Arapahoe Basin ski area in Colorado has resorted to selling lift tickets for its re-opening day, 27th May, by lottery after an online ticket reservation system failed to cope with demand. “Due to incredibly high volume, we are not able to use our original reservation system. Access to Arapahoe Basin, at this time, will be via a random drawing. We are only doing one day at a time. …No need to rush. One entry per person. No purchase necessary to enter this random drawing,” an online statement posted on the 26th said. Those who win in the lottery will then be contacted have the option to purchase up to four $99 lift tickets. Arapahoe Basin is the fourth US ski

Issued: 27 May 2020 By Patrick "Snowhunter" Thorne North American Roundup European Roundup Asia Roundup SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE OVERVIEW Falls Creek Resort this Week It’s the start of winter, by the meteorological measure, in the Southern Hemisphere next Monday and it is beginning to feel like that in most countries with ski areas. There’s been more fresh snow in the Andes and New Zealand in recent days and Australian slopes got another dusting in the past week too. Dry in the mountains of southern Africa but cold enough to fire up snow-making systems. Things continue to develop in terms of what's going to open when and what's not, as the usual start date of the Southern Hemisphere's ski season comes closer. 

One of the big questions surrounding the re-opening of Alpine glacier ski areas this summer, and in the longer term the opening of resorts next winter, is whether limits will be placed on the numbers of people allowed on the slopes. So far the message has been fairly consistent when it comes to ski-lifts and indoor facilities that have re-opened in countries like Norway and the USA, with two-metre social distancing rules largely in place. But so far most re-opened ski areas have also set dramatically reduced limits on how many people can be on the slopes at any one time.  Mostly they’ve required skiers to buy tickets online at least a day in advance, and at many areas resorts

The number of ski areas open on earth may be five or less for a few days next week – probably the lowest number since the rapid growth in ski area openings in the 1960s and the first summer ski areas opening. Although the pandemic closed most resorts for much of the past 10 weeks or so, ski areas kept operating in some countries like Japan until mid-May, and that overlapped with ski areas that had been closed starting to re-open in countries like Norway, meaning the world total open didn’t drop in to single figures. Late May is traditionally the quietest month of the year though as most northern hemisphere ski areas have closed and most southern hemisphere centres

The leading Argentinian ski area of Las Leñas appears to have decided not to open for winter 2020 – due to commence next month and run to late September or early October. In a media statement the resort essentially said that the realities of operating with the additional limitations that working during the pandemic would entail meant it was not feasible for them to open this season, even when restrictions on doing so were lifted. “We are obliged to act with the greatest responsibility and safeguard both our workers and the general public,” the statement concludes. Argentina has had one of the world’s most stringent lockdowns, most recently extended to this Sunday May 24th. The government there has also banned