Beginners Ski for Free

These credit crunching times might not seem like the ideal time to take up a sport like skiing but you might want to reconsider once you’ve read about Freshers Ski Week : a limited period in January when beginners can ski for FREE as part of an initiative to introduce the sport to a wider public.

Read more…

Tags: Credit Crunch, La Plagne, Les Arcs, Skiing
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Summer Skiing in Tignes

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 – for more information visit www.skifocus.co.uk.

Tags: Skiing, Summer, Tignes
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Grass Skiing…(Primrose Hill Here We Come)

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
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