When the 53rd edition of the “Critérium de la Première Neige” rolls into Val d’Isère next month and officially launches winter, many officials will be looking to see how their master plan comes together ahead of the World Championships planned at the resort next year.
This will be the final test event prior to the 2009 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, a warm up event for this Savoyard village on the eve of a great skiing extravaganza.
On December 12th, Val d’Isère will officially start the season with the “Critérium de la Première Neige” once again. The race has been run in Val d’Isère since 1955 and became an official FIS World Cup event in 1967/68.
Even though the traditionally sporting aspect of the event remains unchanged, the race route has been completely changed.
Traditionally organized on the slopes of La Daille, the World Cup is to be run this year on the Bellevarde “Face”. The “slope of our era” offers an ideal exposure and breathtakingly steep slopes. 90% of the slope is visible from the Finish Area.
The 2009 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships are to be held on this very same slope so the organizers are hoping to use this event as a final trial run prior to the February event.
Many aspects of the event will be put to the test such as the preparation of the slope, the smooth running of the races, the positioning of the various enclosures (Finish Area, media and athletes’ zones, official guests and VIP galleries) as well as the new traffic and parking plan.
Volunteer training and management, the accreditation process, telecommunications, the press and media unit as well as the WIFI service will also play an important role in this trial run: an impressive challenge for the Organising Committee.
www.valdisere2009.org
Tag Archive for 'France'
Both of Andorra’s ski areas opened at the weekend with up to a metre of fresh snow on upper slopes, which some resorts are claiming is the best snow conditions they’ve seen in 40 years.
On the Spanish side of the border Baqueria Beret, one of the country’s three largest resorts, also opened. All three resorts and a dozen others in Spain, several of which – including Formigal and Sierra Nevada - had already opened a week ago, are opening at least a week ahead of schedule.
On the French side of the Pyrenees, home to another few dozen ski areas, resorts are sticking more closely to their planned opening dates despite huge falls there, with St Lary at one point reporting the biggest snowfall in Europe.
Continue reading ‘More european ski resorts follow footsteps with 2008 openings’
The Compagnie des Alpes which owns more than a dozen leading ski resorts in France and other countries has reported sales up 14.6% on a real basis and +6.4% ‘like-for-like’ at 579.3 million Euros in the period ended September 30th.
It was a period during which the company had to release a statement reassuring interested parties of its long term stability due to media speculation in the frenzied atmosphere of the global economic slowdown.
Continue reading ‘World’s largest ski resort operator increases sales by 14.6% and a record number of skiers’
Montgenevre’s Serre Thibaud Télémix lift (a combination of gondolas and chairs on one lift cable) which crosses the main road to connect the resort’s Tremplin and the Chalvet sectors, will serve three new runs this winter adding 10km to the resort’s ski area and the giant Milky Way pass of which it is a part, one of the world’s largest.
The new runs, part of a 21 Million Euro (26 million USD) spend over the summer, include a rare new black as well as a red and a blue. The blue is an impressive 5km long with a and 700m drop. The new slopes are fully equipped with snowmaking facilities.
In addition a second Télémix lift will replace the existing Chalmettes cable car, one of Montgenèvre’s main departure points.
Le Résevoir, another 5km long blue run, has been newly equipped with snowmaking facilities, and all other runs have had summer grooming for greater safety and comfort.
With the world economic crisis crippling much of the world and sending shockwaves everywhere, largest ski resort operator, the Compagnie Des Alpes issued a specific statement regarding the profitability of its operations.
The world’s largest ski resort operating company, Compagnie des Alpes, manages 17 ski resorts in the European Alps made the decision to publish a statement regarding the health of its operations after the French bank and insurance broker, Fortis published a report on the level of indebtness of French companies.
The corporate statement outlined that:
Compagnie des Alpes wishes to emphasize that its financial situation is sound and especially that it is respecting all of its financial covenants.
The capital intensity and sustainability of the Group’s operations are sufficient to warrant long-term debt financing. It has therefore sought long-term maturity dates, chiefly in 2011. Moreover, the lines of credit that Compagnie des Alpes has at its disposal easily surpass its foreseeable needs for financing.”
Compagnie Des Alpes is scheduled to release the 2007/2008 sales figures on October 30.
Southern French ski resort Risoul has taken the concept of ‘speed dating’ a stage further and taken the obvious step of moving the whole experience on to a chairlift. The Clos du Vallon chairlift in fact, a ‘romantic’ two seater that takes about ten minutes to climb the slopes. It’s a far better choice than the modern high-speed detachable chairs which just give you a quick ride then dump you unceremoniously at the top.
It could be high pressure for anyone who inadvertently stumbles upon the Clols du Vollon chair during Risoul’s second Singles Week which will run from March 28th to April 4th. They’ll find a glass of vin chaud pressed upon them and that then they’ll be loaded on to the chair with a complete stranger for the 10 minute chairlift “speed” date.
At the top of the lift you can decide whether to ski off hand in hand in to the sunset (probably best to let go when you pick up speed), or go back down and try a ride up with someone else.
“Risoul might just be offering much more than you initially came for!,” jokingly said a resort spokesperson.
www.risoul.com
More than 300 lucky people will win ‘private’ use of the 300 km of Espace Killy above Tignes and Val d’Isere the day before it officially opens to the public for winter 2008-9.
The unique idea is aimed at attracting buzz around one of the world’s exclusive ski areas. Promoted as the ‘Very, Very VIP Day’ with VIP this time standing for Very Important Pistes, the 300 lucky skiers and boarders will be the winners of an online game to be launched imminently at www.espacekilly.com
“Winners will have the chance to enjoy racing down the slopes of this exceptional ski area without having to share them with anyone else. They will feel like they are the only person in the world,”
said a company spokesman.
The winners not only win the private use of the Espace Killy ski area on Friday, November 28th, but also luxury accommodation for the night of Thursday November 27th, lunch on the mountain, and a DJed party afterwards.