Last Friday afternoon, the Belleayre Mountain snowmaking staff tested the snow guns in order to be prepared for the dropping temperatures. It is the goal of the DEC to open Belleayre Mountain’s season doors on Saturday, November 14th with their Annual Tap into Winter Party, beginning at 1:00pm.

An open rail jam event, Fashion Showcase, and Bar Party will be a great celebration, with a promotional ticket price of $25. Also on sale over the weekend will be Belleayre’s classic $99 3-packs, available on-site only, at the mountain’s guest services. If all goes according to plan, 2009–2010 may be the earliest opening Belleayre has seen in several years.

Crystal Ski customers can this winter receive an essential ‘information pack’, including downloadable piste maps and details of rep services available in the resort, ready for their mobile phone. Crystal is replacing the traditional printed pack with an online pack which allows customers to access essential resort information up to nine days before departure from their PC or web-enabled iphone, BlackBerry and other devices.

This weekend Banff-Lake Louise locals enjoyed their first turns as they kicked off the season. The resort, which is open for weekends to the public, already offers some park features to keep freestylers, as well as all-mountain skiers and riders, very happy. “It’s great to be skiing in October,” said Dan Markham, of Ski Banff- Lake Louise-Sunshine.

Struggling Glencoe Ski Centre is now expected to open for the winter season following the completion of the sale. Falkirk businessman Andy Meldrum confirmed that he had bought the resort from David Campbell, who owned it for five years.

Mr Meldrum, who describes himself as a ’snow nut’, said he would be opening the White Corries centre for winter sports and had plans to make the resort a year-round attraction.

However, he admitted he had an ’uphill task’ ahead of him. The ski centre has endured tough times in recent years. Poor snowfall six years ago led to its worst season on record.

About 12 inches (30 cm) of fresh snow has fallen over the past few days in Aspen and things are looking great for the start of the season which is only 24 days away. (26 November).

Also opening weekend, Aspen/Snowmass will be hosting the Women’s FIS World Cup race on Aspen Mountain. The world’s best women skiers will be there to show their skills!

http://www.aspensnowmass.com/

Snow is forecast for Saturday across Austrian resorts. The sunny weather in Italy, France and Switzerland on Thursday will be short lived as the clouds will start to build on Friday and new snow is forecast for the weekend.

Dustings of snow are expected in Andorra this weekend and the lower temperatures will help the pistes to firm up.

The weather at the end of this week in Germany will be a combination of sunny and cloudy spells, with clouds building over weekend. The heavier clouds could bring more fresh snow to the German resorts.

Harry Potter star Rupert Grint is to play ski-jump legend Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards in a movie.

Rupert, 21, is best known for playing cheeky Ron Weasley. Now he has taken Steve Coogan’s place in the film, which tells the story of how plasterer Eddie found fame at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. Eddie represented Great Britain in the 70-metre and 90-metre ski jumps… and came last in both.

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