The Ski Blog

It ain't over.....a quick round up of lift closing dates

View from the top of the Aiguille du Midi, Chamonix, this morning.

Winter 2011-12 is almost over - although someone should tell the weather gods. Whilst the majority of resorts will be closing their lifts this coming weekend, 22nd April, the snow has been falling for the last week and more is due to come during this week - possibly up to another 30cms in some areas! 

Conditions above 1600m are exceptional for mid-April (actually they're pretty good for anytime in the winter) and at high altitude the quality of the snow both on and off piste is fantastic. If you're tempted to have a last blast weekend or short break here's a quick round up of what's open beyond 22nd April.

Chamonix: Flegere opening has been extended until April 29th. The Grands Montets remains open until May 8th.

Three Valleys: It looks like most of the Three Valleys areas will be closing this weekend but the individual valleys will have limited opening after that. Courchevel 1850 for example is going on until 27th, Les Menuires until 28th, Meribel-Mottaret 27th. Val Thorens remains open until 8th May. 

Espace Killy - Tignes - Val d'Isere: The Espace Killy is officially open until 1st May and Tignes continues until 8th May.

Paradiski: Both Les Arcs and La Plagne continue until 28/29th April.

Alpe d'Huez & Les 2 Alpes: Closing 27th and 28th April respectively.

Verbier: closing day is 1st May

Zermatt: 6th May. 

Ischgl in Austria has their final blast on 29th April with Mariah Carey performing at the annual top of the mountain closing shindig.

We've looked at the major areas but if anyone has more information or news about extended opening in other resorts please let us know - send an email or post on our Facebook page. 

So there's still a bit of time to enjoy the epic snow we've had this winter! And if you've already put away your boots and boards, then it's not too early to look forward to next season!

 

Honor Clissold retains GB Children's Ski Title with Storming GS Win!

With a gold medal in Giant Slalom, where she was nearly three seconds ahead of the rest of the field, fourteen year old Honor Clissold from Richmond, North Yorkshire, defended her British Children’s Overall Ski Champion title in the face of tough opposition in Meribel last week.

The three part competition was a challenging week for Honor, who is a member of the British Children’s Ski Team and trains with Team Evolution in St Johann, Austria. In her strongest discipline, the SuperG, she missed the gold medal by 0.2 of a second in what was supposed to be the training race. The Championship race, where she had planned a more attacking approach, was cancelled because of poor snow cover. Slalom is Honor’s weakest discipline, however she skied really well and in to third place in the tight technical course of the first run. The second, more open, course was less suited to her abilities so she finished the race in a disappointing sixth position.

On the final day of the championship, the Giant Slalom, which is the most important and technical of the three disciplines, the snow was hard-packed and icy. Several of the stronger skiers in the competition fell or made line errors and others chose a more cautious approach. Determined to retain her title, and putting everything she had learnt in training into practice,  Honor skied a strong and fast line, not fazed by bumps and ruts, and finished the first run two seconds ahead of the field.  With encouragement and guidance from Team Evolution coach Sega Fairweather, she held her nerve and repeated the performance in run two resulting in a clear win in both the Giant Slalom race and Overall Championship points.

Honor has now won three British Children’s titles as she was Children’s Champion in 2011 and was Children One Overall Champion in 2010; this season she also won three titles: the British, the English and the British Schoolgirl’s.  And Honor had a third ‘hat trick’ on the international stage with three silver medals in Andorra in January.

Due to a change in FIS regulations, Honor has one more year in Children’s ski racing. This will be spent mainly working on technique, especially in slalom, and of course, defending her titles one last time. She comments: ‘I have really enjoyed ski-ing this year. My coaches have really helped make it happen and I am fired up to work hard and get results again hext season.’

 

Enter our Panda Eyes Photo Contest to win Super Cool Ray-Bans!

It's one of those tell-tale signs of spring skiing and snowboarding.

