Powderlife National News

TWO people have died skiing at Whistler in the past week, the most recent yesterday when a 47-year old local hit rocks.

THE REI Snow Report, a free application that lets iPhone, Blackberry and Windows Mobile users get instant information about conditions at ski and snowboard resorts in the US, Canada and Europe, has been launched.

A TOWER on Blackcomb Mountain's Excaliber Gondola collapsed suddenly on Tuesday afternoon, injuring several skiers and snowboarders and forcing an evacuation of the lift's occupants.

A JAPANESE tourist on layover at the Mexico City airport for three months is living off donations from fast food restaurants and passengers, and has become a celebrity with nearly daily television news reports on his life.

LIVIGNO has opened two weeks earlier than planned after heavy snowfalls last week delivered up to 30cms of powder across the region.

The planet could face a freeze worse than an Ice Age starting in as little as 10,000 years, giving future societies a headache the opposite of coping with global warming.

THE start of the season is still more than a month away in Europe but a metre has fallen up high in some parts with reports of 30cm of fresh on top of a solid base.

A DENVER company has launched a new iPhone application that will use interactive GPS trail maps to show users exactly where they are on the mountain, plan out their next run, and where to have lunch

TWO Colorado ski resorts are already open, and two more plan to open this weekend on the heels of a snowstorm that dumped up to 17 inches of new snow in some areas of the state.

SWITZERLAND'S four-time snowboard World Cup winner and current freestyle snowboard World Champion Manuela Pesko surprised fans Thursday by retiring on the eve of the season's second World Cup halfpipe contest.

AT Norway's new combined resort area in the Sunnmore region you will find good powder snow, interesting terrain, great people... and basically nothing else.

AUSTRALIAN tourism operators say outbound tourism beyond January doesn't look good but Australians should keep travelling, although they might not spend as much while they are away.

JAPAN was dealt the biggest blow yet from the unfolding global financial crisis when the yen surged to a 13-year high Friday against the U.S. dollar and spiked against other major currencies.

LIKE Capella Niseko, Capella Singapore opening next March will be a collaborative masterpiece in service, style and design, including interior design by Tokyo-based Design Studio SPIN.

THE Australian dollar will slump 15% in the next five months, according to Commonwealth Bank, the most bearish of 27 forecasts tracked by Bloomberg, as the US and Europe fall into recession.

OUTBOUND Australian tour operators are adding surcharges of between 20 and 40 percent to cover costs after the Australian dollar dropped from near parity to just US70 cents this month.

COLORADO'S Loveland Ski Area will be the first ski resort in the US to open for the season when it turns on its lifts at 8.30am local time today (Wednesday) with an 18-inch base and tree to tree coverage.

TOP international freeriders will be granted the rare opportunity to conquer Squaw Valley's Tram Face, the virtually unskiable rock face below the resort's Tower One. The face's permanent closure makes it one of the most coveted lines to extreme freeriders.

WHISTLER Blackcomb has fired up its fleet of snow guns in anticipation of the upcoming ski and snowboard as the freezing level started to creep down the mountains on Friday.

AN Arctic blast has brought fresh snow to the Lake Tahoe region, resulting in a dusting of snow around the lake and on the slopes of the area's numerous ski and snowboard resorts.