The Ski Blog

Chalets Direct become first sponsors of top young GB ski racers Sam and Honor Clissold

Chalets Direct are pleased to announce the sponsorship of British junior ski racers Sam and Honor Clissold, the brother and sister duo who triumphed in the 2010 British Championships in Meribel last week.

Sam and Honor were both overall champions and individual winners of their respective age groups in the British Children’s Championship, an annual event which is also used as a selection tool for the GB ski team.

They are a unique brother and sister combination who whilst having the good fortune to begin skiing at young ages, have worked and trained hard to achieve the level required for a national team.

They were both selected for the children’s GB squad after the 2009 British Championships and joined the training programme provided by Snowsports GB.

Sam, who will soon be turning 15, has not only been competing internationally, but has acquired lots of race experience by racing with the top French boys in his age group. He was also selected by the French to race in La Scara, considered in the ski world as a real “Children’s World Championships” and used as qualification for the selection process for the French team.

Despite breaking her hand a little more than a month ago whilst training for Topolino, a major event in the children’s international race calendar, 12 year old Honor has finished the season on a high with two golds and a silver at the British Championships. Sam achieved a ‘Bode Miller style’ gold, silver and bronze. For both of them their points totals put them way ahead of their UK competitors.

Chalets Direct is proud to be associated with these two young racers and we wish them all the best in their future racing careers.

Sam and Honor in action, and on the podium at the British Children's Championships in Meribel last week.

The Ski Blog from Chalets Direct offers help and advice for booking ski or snowboard holidays in the Credit Crunch

New blog provides money-saving tips for winter holidaymakers when booking ski and snowboard breaks.

The recently launched Ski Blog from Chalets Direct aims to provide sound advice and information for people looking for ski and snowboard holidays. The blog went live in late August and has been incorporated into the Chalets Direct Interactive area, which gives holidaymakers a range of tools for searching and researching ski holiday options.

Topics that have been covered so far include Skiing in the Credit Crunch . This two-part post covers ways to save money when booking equipment, tips on prepaid currency cards and suggestions for off peak and mid-week travel. The advice is timely with many skiers and snowboarders now searching for this winter’s holidays but feeling the financial pinch. The blog also points users to the Promotions area where new offers and holiday deals are listed daily.

Another useful area of The Ski Blog deals with ski and snowboard instruction and has useful pointers for what to look for when booking ski holidays for beginners. It advises doing research and preparation beforehand to maximise the holiday experience. The What Makes a Great…ski lesson post includes input from the British Alpine Ski Schools, and draws on their research into ski teaching methodology.

According to a spokesperson for Chalets Direct:

“We hope that the Ski Blog will become a useful place for visitors to find out about skiing, snowboarding, summer holidays, things that are happening in the industry, and general advice on holidays in mountain resorts.

We want to build a resource, so that people everywhere, from novice to expert, can tap into the experience and knowledge of other skiers or boarders.”

The Ski Blog can be found by going to www.chaletsdirect.com and clicking on the link to the blog. The direct address for the Ski Blog is http://skiblog.chaletsdirect.com

Chalets Direct launches Interactive Area for Skiers and Snowboarders

The leading ski website offers more ways of finding accommodation for independent travellers

September is traditionally the time when people start getting serious about booking their ski holiday. In response to this, the leading ski website Chalets Direct has grouped together a variety of services to form a new interactive area for people looking for ski and snowboard breaks. Called simply Chalets Direct Interactive, the new section provides holidaymakers with more tools to find their ski accommodation, in addition to traditional searching and browsing. Visitors can also use the interactive area to find and research holidays.

Chalets Direct Interactive includes message boards, resort reviews, a ski blog and The Solutions Room, where users can post up their holiday requirements and wait for offers to come back to them. The site also provides a Promotions area where visitors can view promotions and special offers for specific dates or resorts. The aim is to give independent skiers and snowboarders a better choice when looking for their winter holiday and to provide more ways of getting results.

Some key features of the interactive area include the Solutions Room, a unique bulletin board where people looking for holiday accommodation can say what they're looking for. Chalets Direct members can then reply to them to either match their requirements or propose alternatives. Launched in 1999, the Solutions Room has proved a useful tool for both holidaymakers and advertisers. A post made in the morning will usually have attracted several replies within a few hours, by the evening there will often be more than 20 proposals for the enquirer to choose from. Further development of the Solutions Room is currently taking place and enhanced features will be introduced later this autumn.

The Resort News and Reviews area means visitors can see what others are saying about resorts. This section is also an area to get news “as it happens” – with current bulletins about weather and snow conditions or upcoming events.

The Ski Blog, launched this summer, is a general discussion area focusing on ski industry events and news, with useful advice and hints for booking holidays in the mountains. The What Makes a great…Beginners Week post for example, gives helpful hints for first time skiers and snowboarders.

Chalets Direct Interactive also has a jobs board and Q & A area for people wanting to do a ski season or a long term let.

The interactive features can be found by clicking on the home page of www.chaletsdirect.com