The Ski Blog

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!

Snow, Snow, Snow

Meribel - La Chaudanne at 1400m - http://livecam.meribel-alpina.com/

Yes it's been a warm, dry autumn in the Alps - but it's not the first time and it more than likely won't be the last. But now snow and cold, wet weather has descended across the Alps and, with maybe a brief respite here and there, it looks set to stay for a while.

Whilst the European ski industry was holding its breath and it's certainly come late this year, the late snowfall means that many resorts will be able to stick to the plan of opening this weekend 10th December.

Forecasts are also looking great - lots of snow across the whole alpine region today and tomorrow, a slight lull for the later part of the week and then a possible return after the weekend.

The reports in some of the UK press yesterday were certainly ironic - as they were spreading the gloomy message of sunshine and barren pistes, snow was dumping. Across twitter and facebook snowy photos and weather reports were being posted almost hourly. So to celebrate we've rounded up a few webcam pics from this morning that are sure to brighten up everyone's day!

Tignes - see the latest webcam at: http://www.tignes.net/en/skiing-in-tignes/webcams-290.html

Verbier http://panorama.simwatch.ch/index.php?id_webcam=3

 

 Argentiere at 1200m - http://www.chamonix.com/webcam,12,en.html

Pic sent to us by Heather at Ice and Fire - from Plagne Village, La Plagne

As Heather from Ice and Fire told us today:

"It’s often a bit of a gamble booking early season but get it right and you will have empty pistes and freshly groomed snow that stays nice and firm.....Over the last few days we have seen heavy snow falls down to the resorts and the temperatures have been dropping steadily. Over the next few days we are expecting a huge 40-50cm of fresh snow and it is currently snowing all the way down to Bourg Saint Maurice which is at the bottom of the valley. The piste bashers are hard at work preparing the pistes and the final preparations are being made by the lift company to get ready for the opening on the 10th December."

Thanks for the great news! It's looking like it could be a very white Christmas!

It's Ski Show Season!

As we get into the second half of October everything starts to hot up in the ski and snowboard world as the UK ski shows get underway. As every seasoned ski bum will tell you, that's when it starts to get really exciting.

The ski shows give you the chance to enjoy the buzz, you can hear all the gossip, see and touch the latest gear, find a job, discover holiday destinations you might never have considered, even try out the apres ski. There's also loads of entertainment such as live demos, bands, competitions, and the chance to see pro-riders and skiers go through their paces. There's lots of action and loads of fun. So here's a quick round up of the main shows.

Scotland's Ski & Snowboard Show - 15-16th Oct 2011, SECC Glasgow:

The Scots traditionally are the first to get their show on the road - maybe it's because they have their own mountains. This year's Show also gives you free entry to the Scottish Outdoors show which is taking place at the same time. Pre-booked tickets cost only £10 and will also get you a free day pass at one of Scotland's ski resorts. This year's attractions include a live freestyle show featuring some of the UK’s best free-style skiers and snowboarders. More info...

Ski & Snowboard Show, London - 19th-23rd Oct 2011, Earl's Court:

A new venue for the London show this year where you will find 160 ski resorts, 22 different retailers, a 50ft hip kicker, fashion show & brand arena, live music, 4 bars, 230 shops and stands plus loads more. Events over the 5 days include the 3 Valleys Cook Off - a competition to show off your culinary skills and maybe win a week's holiday in a gourmet chalet this winter. Judges include Michelin starred chefs from the 3 Valleys and Heston Blumenthal! Plus there's all the usual thrill and spills - freestylers, fashion shows, apres ski sessions and even petanque. Tickets start at £10 for adult weekday pre-booked entrance, discounts for students, kids and family entrance available.  More info...

The British Ski & Board Show, Birmingham - 28th-30th Oct 2011, NEC Birmingham:

Highlights of the Brum show include; Big Air freestyle and aerialist shows with international World-Cup and Olympic stars, tops tips from experts on ski fitness, ice climbing, cross country skiing courses, plus talks, films, offers, and lots of information and advice for beginners to experts. Adult entrance is just £6.50 on Friday and £10 on the weekend. Kids get in for £2.50! More info...

See what it's all about - highlights frm last year'sLondon show at Olympia!

Verbier - winter 2010-2011 round up

Despite all the negative reports in the press about lack of snow in Europe, many visitors had great ski holidays during winter 2010-11. Joyce Read of Verbier tour operator Chalets Unlimited has summed up the Verbier season for us.

What an extraordinary season for all the chalet companies in Verbier who have survived.

