This week we pick out the key trends in skiing for the season ahead — from
speed riding in Chamonix to snowboarding in Cyprus, packages with everything
thrown in, airbags for ski helmets, husky training, and the hippest new
hotels.
Everything thrown in
This year’s big skiing trend is the rise of all-inclusive packages, which
include lift passes, ski and boot hire and half-board accommodation. The
idea in tough economic times is to tell people up front exactly how much a
trip will cost — rather than them face unexpected or hidden extra charges.
All the big tour operators are getting in on the act. First Choice (0871
6641030, firstchoice-ski.co.uk)
is offering trips in Andorra, Italy, France and Bulgaria from £449pp during
January and March. Inghams (020-8780 4444, inghams.co.uk)
is also throwing in two for the price of one on ski and snowboard lessons.
Neilson (0845 0703460, neilson.com) is
generously providing “unlimited beer, wine and spirits each afternoon from
4pm” on breaks in Romania. Crystal (0871 2312256, crystalski.co.uk),
the UK market leader in skiing holidays, is also offering all-inclusive
breaks under a “no hassle, no hustle, just ski” motto.
Mathew Prior, Crystal’s managing director, admitted that companies have been
forced to offer cheaper breaks to create good value. We know that no skier
wants to miss out on a season.” All-inclusive prices are from about £450 to
£599 (see our 20 best deals next week).
Off the beaten slopes
Every winter, ever wilder and wackier ski destinations are offered in the
annual crop of ski brochures. We’ve had the skiing delights of Chile,
Lebanon and Australia talked up in the past — and now it is the turn of
Japan, Cyprus and Antarctica.
We are reliably informed that the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido
receive “an almost guaranteed supply of first-class powder blown over from
Siberia” by InsideJapan Tours (01173 144620, inside
japantours.com). The Alps of Honshu are particularly recommended: parts
of the mountains hosted the 1998 Winter Olympics. A seven-night break is
from £1,119, with two nights spent in Tokyo.
Or how about sloping off to the Mediterranean for a very different winter
sports break? Going skiing in Cyprus may sound distinctly odd, but there are
several good runs on Mount Olympus, some of which were originally developed
by the British Army based on the island — see ski
cyprus.com.
Alternatively, if you are feeling fit (and wealthy), you could try a skiing
break in the far reaches of Antarctica. Adventure Network International (adventure-network.com)
has two-week trips that cover “the most beautiful mountain terrain on the
Seventh Continent” in the Ellsworth mountain range, in which you “earn your
turns” by climbing up to peaks and skiing down virgin powder slopes. The
price, however, is an eyewatering £13,800, excluding flights to Argentina.
Innovations
We’re finding this one hard to believe, but the latest winter sports activity
is trekking on Segway two-wheel transporters along cross-country ski tracks.
This is, perhaps, the laziest way of hitting the slopes yet invented and has
come about after the Méribel Tourist Board (meribel.net)
introduced Segways in the French resort in the summer; prices yet to be set.
Daring Segway trekkers, as well as regular skiers, may want to try out new
helmets created by Salomon (salomonsports.com),
which are designed with air pockets that can be pumped up for a perfect fit.
These “airbags for your head” cost from £100.
Helmets, boots and everything else you need will squeeze into peculiar new
high-tech ski bags with battery-powered wheels and holders for skis. But
they are not cheap: from £395 with snow tyres included (liveluggage.com).
If bag-with-batteries still sounds like too much effort, a simpler way to
transport your skis is to get someone else to do it.
Ski Carriage (01933 679842, skicarriage.co.uk)
will store skis and boots over the summer and send them to your resort in
the winter after a service. The storage fee is £22 a year and to send two
sets of skis to the Alps the price is £150 — with BA charging £40 each way
for checked-in skis on long-haul flights and £35 for short-haul, that price
does not seem too high.
Hot hotels
Do not let the long-winded name of the Mountain Living Residence Hotel Lagacio
(www.lagacio.com) put you off. The
hotel, opening in the village of San Cassiano in the Italian Dolomites
(popular with the likes of Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes and George Clooney), is
in a large wooden structure with big glass windows and an eco emphasis: it
has received a top rating for energy-saving from the Italian authorities and
all the food is organic. B&B rooms are from £158.
In Méribel a huge Clarins spa with saunas, pools, hot-tubs and massage rooms
is opening at the three-star, slope-side Hotel Allodis (hotelallodis.com).
Non-residents will be able to use the spa, where highlights include
“moisturising treatments from Madagascar and camomile balneotherapy”. The
latter, we learn, involves bathing in hot water infused with camomile.
Across the Alps in Switzerland, all seven of the outlandish cube-shaped
buildings in Rocksresort, Laax (www.rocksresort.com)
will be open from December, along with eight restaurants and two extra bars.
Two-bedroom apartments cost from £595 a week.
Meanwhile, sources tell me that the five-star Royal Spa Kitzbühel (kitzbuehelroyalspa.com),
opening in the pretty village of Jochberg in Austria in December, will be a
hit with couples where one partner prefers spas to the slopes, offering “the
meditative effect of the mountains and the energy of water and fire”.
And in the US, a swanky Ritz-Carlton on Lake Tahoe is due in December (0800
234000, ritzcarlton.com) with ski-in,
ski-out access and a restaurant run by the renowned San Francisco-based chef
Traci des Jardins. Rooms from £210.
The big events
The biggest event of the season is, of course, the Winter Olympics in
Vancouver (vancouver2010.com), over
February 12-28. But there’s much more going on, with perhaps the most
eye-catching new occasion in the Alps being the Winter X Games, which will
be held in Europe for the first time in Tignes on March 10-12 (tignes.co.uk/x-games.htm).
The games feature snowboarding, ski jumps with “tricks”, and lots of rock
music blasting out around the half-pipes. Many of the competitors will have
participated in the Olympics, so it is a chance to see some of the world’s
best in action closer to home.
Holidaymakers who fancy themselves as being nifty on the slopes can take part
in the Crystal Ski Fest in Sestriere (crystalski.co.uk),
which is being held over March 14-21 and involves competitions for all
levels from beginner to expert. Race training is organised by the British
Ski Academy and the British Association of Snowsports Instructors. Or for
something a little tougher, there is a gruelling-sounding 24-hour off-piste
race at Gastein in Austria (gastein24.at)
on February 27-28. If all this sounds too much like hard work there is a
gourmet food festival entitled Pistes Gourmandes taking place in Val d’Isère
during March 15-20 (valdisere.com).
A little bit different
If you’re after a change of career or starting out after university with a
life on the mountains, how about taking an 11-week ski or snowboard
instructor course in Kicking Horse, a resort in British Columbia, Canada?
The courses are organised by Nonstop Ski & Snowboard (0845 3651525, nonstopski.com)
and cost £5,763, with flights, transfers, accommodation, lift passes and
“world-class coaching”.
In the Swiss Alps, 12-week courses are being offered by Powder Byrne (020-8246
5300, powderbyrne.com), costing even
more: £6,950, with the chance to become a full-time instructor for the
company if you pass. The course includes race training and
avalanche-awareness lessons.
If you haven’t got three months to spare, you could try a week-long expedition
in Chile offered by Sky2Sea International (0131-220 8246, sky2seainternational.com)
in January, in which you have the opportunity to ski, go snow-holing, climb
ice faces, try your hand at abseiling, go mountainbiking and sea kayaking,
and much else. The price is £1,995.
Too exhausting? Inntravel (01653 617920, www.inntravel.co.uk/ski)
is offering new week-long trips during which you are taught how to lead a
team of husky dogs, with a little bit of traditional cross-country skiing on
some days, and accommodation in a charming traditional timber cottage — from
£1,658.
For the kids
Ski operators are aware that some parents may be thinking about ditching ski
holidays this winter for financial reasons. So they have come up with lots
of incentives to make skiing with children better value. First Choice (0871
6640130, firstchoice-ski.co.uk)
is offering free child places in some resorts, free lift passes in 50
resorts, free half-day childcare for January or March departures in Alpe
d’Huez and Kitzbühel, with prices for a family of four starting at £1,560 in
Slovenia.
Thomson (0871 9710578, thomsonski.co.uk)
has free child places on every departure this winter, free lift passes in
dozens of resorts, and a Pepi Penguin Club with half-day supervision for six
days costing £110, and babysitting services for £7 an hour.
Neilson (0845 0703460, neilson.co.uk) is
also offering free child places and has more properties with children’s
clubs. For something a bit more upmarket, the website babyfriendlybolt
holes.co.uk has teamed up with the tour operators Ski Famille and Ski Esprit
to offer boutique places to stay with childcare. For racing-demon teenagers,
the latest attraction in Chamonix (lesailesdumontblanc.com)
is “speed-riding”, a blend of paragliding and skiing.
Off piste
A huge leisure centre with swimming pools, climbing walls, saunas, a spa,
squash courts and a gym is opening in Val d’Isère (valdisere.com).
British Airways (ba.com) begins flights from
Gatwick to Innsbruck on December 5 with fares starting at £110.
Ryanair (ryanair.com) is offering flights to
Grenoble, Turin and Salzburg from £50 return this winter.
This winter, for the first time, skiers with week-long passes covering
Chamonix will be able to ski for a day in Verbier.
Slovenia is the hot destination for single skiers this winter, according to
Solo’s holidays (0844 3718860, www.solos
holidays.co.uk).
Ski safaris in which you explore more than one ski area on your ski break are
the big trend for the ski season ahead, says Maloob Active (020-8951 2854, baobabexpeditions.com),
which offers a week from £750.
Ski tours in Corsica are the latest thing from SkiFreshtracks (0945-4580784;skifreshtracks.co.uk)
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