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Chopper snow and cheek-numbing wind in Laax - 10/1/2012 17:59by Roger Bray Roger Bray reports from snowy Laax, January 10, 2012.
Ever seen snow clearing like this before? Trees close to the lifts at the base station in Laax were so heavily laden with fresh snow today they called in a helicopter to blow it off the branches with the down draught from its blades. As more runs opened today above the Swiss resort further evidence emerged of the ferocity of the storms which had raged across the Alps, in the shape of a giant wigwam, set up to house a restaurant on the upper slopes, which had been ripped apart by the wind. Advertisement  So the superb skiing and boarding to be had, on near-empty slopes, came at a cost. First chance, today, to try out the new Alp Dado chair-lift, whose seats are heated by solar power, and whose safety bar raises itself automatically as you arrive at Crest La Siana - at 2319m. A cheek-numbing wind was still whipping across the snow up there but hey, this is the mountains...warm bums, effortless disembarkation. Are we getting a bit too soft?
For more information on the area, see our Laax resort report here. Conditions to make the heart sing - 10/1/2012 08:59by Roger Bray Roger Bray reports from snowy Laax, January 9, 2012. Doesn't matter how many times you experience it, when a ragged veil of cloud parts after several days of incessant, heavy snowfall, the heart sings. Here in Laax, in eastern Switzerland, they reckon this is the most snow they've had in mid-January for maybe 12 years. At Crap Sagn Gion at 2228m (alright, let's get the sniggers out of the way with a reminder that crap means a rounded summit in the local Romansch language) total depth is now around 2.5m. Further up on the Vorab glacier, where runs were closed today with avalanche risk still running at 4/5, they claim they've got around 3.8m. And with a metre or so at the base station there's not a stone or a treacherous slick of ice in sight. ,p> Though rocksresort, where I am staying, was recently built, this is how ski resorts are meant to look. After a miserable first half of December they're now shoveling snow from rooftops and fir trees still bright with Christmas lights are heavy with powder. It almost goes without saying, then that the skiing this week as good as it gets. Weekenders from Zurich and Chur made their way down the mountain on Sunday afternoon in a blizzard which turned eventually, at lower levels, to bucketing rain, leaving the pistes virtually deserted. Advertisement We warmed up with a blissful blue cruise down to the village of Falera and headed up two chair-lifts to Crap Sagn Gion, with the ridge of the Weisse Arena breasting the remaining cloud above us. From there we took a pleasant red as far as the tree line, where we branch on to a none too difficult but thigh-burning black run back to base. The whole run measures around 5km. By the side of the piste were lovely stretches of barely touched powder.
It seemed almost criminal to head indoors for a pre-arranged lunch, though the unpromising sounding local speciality of capuns - a gnocchi-like mixture, wrapped in mangel-wurzel leaves with bacon bits and a cream sauce - was delicious. Food of the poor, said our Czech-born guide Jaroslav. It cost 24CHF, or around £16 - a reminder that skiing in Switzerland is certainly not for the poor. With its indoor freestyle academy and snow parks for freestylers, not to mention piste hollowed like a gentle half-pipe where even the timid can get the sensation of swing from side to side, Laax has developed a reputation for innovation. This season saw the opening of a new six seater lift with heated seats, next winter two more chair-lifts will be replaced and a further two a year after that.
Families may be more excited by a plan under consideration, but yet to be approved, to open a supermarket on the slopes at Crap Sagn Gion, which might certainly help parents keep the soft drinks and snacks bill in check. Grey skies ruled again toward the end of afternoon, and light snow was falling once more, but even if visibility was reduced conditions remained excellent - and tomorrow, we are told, the top of the mountain may also reopen.
For more information on the area, see our Laax resort report here. Meagre snow...but relief on its way - 11/12/2011 18:05by Roger Bray Roger Bray reports on snow conditions in the Montafon, December 11, 2011.
Warm enough to sit outside at 2010m. Photo: Roger Bray Snow cover remains desperately meagre on the slopes of the Silvretta Montafon ski area in Austria's Vorarlberg - but relief could be on its way in time for the holiday season. Weather forecasts suggest than by Thursday, snow could be falling down to 500 metres and maybe even lower the following day. Advertisement There was already lovely skiing to be this weekend between around 1500 and 2000 metres above the resort of Gaschurn. A handful of red and blue pistes opened for the first time at the top of the Versettla gondola, adding to those previously available above neighbouring Schruns and Tschagguns. Piste conditions yesterday, particularly on the more difficult and therefore less congested runs, were excellent. But the mild weather threatened hard, icy stretches later, and while off-piste slopes looked tempting, the thought of hidden hazards deterred all but the very young and intrepid. I watched as one snowboarder cut what was left of Thursday's powder right through to the Alpine grass.
Piste skiing above Gaschurn. Photo: Roger Bray And although last week saw the opening of a 30 million euro gondola linking the three resorts for the first time by lift, there was still no way to ski between them. With temperatures unseasonably high in valley, there was hardly any snow below 1000 metres and none at the base station of the new lift.
Gaschurn off-piste yesterday. Photo: Roger Bray I took a ride up the gondola's first stage despite the fact that there were no runs open yet at the top. It seemed something of an irony that its seats are heated. Views from the cabin matched the most spectacular from any lift. Perhaps by next weekend the landscape will be less green. For more information on holidays in Gaschurn and the Montafon area, contact Crystal Ski. How green was my valley - 9/12/2011 08:20by Roger Bray Roger Bray reports on snow conditions in the Montafon, December 9, 2011.
Gaschurn at breakfast time. Photo: Roger Bray It couldn't have been better orchestrated. Snow arrived in the Austria's Montafon Valley precisely in time for the opening of a Eu30 million new lift. There's still not enough here to cope comfortably with the pressure of Christmas and New Year - but it's a start. Advertisement The two-stage gondola, unveiled with much pomp and circumstance on Wednesday night - and a speeches by a local priest who was old enough, he recalled, to have skied there during the Third Reich - connects Gaschurn with two other resorts, neighbouring Schruns and Tschagguns. Ernest Hemingway spent a winter in the former. The ski area in question, branded Silvretta Montafon, is in western Austria, not far, as the crow flies, from Davos and Klosters. It had pretty well fallen off the map so far as British skiers were concerned, but leading tour operator Crystal Ski is offering packages here this winter. The bank-owned company, which runs it, claims the gondola makes it the biggest in the Vorarlberg. Bigger, that is, than Lech and Zurs combined. Not that I have had the chance to ski from the top of the new lift. Though it was dumping wet snow in Gaschurn last night and drier flakes when I woke this morning, only a limited number of pistes was open, with snow machines working furiously on sections of those which were available. And by the time I left the refurbished Sporthotel Silvretta Nova, with its spectacular indoor pool, and headed for the slopes, the skies were clearing. It had snowed down to about 1000 metres. But there was none of that longed for sharpness on the breath and there was still uncovered green grass in the meadows around the Zamang gondola bottom station. At round 2000-2300 metres, however, the skiing was perfectly acceptable. Pistes quickly developed hard patches but there was soft powder to be found off to the sides. And it was good to get in a few turns when, as recently as last weekend, it seemed touch and go whether there would be any skiing to be had here at all this week. It almost goes without saying that I was unable to ski back to the valley. When I clicked off my rented skis before boarding the gondola to the valley, I noticed a nasty gouge in one base. A reminder that while this week's snowfall has been encouraging, some European resorts still need a lot more. For more information on holidays in Gaschurn and the Montafon area, contact Crystal Ski. Snowberry good - 23/4/2011 14:53by Olivia Palmer Roving snogger, Olivia Palmer reports on her week in Val d'Isère, April 23, 2011.
Snowberry has been voted 'Best Ski Shop in Europe' so I had high hopes on arriving to collect my skis and boots for a week's holiday in Val d'Isère. Jock and Susan Dun run the shop and have over 40 years experience between them. Certainly, this came across in the well-organized and hassle-free way they dealt with their customers. When I walked in, Susan was very much on hand and available, making sure everyone was hiring the right skis and boots for them. Snowberry has over 200 different models from which to choose. Style and ability are taken seriously here before you sign on the dotted line.
Getting fitted The staff were friendly and helpful and you don't need to worry if your French is not up to scratch as everyone speaks perfect English. In the past I have had problems with rental boots and always dread the shin bruises that tend to occur after day one. But not this year. I didn't even have to wear my Ski Angels to protect my shins from the bashing they usually get. Snowberry puts a Superfeet Blues support in every boot, which stabilize your feet. The Superfeet orthotic help align your body correctly to avoid rubbing. If you wanted to buy this product it would cost you 40 euros.
Ready to go Jokingly, I asked the man who handed me my skis if he had some in luminous pink and to my surprise he reappeared with exactly that! Once I was all kitted up I was expecting to trek all the way back up to Club Med, where I was staying, but I was offered a free taxi ride home - just as they do for all their customers. On my next trip to Val d'Isère I fully intend to go check them out again. Speaking of Club Med, their all-inclusive package provided us with three meals a day, ski pass, flights and our own ski guide if we wanted one. The hotel is situated right on the slopes so it was easy to ski-in and ski-out for lunch and I believe I got my money's worth.
On the snow The food was delicious. There was a buffet for all three meals each day, with an excellent selection of fish and meat dishes. The bar was always open, meaning you could have a Cosmopolitan any time of the day if it tickled your fancy. The staff were all incredibly friendly. You were encouraged to watch the live show after supper - but we found it easy to decline politely when we wanted to head into town or have a quiet night in. My room had a balcony with a wonderful view of the mountains even though they weren't completely covered in snow because it as the very end of the season - but they still looked beautiful.
Olivia and friends Click on the link for our Val d'Isère resort report.
St Patrick's Day in Serre Chevalier - 17/3/2011 19:26by Roger Bray
Ah bejayzuz - St Patrick's Day in Serre Chevalier started with fresh powder. I suppose we ought to go in search of a celebratory Guinness and some diddly-diddly music, but the old legs are feeling a bit hammered from skiing, so it'll have to be a jug of the very passable red Burgundy, poured into a vrac from a pump somewhere near Beaune on the way here. What a difference a day makes, to quote the old Dinah Washington ballad. The woman at the traiteur was right. Maybe she can tell changes in the weather from the colour of the magnificent hams which hang in the shop window? Then again, maybe she had just heard a more up-to-date weather forecast than us. When we woke this morning the rain had turned to snow. It was dumping right down to the valley and, astonishingly, there was fluffy powder to be had above 2000 metres.  Fluffy powder Several centimetres had fallen, almost smoothing out the moguls on the Bois des Coqs, a red run off the lift of the same name. The skiing there was excellent, the sun even tried to break through now and then and, even if the snow did get a tad heavy at the mid-levels as the day wore on, there was little to complain about. Some of the lifts here are slow and old but that gave us time to munch a sandwich between runs and wait until the throng had left the Café Soleil, now our regular watering hole, so we could enjoy a Grande Crème in comfort.  The café is much to be lauded for providing a glove heater by its indoor lunch tables. We already brought you a snap of the café's Dancing Beer T-shirt. Here's a photo of one of its chandeliers, spotted today - like something from the Mad Hatter's tea party. It was 10 degrees back at base - still far too balmy for comfort - but if you're heading this way in the next few days, rest assured the quantity of snow continues to hold up - even if the quality remains variable. Click on the link to read our Serre Chevalier resort report. Advertisement  Dancing Beer in Serre Chevalier - 16/3/2011 17:45by Roger Bray
Spring refuses to get back in its box in Serre Chevalier. The weather forecast was correct after all. This afternoon it was raining in the valley and dumping wet snow above 1900 metres. Further up conditions remained acceptable though visibility was poor and the snow was getting sticky. Even late in the day, the black Pylones and red Draye runs from the top of the high-speed Bletonet chair were each worth a second bite. But from the mid-station down it was hard work winding your way through wet sugar and, by the time I reached the bottom, I was wet inside and out. Still, the charming lady at the charcuterie and local speciality shop, where we have bought compote of myrtilles, fromage frais and all sorts of other goodies for a feast in our rented studio, says things are due to pick up tomorrow with sunshine after that. But oh for a freeze and some powder...
Obscure French T-shirt motifs in English continue to amuse. Fueling up on a galette in the Café Soleil at Serre-Ratier, I spotted one on sale at the bar printed with the mystifying legend 'Dancing Beer'. Did they perhaps mean 'bear'? Nope, it wasn't a misprint, for the words were accompanied by a drawing of a half-litre mug. Quickstep to oblivion maybe. Further research provided the explanation. This is what the café calls its Happy Hour. So instead of thé dansant it's biere dansante, mais en Anglais. Got it? (You can buy the T-shirt for 5 euros.) Click on the link to read our Serre Chevalier resort report. Advertisement Fingers crossed spring isn't here to stay - 15/3/2011 18:51by Roger Bray
When you're expecting the worst, a good day's skiing comes as a particularly enjoyable surprise. The omens for our week in Serre Chevalier had hardly been encouraging: France Meteo forecast temperatures rising to double figures - and rain. A long detour via Gap and Briançon, forced by the closure of the Col du Lautaret, raised our hopes a little. In the resort a little wet snow was falling, but the smallest increase in temperature, you felt, would turn it to the threatened rain. No matter how many times you ski, however, the mountains continue to surprise. Next morning, in fitful sunlight, I temporarily deserted the Crystal Ski rep, who was giving us one of his regular guided tours and branched to the right from the top of the Cibouit chair, above Le Monetier les Bains, to find passable powder.
