around the US descended on the resort at the weekend to welcome the end of what is popularly regarded as "Alpine apartheid".

The remaining ski areas still banning boarders are Alta and Deer Valley in Utah and Mad River Glen in Vermont.

Vail Launch New Unrestricted Season Pass For About The Cost of Six Day High Season Ticket.

Vail Resorts, is offering the new Epic Season Pass fior next winter. The new unlimited, unrestricted season pass is valid for the entire 2008-2009 ski and snowboard season at the resort’s five resorts of Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Heavenly for an initial price of only $579. This compares to a window-ticket price in excess of $550 for a six day ticket bought in resort this season – although lower prices are available for advance purchase online.

“Vail Resorts’ new Epic Season Pass is a ground breaking initiative that will completely change how our guests experience their ski and snowboard vacations,” said Rob Katz, chief executive officer of Vail Resorts. “The word “epic” is defined in the Webster’s dictionary as “extending beyond the usual or ordinary especially in size or scope. The Epic Season Pass does exactly that. It offers an epic amount of skiing and riding across five world-class mountain resorts with 17,400 acres of terrain, 128 chairlifts and 722 trails, for each moment of our season from the day we open in November until we close in April, including every holiday in between. No one will be able to out-ski this pass. “
“We designed the new Epic Season Pass program to reward our most loyal guests and to bring greater excitement to the sports of skiing and snowboarding,” Katz added. “Vail Resorts’ new Epic Season Pass gives our guests the opportunity to ski or ride when they want, how they want. They can visit for a week-long vacation during the holidays and then decide later in the season to return for an extended weekend getaway or even to book a last-minute trip after hearing about one of Colorado’s or Tahoe’s epic snowfalls. They can ski all day or just for an hour. In essence, we’re taking the thought out and putting more fun into a ski vacation.”

According to Katz, Vail Resorts modelled the Epic Season Pass on the very successful Colorado and Summit pass programs offered on-site in the Colorado market and the Heavenly Pass program offered on-site in the Tahoe and San Francisco markets. “These programs have been a real “win-win,” offering our guests a terrific value and our Company incredible guest loyalty,” he said. “In designing the Epic Season Pass, we removed the key limitations and restrictions and are offering it for sale online, better tailoring it for all of our guests from around the world. At Vail Resorts our mission is Extraordinary Resorts, Exceptional Experiences. The Epic Season Pass is designed to provide our guests with exceptional experiences, all season long.” When guests see the Epic Season Pass they will quickly identify its unique, one-of-a-kind design, a distinctive sign of belonging to a very special group.

The Epic Season Pass is priced initially at $579 for adults and $279 for children ages 5-12. The Epic Season Pass will be valid for the 2008-2009 ski season and will only be available for purchase up to November 15th, 2008.

For more information or to purchase a $579 Epic Season Pass, visit an international tour operator to Vail’s resorts or visit www.epicpass.com / www.snow.com

I remember talking to a guy with one leg at the Metro Show a few years ago who wondered whether he'd be able to snowboard. Well here's an article from the Oxford Mail about Carl Murphy who's done just that.

Another great result for UK snowboarding as 15 year old Lannig "Lon" Canu (SCUK:Bodge) took first place at the Rossignol Airtour Final in La Clusaz over the weekend.

Lon, who rides for Never Summer Snowboards had previously qualified at the La Plagne leg of the contest in January, finishing in 3rd and was eager to replicate this success with another podium place in the final. Lon said:

"I was lucky enough to have a few days training beforehand in Le Grand Bornand, which is my favourite park, and was well up for the final. But I wasn't expecting 1st place, so I'm chuffed to bits. I can't wait for the Brits now..."

Lon was accompanied by his freeskier buddy Harry Hancock, who'd also qualified for the final, and were the only 2 UK riders taking part. Harry finished 8th overall.

Congratulations to both of them from SCUK.

This time the Billabong Girls Team couldn't decide what step to get on so they took all steps!

Jenny Jones (UK) wins the Nipon Open ParkStyle last week followed by Jamie Anderson (USA) and Izumi Amaike (Japan) and forth to complete the sweep Claudia Fliri (Austria).

And that’s not all! The mens are also showing a great performance during the tour with Risto Mattila being now 2nd in the TTR ranking and Antti Autti 8th.

Be prepared to see more fantastic results of our Snow team riders on the coming TTR Snowboard events!

Billabong has now 5 riders in the Top 10 standings and is now on the top of the brand rankings!

A snowboarder from Leeds died when he fell 80ft down a crevasse in the French Alps, the Foreign Office has confirmed.

It is believed the 32-year-old man had removed his snowboard and walked across a bridge which collapsed under him.

He had been snowboarding off-piste on an 8,500ft-high stretch of the Valle Blanche, near Chamonix, with a group of friends on Sunday morning.

Mountain police were alerted and his body was recovered at about 1830 GMT. His family has been informed.

The chaps at Board Sainte Foy have a new video clip on their website at www.saintefoy.co.uk. The chalet is available from 15th March and closes 23rd April.

SCUK members can take advantage of a 10% discount on all stays with Board Sainte Foy.

An Austrian ski region is testing cannons that make snow above freezing point - it has been welcomed by tourism officials but not by environmentalists.

Lift operators in the world’s largest ski area, the French Three Valleys, went on strike earlier this week in a campaign for better pay and conditions.

The resort of Courchevel was worst hit with the Daily Telegraph reporting that 20,000 holidaying skiers and boarders were left stranded on Monday, some opting to travel by bus to neighbouring resorts like Meribel, Les Menuires and Val Thorens where lifts operations were largely unaffected. The strike was reported to have now been called off.

The workers who went on strike are employees of The Societe des Trois Vallees which employs 675 workers in the ski season. Union officials from two of four unions involved initially said that workers would continue industrial action indefinitely, the other two unions are reported to had agreed to negotiate.

French ski resorts are currently packed due to French school holidays. Courchevel Tourist office said those affected would get a full or partial refund of the cost of lift tickets.

www.s3v.com

There's a fair few of you out there who do a jolly good job for Queen and Country in the Armed Forces, so here's an update from Andy Moore from the Army Snowboarding Team on the recent Combined Services Championships held in Meribel, France.

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We have just finished our combined services champs in Meribel. The Navy, Army and RAF all had teams despite being so busy worldwide.

The champs were run at a very high level by the French and the level of riding was considerably better than previous years. All three services are really producing some good young talent for the future.

As manager of the Army team, I'm happy that we dominated the champs with both the male and female teams winning everything.

This had much to do with the fact that we had Nelson Pratt and Jenny Jones come out to our Champs before Xmas to do a bit of coaching.

We then kept Nelson with us for a weeks training and it had a massive effect.

The girls have some great snowboarders for the future, some really fearless girls that could become very good.

Si Nicholson and Sarah Marriott won the overall prizes with some excellent riding for people who are on snow for such a short period. Remember that we have to compete at, Parallel GS, boardercross and for the first time this year, slope style.

We are taking a combined Services team the Brits with a view to doing well at the boardercross, we will enter the slopestyle for the first time ever... well a couple of them will.

Snowboarding in the services is really on the up, we have two people on the GB boardercross development squad and they are not even the best that we have.

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