Skiing on a Budget
July 30th, 2008 - Posted by: Powder Monkey
It hasn’t escaped my notice that in the UK everyone is harping on about something called the credit crunch. In an effort to save money, the good British public have sacrificed their summer holidays in 2008. It is my esteemed view that in doing so they are protecting their winter ski holiday because snow is way more appealing than sand.
Tags: Bourg Saint Maurice, budget ski holidays, La Tania, Resorts, Sainte Foy, ski holidays, Snowjet
Posted in Skiing in France, Skiing on the Cheap, Snowjet | 2 Comments »
Mountaineering – Because wii Fit Doesn’t Quite Cut the Exercise Mustard
July 22nd, 2008 - Posted by: Powder Monkey
It has suddenly dawned on Trig (my other half) and I that everyone in Chamonix is sickeningly fit and healthy. Our fitness envy was brought to a head a couple of weeks ago when thousands of uber fit folk descended on in town for the annual Chamonix marathon and we were forced to admit to ourselves that a couples of hours of wii fit a week wasn’t cutting it. So we decided to enrol in a week long mountaineering course which would culminate in climbing Gran Paradiso an Italian peak a little over 4000m high.
Tags: Chamonix, Mountain Climbing, Mountaineering
Posted in Snowjet | No Comments »
Summer Skiing in Tignes
July 9th, 2008 - Posted by: Powder Monkey
For me the summer is a long, drawn-out gap between winters to be endured rather than enjoyed until the first snowfall. And I get more snow than most living in Chamonix. Call me greedy but I would love to head to the Southern Hemisphere one summer to ski. But for the moment the bank balance and my employers says ‘no’ so I have to find alternative ways of getting my snow fix in the summer months. Fortunately, I have managed to persuade the powers-that-be at Snowjet that attending the Natives Summer Weekender at the end of the month in Tignes, where you can ski on the Grande Motte glacier, is a fantastic networking opportunity. The event is organized by our friends at Natives for people who work in the ski industry and involves light-hearted competition on the snow, in the lake, on the golf course and on the football pitch. And, David, I’ll be forming important business relationships … in the pub.
Here are the highlights of last year’s event and I will keep you posted on these year’s antics…
If, like me, you’ve got to get some snow in the next 5 months, Tignes is a good bet. But bear in mind that summer skiing is quite different from winter. For a start the glacier is only open until 1pm so you ski in the morning and then devote the afternoon to biking, swimming, playing tennis or just hanging out. Also skiing on Tignes’ Grande Monte glacier is restricted to only a handful of runs, only a tiny fraction of the extensive skiing you get in the winter. If you want to get the most out of the limited terrain, it’s a good idea to sign up for a course and work on your technique. Skifocus are offering courses in Tignes for skiers of all abilities in the summer and autumn.
Tags: Skiing, Summer, Tignes
Posted in Snowjet | 2 Comments »
New Lift For Chamonix
July 7th, 2008 - Posted by: Powder Monkey
For those of you who don’t know already, the Plan Praz cable car, which runs up the sunny side of the valley to the Brevent ski area, is being replaced. And not before time. Last week I had a chance to check out the work in progress. The oldest lift in the valley, with its antique concrete pylons, which closed to the public at the end of the winter, was running last week, presumably to transport men and materials up the steep slope for its replacement. The new lift, a replica of the 3 year old Vallorcine cable car further up the valley, will be able to carry up to 3000 passengers per hour in 10 person cabins. Construction is well underway and we can expect installation to be complete in time for the ski season.
The new state-of-the-art lift will be extremely welcome in Cham, where some parts of the lift system are still embarrassingly ponderous compared with ski factories like Val d’Isere or Val Thorens. That said, in the past couple of years there has been significant development in the valley’s lifts. In addition to the Vallorcine cable car, chair lifts Col Cornu and L’Index have been upgraded to 6 seaters and the Prarion cable car has been replaced. So it seems that the local lift company, La Compagnie de Mont Blanc, has finally realised that it cannot solely rely on its historical appeal as the European home of mountaineering and its reputation as a backcountry Mecca to keep people coming back. But what I want really want to know is how long it will be before we see the back of the painfully pathetic Flegère cable car. It moves so slowly I swear there must be a couple of elderly ladies employed to pull it up hand over hand!
Tags: Chamonix, News from the Alps, Resort Updates, Ski Lifts
Posted in News from the Alps | No Comments »
Grass Skiing…(Primrose Hill Here We Come)
July 7th, 2008 - Posted by: Powder Monkey
For all you die hard skiing enthusiasts who can’t wait for the winter, we may have the answer – grass skiing. Believe it on not, the fledgling sport is practised worldwide and the FIS (Fédération International de Ski) World Cup Series is currently underway with fixtures in Austria, The Czech Republic, The Middle East, Italy and Iran. The sport, which has not for some reason quite caught on in the UK, involves strapping caterpillar tracked or wheeled ‘skis’ to your feet. And since grass is not as forgiving as snow, protective pads and a helmet are also essential.
This is how the experts do it:
But there will always be those that improvise:
DONT TRY THIS AT HOME
Tags: Alternative, Grass Skiing, Skiing
Posted in Snowjet | No Comments »