Chopped up and inconsistent to be sure, but mostly soft and forgiving. And what if that inconsistency did fool me into a silly fall? It's modest surprises like this which make this sport of ours so beguiling. . There were a few tempting pitches off-piste, too, but with avalanche risk at 4 it would have been foolhardy to take the chance. Twenty-four hours on it has been snowing lightly above about 1700 metres. Visibility has been poor but Serre Chevalier has long, pleasant red runs cut between the larches and, despite persistently unseasonal temperatures, the snow on pistes such as Aiguillettes has remained in reasonably good nick. A little care was called for here and there but I do not recall scraping my skis on stone all day.
To ski back to our base at Chantemerle there are two choices. One is a long and boring green run, the other a not very demanding black, the Luc Alphand, named for the champion skier and intrepid yachtsman. My wife didn't fancy either, so rode down in one of the aging egg-like cabins of the Grande Alpe lift. . I opted for the black. This was heavy-duty skiing - sweaty work in something closed to slush. At the bottom the digital display showed it was nine degrees celcius. Still no rain though. So our fingers are firmly crossed that spring is not here to stay. Not just yet anyway. Click on the link to read our Serre Chevalier resort report. My favourite ski of the test - 5/3/2011 11:33by Sean Newsom Sean Newsom is searching for the best all-mountain, go-anywhere ski at the 2011 SIGB ski test in Bormio.
I've got a flashy Ford Grand C-Max to play with this week - as well as 700 pairs of skis at the SIGB ski test. So what am I going to do? Sit in the same resort the whole time? Of course not. Yesterday morning I C-Maxed it over to the neighbouring ski area of Santa Caterina Valfurva for a change of scene: and immediately regretted not having filled the Ford with skis before I went. If I had, I'd have been able to spend the whole day blasting about over there on its softer snow, without having to come back to Bormio.
Advertisement Little Santa Caterina may be only 20 minutes' drive from Bormio, but it clearly has its own microclimate. Unlike Bormio, it had had a little fresh snow overnight. Coupled with the emptiness of its slopes, this made it a much better spot for testing the all-mountain, go-anywhere skis that have been my focus this week. As it was, I had only one pair of skis with me: the E88s - Rossignol's complete rethink of the go-anywhere ski concept. It's brought the curtain down on famous Bandit range and the B-series skis which followed it and has a very different shape. This is most noticeable in the tip, which is blunter than the norm, and distinctly less curly ("low rocker" is the official way to describe it). The sidecut starts almost at the tip of the ski as well, which helps turn initiation, and there's a full wood core for extra oomph. The ski is 88mm under the boot. Off-piste, I found it steady rather than smooth in Santa Caterina's mix of soft crud and powder, and less nimble that some of its rivals. But on piste it was a dream - one of the nicest carving platforms in its class. I can see a lot of meatier, heavier skiers loving it.
The E88 wasn't my favourite ski of the day, however. Later on, back in Bormio, I tried the updated Watea 84 from Fischer - and was really impressed. It's a light ski, with lots of rocker in the tip to improve its manoeuvrability in deep snow. The extra rocker also means there's less edge-contact with the snow when you're on-piste: and coupled with the lightness of the ski, you'd think this would make for a less steady carving platform than likes of the Rossignol E88. And so it seemed - but only marginally so. In part this was because the test skis had been beautifully tuned (the Fischer guys always do a fantastic job at the SIGB test), but I'm sure the build quality and design also had an impact. After all, Fischer do make some of the best race skis in the world. Even at high speed, the Watea 84 held on tightly. Off-piste, it was in a different league altogether. This was the first seriously rockered ski I tried which seemed to do its job properly, rather than flapping about annoyingly every time it hit a lump of crud. Despite being only 84mm wide under the boot, it offered lots of float, and felt really smooth and lively. It had me longing for a bigger patch of powder than my six-turn secret stash.
The other ski I must mention is the already-famous BBR. This is the weird-looking, fat-tipped, thin-waisted, thin-tailed ski launched late last year by Salomon. The company's so pleased about the BBR, its recently launched a film about its designer, Bertrand Krafft (see below) and generally, the ski has been getting rave reviews online. But the SIGB testers were a little less gushing - "good in powder, decent on-piste, but apart from the outlandish shape, not a game-changing ski" seemed to be the consensus forming on the chairlifts. My own feeling was that it skied well - much better than you'd expect given the shape - but didn't offer significantly better performance than other best-in-test skis in the all-mountain category. I'd like to try it again in deeper, more extensive powder, but from what I saw yesterday in Bormio, I'd reach for the Watea 84 first. All things considered, the Fischer ski was my favourite of the test.
Now it's time to C-Max it back to Geneva. The Ford's being drawing lots of admiring glances from other testers, and so it should. Inside, there's a life-time's worth of gadgetry to fuss and worry over - far too much, in fact for the likes of me. But the sat-nav is reliable, and I do like the music system - which is intuitive and allows me to play my own tunes via my ipod (rather than Italian radio, thank God). Above all, however, the serious stuff - engine, chassis, gearing, steering - feels coherent and well-engineered. It has oomph when it's needed, corners nicely and exudes a pleasing sense of interior luxury. Jay Nagley, Welove2ski's publisher and a certified car fanatic, is always going on about Ford's renaissance, and here seems to be the proof of it. Now all I have to do is put a pair of Watea 84s on my Christmas list... A giggle with the goggles - 3/3/2011 19:10by Sean Newsom And now for a quick break from the skis at the SIGB ski test in Bormio - so we can all check out Julia Bester rocking her Bollé goggles (and Cébé helmet). Have you seen how colourful goggles are getting? Yes I know Welove2ski talked about this back in the autumn (read our ski-fashion feature here), but it's still a surprise when you set eyes on just how bright some of the designs are. You need sunglasses just to look at 'em. Not that anyone's complaining - colourful goggles are a great idea and they look especially good with the right kind of helmet...
Click on the link to read our feature "Why do you wear a ski helmet?" from last year's SIGB ski test. Advertisement The need for speed - 3/3/2011 08:15by Sean Newsom 700 pairs of skis, and a mountainside full of Brits, skiing at Mach2: it must be the SIGB ski test in Bormio.
It never ceases to amaze me how trailing in the wake of a really good skier can raise your game. Today's inspiration came from Ross McCloy, the equipment buyer at Snow+Rock - one of many British retailers, ski writers and instructors in Bormio this week for the industry's annual ski test. Man alive, that guy can ski. Fast, smooth, and sure-footed, he blasts his way down the mountain at speeds I would never normally countenance. But following him down the pistes at Bormio today I couldn't help but be sucked into his slipstream - and just trying to stay in his tracks tidied up my style almost instantly, By the time we got back to the test centre I was a quivering, laughing mess of adrenaline. What a buzz!
Advertisement Luckily I had just the skis for (almost) keeping up with him - the Salomon Enduro XT 850 Speeds. They're not the widest of all-mountain skis, and despite a powder-friendly curly tip (aka "rocker") they're never going to give you the float in powder of some of their fatter rivals. Nevertheless, they're pretty sure and steady in both crud and softer snow. And once you got them onto the piste and gave them a bit of welly: wow. It's the most fun I've had on groomed snow for years. At £625 a pair, including bindings, they're not cheap. And they've got a pretty unforgiving tail, so don't think you can stop concentrating and just skid about: they won't let you. But all the same they don't feel has highly-strung and unforgiving as some of the other really powerful skis on the market - and I can't get enough of them. Now all I have to do is make sure I'm always skiing behind someone like Ross, so I pick up enough speed to do them justice.
Ross is leading one of the three teams of Snow+Rock testers who are out in Bormio this week, and it turns out that today was crunch time for them. They've spent the last three days examining contenders for three of the most important sectors in Snow+Rock's range - on-piste, all-mountain and freeride - and tonight they sit down and make their final selection. Everyone gets a say, which is important says Ross, "because you need fifteen pairs of eyes to make sure you haven't missed a ski which could turn out be a hit next season". Needless to say, it's a big moment for the British ski industry. Orders for thousands of pairs of skis will be placed as a result of tonight's conversation.
As for the results of their deliberations - well, we'll have to wait until the publication of the next Snow+Rock brochure on September 1 to find out which skis they've chosen. But Ross did drop a few hints. For example, in the category I've been focusing on - go-anywhere, piste-and-powder, all-mountain skis - the Rossignol E88s have caught his eye. These are a new for 2011, and I tried them this afternoon just as the test centre was shutting down. After the Salomons, they took a bit of getting used to, on-piste: but after one run I was carving very smooth turns on them. They've gone into the back of the C-Max as a result - and I'm going to the neighbouring ski area of Santa Caterina tomorrow morning to try them out on some different snow.
Two other skis I really enjoyed today were the Atomic Theories and the K2 Recoil. Officially, these are both "park and pipe" skis, but actually aside from their tails they're very close to some of the all-mountain skis I've been trying. Both are a lot of fun up on an edge, and they feel pretty steady in the soft stuff too. I'm not sure why Atomic and K2 don't market them as more light-hearted all-mountain skis - aimed at half-and-halfers like me who are a bored with the ultra-conservative graphics on "grown up" skis these days. They certainly seem well-suited to the task.
Next season's skis - now - 1/3/2011 22:04by Sean Newsom It's time for the SIGB ski test in Bormio, and this year there 700+ pairs of next season's skis to try. Welove2ski editor Sean Newsom gets stuck in.
YEAH BABY! It's ski test time. One of the highlights of the season is upon us again, and I'm among the lucky b*stards taking part. There are over seven hundred pairs of skis to try: all brand new, all pimped to within an inch of their lives, all laid out in long rows for our delectation, screaming "test me, test me!" Yes, the road up to the test centre in Bormio is probably the most tedious in the Alps (made more bearable this year by the fact that Ford has given me a natty new Grand C-Max for the trip). But it's forgotten the moment you step into base camp and feast your eyes on all those planks. It's all I can do to stop myself foaming at the mouth.
That's not to say that for almost everyone here, ski-testing isn't a serious business. From the moment the test centre opens at 9am, till about 3.30pm (when the skis are packed away), the testers do little else but bomb down the mountain, taking a new pair of skis on each run and scrupulously filling out a test card at the end of it - grading each one according to a long list of criteria including edge grip, piste and powder performance, straight line stability etc, etc. Lunch is a quick panini, and then it's on to the next pair. Take the Snow+Rock test team, for example. There are fifteen of them, split into three teams and moving at speed through a hit list of around 100 skis identified as "possibles" for the 2011-12 range. No-one skis them all. But each member of the team averages about 12 pairs a day, and the skis are all swapped around within the groups, so that at least two people try out every one. Once all the test card data has been processed, maybe half the skis tested will have made it onto the short list for next winter. Dion Taylor, the Snow+Rock MD, admits that it's not an exact science - "all sorts of factors can affect perception of a ski - your height, your weight, your technique, the quality of the snow, even what time of the day you try it." But that doesn't mean they don't throw themselves into the task. "We all regard it as a perk," says one of the woman's team I skied with this afternoon. "But it's also bloody hard work."
Dion, by the way, skis like a rocket. A couple of turns - and suddenly he's a distant green speck on the piste below you. You don't ski with him so much as in his wake - but that's okay because his enthusiasm is infectious. He gobbles up the terrain like it's chocolate cake, and you can't help skiing at Mach2 behind him and feasting on his leftovers. When I skied with him today he was rocking a pair of Nordica Sport Machine 74s. Less than £300 a pair...
For my part, I'm focusing at skis which are happy on piste, powder and crud. Here, they're mostly classed as All Mountain, although some skis which are obvious candidates - Scott Missions, for example - fall into the Freeride category. Typically, these are skis which are 80-95mm under the boot (the Missions are 89mm) - and they're a big part of modern ski business, because there aren't many of us who want to lug two pairs of skis around with us - one to ski off-piste and another for the corduroy - when we go on holiday. Actually, it's a wonder more effort isn't invested by the manufacturers into this category, because it's such an obvious one. They keep getting side-tracked. It is, for example, amazing how many super-fat skis are on display each year at the test, 110mm or more under the foot, and these days featuring super-curly tips because 'rocker' is all the rage at the moment. They're a dream to ski in deep powder: but a complete nightmare on icy pistes and crusty crud: and how many days of deep powder do you get on an average ski holiday? Of course, these are the skis used by the heroes of the sport. But you can't help wondering how many pairs are actually sold to the public each winter.
Today, all-mountain skis which impressed me most today were from Salomon - the XT 850 Speeds - part of a new range called the Enduros, which have replaced the X-Wings. I liked them so much I took them away in the car overnight, so I can be sure of getting another go first thing tomorrow morning...
Dining Out - 18/2/2011 18:04by Alf Alderson Ski and surf writer Alf Alderson reports from the Graubünden resort of Arosa - February 18, 2011.
