Mont Tremblant in Quebec, Canada is one of the major resorts on the Fortress/Intrawest chopping block.

It appears the troubled company which owns major North American ski resort operator Intrawest has been granted another chance to survive.

The Fortress Investment Group LLC owns Intrawest, operator of leading Canadian resorts of Mont Tremblant and recent Olympic venue Whistler. Fortress is reported to have reached agreement with its creditors to extend the time it needs to refinance its debt through to mid-April.

Continue reading ‘Whistler and Tremblant stay in Intrawest-Fortress hands, for now’

Just leave that natural scenery be.

A new study says that creating a ski run by clearing trees and foliage manually but leaving the underlying eco-system otherwise intact is better than using heavy machinery to re-grade the slope.

The findings from the University of California Davis are not just on environmental grounds. They also found that operating cost of machine-cut slopes were higher than those of slopes which had been left in a more natural state. The report authors believe that this makes the slopes more expensive to maintain to, offsetting and extra income that may be made by being able to open a machine cur slope a week or so earlier in the season as machine-cleared slopes require 20% less snow cover to be able to open.

Continue reading ‘Cut your ski runs the natural way’

Artificial slopes are popping up everywhere.

A new type of artificial slope, described as a creek surfing system, has been launched by inventor Czintos Csongor.

Sineride is billed as better than other summer sliding options, because the skier carves down these small obstacles or ribs and the water held in place acts like a series of small pools situated under each other, effectively creating a big slanting lake.

Csongor says he first started considering what was needed for a successful summer sliding facility back in 1999.

Continue reading ‘Inventor carves into artificial slope market’

American skiing icon Lindsey Vonn accepts Vail's tribute.

The Vail community offered their heartfelt congratulations to hometown hero Lindsey Vonn today by naming a run on Vail Mountain after the Olympic gold medalist.

The resort’s operator bestowed the honor in recognition of her many achievements in ski racing, and also because to them, she represents Vail’s first ever gold medal.

The expert “International” trail on Vail Mountain will be renamed “Lindsey’s” and the new trail sign greeted skiers and snowboarders today. The trail was the site of the women’s speed events during the World Alpine Ski Championships at Vail and Beaver Creek in 1989 and 1999. Additionally, the central location of the trail gives all guests at Vail easy access to ski or ride it throughout the winter season.

Continue reading ‘Lindsey’s run cements Vail as Vonn country’

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’

Travel Alberta is hoping Games will benefit tourism

When it comes to attention grabbing opportunities at the Olympics, there are no short lists as people flock to them.

It’s argued, that one could have spent these Games roaming from pavilion to pavilion and still not have enough time to see everything.
With these Winter Olympics headed to the finish line, one can only ask where did Pierre de Coubertin Olympic motto (Citius, Altius, Fortius.) focus get the interest by deep pocketed multinationals.
Continue reading ‘The road less traveled: Chasing gold, takes a life of its own outside sporting venues’

Through three events, Alcott has yet to reach the podium.

After British Olympic ski coaches made a plea to the local travel industry for funds to travel to Vancouver, Inghams was among several companies that responded.

Emergency funds raised to support the fourteen British Ski and Snowboard athletes competing at the Vancouver Olympics passed the £10,000 mark thanks to a donation from the major tour operator. The company has joined other leading British snowsports companies in donating to a fund set up following the sudden demise of the British Ski & Snowboard Federation (aka Snowsport GB) which went into administration earlier this month.

Continue reading ‘Inghams gave British ski team a push’