Saudi Arabia has submitted a bid to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games at a ski area it plans to build in the Sarawat mountains, about 50 kilometres (31 miles) east of the Red Sea coast. However work on the ski area has not yet commenced. Trojena Sports City has been promoted as an “all year ski village” but it remains unclear how this will be achieved. The Sarawat mountains, which peak at 3,666m over the border in Yemen, are a little cooler than the surrounding area and occasionally see a dusting of snow in winter, but it seems too warm for conventional snowmaking machines. Promotional videos for the project, which appear to show animations of skiers skiing uphill into

Issued: 3rd August 2022 By Patrick "Snowhunter" Thorne Southern Hemisphere European Roundup North American Roundup Asia Roundup World Overview Perisher resort this week We’re about midway through the 2022 ski season in the southern hemisphere now as we startAugust and almost all of the ski centres in the Andes, Australia, southern Africa and New Zealand arereporting good conditions. Most are now fully open and building decent snow depths.Most of the more active weather of the past seven days has been reported in Australia andNew Zealand, both of which have seen big new snowfalls and great powder conditions some days,but also blizzard conditions and gale force winds closing slopes to deliver that snow on others.In the northern hemisphere, there was more bad

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have issued an evacuation for the ski resort community of Apex Mountain Village in British Columbia, Canada. It’s the latest ski area to be threatened by the growing number of wildfires as temperatures rise and drier conditions prevail. The Keremeos Creek wildfire threatening Apex has grown to cover 22.6 square kilometres. Apex has been using its snowmaking machinery to spray mist at buildings in an attempt to protect them from the blaze, a technique that is becoming increasingly popular as ski areas seek to protect themselves. James Shalman, the resort's general manager, told CBC that several hundred people live in the village during the summer months and said that currently the resort was not

China’s state media agency Xinhua reports that the world’s largest indoor snow centre, Harbin Ice and Snow World, is currently investing in, “a multi-billion-dollar project that will allow people to,  “watch the ice lanterns in summer.” The news agency is referring to a current project to add a “fantasy ice and snow hall” to the indoor ski centre that will recreate Harbin’s famous winter International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival. This draws nearly 20 million visitors each winter and generates around $5 billion in revenue, as a year-round indoor attraction. “The ice and snow landscapes that could previously only be viewed outdoors in winter will be presented indoors. After the project is completed, it is expected the centre will receive

The high temperatures in the Alps through most of spring and summer, which have seen the ‘freezing-point’ height above sea-level at which glaciers and surround ground remain frozen go to appoint high in the air above the highest peaks, is forcing Zermatt to temporarily suspend year-round skiing on its glacier.  The resort will suspend summer skiing from this Friday, July 29th. These are highest lift-accessed slopes in Europe and where the International Ski Federation plans to run four cross-border World Cup Downhill ski races this autumn.  The slopes have been open daily for many years now, except for a break of about three months at the start of the worldwide pandemic in spring 2020. Zermatt, pictured above in snowier times,