It's the final day of my Swiss road (and rail) trip, and it gets off to a pretty exclusive start as I hop aboard the Tschuggen Express. This is the Tschuggen Grand's own private funicular railway for the exclusive use of guests, and with its luxurious leather seats and glass and metal cabins it's about as upmarket as you can get other than being dropped on the mountain by a helicopter. To think, there are people in this world who regard such things as normal - "Eee, I never" as my gran would have said. Everything returns to normal as I ski down to the Hörnli Express gondola - well, kind of. I'm still amazed at how quiet the slopes are in what is pretty close to peak holiday season, and although Arosa is modest in size (some 60 km of pistes and 900 metres of vertical) it never gets busy - not once do I have to queue for a lift. Once again the pistes are in remarkably good condition considering the never-ending 2011 snow drought (well, never-ending in the northern half of the Alps, anyway), so I decide to blast around the two big mountain bowls which make up Arosa's ski area, and explore the the resort's mountain restaurants. Here's how it goes. THE ROUGH GUIDE TO AROSA MOUNTAIN RESTAURANTS HŐRNLIHŰTTE
There are great views of the resort from here and the freeride terrain on offer - whenever there's fresh snow. B&B accommodation is also available from 70 Swiss francs per night. I had lunch here - spag bol and a small beer - for 20 francs (about £13). CARMENNAHŰTTE
A lively atmosphere, and good for sunbathing and people watching beside the tipi-style bar. BRŰGGERSTUBA
A decent après ski bar in a central location - next to the Weisshorn cable car. "Meet you at the Bruggerstuba," is obviously a popular refrain here. SATTELHŰTTE
There are great mountain views from here, and good sunbathing too. In colder weather it is pretty cosy inside and serves high-quality home made food. SIT-HŰTTE WEISSHORNGIPFEL
At 2653m this has the best mountain panoramas (see above) and the highest bakery in Europe. Check out their cakes for extra energy before you hit Black 8 or Red 10 off the top. En route I ski almost all of Arosa's pistes. In scale, the ski area reminds me of Sun Peaks in Canada - without all the tree-skiing, because most of Arosa's slopes are above the treeline. There's a lot of variety here - from the undulating blues which drop from the summit of the 2511-metre Hörnli to Inner Arosa (1820m), to fast, fall-line reds from the Weisshorn (click on the link to see Arosa's piste map). There are a couple of blacks too - one of which, black 8 - is my favourite run in the area.
Of course, more advanced skiers will burn through these pistes in a couple of days - and they should think of Arosa primarily as a weekend destination. But it's clear the ski area's appeal increases considerably once there's fresh snow, and the freeriding opens up. The lines from the top of the Hörnli look promising, and there's the added interest of a day-long tour to Lenzerheide (which I'll be looking at in more detail in future article). You could also use Arosa as the start of a twin-centre trip, travelling on to Lenzerheide or Davos/Klosters, and day-tripping to the the tiny ski hill of Tschiertschen to the north, as well. Anyone with a few quid to spend, and someone to spend it on, should check out the Tschuggen Grand too. It's one of the most luxurious mountain hotels in Europe: a few days of intensive relaxation in its spa, coupled with the odd blast on the slopes would make for a pretty special anniversary or celebration. Winter wanderings - and pamperings - 18/2/2011 14:26by Alf Alderson Ski and surf writer Alf Alderson reports from the Graubünden resort of Arosa - February 17, 2011.
Poster Berg-Strandbad Arosa Today has seen a focus on R&R, for two good reasons - one, I need a short break from skiing, having tweaked a hamstring on the slopes of Lenzerheide yesterday; and two, in the interests of thorough travel research I felt duty bound to undertake an in-depth study of the superb spa at Arosa's splendid Tschuggen Grand Hotel, where I am currently staying. More of that later... The first thing I did this morning was to pop into the Arosa Tourist Office in the middle of town to get the lowdown on all things winter sport from the affable Lea Jörg, who also showed me some of their great collection of old ski posters. I love these old posters and have collected a few myself. I think they conjure up a romantic image of the sport when it was rather more exclusive than it is today - I don't suggest skiing should return to such exclusivity, of course, but a touch more class wouldn't go amiss in some resorts.
Tschuggen Bergoase spa from outside But I disgress. Lea suggested that since I was having a break from skiing I might like to try a leisurely stroll along a marvellously monikored Winterwanderweg, or winter footpath - and who doesn't enjoy a winterwander, after all? Arosa has a network of these footpaths, which actually thread their way around and through the ski area, generally at gentle inclines, with regularly spaced benches so you can stop to sit down and enjoy the mountain views - and since the snow has been hard-packed by machine you don't even need snowshoes. They're consequently very popular with older visitors, families with kids, dog walkers and the indolent, like me. Seriously though, whilst I know a mere stroll will hold little interest if your idea of winter sports is 55 degree couloirs or big air in the terrain park, for families - which make up a large part of Arosa's market - they're a great idea. Parents can take toddlers on a winterwander whilst older siblings rip it up on the slopes, and they enable elderly and/or non-skiing relatives to meet up with younger members of the family at a mountain restaurant. I thoroughly enjoyed my hour or so ambling from Prätschli at the north-east end of the resort to Inner-Arosa in the south-west corner, as did my hamstring.
Inside the Tschuggen Bergoase spa And after such exertions I was ready for a massage. So I was in the right place as a guest of the Tschuggen Grand. The hotel's Bergoase spa, which was designed by renowned Swiss architect, Mario Botta, spreads over three floors and 5000 square metres and features all the usual amenities - sauna, steam room, indoor and outdoor pool, relaxation rooms, gym, all exquisitely designed and very easy to while away an afternoon in (well, apart from the gym). The exterior is by far the most singular aspect of the spa, however, as you'll see from the pictures - it consists of glass and steel 'sails' which are lit spectacularly at night and manage to sit well with their surroundings rather than being intrusive, as might easily have been the case. My massage first involved a more thorough seeing to of my muscles than the 'soap massage' I enjoyed a couple of nights ago in Lenzerheide, and then came the best bit - a hot stone massage, which is on a par with a soap massage for sheer indulgence and loosens up tight muscles very effectively. So what with my winterwanderings and pamperings, looks like I should be all set to rip it up on the slopes again tomorrow. Bring on those couloirs...
Poster Ski-Girl Arosa Tie me kangaroo down, sport - 17/2/2011 14:35by Alf Alderson Ski and surf writer Alf Alderson reports from the Graubünden resort of Lenzerheide - February 16, 2011.
Lenzerheide, west side Lenzerheide - heard of it? Well, I hadn't until the editor ordered me to go and ski there, and very grateful I am too. For this relatively unknown resort (at least amongst Brit skiers) is a little Graubunden gemstone. In fact 'little' is not really an apt description, since it has an impressive 150km of pistes and 1400 metres of 'vert' spread along the east and west facing slopes of the valley in which it sits. I was advised by Susanne Jorger, the resort's cheery marketing manager, that the best way to explore the slopes was west side first, then over to the east, since that way you're in the sun all day. That said, today there wasn't too much sun because the constipated clouds of the Swiss Alps were doing their best to deposit some snow on the surrounding peaks. It was a paltry offering to be honest, but it still meant you could get scratchy first tracks here and there, as I discovered as I wandered off-piste from my first run of the day, an easy blue (No. 21 since you ask) off the top of 2323-metre Pic Scalottas.
Instructions in German only - nice Incredible as it may sound, not only did I have the off-piste totally to myself, I also had much of the on-piste free to carve at will too until late morning. "What's going on?" I wondered - after all it is half term. Well it seems that things are a bit quiet hereabouts right now... the helpful young lady in Pesko Sports where I rented my very fine Nordica Fire Arrow 80 skis told me that "Its more like January at the moment", which suited me just fine. Indeed, Lenzerheide seemed not only relatively quiet, it also felt as if the majority of skiers were locals, and that's one of the things I liked most about the place - its downhome feel.
Alp Statz 11am - lone customer enters restaurant As I made my way around the pistes, everyone seemed to know each other in the lift queues (if you take a lift queue to be ten people waiting for a six-person chair), on the pistes and in mountain restaurants like the Alp Stätz where I threw down a hot chocolate before three quad-burning runs down the excellently groomed dry snow of Black 50. The whole layout of the place has a pleasantly low-key feel to it as well. After my final run on Black 50 I carried on down to cross over to the east side of the valley, which involved skiing past houses, farms, shops, under the main valley road, across a minor road past a mum pushing a pram and eventually to the Helmberg Chair at the bottom of what will be the FIS World Cup Final Course in mid-March. This is one of the endearing features of skiing in Switzerland - you're in a place where skiing is a fundamental part of the national character, where ski runs slice through the middle of rustic old settlements and modern towns regardless, and where kids scarcely old enough to walk are bombing down the red runs like maniacs - if you love skiing you can't not love this.
Swiss Rolf Another endearing feature was dining next to Rolf Harris in the Mottahütte Restaurant (chunky medallions of pork with tagliatelli in gorgonzola sauce for 24.5 Swiss francs - not cheap, but tasty enough and this is Switzerland after all). It wasn't really Rolf of course, just his doppelganger, and I would have taken his pic but that would have been rude, so I had to do a Rolf-style sketch instead which I'm sure you'll agree bears an uncanny likeness? After my meeting with 'Rolf' I took the Rothornbahn cable-car up to the resort's highest point, the eponymous 2865-metre Rothorn where the views beneath the lift and to east and west revealed some appealing freeride/backcountry terrain, and promised myself a return visit to Lenzerheide. After all, in one day I'd barely scratched the surface and it seems to tick all the boxes - varied terrain, friendly vibe, rich ski culture and no crowds. What's not to like?
Real mountain views from the Rothorn Taking the rough with (very) smooth in Graubunden - 15/2/2011 23:07by Alf Alderson Ski and surf writer Alf Alderson reports from the Graubünden resorts of Davos, Klosters and Lenzerheide - February 15, 2011.
Schweizerhof Hotel, Lenzerheide - great rooms, great spa, even better massage I'm typing this in my room at the splendid Scheitzerhof Hotel in Lenzerheide and am feeling about as relaxed as a man can feel without being dead. The reason? An hour in the hotel's hamam (the largest in Europe I believe) followed by a soap massage - which I can tell you (stop sniggering at the back!) is exactly what a massage should be.
Big bumps and weird cloud below Parsenhuttenbahn lift None of the prodding, poking, kneading and bodily agony that one of those 'good for you' sports massages is all about, just a relaxing, calming experience where your muscles are soothed back into life rather than being pummeled to within an inch of it. That said, I'm in Lenzerheide to check out the skiing at this relatively unknown Graubunden resort tomorrow rather than lounge around in spas, having just had a highly enjoyable day with a difference in Davos.
Classic Swiss scenery on the way down Black 16 The difference was that I skied the pistes all day, which I know for many people ain't that different at all, but in recent years I've managed to convince myself that 'freeride' is the only way to go and have thus vouchsafed the groomed stuff for supposedly better things off to the side, as it were. More fool me. I hadn't quite reached that condescending state where I claim to only ski the pistes in order to get from one gnarly couloir to another, but this winter in particular I've been on a hiding to nothing trying to find decent off-piste terrain when there's little or none about due to the snow drought.
Room with a view - Der Gipfel Restaurant, Weissfluhgipfel Yet as I set off from the top of 2844-metre Weissfluhgipfel down black 1, red 17, red 21, red 22 (not some arcane bingo game but the utilitarian but effective naming system for Davos' pistes - number and colour, what more do you need?) I began to realise what I've been missing. The pisteurs of Davos and Klosters should receive a mention in dispatches for the way they've maintained five-week-old snow so well, allowing me and scores of others to hammer down kilometre after kilometre full pelt and revel in the art of carving. The resort's plethora of wide, open pistes lend themselves perfectly for letting rip and some, some such as red 17 above Parsenhütte, are specifically set aside for carving. And despite it being half-term the slopes were certainly not crowded, nor were the lifts - my longest wait once -counted...
Magic number - deserted piste, glorious scenery above Wolfgang Indeed, when I followed black 16 all the way back down to the valley I was the only person on it - possibly because it's very narrow lower down and rather short of snow in places, but if you want to enjoy the solitude of the glorious Graubunden it's hard to beat. The main reason I did this run, however, was that earlier in the day I'd met a friend in Davos who'd recommended dining at the Restaurant Kulm, directly opposite the end of the run in the small settlement of Wolfgang.
Where HRH dines Apparently HRH Prince Charles and acolytes have been known to dine here, although it did seem a surprising choice of venue for the royal palate when I got there - lodged between the main road and the railway station and opposite a Shell garage. But who am I to question the dining preferences of the future King of England? And as it happened I didn't get to sit at the royal table anyway - the train back to Davos was due to arrive just as I got there, so I quickly bolted into the Shell garage for sarnies and Coke on the not unreasonable grounds that when it comes to choosing between carving a few turns and enjoying a meal fit for a prince, the former will always win.
Where our roving reporter dines Back by popular demand - 14/2/2011 19:01by Alf Alderson Ski and surf writer Alf Alderson reports from Davos and Klosters in the Swiss Graubünden - February 14, 2011.
Well, you thought it was all gone - melted, turned to crust, crud, ice and slop, a distant memory of better times... But I am here to tell you that with the right guide and the right attitude that rare substance, powder snow, can still be found - albeit in very modest amounts - on the lovely peaks above Davos, and here's a pic to prove it. Yes, mes amis, above is Chris Frei, ski guide and all-round good egg enjoying the north-east slopes of Jakobshorn above the isolated and delightful Dischmatal (wherein lies the charmingly rustic Teufli Restaurant, home of the world's happiest dog, but that's all by the by).
Chris was given the some might say onerous task of guiding me around Davos and Klosters' slopes today, with a focus on the resorts' excellent but relatively unknown (in Britain at least) freeride terrain. This consists of a selection of marked but ungroomed pistes of various degrees of steepness, which are essentially backcountry with the important proviso that they've been cleared of avalanche danger. Consequently you can get your off-piste kicks without the risk of getting a good kicking yourself from Mother Nature. As Chris pointed out: "After fresh snow - and once ski patrol has opened them - you can find perfect freeride conditions here without the avalanche danger, so they make a great introduction to freeriding".
