Posts Tagged ‘skiing’
Our Favourite Quieter Resorts
Avoriaz, France. Credit: Avoriaz Tourism
You might be looking to spend your time on the mountain in a slightly quieter resort with fewer lift queues this year, or for a resort where you can avoid using enclosed lifts like gondolas and cable cars. So here are a few of our suggestions for our top recommended quieter ski resorts: Read the rest of this entry »
La Dolce Vita – skiing in true Italian style
San Cassiano, Italy
With a different pace of life and a rich and distinct culture, skiing in Italy is a truly unique experience. There are fantastic transport links, unrivalled hospitality, excellent food and truly spectacular ski areas Read the rest of this entry »
A Mammoth Adventure
If I’m going to sit on a plane for 10 hours I want to make it worth my while – and that usually means combining a ski trip with some kind of adventure. This years trip was no different – even if our original plans had to change somewhat due to covid. Read the rest of this entry »
Big White Masters Ski Weeks 2017
Masters Big White
The fantastic Big White Masters Ski Weeks are tailored specifically towards skiers and boarders aged 50+, looking to meet like-minded snowsports fans. These week-long programmes include top ski coaching over 5 half days, a bit of après-ski, good conversation and plenty of social events and entertainment – surely a winning formula!
Read the rest of this entry »
Top 5 Short Break Tips
Short breaks or ski weekends are becoming more and more popular so we thought we’d put together our top 5 short break tips for skiers.
1. Be flexible; To get the best price and the best availability have a bit of flexibility in your dates. We can book from many local airports in the UK but the prices tend to rise from Thursday to Sunday (as does accommodation cost sometimes) so if you’re looking for the best price then mid-week might suit best.
Kempinski – St. Moritz
2. Avoid school holidays; There are very few hotels or apartments that will accept short stays over the Christmas / New Year holidays or the February holidays (that stretch in to March on mainland Europe) so keeping clear of these dates will give most flexibility. Read the rest of this entry »
Insider’s Guide to St. Moritz
I’m one of the reservations team here at Ski Independence and we’re lucky to be able to visit the resorts and properties we offer to ensure we have first-hand knowledge and experience to pass on to our clients. I visited St Moritz in April 2014 and thought I’d write a little insider’s guide to let you know what I thought about the resort and the two different ski areas.
St. Moritz, Switzerland
A Utah Ski Holiday to Remember
It has been a ‘slow snow year’ for much of the USA – something to do with the jetstream apparently. Seems like most of the snow got sent to Whistler and Banff! So on my recent holiday to Utah I didn’t encounter any of that legendary Utah powder, but there was plenty to ski on, and lots to impress.
Our destination was Park City, and our mode of transport was Air France / Delta Airlines from Edinburgh, via Paris. A few words on this: we flew to Paris the evening before (free stopover if under 24 hours between flights) and stayed in an airport hotel, thus eliminating the 4am start that doing the journey in one-go would entail. There were positives and negatives to this: Charles de Gaulle Airport must be one of the least user friendly airports around: Finding our way to the free hotel shuttle pick up point was a bit like orienteering! Then, horror of horrors the next morning.. French queuing. The French don’t like to stand in line. Fact.
Ironing in ski boots
I bought a new pair of ski boots last week (Atomic Hawx w90 if you’re interested). As any skier will know this is a milestone event. I’ve had my last pair for 10 years and we’ve skied together in 7 different countries and over 50 different resorts. We’re old friends now. I know that when I get them out of the attic for the first few turns of the season they’ll be a bit grouchy – a little light punishment for leaving them in the dark for all those months – but within a few hours they always came good. Now it’s time for them to take semi-retirement and they are soon to be packed off to my mum’s house up north where they’ll be handy for those occasions when Scotland’s snow obliges. I’m told that breaking in a new pair of boots should not be the agonising pain that it used to be – heat moulding speeds up the process and while spending 20 minutes standing in tuck position in the middle of Ellis Brigham made me slightly self conscious I’m hoping to reap the benefits when we get out on the snow! Read the rest of this entry »
Breckenridge turns 50!
Breckenridge is 50 years old this winter, that’s nearly as old as our Product Manager Nick Laver (there is (not) a prize if you correctly guess how old he is/which one is older, answers on the website please!)
I am lucky enough to have visited Breckenridge a few times now and still love skiing the huge area and finding new terrain. There is loads of varied terrain, enough to keep the most diverse group of skiers happy with the gentle beginners slopes close to the town to the amazing cruisers and rollers off the Independence Super Chair over on Peak 8. The Imperial Super Chair drops you just shy of 13,000ft above sea level (highest lift access in Continental America) to access some incredible terrain, even for an intermediate skier like me, but I’m told that the double diamond skiing from here is even better! Read the rest of this entry »
The White Stuff
Who can tell me the most exclusive place to stay in Whistler Blackcomb this coming winter? How about the Fairmont Chateau Whistler? Or maybe The Four Seasons Resort?
Ask professional skier Mike Douglas, ‘The Godfather of Freeskiing’ and pioneer of twin tip skiing, who’s decided to welcome the arrival of Winter 2011/2012 by spending 6 days and nights staying in the ski patrol shack at the top of Whistler Mountain. Exclusive it might be, but luxurious it most certainly won’t! Read the rest of this entry »
