Welsh Alpine Championships to take place at Champery and Les Crosets

Switzerland Tourism, Emmi UK limited and the resorts of Champery and Les Crosets, Switzerland are headed onto the slopes of Pontypool, South Wales this Saturday to watch some Welsh ski racing and to promote snowsports in Switzerland.

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The renowned Garmisch-Partenkirchen ski area in Bavaria.

It’s going to one heck of a winter in Germany’s alpine ski region of Upper Bavaria.

In addition to being one of Europe’s up and coming ski destinations, Bavaria’s ski areas will host a plethora of major competitions this upcoming season, giving tourists many excuses to visit the historic region.

The 2011 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships will be held in Bavaria’s famous Garmisch-Partenkirchen ski area from February 7th till February 20th. Garmisch-Partenkirchen last hosted the World Championships in 1978. It also hosted the first Olympic alpine skiing competition at the 1936 Winter Olympics.

Garmish has invested heavily in preparing for the World Championships, including the creation of a second downhill slope to compliment the famous Kandahar downhill, and the addition of several new cable cars and chair lift.

According to the mayor of the town of Garmish, Thomas Schmid, the ski resort has invested about 60 million Euros ($80m) for the event, and another 42 million Euros ($57m) has been spent to speed up the train from Munich to Garmish for 2011. The train is well-known because skiers can take the train from Munich with their skis on, because it stops 200m from the bottom of the ski hill. The train ride takes about an hour and a half.

Continue reading ‘German Alps look forward to epic ski season’

Bikinis for Breast Cancer in Banff.

Sunshine Village’s first-ever breast cancer fundraising event was a great success.

The clothing-challenged Bikinis for Breast Cancer raised more than CAD $6,000 (£3,800) in donations.

More than 30 women of all levels and abilities dressed in snow pants and bikini tops, and skied and snowboarded down Strawberry Face this spring to raise money for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

“It was great to see so many women participate and show their support for breast cancer research,” says Karen Guidos, Events Coordinator for Sunshine Village. “In fact, Bikinis for Breast Cancer was so well received, we will be hosting this event next year.”

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Crud2Mud is the meeting point between winter and summer sports.

Whistler Blackcomb’s Crud 2 Mud race is back this year to celebrate the “transition season” mixing the end of the ski and snowboard season with the start of the bike season.

The event will be staged this Saturday May 22nd, four years after the last Crud 2 Mud race was staged at the resort.

In teams or individually, Crud 2 Mud competitors ski or snowboard from the top of Whistler Mountain to the bottom of the snow line, where bikes and equipment lie waiting. Ski and snowboard boots ditched, competitors clip into bike pedals and race through the Whistler Mountain Bike Park (on a yet to be determined trail).

Continue reading ‘Whistler’s Crud2Mud returns this weekend’

It was ‘local lunatics and gregarious guests’ who crossed the vast and chilly waters of Lake Cushing at Squaw Valley at the 20th Annual Cushing Crossing earlier this month.

The Cushing Crossing is North America’s original pond crossing, and it was held on Sunday May 9th, Squaw’s final day of operation for 2009-10.

The entertaining competition challenged ’local lunatics and gregarious guests’ to cross the lake on skis, a snowboard or any ‘ski or snowboard-based vessel.’ The event is notorious for its colossal crashes, hilarious costumes, and ultra-creative pond skimming contraptions.

Continue reading ‘20th Lake Cushing Classic closed season in style at Squaw’

Liberty Mountain in Lynchburg, Virginia, USA.

Virginia’s Liberty Mountain hosted the end of season Dew Games in April, attracting one of the largest crowds since the year-round ski slope opened back in 2009.

The Snowflex Centre at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia hosted a crowd of over 3,000, according to organizers.

The ski and snowboard big air and rail jam competition was sponsored by Mountain Dew, Pepsi, AMP and FUSE Marketing and included more than 60 participants who competed for US$5,000 in cash prizes.

Continue reading ‘Liberty Mountain gets big crowd for year-end event’

Nighttime in Zermatt during mid-winter.

The Summer Weekender in Zermatt is coming back for its fourth consecutive year this summer.

From the 15th to the 18th of July, the Swiss ski area will host the annual event created to give people that work in the Snowsports industry a snow fix in between seasons. The weekend is an opportunity to network, party and race on the glacier.

The weekender includes two races on the glacier, the Ski Club of Great Britain Giant Slalom and the Metrosnow.co.uk Team Dual Slalom. There will also be the chance to take part in the Matterhorn Mystery Challenge, details of which will remain secret until arrival, but will no doubt involve some super sleuth skills.

Continue reading ‘4th annual snowsports insider weekend this July’