They're marked on the piste map quite plainly, as well as on the hill, and unless you were skiing in a total white-out you'd be hard pressed to get lost. Today, with the sun still blazing in the Swiss skies, navigating down towards Dischmatal was a cinch. We'd already taken on a potentially lovely bit of freeride terrain earlier in the day, which involved a short five-minute hike from the top of the Seetäli drag-lift in the Parsenn ski area before dropping off steeply down into open alpine pastures and then linking into a long, swooping, relaxing and deserted (at half-term?!) red which brought us out in Klosters. The snow here was pretty much as expected - a mix of hard crust, crunchy ice and brief powdery patches which simply grabbed at our skis and, in my case, twice flung me arse over tit down the hill.
Güggelbahn cable-car So when Chris decided over lunch at Chalet Güggel on Jakobshorn that we should take the short ride on the tiny Güggelbahn cable-car to the top of Jakobshorn in search of more powder on its shady north-eastern slopes, I was a little less than enthusiastic. Surely it would be more of the same? Well, not quite. I'd be lying if I said we cruised through knee-deep powder all 900-metres to the valley floor, but Chris had a canny eye for spotting little powder stashes here and there. I have to admit to having virtually forgotten what it feels like to swoosh through real snow, and I didn't really have the right skis for the job, having opted for a pair of Salomon Tornados from Swiss Rent a Sport in town, but after the powder drought we've had so far this winter a couple of turns here and a couple of turns there in soft, sugary but perfectly skiable 'powder' were mightily appreciated.
All of which goes to prove that powder can still be found in the Alps if: A. You get a good guide B. Preferably in Davos That said, as we returned to town in the bus, clouds were building to the west, and I'm hoping that Chris' boast of Davos being one of the sunniest towns in Switzerland is about to go the same way as that powder he blasted through this afternoon - up in smoke. Click here for our Davos Resort Report and for our Klosters Resort Report. Sailing on the Caribbean Sea of Laax - 11/2/2011 09:33by Nicola Iseard Our roving blogger, Nicola Iseard, meets an old-time skier and tucks into a jumbo lunch in Laax - February 10, 2011.
Luckily, it turns out that John, 63, from Cape Cod in Massachusetts, loves to chat. After half an hour I not only know that he is in Laax for the whole season - taking a holiday from retirement, he tells me with a grin - but that he has been coming here every year since 1984 ("the skiing is superlative"), and he bought his beloved Explosivs from Flims in 1987. "Carving skis, now they're like a motor boat - too quick", he says. "With straight skis everything is that bit slower. You see, I've got no destination and all day to get there."
So today I'm going to take it slow. I'm going to sail.
Before I know it it's gone 1 o'clock. Instead of grabbing lunch on the run like I have for the past five days, I stop. In a restaurant. A really nice restaurant. Located underneath the cable-car station at Crap Masegn, where piste bashers were once kept, Elephant is the place for long lunches - gleaming white tablecloths, sheepskins rugs thrown over the chairs and awesome views of the surrounding peaks.
I get chatting to one of the waitresses. "Do you know the story behind Elephant?" she asks. I admit that I don't. It turns out 25 or 30 years ago (the details are rather hazy), there was a circus held at Crap Sogn Gion and an elephant was one of the main acts.
I wonder if the waitress has any more quirky stories up her pinny, but decide it's probably time to get back on the skis. I make my way up to the Vorab glacier at 3018m and take the long winding blue, with its big rollers, down to Nagens, where I join the red run that ambles its way through the trees to Flims.
Just yesterday I was flying high having conquered the half-pipe, today it is a simple tree run that has me buzzing. This is the beauty of Laax - it is essentially one big adventure park to play in, everyone finding their own fun. And I've certainly done that. Click on the link to read our Laax resort report. "If you can ski switch you can jump a 180" - 9/2/2011 22:26by Nicola Iseard Our roving blogger, Nicola Iseard, takes on Laax's mighty terrain park - February 9, 2011. Watch Nicola's lesson at Laax Freestyle Academy
I mean business. I've got my back protector on, my helmet strap pulled extra tight, my boots cranked up toe-numbingly high and I've traded in my all-mountain planks for a pair of freestyle skis - K2 Revivals. They may be soft in the tip 'n' tail but boy do they look tough (the graphics are a hallucinogenic mix of graveyards, sculls and spindly trees). Like a sheep in wolf's clothing. Oh yes people, I am hitting the park. And I'm hoping my instructor Christian Coray is going to show me just how to, er, hit it. I've signed up for a two-hour freestyle lesson. Christian was born in Laax 28 years ago and has been fronting the freestyle sector of the ski school for eight years, and I've heard he is the best freerider-slash-trickster on the mountain. And guess what skis he's riding? You're ahead of me - a pair of K2 Revivals. Though his are a limited edition (he's sponsored by K2, so he can have any edition he wants).
Christian cuts to the chase. "Do you ski switch?". I pause before saying, "Yes, yes I do". It isn't a total lie, I can ski backwards, but find it, well, completely terrifying on anything other than a pancake-flat run, so tend to stick to forward motion. "Great! Because most tricks in the park involve skiing switch. And it's what all our freestyle lessons begin with. Let's try some turns down here." And he's off, cruising backwards down the easy blue from Crap Sogn Gion. I follow. Hallelujah! It's flat. Christian gives me some tips, like keeping the uphill ski slid further forward than the downhill one, turning my upper body down the slope and not rushing the turn (which I was definitely doing). The run steepens slightly but I barely notice - I'm skiing switch and it feels great! We make our way over to the freestyle slope just as a skier is pulling a 540 (or it could have been a 900, I lost count). "If you can ski switch, you can jump a 180. Simple." I eye up the huge kicker. He can't be serious. "We'll try a few down here, see those small lips on the edge of the piste?". Phew.
Advertisement  First, we try jumping our skis 180 degrees while stood stationary. The trick, Christian tells me, is to start with your upper body turned fully in the opposite direction to the way you plan to spin, and then using it to whip the skis around. It works. We try the same technique on the small lips, and that works too. I have to say, I'm loving the skis. They feel poppy, playful (tech alert - this has a lot do with the fact that the skis are "rockered", meaning the tip and tail are elevated). They feel lighter, too, and - best of all - stable on take off and landings. And I'm all about stable landings. Time for the park. After a few goes on the boxes, which are actually a lot harder than they look (if you don't keep your weight forward you fall flat on your tooshie), we line up for the kicker. Compared to the ski jump I launched myself down at the Freestyle Academy last night it looks rather piddly. But this time I'm going to be landing backwards. And there's no foam pit to cushion my (most-probable) fall. I'm off. As I hit the take-off I whip my upper body around and before I know it I've landed. On two feet. Okay, so it was more like a 170, but hey who's counting. Besides, on my second go I get more speed, more air, and definitely clock 180.
There is just one last feature I have to take on - the half-pipe. Correction: Europe's largest half-pipe. We didn't get off on the best foot on Sunday (a mixture of me having too much speed and it being too icy), but I'm ready to make amends. Christian keeps it simple. "Ride it like you would a piste. Keep your body in a T shape with your feet. And don't jump the skis, just lift your knees up slightly to swivel them around". Too easy.
I'm not sure whether it is the skis, Christian's advice or the fact that this time I really believe I can do it, but something clicks. That feeling of weightlessness, just before the skis swivel back around, is incredible. I'm picking up speed, creeping higher and higher up the side with each turn, until I'm right there on the edge. I let out a half-scared, half-excited whoop. Then, all too soon, it's over. I wouldn't go as far as calling myself an accomplished freestyler, but hey, I've skied switch, pulled off a 180 and ridden a pretty huge half-pipe in passable style. Not bad for a girl.
Click on the link to read our Laax resort report. Pretty darn cool - 9/2/2011 09:32by Nicola Iseard Our roving blogger, Nicola Iseard, goes fashion spotting in Laax - February 8, 2011.
"Du siehst einfach super aus!!" You look simply super!! It's not what I'd expected to be told 9am in the morning, as I caught the four-man chair from Curnius to Crap Sogn Gion. But then, I doubt the bloke next to me, wearing a black balaclava (odd seeing as the mercury was hitting +2C and rising) and humongous black goggles, expected to be told that either. The hand-written sign, plastered onto the mirrored glass of the chair-lift hut, has been flattering riders for over three years, and according to the liftie they love it.
But here's the thing - so many people in Laax do look, well, super. Okay, so fashion is in the eye of the beholder and all that, but even if you're not into the freestyle, er, style yourself, you can't deny that a lot of skiers and boarders here look cool. Very cool. I'm sat on the sun-trap terrace of Café No Name, a scruffily hip mountain hut that offers good cheap soups and snacks, great coffee (the tastiest on the mountain, so I'm told), music and - most importantly - the best views of the half-pipes and snowparks around Crap Sogn Gion. Which is why it is considered the hangout for freestylers taking a break from the slopes. While a dozen or so people sit on the wall checking out the pipe action below, I'm sat behind them getting in some prime outfit-spotting action.
Here's how it is. The jackets are invariably long, often with knee-length T-shirts hanging below (Tall-Ts I believe they're called), or in some cases, they do away with the jacket altogether and just wear a big T-shirt; the pants are, without exception, baggy; the helmets are usually plastered in stickers; the goggles are sometimes worn underneath the helmet, rather than over the top, and the colours are always, always bright. While one guy dons a red T-shirt and banana-yellow pants, the girl next to him wears a neon pink jacket, matching hat and green trousers. I feel like I'm in an advert for United Colours of Benetton.
The reasoning is very simple. As I watch a group of five snowboarders roll through the half-pipe one after another, there is no denying that it is the most colourfully-clad who steal the show. Never mind which boarder or skier is pulling the best trick, it is the one with the luminous green jacket or the most eye-wateringly orange pants who catches your eye. Don't believe me? Check out this picture below. Who did you spot first? Bet you a fiver it was the boarder with the bright orange pants.
And this is precisely why I'm considering swapping my royal red jacket and turquoise pants for a black one-piece tomorrow. Or maybe white. I have a freestyle lesson. Not just pottering around on the diddy boxes and half-pipe like I have a few times since my day with Pädi. I'm talking about a proper lesson, where I'll be trying proper tricks, involving proper technique. I definitely don't want to be catching anyone's eye (though I'm hoping that my Royal Coachman introductory session at the new indoor Freestyle Academy this evening will give me a head start on the take-off and landing front).
Speaking of one-pieces, I can tell you that despite the fact new-school style is definitely the fashion king of the slopes, there are, wonderfully, a number of skiers in Laax who are doing things their own way. The old-school way. I've counted no less than seven old-fashioned all-in-ones since I arrived. I even spotted one chap with skin-tight corduroy trousers, a knitted stripy jumper, white gaiters and, get this, two-metre-long skinny skis. And you know what? He looked pretty darn cool, too.
Click on the link to read our Laax resort report. Life is good - 8/2/2011 08:56by Nicola Iseard Our roving blogger, Nicola Iseard, explores rocksresort in Laax - February 7, 2011.
Life is goood. I'm lying reclined on a sun lounger by the pool in front of huge picture windows looking out towards snowy peaks. And I'm the only one here. It's all in the name of research, of course; I left the rest of Laax on the mountain (apparently on blue sky days everyone skis until the last lift) and hung up my ski boots early to check out the resort at ground level. First stop, the hotel's spa, naturally.
I'm staying at signinahotel, part of the new rocksresort, perched at the end of Laax's home run. Think Switzerland is old-school? Think again. Sure, this is an ancient country built on tradition (cuckoo clocks and trains that run like clockwork, army knives and Rösti), but with rocksresort it has thrown tradition out and brought über-sleek design in. So sleek, in fact, that it bagged the Wallpaper* magazine design award for Best New Ski Resort in 2010. And they've done away with capital letters. Now that is cool. Completed in December 2009 ("We just didn't have enough beds", the Laax PR representative tells me), rocksresort is made up of eight strikingly simple, sugar-cube shaped buildings, randomly scattered around a central piazza. They're a modern mix of local stone, wood and slate. How local? Well, the slate comes from boulders that were strewn through the region by a colossal landslide 10,000 years ago - supposedly the biggest in the history of the world - which shaped the valley in which Laax sits.
The buildings contain eight shops, seven restaurants, six bars and 122 furnished two-, four- and six-bedroom holiday apartments, part of the Design Hotels collection. I just snuck a peek inside one. I'm not sure what impressed me most, the wet-room (the whole bathroom turns into a steam room, and the baths are deep stone troughs), the slick open-plan living area - all designer lighting, concrete, limestone and underfloor heating - or the price. A week in a two-bed apartment starts from 889CHF (£577). That's including use of signinahotel's spa facilities next door.
Okay, so signinahotel (which pre-existed the development but has been revamped and incorporated into the rocksresort) doesn't have wet-rooms, only regular bathrooms, and what I thought was underfloor heating turned out to be steam evaporating from my ski socks. But it is rather lovely, a refreshing mix of modern and cosy, full of animal prints and furs, wood-clad ceilings and funky lighting. Not bad for 100 euros (£84) per person a night. One thing is for sure - there isn't a smidge of chintz anywhere. For an age-old town (Laax was first mentioned around 1290 as Lages), it shouldn't work. But it does.
"This area was just a parking lot before," Pädi, my guide, told me yesterday. "Laax has life now". He's right. By 4.30pm the place is buzzing. People are darting in and out of the clothing stores (there are several), stocking up on groceries at the mini-market, and getting in their first beers of the evening. Ah yes, the bars. Locals insist they don't do après-ski like the Austrians, but they certainly do après-ski.