Suntanned faces with clear, light strips of sunglasses or goggle lines - commonly known as Panda Eyes.
Caused by turning your face to the sun whilst wearing your protective eyewear, it's a classic ski/snowboard holiday souvenir, a seasonaire's status symbol, and a cool sign that you're an outdoorsy, mountain kind of guy/gal!

At Chalets Direct we'd like to celebrate the spring and pay some respect to the Panda in you. We have 2 pairs of awesome Ray-Ban sunglasses to give away to the best Panda Eyes of 2012!

To enter, this is all you have to do:

1. Post a photo to our Competition area on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ChaletsDirect. You can submit your photo from 6.00am tomorrow, 30th March 2012, until midnight (British Summer Time) on 15th April 2012. 

2. Get all your friends to vote for your photo. Voting opens at 1 minute past midnight (BST) on 16th April 2012 and closes at midnight on 22nd April 2012 (BST). Voting takes place on the Panda Eyes Contest area of our Facebook page. A vote from one of our fans will count for two votes - so get your friends to like us!

3. Our judges will then consider all the photos, count all the votes and make their final choice. We'll judge them according to popularity and quality.

The lucky winner will win not one but 2 pairs of Ray-Ban sunglasses - choose from classy gold-rimmed Aviators, cool black Wayfarers or bang on trend black New Wayfarers.

So what are you waiting for? To enter just go to: www.facebook.com/ChaletsDirect from tomorrow onwards!

Please Note: Chalets Direct is in no way recommending or advocating skiing, snowboarding or spending time outdoors in bright sunlight without adequate sun protection.

To see the full competition rules please go to: http://www.chaletsdirect.com/competition/panda-eyes-rules.htm

Ski Fun - What's on this Spring!

It's been piste to piste sunshine for at least a couple of weeks now across the Alps, although there was a healthy top up of snow earlier this week - as much as 80cms of fresh in some resorts! It means that conditions are excellent and as we head into the last few weeks of this winter season, now is as good a time as any to get out there.

If you haven't yet experienced the pleasures of spring skiing - there's definitely a lot to recommend it. Days are longer and sunnier and you'll find a far more relaxed frame of mind in resort. It's the time for leisurely lunches on sunny terraces, piste picnics and watching the world glide by. There's also quite a few fun goings on to add to the entertainment - live music, open air concerts, end of season races, and generally a party atmosphere around town.

Here's a few of the top parties going on over the next few weeks!

Xtreme Verbier - 23-25 March: The coolest ski spectacle ever.
Verbier's Xtreme rounds off the Freeride World Tour and gathers together the top freeriders on the planet as they compete for the best lines down the infamous Becs des Rosses. Spectators can get a grandstand view from the Gentianes side of the mountain. The actual contest is scheduled for this Saturday 24th March and of course in true Verbier style there'll be lots of opportunities to get into the party mood before and after the main event. See the full programme here.

 

Rock The Pistes (24-28 March) & Basscamp (2-6 April): Portes du Soleil/Morzine
The Portes du Soleil is gearing up for two big music events over the next few weeks.

Firstly Rock The Pistes, which kicks off this Saturday, is a series of free daytime concerts taking place actually on the pistes throughout the Portes du Soleil ski area. The music continues after the lifts close with more free concerts in the various resorts.

This year's will be the second Rock The Piste. We love to see resorts making an effort - so if you're in the Portes Du Soleil for the event let us know what you think! Click here more information on what's on where.

Basscamp: Morzine's first electronic music and snowsports festival kicks off 5 days of music, mayhem and mountain madness on April 2nd. Morzine's bars and clubs will be hosting international DJ's, there'll be competitions galore and lots going on both on and off the mountain. The festival culminates in a massive Morzine Street Party in the town square - this year's theme is Back to the 80's. So if you're heading out that way be sure to pack some fancy dress items! See all the details here.

Basscamp-festival Morzine from basscamp-festival on Vimeo.

Altitude Comedy Festival - Mayrhofen, 26-31st March:
Altitude has moved from Meribel to Mayrhofen. It's a unique event and a great opportunity to see some of the best UK comedy stars and enjoy the glorious Zillertal ski area at the same time.