At least we have had all the negatives out of the way in one go. Wrong snow, wrong dates, wrong exchange rate, wrong economic climate, wrong world situation. All offset by having the greatest amount of winter sunshine most people have ever seen and the most amazing efforts put in by Televerbier in keeping the pistes in excellent condition and the resort and runs open 95% of the time.

All tour operators were pleased to compliment Televerbier on the extremely good work they did on keeping the pistes in such good condition and open throughout the whole season, especially taking into account they had only 30% of the normal snowfall, conditions never experienced by any locals under 60 years of age.  Everyone was very impressed by their use of all the latest technology on making snow early on, and building up a solid base which made it possible to keep the runs open, even down to Medran until the 20th April, a bit damp at times but just skiable at the bottom.

When the clients arrived in resort after receiving such negative reports from the press they could not believe just how much skiing was available and in such lovely sunny conditions, we had no complaints whatsoever from anyone, they all really enjoyed their stay in Verbier. They were just delighted to be away on their winter/summer holidays and to be going back with a genuine tan.

Due to the height of the resort and the fact that most skiing is above 2,300m it has the great advantage of a long season, starting the last week in November and going on until the last weekend in April. This year many of the low resorts took advantage of this, when they were closed down due to lack of snow, they were able to bring their clients to Verbier, for lessons and skiing, so they were not disappointed. With the lifts starting at Le Chable it does not take long to transport people up to the snow. The relatively new lift The Le Chaux Express, with a mixture of chairs and telecabins, means that beginners have the opportunity to start their lessons way up in the mountains. This also makes it easy for the non-skier to travel all over and meet up with friends in the mountain restaurants for lunch, even for early après.

Verbier Village is very lively and enjoyed by everyone of all ages. From the very many smart restaurants to après from 5.00pm onwards at the Farinet in Place Centrale. It's here that you have to be ready to dance on the tables and bar with Yellow Mike being one of the most popular of the groups, he has a following from 8 years to 80 and they all have a great time. Then back to the chalets for an excellent evening meal and to get ready for the Pub Mont Fort until 2am, then you have a choice of Casbah, Farm Club, Coco’s, or Coup d’Etat until 4.00am.

With great and extensive skiing during the day for all levels of ability and a very varied night life for all ages, Verbier is a must-visit ski resort. Very easy to get to by flight and transfer from Geneva or about 14 hours by car from London. There are loads of catered and self-catered chalets to choose from at all price levels. We all look forward to seeing you there next winter with only the positives, loads of snow, skiing, sun and plenty of fun. Be there.

Chalets Unlimited offer great apartments and chalets for groups and families in excellent locations throughout Verbier. They are an established operator in the resort so if you need advice on where to ski, and where to apres-ski, they'll be happy to help.

La Plagne releases lift pass prices, offers and innovations for next winter.

Heather from Ice and Fire has sent us the latest news from La Plagne's lift company - some interesting news, so please read on:

"SAP, the La Plagne lift pass company have been working hard behind the scenes to prepare for next season and, this week they have launched their 2011-12 lift pass prices.

Most passes have seen an increase of roughly 2%, in line with the French increase in the cost of living. In real terms that means that a 6 day adult Paradiski pass will increase from €249 to €254 for the forthcoming season.

The resort is working hard to attract, and keep, more families this year with no change to the family pass price which will stay at €799 for a 6 day Paradiski pass for 2 adults and 2 children. They are also planning on introducing a free kids liftpass offer over Christmas, giving one free child Decouvert or Paradiski pass when the parents purchase the same pass.

The 2011-12 winter season will also see a major organisational change, with the deposits for the physical cards themselves being scrapped. Starting from the beginning of next season, the lift pass office will provide the physical cards free of charge to anyone purchasing a lift pass. The aim behind this change is to streamline the system, and to reduce the workload of the lift pass company and the tour operators who sell the passes. The change has been welcomed across the region, although some have concerns for the environmental impact if an increasing number of passes are being used. The lift pass offices will still re-use all passes that are returned, and the office at Les Coches has already commissioned a lift pass recycling stand for use outside the liftpass office.

At Ice and Fire we will be returning used passes to the liftpass office for recycling too – so please don’t forget to hand them back at the end of your stay!"

It's interesting that they will be scrapping the lift pass deposit - will other resorts follow suit we wonder?

Ice and Fire have Earlybird prices available for next winter so take a look at Chalet Campanules if you're planning to ski in Paradiski next winter!