At the crapbar ('crap' means 'rock' in Romansch, Switzerland's fourth official language), the terrace is slowly filling up. Everyone seems to be drinking cocktails. Faithless' I Can't Get No Sleep is thumping over the speakers. It's all so urban. Soon, I'm told, many will move onto the Indy Bar, before hitting the infamous club at Riders Palace. For now, I think I'll leave them to it. I've just ordered a luzt (coffee with plum liqueur and sugar), and ever since I spotted the pan-Asian restaurant Nooba I can't get edamame out of my head. Okay, so it's not Rösti, but hey this is the new Switzerland, remember. Click on the link to read our Laax resort report. "So you like freestyle?" - 7/2/2011 06:58by Nicola Iseard Our roving blogger, Nicola Iseard, gets stuck into the jumps and bumps in Laax - February 6, 2011.
"So you like freestyle?", asks my instructor-slash-guide, Pädi Heeb, grinning hopefully. We've barely know each other ten minutes and I wonder if this is some sort of initiation test. I choose my answer carefully. "Well, I've dabbled in the park on occasions..." I say, hesitantly. "I'm keen, but I wouldn't say I'm - " "No problem", Pädi interrupts, as our cable car pulls into the station. "After a week here you'll be a pro!". And with that he trundles out through the doors. I think I passed. I'm in Laax, the marketing name for the linked ski circuit above the Swiss villages of Flims, Laax and Falera, which is regarded - glorified, even - as Europe's leading freestyle resort. It was one of the world's first ski areas to embrace the freestyle skiing and snowboarding movement that, er, snowballed at the turn of the millennium, and is today considered the Granddaddy of the sport, hosting the annual British Snowboard and Freeski Championships - aka "The Brits" - and the Burton European Open, among others.
It's the first run of the first day of my first ever trip to Laax. I have to admit, I expected to feel pretty intimidated by the place at the start, especially if I went anywhere near one of the four snowparks. But as we ski down from Crap Sogn Gion ("crap" means "rock" in Romansch, Switzerland's fourth official language) to the 2.5km freestyle slope, with its series of jumps and rails, I feel, well, rather relaxed. The features are spread out, which means the skiers are too, so we have each jump to ourselves. I even manage to complete my first table jump (which involves sliding over the top of a picnic-like table covered in plastic) without falling arse over tit. Even Pädi looks impressed.
The truth is, I used to love jumping when I was little - between the ages of seven and 12 I spent more time in the air than on the snow. But, that's what kids do, isn't it? At the half-pipe we are joined by a group of youngsters. "It's the biggest in Europe," Padi says, casually. It is huuuuge. I can only imagine how daunting it seems to the boy half my height stood next to me. Not that daunting at all, it seems, as he launches himself into it, full speed. I wonder what my 12-year-old self would have done, and push off, teeth gritted, after him. Holy s*%t! I've got way too much speed. The side is like sheet ice and I'm travelling full pelt up it. Somehow I manage to swivel my skis back round safely. 10 for effort, two for style. Time for some standard piste skiing.
I say standard, but what I really mean is wonderful cruising down long, wide, immaculate pistes. Laax has them in abundance, 220 kilometres in fact, all perfectly groomed. You'd never have known it hadn't snowed in three weeks (this is Pädi's 10th season in Laax and its the warmest and driest yet). There are also a handful of good blacks and some patrolled off-piste runs, which I imagine are fabulous in powder. Who'd have thought you would come to Laax to simply ski? Some of the best runs - and views - are found on the Vorab glacier at 3018m, one of the highest points in the Graubünden region. We take a five-minute hike up to the peak in our ski boots for a sweeping 360° panorama.
But my favourite run of the day has to be from La Siala at 2,810m down to Flims at 1,100m, a thigh-burning 12km in all (it's the longest in the resort). Though, if I'm honest, we cheat, stopping midway for some nosh on the sunny terrace of Segneshütte. A favourite with locals, it serves the best rhubarb fruit cake in town. Below Segneshütte the piste winds past old wooden chalets (Pädi explains how many store grass for the cows that roam these hills in summer), craggy low hanging rock and through vast pine forests, the snow all dappled sunlight. All too soon we are back on the Laax side, setting off on our final run into town, paragliders tumbling in the air above us. All that is left is to click off our skis at Larnags bar - which according to Pädi is the only old-school après-ski bar left in Laax (it plays "Agadoo doo doo", while the rest play drum 'n' bass) - order some drinks and take a seat outside by the log fire. We raise our glasses a great day's skiing, and, more importantly, to conquering that half-pipe by the end of the week...
Click on the link to read our Laax resort report. Delicious weather in Laax - 6/2/2011 18:51by Nicola Iseard Our roving blogger, Nicola Iseard, has just arrived in Laax - February 6, 2011. She'll be blogging for us all week. Sunny day and empty pistes
Click on the link to read our Laax resort report. St Trinian's on snow - 3/2/2011 18:58by Felice Hardy One of our editors has been in Flaine this week managing her daughter's school ski team - here's her report of February 3, 2011 There's only one sensation worse than waiting in the starting hut at the top of a steep GS course shining with ice - and that's watching your 15-year-old daughter do the same. I'm back in Flaine for the annual British Schoolgirls Races for the fifth consecutive year and, like childbirth, no matter how many times you do it, the pain doesn't get any easier.
Another gorgeous day in Flaine - cold temperatures and grippy snow You don't want her to miss a gate. You don't want to her fall and hurt herself. You dread the tears of disappointment or failure. Sir Steven Redgrave once confessed to me as he stood in exactly the same spot watching his eldest daughter Natalie racing: "The only way I can cope is to look at her through the lens of my video camera. My heart's in my mouth the whole time while she's on the course." His mother, Natalie's grandmother, smiled wryly: "Now you finally know exactly how I felt watching you for all those years!" I've just spent three days in Flaine as manager of my daughter's school ski squad. The annual event - unfairly described as St Trinian's on Snow, is organized by the Ladies Ski Club and takes place in Flaine each January. This year attracted a record number of schools (54) and girls (162).
Izzi on one of her two GS runs We stayed in the brand new Les Terraces de Veret. Ski Collection has a range of accommodation in the resort and this is an addition to their portfolio this winter. The plus side is that these are the best-positioned apartments in the whole of Flaine. However, they are minimalist and compact, even by French standards. There's WiFi at the reception, and a small swimming-pool, hot tub and sauna area. In past years we've stayed in the Pierre & Vacances Residence Flaine Foret, which are slightly further away from the slopes (though not much). They don't have a pool but do have a small in-house supermarket. Thanks to the professional skills of our coach Amanda Pirie from Progression Ski in Val d'Isere, all six members of our A ad B teams aged 11 to 16 got down in one piece without missing a gate. My daughter? She just missed out on a podium place this year. Me? My heart rate has just about returned to normal.
St Swithun's ski team 2011 For further information on Flaine, see our Resort Report here. Heavenly skis, precious pasta and rocketing skiers in the Trois Vallées - 21/1/2011 18:52by Peter Hardy Editor Peter Hardy reports on the snow conditions in Courchevel, January 21, 2011.
I've seen the future of skiing - and it's pear-shaped. Well actually, more like an inverted pear sliced in two. You put them on your feet, make a couple of linked turns on or off-piste and nothing is ever going to be quite the same again. Just when we thought that there was nothing much more you could do with two planks, Salomon looks set to turn the ski industry on its head with its BBR in the biggest revolution since the first shaped skis appeared on the slopes in the mid-90s. "What is THAT?" I said when handed a test pair to try out on the rock-hard pistes of Courchevel this week. For a start they look really unwieldly - more like water skis than snow skis. They were 186cm in length and I never choose anything over 178. The ski has a wide147mm pointed shovel, narrows to 88mm under the foot and taper away at 102mm tail.
"Don't worry about the length, it's just right for you," I was told. I had serious doubts, but never judge a book by its cover. The Salomon BBR is heavily rockered and, despite its length, it has a very short effective edge with enough sidecut to make you feel you're on a nippy responsive slalom ski. Off-piste the shovel gives lots of float and uses that to reduce the surface area under the boot and behind the binding. It took me just one run to realise to my astonishment that this is the best shot at an all-mountain ski ever made and it's so easy to handle - at least when it's on your foot. Carrying the beast around is quite another matter. It goes on sale next season and comes in lengths of 166/176/186cm.
Out of control skiers and snowboarders It was sunny and cold today out there on the hard-packed pistes of the Trois Vallées and at times dangerous, too. There seemed to be a high number of skiers and snowboarders whose only way of handling the icy conditions was to notch up their speed with no awareness of - or consideration for - other snow users. One friend was hit while standing in a group on the side of piste. She was sent flying in a fair imitation of a skittle in bowling alley, badly bruised with a sore neck, but otherwise intact except for a snapped pole. Time and again we were forced to take evasive action. High prices It's hungry work, this. So how much can a lunchtime plate of spag bol really cost in the Trois Vallées in general and Courchevel in particular? In 1850 the pricing structure has reached a new Russian-inspired stratosphere this winter. Come on, make a guess? Last week I found my pasta for 9 euros in rustic Chalet Chinal Donat at the top of the Orelle gondola off the back of Thorens. Up at La Fruitière the price rose to 17euros and scrumptuous it was, too. Surely that must be the ceiling? But no, down at the Michelin-starred Hotel Kilimandjaro in Courchevel 1850 the dish almost doubled to 32euros!! It's enough to give a housewife from Bologna a heart attack.
But, wait, I'm afraid there's more. Over at the new five-star Hotel Le Strato, our humble spag bol is shamelessly the cheapest main course on the menu at 58 euros (or just about 50 quid). Nothing here in Courchevel can be more outrageously overpriced than that...oh yes it can. A friend staying at the same hotel asked room service for a small portion of steamed fish and a few pureed vegetables for his 16-month old daughter. The price? An unbelievable 97 euros. With now no less than 12 five-star hotels in the resort charging these exorbitant prices, it must make sense - even for Russians - to stay in an equally sumptuous five-star, but fully catered, chalet.
A truly ski-in ski-out chalet Among the smartest chalet in the resort is Shemshak. It's new this season and sleeps eight adults plus children in a fabulous position in 1850. With prices per person starting at £2,188 and all gourmet food and drinks included, and a good-sized indoor swimming-pool, Jacuzzi and steam room, it has to be a bargain in comparison to a hotel of similar standard. Anyway, it's so ski-in ski-out you don't even have to carry those awkwardly shaped BBRs more than five metres from the door and half-a-dozen easily executed carved turns take you down to the Plantrey chair-lift to explore one of the world's great ski areas. Just be sure to wear a helmet and keep your eyes in the back of your head.
click here for our Courchevel Resort Report. A new dawn in Cauterets - 9/1/2011 18:24by Roger Moss Our roving reporter Roger Moss has been at large in the French Pyrenees this week. His most recent stop: Cauterets. Advertisement A new dawn brings clearer skies and a suspicion that the previous day's winds are dropping, so I head over to ride Cauterets' gondola. It's quite an experience. Unlike, say, Saint-Lary, the cabins depart from the opposite side of the valley, whisk you high above the town for a bird's-eye view of the dramatic location before lift-off up the mountain. Suspended on cables above a series of soaring pylons, you can appreciate the signs of the town's prosperity fuelled by the ninteenth century vogue for thermal spa treatments. Back then a tramway from the nearby Pierrefitte brought rail travellers from the pilgrimage centre of Lourdes (30km). Today's visitors arrive by road, including increasing numbers of UK skiers transferring from budget flights into Lourdes (Tarbes-Pyrénées) or Pau (80km).
Mountain views Once across the rooftops, the lift-ride gains verticality, as we head smoothly up the mountainside, eventually passing the earlier gondola from Le Courbet (1360m) before the steep final haul to the 1850m top station. Turns out I was wrong about the winds having dropped, but as I step from the lift at least it's dry and looks like it might even turn sunny. The Grand Barbat Maybe that's why I head impatiently straight for the nearest chair-lift, the Grand Barbat fixed four-seater, rather than doing the sensible thing and skiing down to 1730m to pick up the more modern Crêtes high-speed six-seater. Even without the couple of stop-and-dangle interruptions en-route, my lift would still be just as grindingly slow, giving me plenty of time to get my bearings. Cauterets' 36km of groomed downhill terrain is set within the Cirque du Lys, a giant bowl bounded by the twin peaks of Soum de Mauloc (2074m) and Soum de Grum (2657m). This means that for most of the time wherever you're skiing you'll be seeing the same surroundings. The pistes themselves - even the blues - are often pretty steep, adding a certain drama to proceedings.
The six-seater chair The surrounding tall, dagger-like peaks have become emblematic of Cauterets, and it's no doubt their presence which accounts for some of the highest annual snowfall stats (averaging around 5m) among the ski areas of the Pyrénées. Which in turn accounts for the relatively small percentage of the ski area currently covered by snowmaking. That said, despite the recent springlike temperatures which might cause problems elsewhere, today Cauterets has 75% of its pistes open to skiers. As soon I ski off the lift I know right away that it's going to be a blast. The blue-graded Aconit takes me beneath the Brèche four-seater lift and eventually down to the loading area of its companion, Touyarolles. During my last visit this lift had closed owing to gusting winds, but today it's business as usual, and serves the red-graded Mailh Blanc run.
