Today will be your last chance to grab a FREE ticket for the National Snow Show, set to take place on 23-24 October at the NEC, Birmingham. Don’t miss out!
Tickets normally cost from £10 but readers of the Skier & Snowboarder magazine can get a free ticket by CLICKING HERE and inserting the code: Skier&Snowboarder
The Chalet Company has added more properties to its portfolio in Meribel and to give you a taste of what you can expect they have put together some virtual tours on their website – you can even hook them up to a VR headset, to really feel like you’re right in the chalet.
The Chalet Izia luxury apartments in Val d’Isere.
Help kick of 2022 with two fabulous short break packages from Esprit Ski to get you and your family back on the slopes again. Available from the 4th to 8th January, Esprit Ski are even offering FREE and half price child places.
When actor Johnny Briggs joined ITV’s famous soap Coronation Street in 1976 as the cockney ducker and diver Mike Baldwin, he only expected his contract to last a couple of months at the most. But he was to become one of the programme’s most popular characters and he stayed in the fictional town of Weatherfield for 30 years. While running the local underwear factory, the storylines concerning his affairs with Deirdre Barlow and runs-ins with her husband Ken became must-see TV.
TWO of the biggest names in UK ski & snowboard holidays have announced they are cancelling all trips for the rest of the 20/21 season.
Crystal Ski Holidays and Hotelplan UK, the operators of Inghams, Flexiski and Ski Total, have blamed the continuing impact of covid on travel for their decision.
Inghams, Ski Total and Flexiski holidays have now been suspended until 2 April which means customers of these companies will only have around two weeks in which to go skiing at the end of the season – and that’s depends on many ski resorts opening their lifts and UK travel restrictions being lifted by then.
Today (26 January 2021) marks 65 years since the Opening Ceremony of the VII Winter Olympic Games back in 1956.
A Panoramic view of Cortina. PHOTO: Gianluca Lorenzi
Cortina d’Ampezzo, known as the Queen of the Dolomites, had long been waiting for the event. The town was originally appointed to host the Olympics in 1944, but due to the Second World War, it had to wait 12 more years for the event that would establish its positions as a popular destination for winter tourists from all over the world.
Rupert Longsdon, the CEO and founder of Oxford Ski, has provided an update on skiing and snowboarding in popular destinations:
Switzerland – Most resorts are open but can vary based on the Canton area, but with key resorts including Zermatt and Verbier operating, there’s plenty of piste to please even the most avid skier. Whilst most restaurants are only able to offer a take-away service, hotel restaurants and catered chalets continue to deliver first class experiences to guests staying with them.
Ski chalet specialist Le Ski has joined the list of companies which have announced they are cancelling all holidays for the rest of the 20/21 season.
The announcement comes in the same week that Hotelplan, the umbrella company for Inghams, Total Ski, and Flexiski, also announced they were cancelling all ski and snowboard holidays until the end of February (see story by CLICKING HERE).
Hotelplan, the umbrella company for Inghams, Ski Total, and Flexiski, has suspended all of its ski and snowboard holidays until 27 February 2021.
It follows a previous announcement in November when the company told its customers that it was cutting the number of ski and snowboard holidays it’s ski companies were offering this season by reducing the number of ski chalets and chalet hotels on offer.
Swiss ski resorts found themselves in the media spotlight recently when photographs appeared on social media platforms showing what appeared to be skiers and snowboarders in lift queues failing to socially distance.
Another ski holiday specialist appears to have been sunk by covid. London-based Alpine Elements announced in a letter to clients that it has gone into administration as of the 8 December 2020.
There is no announcement on its website or Facebook page yet but the letter from director James Hardiman, outlining the situation, states: “I am deeply sorry for this outcome, but it has been without question one of the hardest decisions I have had to make in 23 years of running the company.
Ski Amis, the French chalet specialist, has announced it has ceased trading on its website. The statement said: “It is with great regret that we have taken the decision to cease trading effective from Monday the 30th November 2020.
A demonstration was organised yesterday (Monday 30 November) in Les 2 Alpes in an effort to get the French government to change its decision to close ski resorts in France during the festive period because of the covid pandemic.
by Skier & Snowboarder publisher Frank ‘Scoop’ Baldwin
Let’s be honest, however much we try and remain positive about the start of the 20/21 ski and snowboard season it is very difficult as each day seems to bring another hurdle to overcome.
Blair Aitken, the founder of British Backcountry, extols the virtues of getting away from it all by ski touring in the Scottish Highlands
It’s March 2020 and I’m leading my British Backcountry group of ski tourers up Meall nan Tarmachan, on the Ben Lawers range. The sky is a deep blue, the air is still, and the snow is down to road level.
More UK Skiers and snowboarders are expected to head for Scottish ski areas this season because of the current pandemic restrictions on overseas travel.
Many people are not aware of the backcountry opportunities there are north of the border so Ellis Brigham Mountain Sports and Atomic have teamed up with Gavin Carruthers and Blair Aitken from the British Backcountry organisation to host a free live online session.
Hotelplan, the umbrella company for Inghams, Ski Total, Esprit and Flexiski, has cut more ski and snowboard holidays this season by reducing the number of ski chalets and chalet hotels on offer. The group has also suspended trips to Finland until next winter due to the ongoing impact of COVID-19.
The need to maintain social distancing during the covid-19 crisis has led to a prediction that there will be a rise in the popularity of ski touring – walking up mountains with skins on the bottoms of your skis to ‘earn your turns’. Iain Martin, Claire Burnet, and Briony Key, all report on why ski touring – for beginners and the more experienced – is the future in a pandemic-affected world
Skiers and snowboarders who had already booked to travel with Inghams, Esprit, Ski Total and Flexiski this December 2020 are being informed their holidays have been suspended.
The news comes shortly after another long-established ski company, Interski, which specialises in Italy, announced it was cancelling ALL holidays for the 20/21 season but says it is already taking bookings for the following season.