St. Gervais ski resort

There has been a long and bitter rivalry between ski resorts in Europe for almost 200 years. In fact, I have no trouble imagining a couple of Gallic Neanderthals turning their noses up at the slopes outside their neighbours caves several thousand years ago. However, one can only really go on the recommendations of people who have already been.

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This toboggan run has a long history.

The famous Cresta Run at St Moritz was first built as a toboggan run several decades before downhill skiing took off as a winter sport.

Built by visiting British tourists in the mid-1880s, the run celebrates its 125th anniversary this winter.

The Cresta Run remains privately-operated by the British St. Moritz Tobogganing Club, which is based in the original St Moritz luxury hotel, The Kulm. The Club still only allows men to descend the run, except on the last day of its operation each winter, and the high speed run on a small metal sled is not for the faint-hearted. The ‘Cresta kiss’ impact injury is a common occurrence.

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Chamonix takes in number 1 spot with British skiers as per EasyJet's compilation.

European discount airline Easyjet recently released the top-10 winter ski resort destinations by  British skiers and have compiled them into a hot list. Ski Rebel Magazine has managed to get a copy and has them available for you if you read on…

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The stairs and bridge were put on Gold Hill, seen on the left.

Telluride ski resort in Colorado has airlifted a new bridge and staircase to Gold Hill on left shoulder of Palmyra Peak.

Canadian helicopter company Heliqwest airlifted two steel staircases and a bridge over the ski resort to its final resting place, the span between Gold Hill Chutes 8 and 9. The new stairway is already open for skiers.

The two sets of stairs measure 48 and 54 feet, and weigh 3304 and 3324 pounds, respectively. The bridge measures 24 feet in length and weighs 2750 pounds. All three components measure 30 inches wide, feature hand railings on both sides and serrated grated steel walking surface. Together, the stairway and bridge combine make up 126 linear feet ascending Gold Hill.

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Mont Tremblant in Quebec, Canada is one of the major resorts on the Fortress/Intrawest chopping block.

It appears the troubled company which owns major North American ski resort operator Intrawest has been granted another chance to survive.

The Fortress Investment Group LLC owns Intrawest, operator of leading Canadian resorts of Mont Tremblant and recent Olympic venue Whistler. Fortress is reported to have reached agreement with its creditors to extend the time it needs to refinance its debt through to mid-April.

Continue reading ‘Whistler and Tremblant stay in Intrawest-Fortress hands, for now’

The Wycombe dry slope burned down in 2005.

Several thousand supporters have joined a Facebook group supporting the construction of the planned Wycombe Summit indoor snow centre near London, England.

The group calls on the local council to approve plans for the snow dome. The council previously rejected plans for the site’s redevelopment by owners the Snowdome Group, who own Europe’s oldest surviving indoor snow centre at Tamworth.

The original centre, which is home to a long dry ski slope, was destroyed by fire in 2005.

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Just leave that natural scenery be.

A new study says that creating a ski run by clearing trees and foliage manually but leaving the underlying eco-system otherwise intact is better than using heavy machinery to re-grade the slope.

The findings from the University of California Davis are not just on environmental grounds. They also found that operating cost of machine-cut slopes were higher than those of slopes which had been left in a more natural state. The report authors believe that this makes the slopes more expensive to maintain to, offsetting and extra income that may be made by being able to open a machine cur slope a week or so earlier in the season as machine-cleared slopes require 20% less snow cover to be able to open.

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