Skiers on the Aconit piste Again the snow (the natural variety up here) is a lively confection - heavy yet slightly icy, removing any regrets I might have had about not having waxed my skis for a while. Happily, my edges bite and I remain upright, unlike some others feeling their way uncertainly down to the liaison with the blue-graded Gentiane. Not that I'm a picture of elegance, I'll be the first to admit. Lower down I hit the artificial snow-threshold, where things become a little less lively, my only preoccupation from here onwards being to avoid contact with Spain-on-a-snowboard, which flashes by when I least expect it. It's probably the last day here for the week's annual influx of Spanish skiers, and there's a good spirit on the mountain - an appropriate note on which to end my own enjoyable week's skiing down here in the Hautes-Pyrénées.
Skiers on the Cretes run Thank-you time: A heartfelt Merci goes to the respective tourism professionals who helped make my visits to Piau Engaly, St Lary, Peyragudes, La Mongie and Cauterets such a pleasure, and in particular to Hautes-Pyrénées Tourisme Environnement for pulling the whole programme together. A very special thank you to ski operator Ski Collection for their extra help and expertise, particularly with practicalities like accommodation.
Cauterets terrace Ups and downs in Cauterets - 8/1/2011 10:22by Roger Moss Our roving reporter Roger Moss is at large in the French Pyrenees this week. Yesterday's stop: Cauterets. After a blustery morning up in the Cirque de Lys ski area, I dive into the snugness of the Courbet gondola and head back down to the shelter of Cauterets. The town is located just 35km from budget flights into Lourdes/Tarbes airport (80km from Pau) and has not only a stylish thermal spa (two, in fact) but a casino, too. And with a surprising 25,000 tourist beds, it's hardly your stereotypical French ski village.
Come to think of it, like all the Pyrenean ski areas I've visited this week, it's not sounding much like one either, since the Spanish are in town in force on their annual Epiphany national holidays. They've been heading across the border to ski, spa and generally hang out with their fun-loving friends (relatives... you name it) for many years now, and this one looks like being the biggest so far. Not surprisingly, this livens things up a notch or three, and the tourism revenue comes in handy, too.
They're not the only ones who fall for Cauterets. Although the Cirque du Lys ski area (36km of downhill groomed terrain) is not the largest on offer hereabouts, the town is a fun place in which to hang out, with elements of faded glory lurking at every turn, many of which are gradually being rediscovered and renovated. One British couple have made their own contribution to the revitalisation process, as I discover when I drop in on James and Louise Mulcare. After falling in love with Cauterets they bought a substantial old townhouse with the idea of creating modern, spacious self-catering apartments and offering activity holidays.
Louise and James Mulcare Advertisement Four years on, their efforts have been rewarded with a steadily-building clientèle, around 40% of whom are French. "They keep coming back, too..." says James, who designed the apartments and leads the activities, while Ruth looks after marketing and bookings. Inspired by their optimism and commitment, I promise to keep in touch as I bid a reluctant farewell to keep an appointment nearby at the town's new spa and wellbeing complex. Les Bains du Rocher are actually a lot more fun than they sound, with a 150sqm circular pool (effectively a giant Jacuzzi, with submerged water-jets, bubble-beds, etc.) plus an even bigger outdoor lagoon in gleaming stainless steel, the whole complex heated by natural thermal (and mineral-rich) springs. Add sauna, fitness suite, massage rooms and much more, and you have an appealing package for skiers and summer visitors.
With this in mind I decide, selflessly, to test the concept for you, and subsequently emerge from a long pool session, followed by the finest massage I've ever experienced, feeling so relaxed I have to remember to breathe. Fortunately, the Lion d'Or, is located just opposite the Bains du Rocher, and offers the kind of comfort to match my new-found pampered mood. Which is why, after the kind of monumental evening meals I've come to associate with what has to be one of my favourite small hotels in all France, I'm keying these words rather more slowly than planned. Life on the road can be tough.
Roger Moss stayed at the comfortable, family-run, Logis de France affiliated (always a good sign) Hotel Lion d'Or. It has spotless rooms and is tastefully decorated in individual style. The four-course evening meals (available on half-board basis) are almost too generous - you'll need to diet afterwards. There's WIFI access throughout. It's situated in the town centre, the rear/upper entrance a 100m level walk from the gondola and right opposite the new Bains du Rocher spa centre. Further insight: La Mongie, Mulcares in The Pyrenees; and Les Bains du Rocher. For more accommodation in the area, visit Ski Collection's website. Up and over in Le Tourmalet - 7/1/2011 11:43by Roger Moss Our roving reporter Roger Moss is at large in the French Pyrenees this week. Yesterday's stop: La Mongie. Advertisement Call me weird but I like riding chair-lifts. You see a lot from up here, particularly if, like me, you're idling away your ride-time with a spot of people-watching. As forecast, today is showing signs of becoming pretty windy. Fluttering flags and banners tell their own story, which is useful, for in the sheltered setting of La Mongie, tucked away below the Col du Tourmalet (2115m), there were few other signs of how things might be higher up on the mountain. Which is why the people I've spotted way over to my right obviously felt it might be nice to take a chair-lift up the side of the valley to enjoy a relaxing schuss on a longish green-graded piste while taking in the mountain scenery. If it hadn't been for the headwind they've encountered up there they'd no doubt have done just that, but instead the whole group is in the midst of a long walk. On their skis. Fortunately, judging by the triumphant pole-wave from the first of their number who reaches the final crest, they're obviously philosophical about their situation.
Yesterday's open pistes Meanwhile, I continue onwards along the valley floor, taking a series of lifts which ultimately hoist me all the way up to the Col, the plan being to get as far as possible early in the day, lest the gusts gather sufficient force to close the return lift. Much as I love the Barèges sector of the Tourmalet ski area on this side of the Col, I can't afford to get stuck there. So I plant a pole and launch myself off down a steep blue piste snaking down to the valley floor. The snow's harder on this side, and lower down my edges rattle across the candlewick surface of the groomed snow, but it's a blast swooping down among the bleak vastness of the undeveloped valley. Shortly after ignoring a Piste Facile detour sign, I hit a series of steep roller-coaster turns which fire me out onto a long home straight leading to the loading area of the return lift.
The ski area Having got this far I decide not to push my luck, and instead join those taking the chair back to the Col. On the way up I glimpse the unmistakable outline of the Pic du Midi (2877m), currently inaccessible by cable-car owning to - you guessed - high winds. One of these days I'll make it up there, and maybe ski the hairy-sounding off-piste descent from the summit. But not today, clearly. The route back to the village (via a brief detour to ski an appealing-looking red whose snow quality is holding up well despite mild temperatures on this side of the Col) proves to be uneventful enough, which suits me. I've packed in some great skiing among truly epic scenery and made it back to base well before the weather front passes through. Not bad, then.
The good value for money impressed our roving writer. An early lunch in the village at La Mama Italian restaurant brings another pleasant surprise: pricing for food and drinks here are as down-to-earth as we've come to expect in the Pyrenees. How about Poulet, Frites, salad et Flan de Legumes all for 9.90 euros? Or Tartiflette + dessert for 13 euros? And you can add a coffee for 1.50 (2.70 for a Grand Crème). the downside, there are more visually attractive ski villages, but families will appreciate the value on offer and the readily-accessible ski school facilities. And the skiing, although considered as being best suited to confident intermediates, is actually far from intimidating for those with less experience. Some of La Mongie's new apartments Roger Moss stayed at Hotel La Crête Blanche, , one of the original buildings in 1960s style five-storey concrete. However, it is undergoing refurbishment and the rooms are cosy. The bar is "adorable and somewhere you could spend a comfortable afternoon or evening lounging in deep sofas with blankets and soft cushions". For more accommodation in the area, visit Ski Collection's website. La Mongie centre Learning from the mistakes of the past - 6/1/2011 10:33by Roger Moss Our roving reporter Roger Moss is at large in the French Pyrenees this week. His latest stop: Peyragudes.
Advertisement I'm not quite sure when I became aware of Peyragudes, but for the past couple of seasons it's figured high on my must-ski list. So far I've had to content myself with occasional visits to the webcams - but now I'm finally going to see the real thing. I'm excited. What's more, the weather's perfect. That's not what MeteoFrance was suggesting last night, but I awake to glorious sunshine nevertheless - and the sight of the morning light catching the mountain tops has me rushing through breakfast to get out onto the slopes. The access road is among the best I've encountered - hardly surprising since it only opened ahead of this season. In fact the whole ski area (which sits close to the Franco-Spanish border roughly midway between Toulouse and Zaragoza) is little more than 20 years old, and the name is similarly recent. Born of a union of two villages on opposite sides of the same mountain, Peyragudes is also a union of their two names - Peyresourde and Les Agudes.
As I near the final 1600m level I pass the tarmac airstrip of the resort's very own altiport, although any further similarities with Courchevel 1850 end right there. This isn't the kind of place where you'll have to compete with Russian gazillionaires for a table at lunchtime (or pay their kind of prices, thank goodness) - and it's not burdened by any ageing multi-storey apartment blocks, either. When they built Peyragudes, the authorities seemed to have been determined to avoid the mistakes of the 1960s and 70s, and they've done a great job as a result. Often, it's the details that make the difference - such as providing lifts rather than flights of steps for ski-booted visitors clumping from the car parks to the front-de-neige area. But the lift system seems well-designed too - planned around high-speed four- and six-seater chairlifts, with a handful of draglifts and two 'magic carpets' serving the novice areas. (Click on this link to view the Peyragudes piste map).
So, what's it like to ski? For me at least, it's all I'd hoped it would be. From Peyresourde 1600 the Privilège detachable quad lift hauls me smoothly to the Crêtes du Boum Belvedère not far short of 2400m, where I point my skis into the next valley for the long drop over into Les Agudes 1600 (smaller than its counterpart with around 1000 guest beds). Almost all the groomed terrain is graded Blue or Red, with plenty of width on the steeper sections. At the bottom I take the Cap de Pales detachable six-seater lift and take in the dramatic scenery (and people-watch the visiting Spanish skiers) on the haul back up to the Crêtes du Boum.
I'll spare you the tempting blow-by-blow account of the rest of a great morning's skiing, and instead close with a few thoughts on what makes this place worth getting to know. The first has to be the setting, which offers true 360° panoramic views of dazzling mountain scenery - as well as easy access from budget flights into Pau, 50 miles away.
Next comes a happy union of landscape and pistes which means that wherever you head you get the feeling you're discovering somewhere fresh, rather than experiencing more of the same; skiing here actually feels like an adventure. The pistes themselves are interesting too, with swoops, crests and few straight sections, so you'll actually want to repeat them - particularly the red-graded perimeter run known as the Valley Blanche.
The other winning feature is the pricing. An adult one-day lift-pass costs 23 euros (27.50 at weekends and school holiday peak periods). In addition there's the weirdly-named Télé N'Pass No Soucis, a rechargeable lift-pass card valid in Peyragudes plus seven other Pyrenean ski areas. It also provides skier insurance cover plus a 30% discount on regular tariffs, so for a modest 27 euros outlay the card will pay for itself after just three days' skiing. You can find out more on www.n-py.com. As for pricing on meals, drinks, etc., Peyragudes' avowed aim to offer something for every type of visitor seems to be more than an idea: the plat-du-jours for less than 10 euros are common, as are crêpes from 3 euros - and in the evening you can dig into a real Tartiflette for around 16 euros.
Roger Moss stayed at Résidence Les Jardins de Balnéa (in Loudenvielle, Vallée du Louron, a 20-minute drive away from Peyragudes). It's a recent development on the edge of the Balnea gardens in the centre of this valley village with access to ski stations, a lake and a myriad of other activities, not least the expanding Balnea spa centre. Here's a video of skiers on the Cabane piste during fine weather: : For more information on Saint-Lary in the Pyrenees, click on the link to read our resort report. For accommodation, visit Ski Collection's website. When the going gets tough... - 5/1/2011 10:47by Roger Moss Our roving reporter Roger Moss is at large in the French Pyrenees this week. His latest stop: Saint-Lary Soulan.
Saint-Lary Soulan is a large but fairly authentic Pyrenean ski destination just down the valley from Piau Engaly and an hour or so's drive from flights into Pau or Tarbes/Lourdes. Dominating the village is a mountainous massif which at night does weird things. You know how the Tour Eiffel illuminations suddenly go all sparkly, like a giant Roman candle? Well, recently someone had the bright idea of adding a scaled-down version to the top pylon of the old cable car which until this season provided the only lift access to the ski area. Now every night it's like looking up at a volcano about to erupt, possibly violently. Which certainly focuses the attention.
Sadly, when day breaks so does an alarming lack of snow at village level - but I remind myself that Saint-Lary Village is only at 830m, and jump on board the new 14 million-euro gondola to Saint-Lary 1700. From there, I ride a series of high-speed chairlifts up to the topmost terrain, spread along a broad valley and known as Saint-Lary 2400.
Saint-Lary's ski area is bigger than Piau's and much bigger than it looks on the piste map, with 100km of groomed pistes for most levels. By the time I reach 2400, however, it's clear I'm not going to be able to ski all of it today. The snow is thin. Down at Saint-Lary 1700, diligent grooming and the work of many snow cannons (the resort has 270 of them) has kept the pistes open. But here the picture is decidedly mixed. The north-facing slopes look as good as I expected, but the south-facing, more advanced runs between the peaks of La Soumaye (2370m) and Cap de Long (2450m) are closed. It's pity - the terrain looks tasty.