This year's Altitude stars Jimmy Carr, Frankie Boyle, Tim Minchin, Ed Byrne, The Cuban Brothers, Rufus Hound and many more. Each day there are apres ski, evening and late night comedy shows. As well as the comedy there will of course be music and much fun with resident DJ's and on and off slope entertainment.

It's a great idea and where else would you get to see all those stars in the same place? Get all the details and the full line up here!

 

There's much more going on throughout the Alps too as resorts start to party. Spring is defintely the time for kicking back and enjoying life. If you've got news and information on what's happening in a ski resort near you let us know! Post on our Facebook page or send us an email at info@chaletsdirect.com.

 

 

 

Tignes Getting Set for the X Games!

Tignes is gearing up to host the third European Winter X Games this week, which takes place from March 14th - 16th.

Around 150 world-class athletes will be competing. There will be eight different competitions for men and women over three days with SuperPipe events in both skiing and snowboarding, a hair-raising Slopestyle course, plus lots of demos, live shows, and airbag and big air events. This year's Games also see the inclusion of Shaun White, Olympic gold medallist and X Games USA veteran - this year is the first time he'll be taking part in the European event.

If you're in Tignes or fancy heading to Tignes to catch a piece of the action see the programme of events here - and best of all it's all free to watch! Local hero, Kevin Rolland, talks about how it feels to go for Gold at last year's X Games:

Go Retro in the Portes du Soleil

If you're heading out with friends to the Portes du Soleil over the next few weeks and are looking for something a bit different, why not take a look at a great new "service" from an enterprising little company known as Retro-Rentals. Retro-Rentals will rent you 80's ski wear for the day, or longer, - think one pieces in neon brights and classic nevica pink and purple.

Intrigued by the idea we got in touch with Retro-Rentals for a little bit of background info. Here's what Kyle, founder and 80's addict, had to say;

Q: Who are the brains behind Retro-Rentals?
Retro rentals is; Kyle and Rob, two Full time Seasonaires with a serious obsession with the 80’s.

Q: How did you come up with the idea?
Retro rentals was born from a passion (or more like an addiction!) for 80’s ski wear. We had been collecting Retro Ski wear for years, scouring high and low for little gems of tight fitting, garish and multicoloured bits of one-piece Nostalgia.

Pretty soon “Onesie’s” had taken over every spare inch of space in our apartment, and was threatening to burst through the ceiling with the weight! We had to come up with a plan to find a new home for our collection… That’s when we came up with the cunning idea of renting our outfits out, overnight Morzine looked like a scene from hot tub time machine, everyone was wearing a onesie, and Retro rentals was born.

Q: How long has Retro Rentals been going?
Since Cassette players were the height of technology, tight and bright was right, and the feathered mullet was king…

Q: Do you have any funny stories/events/ things that have happened on a retro ski day?
Haha … We will have to be careful answering that one! We run a huge 80’s retro party every Monday at the Cavern bar in Morzine, it gets a bit wild! Let's just say that what happens in Cavern, stays in Cavern.

I think the best thing for us is when we have 100’s people all dressed in 80’s ski gear together on a slope having a great time. It’s like being thrown back into the 80’s!

Q: Who’s your typical kind of customer?

We don’t really have a typical customer; we get everyone wanting to get involved in some retro action. More often than not its big groups of friends, who are up for a laugh and who don’t take themselves too seriously.

So if you're in Morzine, Les Gets, Avoriaz, and fancy a piece of the (retro) action, get in touch! They will also do rentals and events for bigger groups in Chamonix and Verbier, and have a mobile shop so could be visiting a resort near you! Take a look at www.retro-rentals.eu for more info.

Prime Time Skiing - why learning to ski can be done at any age!

It's great to start skiing at an early age - and as families head to the slopes for the February half term weeks, it's clear that a lot of parents recognise that.

