Bulgaria’s Pamporovo ski centre is extending its ski area to the village of Stoikite with the construction of three-kilometre six-seater chair lift.

It has already received the environmental impact assessment from the environment ministry and estimates the costs of the project at 13 million leva.

The lift will service two new ski runs with a total length of seven kilometers (four and a half miles) and is part of wider plans to extend the ski area to link with other ski developments including those at Chapelare.

The total length of the ski runs in Pamporovo is currently 55 km (35 miles). The number of beds at the resort is also reported to have risen ten fold over the past seven years from 2,000 to 20,000.

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With sightseeing, mountain biking, and glacier skiing taking place on the mountains, Whistler Blackcomb’s guests have been able to get up close and personal to watch the construction action taking place on the PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola.

Those who time their visit right may witness the current task of stringing 28 kilometres worth of cable across the valley. This feat of engineering is an extremely complicated process taking 12 to 14 weeks, and slated for completion by early to mid-September.

Continue reading ‘Cable being hoisted onto PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola in Whistler’

Richard Branson’s new property, ‘The Lodge’ in Verbier which debuted last season, is already largely booked up for next winter.

At the time of compilation this story the available weeks were: December 13th, March, 2nd, 15th, or 29th and again April 12th and 19th. Bookings are now being taken for 2009-10 although prices have not yet been confirmed.

Rates start from £42,300 based on seven nights’ exclusive hire of The Lodge for 18 guests. This exclusive rate includes breakfast, afternoon tea and dinner over six days prepared by private chef Gerwin Brand whose speciality is local produce.

A light lunch is served at The Lodge in winter for those guests not eating on the mountain. All drinks including alcoholic drinks and house Champagne are inclusive as is 4-hour driver services within Verbier and “really nice staff.”

The Lodge features nine stunning rooms and suites and a special bunkroom accommodating up to six children. The luxurious property comes complete with indoor pool, Jacuzzis, large steam room, gym and Virgin Touch treatment room, promising its guests sublime levels of indulgence and pampering.

For guests just wanting to unwind, the games room offers a state of the art 50” plasma and open fireplace – endless DVDs, CDs and Nintendo Wii. The property also has its own mini ice rink.

The Lodge has its own Spa therapist who spends time with guests and advises the most beneficial treatments for the individual.

The Lodge re-opened last winter following a £3.7 million refurbishment and holidays there are sold through the Virgin Limited Edition brand.

www.virgin.com/limitededition

A new study concludes that the total 2007-08 ski market grew by 3% across all markets despite depressed sales due to challenging snow conditions in Europe.
The study commissioned by UK tour tour operator, Crystal does not shed any light to see if the US market has at all been affected due to recent economic woes.

Continue reading ‘Despite global economic woes, UK ski market continues to grow’

A devastating windstorm registering more than 200 kph (125 mph) suddenly hit Mt. Ruapehu, New Zealand mid morning Saturday left thousands skiers trying to get down during a spectacular 12-hour evacuation effort.
Ten thousand skiers were at the jointly owned Whakapapa and Turoa ski resorts when the wild weather struck mid-morning, and about 8,000 left straight away as a result. However about 2,000 stayed on the slopes to battle the elements. At one point skiers were reported forming human chains to guide themselves off the mountain and cars were escorted from the area in groups of six, although a large number were left at the area overnight.

I don’t think anyone could have predicted how quickly the weather was going to come in. One minute it was beautiful, thousands of people were having a lovely time, then bang and it was not quite so lovely.”

“I expected it to worsen gradually throughout the afternoon, but this came in very fast. Normally you know when a storm is coming, but there was no warning.” resort spokesman Mike Smith told local media.
Luckily no deaths were reported during the incident.

The Kaunertal Glacier ski area in Austria has one of the world’s longest ski seasons, opening from September to June each year. The area closed for skiers last month but aims to re-open September 29th, snow conditions permitting.

For the imminent ski season the centre has replaced the T-Bar ‘Karlesspitze’ with their first eight seater gondola, ‘Karlesjochbahn’ which will have heated seats and should open from mid November. The 1.65km long lift has xcost six million Euros to build and will carry up to 1,700 skiers and boarders a year from the lower station at 2,750m to the upper station at 3,100m in four-and-a-half minutes.
www.tirolgletscher.com

If skiing survives the effects of global warming, someday we may turn and thank this new revolutionary piece of technology for saving the sport that is enjoyed by more than 500 million people globally.
The first IDE snowmaking machine has been assembled and tested in Israel prior to shipment to the Alps.
Continue reading ‘World first ”all weather” snowmaking machine rolls out of production’