But I'm not going to waste time worrying about slopes I can't ski. It's time to set my edges to the corduroy, and I spend the morning carving the steeper blue- and red-graded runs in this sector until lunch beckons. Then I take the Lac 2-seater chairlift (the piste access being closed) down through pristine forest to the Refuge du Lac d'Oule. It's a magical spot, and I dine on a sunny terrace overlooking a dammed lake which looks even more impressive when frozen solid. Sure enough, despite the mild weather, it is.
The return haul is a slow, almost mystical affair, above a carpet of myrtille (blueberry) bushes and snow- and ice-fringed mountain streams.
At the top I ski over towards the next lift to begin working my way back over to my starting point. You can certainly cover some distance here, and if you've a mind, work off a calorie-laden lunch with some pretty exhilarating long steeps. Sarrats, in particular, makes quite an impression - graded black on account of some steeper sections, but a pretty good option for anyone looking to raise their game and progress from blues and reds.
The last sections back to Pla d'Adet, though, are largely benign Blue cruises, giving me time to reflect on the slightly surreal sensation of skiing perfectly normally among grassy mountain pastures glinting fiery gold beneath the Pyrenean sun. You remember moments like these. By the time I'm back in the gondola and heading back to the springlike scene spread far below, I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself for persevering in the face of what looked like hopeless odds, and impressed that Saint-Lary's grooming crews have somehow managed to keep over 50% of its terrain open for a whole lot of us to enjoy.
Here's a video taken at Saint-Lary 2400, showing the lift system:
Roger Moss stayed at Hotel Les Arches, situated near the church and a few minutes' walk from the town centre, and from the new cable-car. The rooms are functional but with beautifully comfortable, large beds. For more information on Saint-Lary in the Pyrenees, click on the link to read our resort report. For accommodation, visit Ski Collection's website. Viva l'(almost) Espagna - 4/1/2011 09:34by Roger Moss Our roving reporter Roger Moss is at large in the French Pyrenees this week. Yesterday, he skied Piau Engaly - home to the highest pistes in the Pyrenees.
Edges rattling over neatly-groomed surfaces "B-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r!!!". No, I'm not talking about the cold, but relaying the sound of my long-suffering edges rattling over the neatly-groomed surfaces of Piau Engaly's topmost pistes. Yes, I know it's more the kind of thing you'd expect in springtime, but so far at least this season has been a weird one for the Pyrenees.
Sweeping pistes Things started well enough, with heavy falls in early December, but then something odd happened: while much of France was frozen solid, down here temperatures soared to 19 or 20C. Then it rained. Quite a lot. All of which did nothing for the snow quality, as I'm now discovering. Just as well I'm where I am, then. If you've never been here this wouldn't mean a lot, but the point is, Piau Engaly boasts the highest altitude skiing in the Pyrenees, with almost 750m of vertical between 1860m and 2600m.
You find it about an hour's drive south of Tarbes (90min from Pau) beside - and I mean RIGHT beside - the border with Spain, so it attracts lots of cross-border skiers just bursting to enjoy the much better snow quality of the north-facing slopes on the French side. More of this later, as I have a morning's skiing to enjoy. I'm doing so in the amiable company of Eric, currently in his 21st season here as a pisteur, and looking forward to many more. There's commitment for you. It's been three years since my last visit to Piau and I'm keen to see what has changed, so we take Campbielh, a new four-seater chair which has just replaced a couple of older lifts, for a quick haul up to the Col du Cantoural (2170m).
The four-seater chair At the top there's another addition, and something I've never come across before... behold the high-altitude bio snack bar. Le Daily Cieux is the brainchild of Denis Fortune, who is on a mission to provide tasty, nourishing goodies with a difference to hungry skiers. Everything is prepared by Denis and his assistant Boris Cadeilhan from locally-sourced organic ingredients to show what the region is capable of. Add a privileged overview of the pistes and the vastness which lies beyond and you have a pretty special package. After wishing them luck I snap back into my skis and we schuss off towards a sharp right turn which takes us into the gully known as the Vallée de Badet.
The surrounding landscapes are part of the Parc National des Pyrénées, and as if to prove the point, last time I skied this blue-graded piste I had to swerve to avoid a slightly dazed-looking marmot which seemed to have chosen the last day of the season to emerge from hibernation.
Today, though, in early January, there's little chance of a repeat performance, and we glide down in near-silence, contemplating the wild beauty of it all until we reach the simple fixed chair-lift which will take us back to the front-de-neige where we started. The next ride is a high-speed affair, courtesy of the Pic de Piau detachable chair, which hauls us up to 2528m for a quick coffee-break in Eric's cosy pisteur cabin, followed by a run down Grande Bleue, at around 8km, the longest blue cruise in the Pyrenees.
Le Daily Cieux is the brainchild of Denis Fortune, who is on a mission to provide tasty, nourishing goodies with a difference The mild weather means we can't do the lower section, so we head back over to take the same lift again, this time to ski Perdrix, a steep gunbarrel red, which fires us, boardercross-style, down to saner blue terrain and into the thick of the return runs. And a once-thick layer of artificial snow becoming less so here and there, revealing icier, compacted real stuff. At times like this edge-grip is a fleeting affair...
But it's a glorious day, and with every other voice talking Spanish there's the kind of party atmosphere on the mountain that you don't find anywhere else. Which is why, like them, I keep coming back to Piau. For more information on St Lary in the Pyrenees, click on the link to read our resort report here, and for Piau Engaly click here. For accommodation, visit Ski Collection's website. Up is the place to be...in the Pyrenees - 3/1/2011 16:14by Roger Moss Roger Moss reports on snow conditions in the Pyrenees, January 3, 2011.
Skied Piau Engaly this morning with a pisteur. It's sunny at altitude but quite cold, while in the valleys there's cloud - so up is the place to be. The snow here is not what they're accustomed to, but it remains perfectly skiable with around 80% of the domaine open. It's a mix or hard packed, with a coating of artifical on top - the altitude (topping off around 2550m) keeps things in much better condition than might be the case elsewhere.
This week the place is teeming with Spanish skiers on their annual winter holidays - a distinctly cosmo vibe on the mountain. Went up to Plan d'Adet in Saint-Lary-Soulan at the end of the afternoon yesterday to take a peep at conditions - again 'thinnish', but skiable, and there's a whole lot more hidden from view. This should be better, as it's not south-facing, but we'll see tomorrow morning.
For more information on St Lary, click on the link to read our resort report here. For accommodation, visit Ski Collection's website. Snow rollercoaster in Les Gets as winter gets underway - 23/12/2010 17:55by Nicky Johnston and Lesley Hobson Nicky Johnston and Lesley Hobson work for Ski Famille in Les Gets, December 23, 2010.
What a rollercoaster of snow-related emotions we have had to deal with over the past few weeks! We arrived in Les Gets to stunning conditions, got all over-excited about the prospect of lifts opening early, and then it hacked it down with rain and washed most of the snow away. The recovery has been astounding though. 48 hours before the arrival of our first guests things were still looking a little dicey, but by the time they were slipping into their ski boots on December 18th for the first runs of the season the pistes were glorious with a thick covering of fresh squeaky snow. As of today our eight Les Gets chalets are pretty much full (all of our families have managed to escape the UK as planned with minimal delays) and we're psyched to feed, entertain, amuse and pamper everyone staying with us over Christmas and the New Year. More snow is on the way and we're keeping everything crossed for a great start to 2011. Happy Christmas!
Click on the link for our Val d'Isère resort report. Adventure and star-spotting to get the heart rate rate going - 11/12/2010 10:37by Jess Brown
Photo: Simply Savoie Jess Brown of New Generation Ski & Snowboard School is hoping to do some star spotting. After a fantastic start to the Courchevel season - and powder on our first day - we've had a thaw. Thankfully, temperatures have now started to drop again and a long cold spell is sorting things out! But, skiing isn't the only activity in the mountains that can get the heart rate going. This morning we joined Mark Tennent from Simplysavoie for a snowshoeing adventure. Joining Team Snowshoe was Ed The Eagle Dunn, Nicki No Drop Too Big Pritchard, Sarah How big is my Marrow, and Bex I'm Completely Nuts Heselton.
Mark runs snowshoe tours throughout the winter but I am not sure he has ever experienced our take on Freestyle Snowshoeing! We had a brilliant morning and certainly earned our calorific lunch. If you are coming out for a week of skiing why not see a different side of the mountain and give it a go. Here's our video of freestyle snowshoeing. Exciting Rumours With so many people in the resort there are endless rumours circulating. The best by a million miles is that Robbie Williams and Shakira have been hired by a Russian Billionaire to play at his 50th birthday bash. There is a massive two-storey marquee on the old ice-karting circuit, so the rumour is gaining some momentum. The private concert is meant to be on Saturday so you never know... we might be bumping into Robbie in the new 'drop in' bar in Le Praz...stranger things have happened in the mountains!
Photo: www.shakira.com A rumour that has been proved true is that The Feeling are playing at the launch party of the St Louis Hotel In Courchevel tonight, Saturday December 11. The St Louis has had a facelift, as it has been taken over by the tour operator Flexiski. We have all been invited so hopefully I will have a full report of the gig next week - if I don't end up on the town with Robbie that is. And that is not the end of our name dropping ... I am just on the way up to meet with Heather Mills, as we are helping out with her group this weekend. Good news, bad news week in Val d'Isere - 7/12/2010 18:06by Roger Bray News Editor Roger Bray is out in Val d'Isere this week.
This is a good news, bad news week in Val d'Isere. First the bad news. After a brilliant start it's been raining. Hard. Trust me, ankle-deep sugar is not what the ski doctor ordered for your first run of the season. By mid-morning coffee time yesterday, gloves were sopping and the wet was threatening to penetrate the second layer.It shouldn't rain in ski resorts. Makes you think of that old Aussie lament about standing in the bar of a pub with no beer. Now the good news. They're saying winter will be back on Friday with cold temperatures - and maybe a little more fresh snow next week.
La Rosee Blanche Today it was better. But warm. Down La Daille people were eating al fresco at La Rosee Blanche. It was + 10C at 1000 metres and only - 1C 2000 metres further up. Up there it had snowed a few centimetres though. The sun shone for a while. Off the top of the Olympique gondola it was ego snow. The top half of the run from La Grande Motte was good, too. And while it was not possible to ski back from there to the centre of Val d'Isere, at least two of the runs back to La Daille - while hardly in vintage nick - stayed free of ice.
And whatever the weather, tea and a soak back at VIP Ski's Club Bellevarde quickly restored a sense of well being. Even with the rain dripping into my plastic beaker it was impossible, luxuriating in the outside hot tub, to fret about conditions. The Club concept is something new to VIP - a way of offering up market luxury to customers who can't organise a group to take a whole chalet. "Families are finding it more difficult to get together," says marketing manager, Gareth Crump. "Maybe one needs to book some way ahead because of school holidays but the other can't commit in the current climate because of an important business meeting." So they're trying out the new system this season and may expand it next year. Guests booking here get cooking by a chef trained at Petrus in London, choices of starters, mains and and superior wines such as the excellent Pouilly Fume I drank with my first course of smoked salmon. And if even coffee brought to your room in the morning fails to raise the spirits on a day of foul weather, well, staff were out shopping this week for a substitute to venturing out - a Wii ski simulator. For further information on the new Club concept, contact VIP, and for more information on Val d'Isere go to our Val d'Isère resort report.
Empty pistes and new snow - 2/12/2010 19:06by Roddy Willis Roddy Willis, of Alpinemojo ski coaching and Chopper's bonnets reports on the snow conditions in Verbier - December 2, 2010
Look at all the snow! And there's hardly anyone to ski it... I'm amongst the absentees. I was due to fly back on Wednesday, but Geneva airport was closed for 36 hours by heavy snow. Sadly, that well-known and easy-to-book no-frills airline failed to look after me when the snow hit the tarmac: and now I'm stuck with a rather large bill to get back to Verbier.
Still, on the plus side, conditions in the resort are very good at the moment, and there's sunshine expected again on Saturday. Thanks to the Alpinemojo team for going up the mountain and enduring extreme hardships to bring you these lovely photos...
Click here for our Verbier resort report. A soggy end to the season - 3/5/2010 14:23by Fraser Wilkin Last weekend, fellow snowfiend Fraser Wilkin of Ski Solutions saw out the end of the season in Val d'Isère. It wasn't a vintage weekend.
The Alps have seen plenty of sun this April, but come the final weekend of the season, the weather just wouldn't play ball. Friday started bright enough and a great morning's skiing was had playing in the high open bowls below Glacier Express. However, shortly after lunch everything changed. First the cloud streamed in - irritating at the best of times, but particularly bad news in Spring, when it traps the warmth built up during the day and turns snow to mush even faster than in full sun! Then it rained - not just in resort but all the way up to 3000m, with only the tops of the glaciers clocking any new snow at all.
Things dried out a little overnight, but it stayed cloudy throughout Saturday with slush on the agenda from the word go. Normally this would mean only one thing - head up the Grande Motte as quickly as possible. However, put off by crowds and clouds, we plumped for the far side of Tignes where the utterly deserted slopes of the Col du Palet/Aiguille Percee came as a welcome surprise, despite the heavy going. Back in Val, the quality of the snow seemed to be the last thing on people's mind. Here, everyone was hellbent on getting a decent spot at the Folie Douce (mountain restaurant-cum-open air club) which was hosting its infamous end of season party - one of the largest and most impressive après ski spectacles in the Alps. And yes, that is Ski Sunday's Graham Bell dancing on the table, in the picture below...