However just because you didn't start young doesn't mean that you can't learn later in life. Don't let preconceptions about what you should or shouldn't be doing at a certain age stop you enjoying yourself - that's what we believe - and if you want to learn to ski in your 40's, 50's, 60's or later who's to stop you except yourself?

So with that in mind we asked Lynne Stainbrook, independent ski instructor based in France's Grand Massif, for his thought's on "senior skiing".

We're never too mature to increase our level of physical activity...

"It’s our prime time. We’re still very much alive and eager to ski, enjoying the mountains, the moment and ourselves. We have achieved significant success in business and our family lives. As we get older we understand our capabilities and limitations and set our own personal realistic goals. We don’t measure our personal worth by speed of descent, hang back recoveries or number of vertical metres logged. We appreciate the joy of blending gravity, snow condition, weather, equipment, physical condition and emotions.

We’re never too mature to increase our level of physical activity and quality of life. I personally recommend skiing as a lifetime activity to improve and maintain our quality of life."

Health benefits...

"Winter activities build coordination, strength and fitness while participating in a fun sport in fresh mountain air. There is always great camaraderie with like minded friends with whom we can make that special connection, on and off the piste.

If you are looking for the motivation to start skiing again, or just ski for the first time, let me help you count the reasons.

1. Physical activity has multiple beneficial effects on the heart and blood vessels.
2. Increased circulation transports antioxidants and nutrients to joints, muscles and bones, reducing stiffness, aches and pains.
3. Enhanced circulation builds a more robust immune system, increasing heart muscle mass and elasticity. The upside is fewer colds and flu, less heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and lower back problems.
4. Skiing is an exercise you can do at and through an advanced age, especially if you suffer from nagging health problems.
5. When you ski, your body releases endorphins that make you feel good, relieving stress, giving you a natural energy boost. Each day you will be able to add a few extra runs, giving you better focus and coordination, both physically and mentally.

Skiing can do all the following: improve your overall fitness, create a positive emotional state, lower stress levels, reduce pain, increase flexibility and help you sleep soundly

So seniors; get active, ski for life, recreation and everyday better health. Get out of the armchair and onto the chairlift."

So whether you're 6 or 60, learning to ski is great activity to get into and with so many benefits what's not to like!

If you're a non-skiing "senior" who is eager to learn or refresh your skills, take a look at Lynne's ski clinics. With over 40 years of experience he can produce a programme specifically tailored to your needs and objectives. You might not want to be the fastest down the mountain but you could certainly develop the skills and confidence to enjoy it, whatever your age!

For more information on Lynne Stainbrook and his ski philosophy, and to book a clinic, take a look at: www.flaineskiclinic.com

Honor Clissold - International podium place and off to a great start this season!

We thought we'd just post this update about the diminutive but talented, and extremely fast, Honor Clissold.

Now aged 14, Honor went to Andorra as part of the GB children's squad to compete in the international Trofeu Borrufa children's competition. There were twenty nations competing; she won silver medals in Giant Slalom, Super G and Super combined. To get podium places at international level is a tremendous achievement!

She then went on to the British Schoolgirls Races in Flaine, France, with her school team, Richmond school in North Yorkshire. She won the giant slalom and was Overall Champion in her age group and the school team was fourth out of 39 schools and 52 teams competing.
 
She has now gone to St Johann with Team Evolution to train slalom prior to the English Championships in Bormio at half term.

It's a fantastic start for this talented racer and we'll be keeping a keen eye on how she does for the next couple of months - well done Honi and good luck for the English Champs!

That was the month that was.....

So January has given way to February and the ski season is set to be one of the best ever! Whilst the snow came late - the first weekend in December was when most resorts in Europe saw their first big snowfalls - it came in abundance. Following a white Christmas and New Year, January provided massive snowstorms - including the big "snowmageddon" storm which trapped holidaymakers in Zermatt for a few days whilst roads were cleared and avalanche risk was at the maximum 5.

