The Ski season is all year round in the UK.

Scotland’s indoor snow slope is bringing back it’s Himalayan ski challenge this summer.

After a two year break, July 24th 2010 sees the return of the Ski Everest Challenge to SNO!zone  at Xscape, Braehead, Glasgow.

The Ski Everest Challenge is no small feat. Individuals are challenged to complete 45 runs – the equivalent of the peak height of Mount Everest (8850m / 29035 feet).

Continue reading ‘The Mt Everest of ski challenges’

One of SeaFrance's Superferries

For British skiers looking for cheap Alpine vacations, a good place to start could be to carpool and take a ferry from Dover.

SeaFrance ferry service is offering a £25 crossing for a car with up to five passengers, which could mean £5 per person each way. SeaFrance operates Dover-Calais ferries up to 15 times daily.

Compare this to Ryanair, which charges £40 each way to carry skis this season. It’s cheaper for vacationers to travel with SeaFrance than it is for just their skis to fly to the Alps.
Continue reading ‘Cheap channel crossing offered by SeaFrance’

There is plenty of new wear if you want to look good on the slopes.

It appears that skiers are once again spending money, this time with ski wear.

The Finnish based company which owns iconic ski brands Atomic and Salomon euro reported a 36.6 million Euro profit in the final quarter of 2009, more than double the figure for the same quarter in 2008.

Over the whole year, which the company described as the worst for more than 10 years, Amer’s overall profit fell 8 percent to 31 million Euros, and sales dropped from 1.57 to 1.53 billion.

Continue reading ‘Skiwear industry sales picking up’

The view from the top of Semnoz.

Located above Lake Annecy at an altitude of 1,704m with amazing 360 views towards the Lake and Mont-Blanc, Semnoz is quite the find.

The little-known French resort has 18 slopes for downhill (7 green, 5 blue, 6 red) and 11 lifts (2 chairlifts, 7 drag lifts, 2 rope lifts) as well as a ski school (ESF) and a kindergarten. There’s a snowshoeing area and a toboggan slope with magic carpet lift for kids.

There are also 46km of cross country slopes which is a pretty big area. Cross country trails include three greens (Le djinn 2.5 km, Le lynx 2 km, La panoramique 5 km); three blues (Les alouettes 3 km, Le puma 4 km, Les gazelles 8.5 km), two reds (Les lamas 3.5 km, Les frelons 4.5 km) and a black (La panthère noire 13 km).

Continue reading ‘The little known French ski resort’

There may soon be a way to get quality footage of yourself on the slopes without buying an expensive camera and freezing your hands off.

A new camera system is being tested in Europe that will create professional looking film of any skier or boarder descending the slopes of a ski resort for just a few Euros. Xtreamcam, working with GDO, have developed high-end software that is capable of tracking people in a disorganized environment like the ski hill.

While the software follows the ski or snowboarder, a special high-end digital camera follows and films the same person. This system can follow up to 350 people per camera.

Continue reading ‘Cameras will follow you on the slopes’

The train is a popular alternative to flying for Brits going to ski vacations in the French Alps.

A train ski travel company is hoping to make the ride from the UK to the French alps smoother with new affordable pre-booked transfers between stations in Paris.

For the increasing number of skiers keen to travel to Europe by train, a new range of advance-bookable taxi transfers in Paris are now available. The journeys cost from €20 (£17.40) for a single person in a shared taxi, to €50 (£43.50) for four people, or €89 (£77.43) for a group of eight. Luggage, including skis and snowboards, are carried at no extra charge.

Continue reading ‘Smoothen your train ride to the Alps, Brits’

SnowPlanet is New Zealand's only indoor snow centre.

If you’ve ever felt the urge to play tennis after skiing, you can this week in New Zealand as the SnowPlanet indoor snow centre offers skiing and tennis lessons in one package.

The snow centre has teamed up with the local Albany Tennis Park to offer a unique holiday experience for children of all ages, tennis and skiing or snowboarding on the same day in the same city for $395 NZ (USD $292) per person for a full week.

Continue reading ‘Kiwi snow centre gets you on the slopes and the court this week’