Click here for our Val d'Isère resort report. Ecstatic - 16/4/2010 09:23by Fraser Wilkin This week, fellow snowfiend Fraser Wilkin of Ski Solutions has been out in Val d'Isère, and sent us this report on a week of good spring skiing...Report filed April 16.
It's been a remarkable week in Val, all things considered. The forecast showers have for the most part failed to materialise, but with temperatures on the low side, conditions are still fantastic. A dusting of snow on Sunday night freshened up the pistes, and Monday was seriously cold (-10C up top) with winter conditions from top to bottom. Tuesday was almost a repeat but, with the easterly wind easing, it felt a little less glacial. A few flakes of snow appeared late in the day, but the heavy showers forecast remained to the south and west.
Wednesday was simply stunning. The wind dropped, the sun blazed all day and, at altitude at least, the snow remained pristine throughout. Okay, the thaw was back on lower down and the home runs were uncomfortably heavy late in the day, but the mood remained ecstatic - this was mid-April after all. Another glorious morning awaited on Thursday with just a little cloud spoiling things later in the day, and this morning (Friday) is set to be a corker!
Click here for our Val d'Isère resort report. Sheep, knitted leggings and wooden skis in Wengen - 11/3/2010 16:39by Roger Bray Guest snogger, Roger Bray reports on the snow conditions in Wengen - March 11, 2010 The hounds of spring were on winter's traces in the Bernese Oberland this week. But winter just kept thumbing its nose and sprinting ahead again.
Above Wengen Thursday was a mishmash of a day. We woke to maybe five centimetres of fresh snow, with flakes lightly falling. By the time we had reached Mannlichen, where the temperature was -9c, the cloud curtain which had veiled the Jungfrau, Eiger and Monch was drifting aside. We went swinging down to Grindelwald. Snow crystals glittered in the air. To one side of the piste there were a few centimetres of untracked powder over hard pack. Down by the Gasthaus Jagerstubli I could have sworn I heard a blackbird sing. A little further on, by the Aspen, a bell announced the presence of a small flock of sheep, fleece dark tan against the white. Towards the bottom it was warm enough to take an al fresco coffee break.
The run was so good we did it twice, even though that meant two rides back up in Grindelwald's painfully slow Mannlichen gondola. At the top, the snow depth was recorded officially as 1m 20cm - the same as at Kleine Scheidegg. While snow earlier in the season had been ravaged by winds there was barely a stone to be seen.
It all augured well for the race, organised on a course at the start of the Lauberhorn downhill, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the birth of Inghams, one of Britain's oldest ski tour operators. Among the customers and business contacts gathered at the start, was Andrea Hess of the Jungfrau region tourist office. There was just time for her to show herself off to best advantage - in cloche hat, grey skirt, knitted leggings and wooden skis, found in a local shop which were about as old as the company.
Then the cloud socked in again. Andrea skied nobly down the giant slalom course, turning a little awkwardly in ankle-high lace-up boots held by cable bindings. Some competitors had to stop in mid descent because they couldn't see the next gate. But the spirit of the event was not lost. With some companions I skied in a disorienting whiteout to Kleine Scheidegg for a dish of Spätzle and bubbling cheese. Then it was back to Wengen, with snow lightly falling again and the light gradually improving until trees brought clear definition. See our Wengen resort report here. Perfect days in Snowbird - 25/1/2010 18:55by Roger Bray Guest blogger, Roger Bray reports on the snow conditions in Snowbird, Utah - January 25, 2010 How many superlatives can you heap on a day's skiing? Three feet of snow dumped on Utah's Snowbird and Alta over the weekend.
Delirious skiers and boarders, deprived by a long drought, queued for much long that the western US average for the opportunity to dance and swoop through deliciously light powder. Snowbird's black diamond Gadzooks lived up to its name.
Holy dendrite crystals, Batman. This was something else. "I call it feathers" said our Alta guide, picking up a handful and blowing it as if it were thistledown. It wasn't just that the whole of nearby Salt Lake City - or so it seemed - had driven up Little Cottonwood Canyon in the hope of making fresh tracks that caused such long waits for the lifts. Avalanche risk was high. Some lifts and runs were closed in the morning. The road up was cut for a while on Sunday.
For après ski at Snowbird's Cliff Lodge, a teenager jumped from the outdoor hot tub and belly-flopped into a great pillow of powder. In the morning the headboards of our bed shook with the boom of avalanche explosives and the thunder of falling snow. Outside the venerable Alta Lodge (opened in 1939 and owned by the same family for just over a half century), snow settled in huge clumps on the fir tree branches. After dark, as we tucked into the lodge's magnificent buffet, fuelling up on the likes of seafood salad, chicken teriyaki, corn pancakes and spinach crepes, a snow cat shifted drifts of powder by the windows, shining its headlights in on diners like something from Close Encounters.
Monday morning saw a fitful sun brightening Alta's steeps. Avalanche charges continued to bring down dangerous accumulations. A line of locals waited patiently for the High Traverse to open, in the hope of sullying the untouched snow there. There was still enough fresh to warrant renting a pair of Atomic fats, but as the snow began to be tracked out I wished I was back on my K2 Apaches.
I took a last run on the black diamond Vail Ridge. Plunging after another skier in the trees I suddenly left his tracks and hit a snow bank, coming off both bindings and flying head first down the hill. It took at least 20 minutes to battle back through thigh-deep powder to retrieve my skis and regroup. My wife, waiting on a groomed run below, was on the point of calling the Ski Patrol. But not even that unfortunate postscript could spoil the overall pleasure. This was some of the best skiing I had ever experienced?
Settling into a ski season - 22/1/2010 17:11by Cody Bound Our roving guest snogger, Cody Bound, who comes to us via the original ski specialists Erna Low ski holidays, on settling into life on a ski season in Whistler - January 21, 2010 A ski season in Whistler with Alltracks Academy is something I've been looking forward to for a VERY long time. Although most of my 15 years of ski experience has been spent on ski holidays in Les Arcs, my goal has always been to do a season in Whistler . And finally, I'm here! The annual French ski holiday will always be a pleasant family memory and I love them - but they don't offer the same life-changing chance of meeting new, exciting people. A key ingredient to the success of such a committment is often the people you live with. (I mean, it would really be unbearable if you were rooming with a terrorist or living next to the Hitlers) As it turns out though, I got lucky and I'm now living with a really cool bunch of people, five guys and one girl.
The condo is first class and our self-described 'family' has settled rather happily into it. So much so that we are beginning to actually resemble a real family. There's Mike, Sam and me who are all the youngest at 19, and therefore kind of get treated as the children. Sam has unwittingly become Samwise from Lord of the Rings, which of course abbreviates to the Hobbit, while I have been renamed Chip Hazard or Chip for short, (apparently I look like some guy from a franchise called Small Soldiers.) Then there's Neil, a laidback and wise father-figure whom we all call Dad and a blonde Australian (the only one of us not from the UK) called Liv whom we've dubbed Mum - mainly because none of the rest of us fulfill the right gender requirement! Then there are two guys called Ted and Adam who resemble fun uncles, in the way that they always bring the entertainment. Knowing that they have my back and that I have theirs is a blessing. If I get into some trouble at a club, I know that one of them will step in and help me out! (This is pretty handy because I've never really been able to inspire fear in other people's hearts) The resort itself is also another whole new experience. Whilst my times in France have been great, Whistler offers something rather different, in both terrain and people. Click on the link for our Whistler resort report, and here for further information about Erna Low ski holidays From the sublime to the fabulously authentic - 22/1/2010 10:21by Roger Bray Guest snogger, Roger Bray reports on the snow conditions in Snow Basin and Powder Moutain Utah - January 21, 2009 There could hardly be two neighbouring resorts more different than Utah's Snow Basin and Powder Mountain but one thing they have in common this week - about a foot of lip-smacking new snow. Snow Basin belongs to Earl Holding, who also owns Idaho's Sun Valley. It has heated pavements, day lodges more like the lobbies of five star hotels with crackling wood fires, Venetian glass chandeliers, carpets, staircases with polished brass handrails, loos with granite and marble floors and walls - and lifts to get you there if you don't want to walk downstairs in boots. Developed a decade or so ago when Winter Olympics events were staged here, it also has two gondolas. Powder Mountain is skiing the way it used to be - though we doubt whether many readers will be able to remember that far back! It has an endearing scruffiness. Its rough and ready lodge was built in the early 1970s, using Douglas Fir felled to clear ski trails. They made the now well matured lunch tables from the same timber. It has no snow making, and no boxes of tissues at the lifts, only one of which, built three years ago, is a high speed detachable chair. Unusually for the western US, it also has a linking Poma draglift. There are controversial moves by its new owners to develop it into something more sophisticated. Get there before they get the chance. Neither resort is well known in the UK but both are superb. Powder Mountain - calling it that is surely a hostage to fortune - lived up to its name. Wednesday brought light, fluffy snow and magical descents between the Aspens. It would be churlish to complain that the young tree which caught out your correspondent should normally have been covered and not stuck between his knees - but the storms which have hit Utah in the past few days followed a worrying drought. The resort has an enormous powder area where you ski down to a road and catch a bus back - but conditions were so good we didn't need to go there. Days such as this make nonsense of the percentage split between beginner, intermediate and expert runs - everything is up for grabs. It seemed like there was only a handful of boarders on the whole mountain, so lost were they in its vast acreage. The skiing at Snow Basin was harder work. Wide open Strawberry Bowl, where the trees are far enough removed to allow for a white-out, was closed in the morning on account of poor visibility. Avalanche charges were booming. But a wide variety of runs - many are significantly longer than the North American average - were open. The snow was a little heavy and wind packed in places (the white bean and chicken chilli at lunchtime made it seem even heavier) but after such blissful skiing we must be getting spoiled. And while there were a few more people on the slopes than there had been the previous day, when I took a last, swinging run from top to bottom with a couple of high speed locals before sinking a celebratory Evolution amber beer, we were the only skiers left on the trail. Fabulous powder day in Park City Utah - 20/1/2010 09:13by Roger Bray Guest snogger, Roger Bray reports on the snow conditions in Park City, Utah - January 19, 2009
It's been an ecstatic powder day in Utah. It snowed lightly for most of yesterday, and by last night the heavens were dumping in earnest over the Wasatch. Up to a foot fell last night in Park City, Deer Valley and The Canyons - and an even bigger storm is promised as the week progresses. In Deer Valley your correspondent was still skiing stretches of untouched goose down at noon - and when the powder began to be tracked out, the clouds cleared and the sun shone. Perfection.
Snow and rocks in Utah - 19/1/2010 12:25by Roger Bray Guest blogger, Roger Bray reports on the snow conditions in Park City, Utah - January 18, 2009 It's snowing in Utah. That might sound about as newsworthy as a points failure on London Underground, but trust me - they need it.
There been no serious snowfall here for three weeks or more and conditions, in the words of a spokesperson for one resort, were 'embarrassing'. Grass was showing through. On my first morning out I heard a worrying rasp of stone on ski. A first time visitor might have been forgiven for thinking all those thigh-deep shots had been cooked up on the computer by the marketing departments... Last night I was obliged to get my edges sharpened, here, in the land of champagne powder. 'Was there a dump on the way?' I asked the man at the repair counter. 'I don't wanna jinx it', was his noncommittal reply. Looks like he didn't. Here comes a big storm. The jet stream has swung north. It has snowed lightly for most of today, the sky west of the Wasatch Front is leaden, a cold wind stirs the aspens, and we're promised a big topping of goose down overnight.
Even the couple of inches we have received made a big difference in Park City. Not sufficient to fill the grooves between the moguls where stones lie in wait to rip your bases but enough to turn the steeper intermediate runs from hard knee-punishers to delightful cruisers. Before today, Park City had between 22 and 36 inches. They would normally be able to claim maybe three times that amount. Neighbouring resorts The Canyons and Deer Valley were in much the same state. Mind you, when they whinge about poor conditions in the American west you almost feel like offering to buy them a ticket to the Alps in a lousy winter.
Snow cannon have been blasting away furiously. Each morning you pick up a grooming report, which shows you the runs likely to be most pleasant, and if you can't be bothered to read it, you can always ask one of the many ski 'hosts' stationed by the on mountain map boards. In the mornings at least the recommended 'groomers' have been friendlier than the average spring piste in a low resort in Europe. The overnight grooming at all three resorts is impressive. Deer Valley's is particularly immaculate, (although, take note, snowboarders are banned there). And yesterday there was a small reminder there of the extra service you get in the US for your high priced lift pass. On a narrow green run a host waited to usher skiers around a rocky patch. And even if the afternoons have been a bit rough on the muscles and joints, there have been compensations. There can't be many mountain restaurants in the US - or maybe anywhere - than Lookout at the Canyons. A delicious starter, perhaps, of toasted brioche, brie and a sort of huckleberry compote, followed by grilled coho salmon or a magnificent Black Angus burger and a decent cup of coffee. At around 20 pounds a head, price, quality, comfort and service would be hard to match on the slopes of a major French resort. Almost makes you think hoping for powder is too much to ask.
P.S. Moguls as big as Volkswagens is a familiar enough skiing image. How about a VW that thinks it's a mogul? At The Canyons, Utah, they've hauled a Golf body up the mountain to one of the resort's terrain parks for skiers and boarders to leap over - or slither across. Should be a pretty good test of the paintwork. | ||
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Chris makes the most of some crusty freeride terrain in the Parsenn
The world's happiest dog
Chris earning his turns
Happy chappie - beer, coffee and powder for dessert
