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…

Continue reading ‘Europe’s top 10 ski destinations as chosen by UK travelers’

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.

Continue reading ‘Wycombe Summit project gets online support’

The Midlothian ski centre near Edinburgh, Scotland.

The elderly Midlothian ski centre above Edinburgh is facing closure as the local council in the area struggles to fund it.

The dry ski slope, which opened in 1965, was originally known as Hillend. The slope is one of Europe’s largest and longest at more than 400m, and is one of the few artificial surface slopes to have its own chairlift. Many of the UK’s top skiers in the 1970s, 80s and 90s can trace their racing roots back to Hillend training.

However it is still using its original Dendix slope surface and is reported to be making the a £500,000 loss each year at present, which Midlothian council say is unsustainable.

Continue reading ‘The battle is on to save old Edinburgh artificial slope’

Sure hope they were wearing something under those kilts.

Even on the ski hill, the Scots still love wearing their kilts.

So much so that 235 Scots set a world record for the largest number of kilted skiers and snowboarders skiing down a piste at once Saturday on the slopes of CairnGorm Mountain.

The kilted skiers and boarders were in a single consecutive line from the Ptarmigan Top Station at CairnGorm Mountain all the way down to car park level, a run of over 2km.  It took participants about a half hour to complete the event.

Continue reading ‘Hundreds of kilt-wearing Scottish skiers set world record’

Snowdomes are popping up all over the place.

There may still be life in the plan for a first indoor snow centre in Cardiff, Wales.

Long-standing plans have re-emerged recently because of heightened interest in indoor snow centres in the UK. Half a dozen UK cities are currently considering proposals.

A report from officers of Cardiff Council recommended that the council agree to procure a developer/operator to design, build, fund and operate a snow facility at the International Sports Village site.

Continue reading ‘More buzz about possible Cardiff snow dome’

The 'Snow Leopard' is getting out while he's on top, sortof.

Ghana’s Snow Leopard has decided that his historic Olympic appearance will be the end of his competitive skiing career.

Ghanaian skier Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, finishing 47th out of 48 finishers in the Olympic Slalom in Whistler last week. The race featured 102 skiers, but 54 ended up with a DNF, DNS, or disqualification.

Kwame now plans to open a grass skiing slope in Ghana, and he says he has found a suitable site. Heavy machinery will be required to smooth out the slope which will then be seeded before grass skiing can begin.

Continue reading ‘Snow Leopard calls it a career and looks to build skiing back home’

One of the world’s original ski websites, Ifyouski.com, has a brand new look after dishing £100,000 into website upgrades.

Now over 10 years old, and one of the UK’s leading snow-sport websites, ifyouski can trace its roots back to the paper publishing era and the 1993 book, ‘The Complete Skier.’ It was written by ex-British Freestyle team member and Harvard MBA Michael Liebreich who went on to set up completeskier.com, later renamed ifyouski.com.

The site has some 60,000 newsletter subscribers and 300,000 unique monthly visitors through the winter months.

Continue reading ‘One of the originals gets a facelift’