More snow during the month now means that resorts are boasting record snowfalls for this time of year. The Paradiski area were quick to point out in a recent press release that they have recorded the most January snow in the area since 1966 - and they're not the only ones!

February is starting with a very cold spell as Arctic air covers most of Europe. If you're heading out to the mountains this weekend make sure you have those thermal baselayers packed - and don't forget snoods, mitts, face masks even. Temperatures in most alpine resorts are going to plummet to around minus 20 at most and with wind chill it won't be unusual to have -35/-40 at the top.

At the moment the forecasts are not showing anymore snow on the horizon - at these temperatures it's probably too cold to snow! However the cold temperatures will keep the snow in excellent condition.

With snow depths over the 3 metre mark in most places - which for January is a fantastic amount - winter 2011-12 is shaping up to be tremendous - something we're all happy about, especially after Europe's drought of last year. So if you've not yet booked your ski or snowboard trip then get out there and enjoy it!

A very cold, but beautiful morning in the Alps - taken this morning in Flaine as the sun starts to come over the mountain and cut through the wispy early morning clouds.

In Tartiflette we Trust....

Tartiflette - one of those real wholesome alpine dishes. It up there with a cheese fondue as one of those ski holiday experiences not to miss. Just saying the name conjures up rustic alpine chalets, snowflakes falling, log fires crackling, genepi glasses chinking - get the picture?

If you're still to take your tartiflette baptism then we recommend you do so on your next ski holiday to France. Tartiflette is a hearty French peasant dish, originating in the Haute Savoie, but which has since certainly become more international.

It's main ingredients include potatoes and reblochon cheese - a rich creamy cheese first produced in the Alps of the Haute Savoie. The story goes that the alpine dairy farmers were taxed by the landowners on how much milk their herds produced. To reduce the size of the tax bill they would not fully milk their cows so the yield appeared smaller. The second milking, which they'd do after tax return day, produced a creamier, richer milk which was perfect for cheese production.

Over the years recipes for Tartiflette may have changed and become more anglicised, but whatever recipe you choose, you'll end up with a filling, comforting and delicious dish - perfect after a tough day outdoors!

We asked our Chalets Direct members to share their Tartiflette secrets - here's a couple of foolproof recipes to dazzle your friends and family:

From Claire of AktivExperience of Meribel:

"Fry off onions and lardons, layer sliced potato with the lardons pour over cream that has been heated through with crushed garlic, then top with a good cheese, (not rape emmental) try reblochon for a good cheese, it tastes great and cooks well. Then bake your tartiflette in the oven, we make individual ones so they are baked for about 25 mins. A large tartiflette will obviously take longer to bake."

You can sample Aktiv's Tartiflette at either of their two chalets - Chalet Himalaya or Chalet du Fruit.

Neil of Alpine Fanatic in Les Arcs sent us this:

"A foolproof though not strictly speaking traditional recipe from Ed at Alpine Fanatic.

First boil potatoes (ratte or charlotte are ideal.) Whilst potatoes are cooking fry off lardons, pancetta for preference, drain on kitchen towel. Sweat off some sliced shallots with crushed garlic,season carefully with salt, add a splash of white wine and reduce to a trickle.Add cream and a handful of grated gruyere, sprinkle in a little parmesan. Slice potatoes in half add to a saute pan pour over cheese/cream mixture sling in the lardons and some ground black pepper, stir, check consistency and seasoning, at this stage can add some roughly chopped flat leaf parsley if desired. Then transfer to a suitable baking dish top with thickly sliced reblechon and bake for approx 25-30 mins at 180C/ gas mark 4. Serve with green salad and hard liquor :) Always goes down a storm with our guests at Alpine Fanatic."

Find their tartiflette and more at Chalet Les Sapins in Nancroix, Les Arcs in Paradiski.

Do you have a great recipe for Tartiflette? Is there a special ingredient in your tartiflette which leaves the others behind? Let us know about it! Or if you have top recipes for ski and snowboard specialities why not post them on our Facebook wall at facebook.com/ChaletsDirect