Skiing is Believing

December 7th, 2008 - Posted by: Powder Monkey

The Grands Montets sector of the Chamonix ski area opened a week ago for weekend skiing. Chamonix is the latest French ski resort to open ahead of schedule thanks to heavy and frequent snowfalls across the Alps in November. It began snowing again in Cham on Thursday and it dumped in earnest on Friday, so the snow up at Grands Montets was sure to be deep come the weekend. However, people-in-the-know know that the GM is not necessarily the best place to be on a powder day because the steep terrain attracts swarms of snow-hungry, powder-pillaging skiers and boarders. What’s more, Saturday’s forecast announced 0% visibility so, since there aren’t too many trees at GM to help you judge the lay of the land in a white-out, we decided to head further a field.

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Tags: Chamonix, Courmayeur
Posted in News from the Alps, Weather & Snow Conditions | No Comments »

Free Tickets to FIS Alpine World Ski Championships

November 27th, 2008 - Posted by: Powder Monkey

The most important event on the 2009 skiing calendar, the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, will be held in Val d’Isere from 2nd-15th February. When Val won the bid to host the championships the organising committee vowed the event would be free and accessible to all. True to their word, free race invitations and transport vouchers are now available from www.valdisere2009.org. The website has received 100,000 invitation requests to date and attendance is expected to run to 200,000 over the course of the two week event, making it the biggest yet.

High Octane Promo Video Val d’Isere 2009
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Tags: Sainte Foy, Tignes, Val d'Isere
Posted in Events in the Alps, News from the Alps | No Comments »

Val d’Isere – Best European Ski Resort

November 10th, 2008 - Posted by: Powder Monkey

The winners of the British Travel Awards were announced last week at a glittering ceremony in front of thousands of industry guests. The Awards, often referred to as the “Oscars” of the travel industry, were created to acknowledge excellence in the field. And the winner of Best European Ski Resort is…Val d’Isere.

It’s no surprise that Val d’Isere, which has long been the preferred resort of British skiers, came out top in the public vote. And here’s for why. Val d’Isere is part of the Espace Killy, a vast ski area lift-linked to Tignes with an excellent snow record and served by one of the most modern lift networks in Europe. The resort itself is known for its luxury accommodation, gourmet restaurants and superb nightlife. Val d’Isere has it all.

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Tags: British Travel Awards, Tignes, Val d'Isere
Posted in News from the Alps, Skiing in France, Skiing in Luxury, Snowjet | No Comments »

Ski Holiday Bargains in December

November 7th, 2008 - Posted by: Powder Monkey

The well-reported dump of snow across the French Alps last week has fuelled expectation among winter sports fans of another bumper snow year. Over half a metre of snow fell in some places and, although it warmed up over the weekend, there has been a steady accumulation of snow above 2500m for the last couple of nights. Die-hard skiing enthusiasts are already enjoying knee-deep powder on the glacier in Tignes although other French resorts are not scheduled to open for several weeks. Here in Chamonix the lifts are not due to open fully until Christmas while most of the high-altitude resorts are opening between the end of November and the middle of December. Pre-Christmas there are some great bargains waiting to be snapped up and with conditions like these you won’t want to miss out.

Knee-Deep Powder in Tignes 30th October 2008

Read on for accommodation and flight deals for skiing before the busy holiday period in some of the most snow-sure resorts in Europe…
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Tags: La Plagne, Les Arcs, Tignes, Val d'Isere, Val Thorens
Posted in News from the Alps, Skiing on the Cheap, Snowjet, Special Offers, Travel to the French Alps, Weather & Snow Conditions | 2 Comments »

Travel to the French Alps - Snowtrain or Slow Strain?

November 5th, 2008 - Posted by: Powder Monkey

I recently read interesting an article in the Telegraph Online about the merits of using the Snow Train to travel to the French Alps. The journey involves catching the Eurostar at either St Pancras or Ebbsfleet International then changing at Paris Gare du Nord to the Snow Train which stops at Moutiers and Aime and terminates in Bourg Saint Maurice. On the outward journey you depart from the UK on Friday evening, travel overnight, and arrive early Saturday morning. On the return leg, you depart on Saturday evening. It’s a clever schedule on paper that makes for 8 days skiing but I wonder what passengers make of the service in practice.
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Tags: budget ski holidays, Snowheads, Val d'Isere
Posted in News from the Alps, Skiing in France, Travel to the French Alps | 2 Comments »