Honor Clissold triumphs at the British Ski Champs in Meribel

Chalets Direct sponsored skier, Honor Clissold, was awarded Overall Children’s Champion(female) at the British Ski Championships in Meribel, which took place during the first week in April. Honor’s achievement was all the more amazing as, born in December 1997, she was the youngest competitor in the Children 2 age group which comprises skiers born in 1996 and 1997.

Honor’s championships points were acquired over three events. On the first day of the Championship, she won the SuperG (speed) competition by more than a second, beating off competition from Jessica Mailklem from the Les Arcs Ski Club (second) and GB team’s Darcie Mead (third). Honor, was the only female skier to break through the one minute barrier on the tough icy course; her win was attributed to her good line and feel for the snow – and nerve may have had a lot to do with it!

Slalom has been a challenge for Honor this year as she has made the transition from ski-ing classic (where smaller skiers do not hit the gates) to cross blocking where her size (4’ 10 “) and weight (35 kilos) puts her at a disadvantage; but she skied well with good rhythm to take fifth position in her age group. The slalom was won by Darcie with Jessica in second place.

Competition in girls championships was unusually tough this year with dual passport holders from both the US and France arriving to attract the attention of the British Team selectors. In the Giant Honor skied a gutsy second run to finish a close second to Jordan Richardson from the USA who had the advantage of an earlier bib number at the time when the snow was beginning to soften.

In probably the most contended female British Children’s Championship of recent years a handful of talented and determined skiers fought for the overall title to the last. The final line up was Jessica Maiklem, third, Darcie Mead, second with thirteen year old Honor Clissold taking the championship podium.

In the course of the 2010/11 season Honor also won the Giant Slalom at the British Schoolgirls Races in Flaine in January, the Interschools in Les Houches and the Aiglon Cup in Villars in March and she was second overall at the English Championships in Bormio in February. Based in Flaine for most of the season, Honor now receives coaching from Olympian Sean Langmuir who was with her in Meribel and played no small part in her success. She also trains with Flaine Superski who first noticed her ability when she was eight years old and have been mentoring her ever since.

Honor’s next challenge is to be seriously competitive on international stage and to this end she will be training with Sean Langmuir in the summer. ‘I really want to thank all my coaches and my sponsors for supporting me in what has been a tough but rewarding season’ says Honor.

Honor on the top of the podium, with congratulatory applause from Prince Edward, in Meribel at the end of the British Championships last week.

European Winter X Games kick off in Tignes

The first event of 2011's European Winter X Games is due to start anytime now in the high altitude resort of Tignes, France.

The Winter X Games is the biggest event in freestyle skiing and snowboarding, and was originally just a US-based competition which attracted athletes worldwide. Tignes hosted the first European event last year. The resort has been buzzing with the build up and practice runs for a few days now, and the first main event kicks off at 1pm local time with the Women's Ski Slopestyle Final.

The Games finish on Friday and promise to be every bit as exciting as last year. The Slopestyle events see athletes completing a course of jumps and rails and trying to get creative in the air. The Superpipe is an enormous half pipe where again competitors' accuracy and imagination score points. The stunts are certainly breathtaking and spectacular. If you're in the area head over to Tignes - it's a chance to see some truly amazing world-class athletes in action, including Britain's Jenny Jones, who has won Gold twice before in the Women's Snowboard Slopestyle and got silver in the US X Games in Aspen in January.

For a taste of the action take a look at Shaun White's Gold medal winning run from this year's Superpipe event in Aspen.

For the full programme see the Tignes website

Fresh Snow in the Alps and Pyrenees

This week most resorts have seen very welcome dumps of snow and there's more to come over the weekend it seems.

Quantities vary from around 30cms in the French Northern Alps to a metre in the Pyrenees. In some places it's meant that off piste areas are now viable. We'd like to just point you to the off piste snow report on Henry's Avalanche Talk blog - it's a good round up, and and a good reminder that the new snow on top of old snow brings a few risks with it.

See today's round up of off piste conditions here!

Where to get your snow fix over the summer months

In Europe the ski season is pretty much over and done with. Most of the remaining open resorts will be shutting down this weekend, and the last few stragglers next weekend. So that's it for snow skiing, and boarding, in the northern hemisphere. Or is it?

All over the UK there are places where putting on your boots over the summer months is not that weird. The indoor fridges which have grown up in the last few years are the ideal places to get your snow fix and keep your skills sharp over the warm summer months.

These snow zones, centres, and domes offer slope time, coaching, lessons for beginners and beyond, and have lots of fun events going on to entice you through their doors. See below for a quick round up.

