Mt Hutt ski area in New Zealand has announced that it will be installing the country’s first eight-seater express chairlift during the coming southern-hemisphere summer, subject to regulatory approval and any virus-related limitations on the project. Mt Hutt is often the first ski area in the southern hemisphere to open for the ski season each autumn, and is also already home to the South Island’s highest chairlift. https://youtu.be/jc6PM1viNAw The lift should dramatically improve access to the mountain, taking two-minutes to ascend against the seven-minutes of the quad chair it will replace. It will also double capacity on the route from 1500 to a capacity of 3000 people per hour. “This lift will follow the same path up the mountain as

1Last Updated: 18 Sepember 2020 at 12.50 GMT (Updates so far since 5 May: 144) The web's most comprehensive guide of ski resorts opening around the world. More Than 40 Ski Areas Are Currently Open Worldwide In 8 Countries on 3 Continents: Europe: Austria, Italy, Norway, Switzerland. Oceania: Australia and New Zealand. South America: Chile and Argentina. Browse by country: North America: Canada USA South America: Argentina Chile Europe: Austria France Italy Norway Scotland Slovak Republic Slovenia Sweden Switzerland Africa: Lesotho South Africa Asia: China Japan Oceania: Australia New Zealand New: Val Senales has opened for its 2020-21 ski season in Italy, joining already-open Passo Stelvio (18 September). New: Sun Peaks, which operates the second largest ski area in Canada, has announced it has sold out of season passes

Issued: 16 September 2020 By Patrick "Snowhunter" Thorne North American Roundup European Roundup Asia Roundup SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE OVERVIEW SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE INTRO|  There’s a definite ‘end of the season’ feel in most Southern Hemisphere ski areas right now. Indeed, some are closing for 2020 earlier than they might otherwise have been expecting to due to the impact of the pandemic, in some cases because they can’t open due to lockdown, in others because it’s not viable to operate due to the extra costs vs possible end of season revenue. In any case, we're hearing of centres closing in South America and New Zealand, joining those which closed in southern Africa a fortnight ago.  As of yet there's no sign that ski

A novel new organisation based in Norway has begun operations with the aim of helping ski resorts manage snow more efficiently, and thus cut energy use and help the environment. The Snow Competency Centre has grown out of a research project called Snow For the Future and has won some big name backers including the International Ski Federation (FIS). The centre’s website, published in English and Norwegian, is choc-full of ideas on how ski destinations can make best use of their snow resources, with the minimum energy use. Ruka snow-farming The four key sections of the site include: Snow Production – how to maximise efficiency in a warming climate; Snow storage – efficient storage through summer (the increasingly popular “snow-farming”

Ski areas in Western North America have been reporting record high temperatures in recent weeks with Mammoth Mountain and Timberline among resorts closed to summer visitors due to forest fire danger. But the start of this week saw a massive temperature drop in a little over 24 hours with the mercury plummeting from the high 80s (and even over 100F in some cases) to the low 30s in the Rockies and other mountain areas nearby. The result was a late summer snowfall from Alberta (Banff pictured above on Tuesday) and BC in the north down to southern Colorado and New Mexico. There had been an earlier light snowfall a week earlier reported on high slopes but this time the snow