Two ski areas in the COVID-19 hit Australian province of Victoria will not re-open this winter their operators, Vail Resorts, have announced. Mt Hotham and Falls Creek would normally open for the ski season in early June but the COVID-19 Pandemic lockdown in Australia delayed the usual opening date for all Australian areas to at least June 22nd, when ski areas were allowed to re-open, with strict pandemic-virus-spread-prevention measures in place as the lockdown eased. However Falls Creek and Mt Hotham continued to delay their opening date for several more weeks as lack of snow cover meant they couldn’t open trails, eventually doing so in early July. But a resurgence of the virus in Melbourne, Victoria’s capital, led to Vail

Last Updated: 4 August 2020 at 9.20 GMT (Updates so far since 5 May: 100) The web's most comprehensive guide of ski resorts opening around the world. More Than 35 Ski Areas Have Currently Re-Opened Worldwide In 10 Countries on 5 Continents:  Africa: Lesotho; Asia: Japan. Europe: Austria, France, Italy, Norway, Switzerland. North America: USA. Oceania: Australia and New Zealand. South America: Argentina. Countries where ski areas would normally be open but are currently unable to do so due to the COVID-19 pandemic are: Chile and South Africa. 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: With the surge in virus cases in the

The world’s most southerly ‘proper’ ski area Cerro Castor in Southern Argentina, says it will begin running its ski lifts and open downhill runs from this Saturday, 1st August. Lifts will run from 10 am to 4.45 five days per week, with skiing only intended for people living in the region. Cerro Castor was the first mountain resort in South America to re-open to local tourists, in mid-July, but initially has only been opening its base facilities including a restaurant, ice rink and cross-country ski trails to locals at weekends, not its downhill runs. Argentina’s largest ski resort, Catedral near Bariloche, more than 2,000km (1250 miles) north of Cerro Castor opened its ski trails to people living in its locality

Around 50 ski areas are currently open on six continents around the world. Almost all are operating in a post-lockdown, pandemic-suppression mode which means things like social-distancing and mask-wearing in public indoor space is the norm for most. But how these new rules of behaviour are policed is being approached differently on different continents. In Europe there were initially movers to apply social-distancing on lifts with spaces left on seats between people from separate groups, but these seem to have been relaxed at most mountain resorts open for summer business. Resorts in the Alps are doing their bit to promote social-distancing and mask-wearing with staff wearing masks themselves, spaces marked out on floors, hand-sanitiser available everywhere and lot of information

Issued: 29 July 2020 By Patrick "Snowhunter" Thorne North American Roundup European Roundup Asia Roundup SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE OVERVIEW SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE INTRO|  The big question in the Southern Hemisphere this week is: are ski lifts about to turn for the first time in 2020 in the Andes/South America? The answer seems to be yes, and by the time you're reading this they may already be doing so; however, at the time of writing, not yet.  In Argentina, where lockdown has been easing region by region, the lifts may begin turning this week according to local media reports in the famous ski town of Bariloche. Unlike Chile, on the other side of the continent, which is now one of the worst-hit countries