The Snow Centre, Hemel Hempstead:

Opened last May, the Snow Centre is celebrating its first birthday next weekend, 8-9th May. To celebrate they are offering some great special offers - lift passes for just £10, or a 45 minute lesson for £15.

Every Friday evening the centre plays host to their Freestyle Academy and stages "Park & Ride" events with a dedicated freestyle park and a rookie park for those wanting to try it out. Freestyle coaches will also be on hand to give tips and advice. You can see the park layouts on their Facebook page.  

The Hemel centre is also taking part in the DSUK 666 Skiathon on 18th May - an event which is running across all the indoor snow centres - where 6 teams of 6 will be aiming to ski 666 runs in just 6 hours to raise money for Disability Snowsport UK .

Hemel offers lots of opportunities to improve your skills whatever your level and discipline and is also a centre for adaptive skiing. Of course you can just go along to enjoy the slope too! For more details take a look at the Snow Centre website. 

SnowDome, Tamworth:

Tamworth's SnowDome was the first indoor ski slope in the UK. Billed as "the ulitmate snow, ice and leisure experience", Tamworth's dome also offers a gym, swimming pool and ice rink.

Snowside events include some cool stuff; such as the Salomon Freeski Grom Camps for junior recreational skiers taking place over the summer. These camps are sponsored by Salomon and Oakley and are run by Pat Sharples, the Freestyle Ski Team Manager for those two companies. The camps cover all aspects of freestyle with coaching, video feedback and prize giveaways.

Other events include snowboard performance courses, park nights,and airbag sessions to practice your aerials. You can also book a full day course in skiing or snowboarding, aimed at the absolute beginner to get you on your feet and sliding down on your chosen equipment by the end of the day.

For all prices, dates and activities see snowdome.co.uk.

Chill Factore, Manchester:

Manchester's "all-year round Alpine village" is where you can ski, board, climb, shop and dine! As well as the slope the centre has a 12m indoor climbing wall to learn or practice climbing skills.

This summer's events include the Fun Summer Race League. Over 4 Saturdays in May, June, July and August, skiers of all ages and levels can try their hand at ski racing in a slalom course - and either do a one off event or enter into the league and try all four races. There are prizes on offer for the winners but it's a chance as well for the recreational skier to experience the thrills of ski racing.

As well as freestyle, airbag and other cool events, the Chill Factore also has the Monday Moguls sessions taking place twice a month from May onwards. Learn how to master moguls and have fun in the bumps with some useful tips and tricks from the experts.

Get more information on Chill Factore!

Sno!Zone, Glasgow, Milton Keynes, Castleford:

There are three Sno!Zones up and down the country offering summer courses, freestyle sessions, bumps sessions and much more.

Events that stand out include Trickology at Castleford - designed for freestyle novice boarders and early intermediates. Snowboarders who would like to take their first steps towards learning a few tricks, or those that already know a few, but would like to improve and fine tune techniques, can get coaching on landing that jump or riding that rail.

At Milton Keynes, the Maverix Snow Camp is a snowboard clinic devoted to progression in various park skills. Whilst in Scotland upcoming events include regular airbag events, and the Beginner Blowout, a weekend loaded with introductory lessons to skiing and snowboarding to get you hooked. 

Find out what's on at all the Sno!Zones.

The message is that you don't have to wait till next winter to get on the snow. The indoor centres give you a chance to learn and practice on real snow, and can provide some great coaching and instruction too, whether you want to start from scratch, perfect some moves or try something completely new! 

Four Seasons in One Week

There comes a time in every ski season where you start to feel the beginning of the end. Sometimes it happens in February, but usually in March.

It's when the temperature rises and the sun shines. Rows of deckchairs appear outside the piste-side restaurants, faces develop that tell-tale souvenir of panda eyes, the snow is slushy by lunchtime, and scores of ski bums begin to feel a little knot of anxiety deep inside as they realise that the "real world" is calling them back to the 9 to 5.

Fortunately, just as the posters have gone up for the end of season barbecues, winter returns. Snow starts falling and the general whoop of joy and excitement is drowned out in the rush to dig out the powder skis and get to the first lift.

It looks like we've reached that point of the season. After a week of warmth, with double digit temperatures and brown patches of earth appearing on the lower slopes, snow, and lots of it, is forecast in the Alps for today, tomorrow, and possibly much of next week.

As I write it's already snowing heavily in the Haute Savoie where temperatures have dropped rapidly since this morning. Webcams in both Chamonix and Flaine are showing that the weather has closed in.

Netweather, one of the most reliable weather websites, is forecasting snow across French, Swiss and Austrian resorts for most of the weekend with more during the course of next week. Bring it on!