Issued: 5 May 2021 By Patrick "Snowhunter" Thorne European Roundup North American Roundup Asia Roundup Southern Hemisphere WORLD OVERVIEW The number of ski areas open worldwide is at around its lowest of the year with almost all non-glacier ski areas in Europe now closed, the numbers in North America also down and Japan’s ski season also reaching its end. Next week should mark the turning point though, with more centres opening than closing over the coming seven days.  The numbers open should then increase more rapidly as the Southern Hemisphere’s 2021 season gets underway in just a few weeks’ time now and more glacier areas open in the Alps. As to the past week’s weather, Europe has seen unseasonably low temperatures

New Zealand has issued a number of “border exemptions” to ski resort employees allowing them to enter the country and work for centres there during the upcoming 2021 ski season despite being from countries outside the Australia/New Zealand travel bubble. Ski areas had feared they would not be able to find enough workers from the domestic labour pool to be able to open fully and put in an appeal to the New Zealand government in March. This has now resulted in 27 people from outside the Australia / New Zealand bubble being permitted the right to come and work at ski field this season meaning they can be 100% open. The highly-skilled staff are reported to include high level ski

British adventurer Aaron Rolph has completed the famous Haute Route between Chamonix and Zermatt in just 31 hours. Rolph’s achievement is believed to be the first successful, single push of the most popular Verbier route. Rolph reached the Swiss mountain town of Zermatt after ski touring non-stop for 31 hours from Chamonix covering a distance of 125km (78 miles) and climbing almost 8000m (26,247 feet) in ascent. Upon doing so, he joined a very short list of ski mountaineering elite to complete the iconic ski challenge in a “single push”. The Haute Route is one of the world’s most coveted ski tours. Many experienced off-piste skiers aspire to complete the route over 7 days, staying in mountain huts en route.

A number of ski areas in Europe and North America that wouldn’t normally be open to the latter half of May have announced extended ski seasons for at least another week. Some are crediting good snow conditions for their decisions, others the e4asing of pandemic restrictions where they’re located, some both. Around 50 ski areas remain open this weekend, but for about a third of these, this Sunday will be the last of the season, including three resorts still open in Finland, two of which (Levi & Ruka) have clocked up a seven month season since opening in early October and now have less than five months to wait until the 21-22 season starts for them. Winter Park Among the

Last Updated 13 May 2021 at 16.00 GMT (Updates so far since commenced on 5 May 2020: 667 The web's most comprehensive guide of ski resorts opening around the world during the pandemic. An estimated 50+ Ski Areas Are Currently Open Worldwide in at least 20 Countries on 3 Continents including: Asia: China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey. Europe: Armenia, Austria, Norway, Russia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine. North America: Canada, USA Ski areas in Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Lebanon, Lithuania, Mongolia, Morocco, Poland and Portugal wanted to open during the winter of 20-21 but governments in their countries or region deemed it not virus-safe to do so.  Most ski areas in the northern hemisphere and all in Andorra, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia