Archive for February, 2012
Laugh, Ski and Dance
Snowy mountains, fresh air, blue skies, an A-list line up of comedians and an exhilarating week long party with some of the world’s best known bands and DJ’s…it looks like Mayrhofen is the place to be this spring. Kick starting the party and being dubbed the ‘funniest week in the Alps ever’ is the Altitude Comedy Festival, followed 10 days later by the well known music festival Snowbombing.
Set in the beautiful Zillertal Valley, Mayrhofen has the reputation as one of the best ski resorts in Austria. Located just over an hour from Innsbruck, the resort offers a vast 638km of ski runs. Renowned for its lively après ski scene every March and April the boundaries are pushed, resulting in 2 of the best mountain parties on the European ski calendar. Read the rest of this entry »
Life in the Singles Lane
There is a lot you can learn being single, skiing single that is. In one day you can meet a lovely couple from Chicago, a teenager from Venezuela, a father from the UK, a guy on a long weekend “business conference” for Oil & Gas who works in Paris but is originally from Scotland! However, it is the locals who are the best value in the Vail area singles lane – they know the mountain. I’m talking about the guys who’ve been skiing Vail for over 25 years. Now, I’m not going to say that the only way to have fun at Vail is to meet and follow around local skiers BUT they have showed me this year where the great snow is to be found!
The mantra on the slopes early this season was how great last season was – the excitement was intense and contagious. The new season didn’t get off to quite the same start, but more recently to my delight I have not been hearing how “great last season was” five times a day. The new mantra at Vail is that the snow pack is working its magic, the back bowls are fully open and even the bumps are fun and knee-friendly so be happy. How lucky we are! Even better, the normal weather patterns are returning. Even as I write we’ve had 5” overnight! Read the rest of this entry »
Six Resorts in Eight days
For the past 10 years Ski Independence has worked in conjunction with the Daily Mail Ski and Snowboard Magazine to help organise their annual readers’ ski trip. Over the years, hundreds of satisfied customers have enjoyed these organised and great value trips to resorts including Banff, Fernie, Steamboat, Aspen, Telluride and Whistler just to name a few. On the 1st February this year 45 readers, along with Annika and Eve from Ski Independence, packed their bags and headed for the western state of Utah to ski 6 of the State’s 14 ski resorts.
Enjoying the sunshine in Solitude
Win a Breckenridge rucksack!
Long gone are the mining days that once occupied the town of Breckenridge in the 1800’s, however true to its roots the town has many subtle reminders of the gold rush boom years. As you wander the streets and cruise the mountain of Breckenridge, gentle reminders of the mining days soon start to jump out at you. Gold King, Cashier and Brian Rose are all piste names with a story behind them; in town you will find the Gold Pan Saloon – the bar with the longest running liquor license west of the Mississippi. Walk through the swing doors, warm up by the pot belly stove, order your whiskey at the original bar and you can almost expect Clint Eastwood to join you for a drink! Read the rest of this entry »
Best winter for over 40 years!
Powder please? In spades? No problem…
You can’t help but notice the unbelievable levels of snow in Europe so far this season. All around us are reports of incredible conditions, some inspirational photos, and social media full of pre-holiday excitement – with yet more snow on the way, who wouldn’t want to go to the Alps and be a part of it all this winter?
Our friends from Paradiski, one of the largest ski areas in Europe linking Les Arcs–Peisey Vallandry and La Plagne, have been in touch with some spectacular photos and some truly amazing statistics!
The total accumulation of snow has already reached a whopping 4.78 metres in Les Arcs, with depths of 1.75 metres being reported at 1600m and 3.4 metres up at 3000 metres altitude. Corinne Chevance, of the Les Arcs lift pass company, confirmed this is the greatest volume of snow seen in Les Arcs since 1966! Yep, that’s more than 40 years ago! Neighbouring ski area La Plagne isn’t far behind with 3 metres of snow on upper slopes.
Check out the images below if you don’t quite believe us! Read the rest of this entry »
The 7 best Ski Apps for 2012
First there was the Rich List, now we have the Sunday Times App List! With over 500,000 smart phone apps available for download, the Sunday Times have recently announced their favourite 500. Much to my disappointment after reading the list and finding only 1 relating to skiing, I decided to do some research! Hours later and having downloaded and deleted countless apps (some terrible, some ok and some brilliant), I decided that the following 7 were my favourites.
Ski Club Snow Reports
The Ski Club of Great Britain snow report app brings you the best and most respected snow reports from over 250 ski resorts around the world. Updated daily with the latest snowfall information, snow depths, piste conditions, live weather reports and even live webcams! There is so much information built into this app it’s the only snow report you will ever need…and it’s completely free! Read the rest of this entry »
2012/2013 Skiing
I’m delighted to announce (fanfare please…) that we are now taking bookings for USA, Canada and Japan for the 2012/13 winter ski season!
It always amazes me that people can be so organised but I guess I don’t have a family/school holiday to think of – oh and I can imagine the reaction if I asked for two weeks off over Christmas! But we have been getting requests for quotes for the Christmas and New Year period in 2012/13 since the turn of the year (yes, 53 weeks before travel!) and we’re now at a stage where we have secured some of the best deals in our most popular hotels and we can now quote for many resorts and properties.
It’ll take us a little while to get back to everyone that has requested a quote for next season but we’re on to that just now (as well as booking lots of late bookings for 2011/12 as the snow is amazing all over the world!!) and will be back to you in the next week to 10 days. Read the rest of this entry »
