Skiing

Inside Skiing

Best for reluctant downhillers: Sainte Foy

Saturday, 6 February 2010

I have to admit that I'd never enjoyed skiing. So the prospect of our first "family" trip to the Alps, with all its potential for hellish whingeing from frozen, bruised children, left me feeling distinctly – well – chilly. And why blame the children? Let's face it, zooming down icy mountains at breakneck speed just isn't my thing. With a string of disaster stories behind me I was horrified I'd be unmasked to my offspring as a quivering, lily-livered wreck, at least when faced with a snow-covered slope, unable to subsume my own fears and grumbles for the benefit of their holiday enjoyment. After all, what kind of a mother am I?

Get on the VIP list in Val d'Isère

Sunday, 31 January 2010

Andrew Tong lives the high life in the French Alps thanks to a new ski package that won't break the bank

World class resort: Revelstoke aims high

Saturday, 30 January 2010

British Columbia's resort, which offers more than 3,000 acres of skiing, is up there with the world's greatest ski areas.

Snow report: There's no room at the inns this half-term holiday. So, think outside the Alps

Sunday, 24 January 2010

The February half-term holidays are nearly upon us. It's an ideal time to hit the slopes with the family; we're all ready for a break after grim old January and the snow has had a chance to build a healthy depth.

Quarter of skiers still drunk morning after

Monday, 18 January 2010

Almost a quarter of skiers are unknowingly taking to the slopes still drunk from the night before, a survey today shows.

Going skiing should be a pleasure, not a slog

Sunday, 17 January 2010

Simon O'Hagan just wanted an easy journey, a pretty resort and a choice of manageable runs. He found it all in Paradiski

Forgotten slopes: Why has Adelboden has drifted off the British radar?

Saturday, 16 January 2010

While many of us head to Switzerland each season, somehow the pretty village of Adelboden in the Bernese Oberland has remained off the mainstream radar, despite an impressive history for British skiers.

America's backwoods ski resorts offer new challenges

Saturday, 16 January 2010

The real beating heart of the US ski industry has always been resorts that cling to America's steeper mountains.

Peter Lunn: 'I was furious if I didn't fall'

Saturday, 16 January 2010

Peter Lunn shares the ups and downs of his long life in skiing with Adam Ruck

Skate expectations: Head to Norway to master skate-skiing's V-shaped gait

Saturday, 16 January 2010

Like many cross-country skiers I have long basked in a feeling of superiority over my downhill rivals. Speed? Pah! Who needs it? It is surely more worthy to go under your own steam. But recently, to my annoyance, I have noticed that I am forever being overtaken by other cross-country skiers. They are practitioners of the modern skate-skiing or "freestyle" technique, whereas I (like most British cross-country skiers) adopt the "classic" technique – my skis kept parallel by grooves cut in the snow.

Warmth and cuisine make up for Pyrenees' lack altitude and plentiful snow

Saturday, 16 January 2010

A scene from White Christmas flashed through my head as the train sped through France towards the Pyrenees. Just as Bing Crosby and chums sang in anticipation of snow in Vermont, I was hoping against hope that the forecast for rain in the Pyrenees would be wrong and that white fluffy stuff would magically appear in its place. Like Bing, I would be disappointed. You can't take plentiful snow for granted in the Pyrenees. It hasn't got the altitude and enviable snow record of the Alps. But, for the average visitor, it has ways of making up for that.

Ski news: Gatwick airport in disarray

Saturday, 16 January 2010

So, where are the brakes? Roadtesting the latest incarnation of the snow bike

Saturday, 16 January 2010

It felt like the stuff of nightmares. There I was, going along on my bike, when I realised I was careering for the edge of a cliff. So I looked down at the handlebars, only to find that there were no brakes.

Ski gear to get excited about

Saturday, 16 January 2010

With the new season upon us, it's time to update your armoury

Meet my mountain man: How ski guides can help you get more out of your snow expedition

Saturday, 16 January 2010

Klaus Jehle is no ordinary ski instructor. In St Anton, he has near mythical status. Regular clients book him by name and guard him jealously. In fact, people arrange their holidays around Jehle 's availability. He's so good that he teaches the course that already very good instructors have to pass to qualify for the top level of Austrian ski instructors. If this were football, he would be coaching Sir Alex Ferguson to coach. And he makes fantastic honey.

Snow report: Gay, green, Christian – this is the year of the niche ski trip

Sunday, 10 January 2010

Ski carriage supplements, terrorist attacks, added airport security, strike threats, a weak pound, snow upsetting Eurostar trains – it has not been the ideal start to the ski season.

Slope off on the cheap: Good-value ski deals

Saturday, 9 January 2010

Value for money is no longer the sole preserve of budget destinations

WIN a studio or one bedroom apartment in France for a week for up to 4 people!

Friday, 8 January 2010

Pierre & Vacances (pv-holidays.com) is the largest provider of ski accommodation in France. To celebrate the launch of their major ski price fall we are offering you a free week in a Pierre & Vacances ski residence

100 holiday ideas for 2010: Snow

Sunday, 3 January 2010

If you fancy hitting the slopes for the first time in 2010, head to Avoriaz (avoriaz.com), in France. The resort is cordoning off a mile-long ski run for adult beginners – one that gets sunshine all day and offers great views – for a new Première Glisse (First Glide) course, which claims to make you competent on the slopes after only three days.

Facing an uphill battle

Saturday, 2 January 2010

Will improvements in services and infrastructure attract more British skiers to Switzerland and Italy? Stephen Wood reports

Ski business has high hopes for 2010

Saturday, 26 December 2009

Skiers and snowboarders enjoy a party at least as much as anyone else, probably more. But although they'll join in the fun on the evening of 31 December, the advent of the new year means little to them. Like Jewish people and members of the Russian Orthodox Church, British skiers have their own calendar, radically different from the Gregorian version used in most of the world.

Val d'Isère...on a wing and a prayer

Sunday, 20 December 2009

Simon Usborne tries speed-riding – the crazed love child of paragliding and big-mountain skiing

Snow Report: Save the pound. Go skiing on the Scottish slopes

Sunday, 20 December 2009

This time last winter the ski industry was in meltdown. After a decade of growth, the economic downturn, coupled with the collapse of the pound, left tour operators with serious over-capacity. But we're told there'll be no repeat of the resulting mega-deals this winter, which included the first Bogof (buy one get one free) ski holidays. Companies have cut back on availability and, anyway, most have been offering discounts since last spring.