J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by admin

Ian Wickham wrote:Anybody up for it ????? 8) 8)

Oh yes... first round's on you I think... 8)

bandit wrote:If you want to see what I look like

I did that...



Oh Bells! Who's got the shovel now?
:oops:

bandit wrote:Not a tourist or holidaymaker then :?:

Ha! Beat you to it for once, Sherlock! 8)

And there was me thinking blogs were for relating personal experiences - how dreadfully old-fashioned of me to forget the needs of PR agencies.

Moving on... anyone actually interested in skiing there?

Yes. It's an excellent family resort.

The skiing's set in a bowl with numerous runs that converge to the (60s style - architecturally challenged) centre of the village, so it's a great place to ski in several groups as you can meet up regularly very easily.

There are Greens just below the resort centre, and also at the top by a large restaurant with the most amazing views of Mont Blanc - beginners and little ones can come up and down in the gondola so can feel like they're part of the action. Long meandering Blues and Reds are great for mixed groups. The newer parts of Flaine (Hameau, etc.) are well-served by a regular ski bus. The adventurous amongst you can easily ski out to the other villages of Le Grand Massif.

There are also some superb Black runs and freeride areas - though you need to be careful going off-piste and really pay attention to barriers and ropes (do NOT duck ropes here - there are huge holes in the limestone on which the resort sits).

It has a good snow record too, so unless there's no snow at all next season it'll likely be good.

The only downside for a family is the stupid prices in some of the cafes up the mountain - so recommend avoiding those and dropping down into town (or into Les Carroz for lunch) for much more reasonably priced (and better quality) food and drink.

One of the best places there is for skiing as a family IME.

Work is underway in California on a new ski run which will make it possible to ski down from Mammoth Mountain ski area to the resort village.

The US Forest Service are reported to have given permission for the trail to be constructed at the start of this year and construction work got underway earlier this month.

The run, which will allow skiers to get from the resort's Main Lodge to the village without needing a car is expected to be quite gentle. It is expected to be open in December.
Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc

Perisher ski resort has thrown its weight behind Australia's Vancouver Winter Olympic campaign, building a replica of the key features of the snowboard-cross and ski-cross course that will be used in the 2010 Games.
Snowboard-cross and ski-cross races are won, more often than not, by the racer who gets an edge out of the start gate and down the first section of the course.

So the Perisher grooming fleet has sculpted a series of jumps and turns identical to the Cypress Mountain course, focusing in particular on that critical opening section.

The work on the Perisher course has been supervised by Canadian John Balfour, who was the assistant designer for the Vancouver Games course.
Australia's Olympic team candidates in both events have spent the last week training on the course, which is located on the Outer Limits run off the Ridge Chair, but the opportunity has also lured the very strong Canadian National Snowboard Team to Australia to get in vital on-snow pre-Olympic training.

The Australian Team includes snowboard-cross rider Damon Hayler, a first-time World Cup winner earlier in the year and ski-cross racer Jenny Owens, who also made the podium in the 2008/09 season.

Olympic Winter Institute/AIS Head Snowboard Coach Ben Wordsworth is over the moon about the opportunity Perisher and it's on mountain staff has handed his athletes.

"We're getting great training here," Wordsworth said.
"Perisher has put in an amazing amount of effort and time to produce one of the most technical courses for our Olympic athletes that Australia has seen."

"We've been able to work on starts and becoming familiar with the woo-tang features that will be seen in most World Cup events in the lead up to the Games, and in Vancouver as well."

"Courses like this are hard to come by outside of competition, so we are extremely fortunate that our home resort has produced such a perfect training environment."

"And along with the course, Perisher is also hosting the Canadian national team and this has been a huge advantage for us in preparing our race tactics and working on speed with some of the top riders in the world."

"It's also a great lead-up to the opening event of the World Cup, which is in Argentina in September."

Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc

Yabuli, the largest ski resort in China, will complete a $100m spend this winter with the opening of the third five star hotel in the resort in the past year.

It's a dramatic change for the centre which lies 1200km (750 miles) north of Beijing in Heilongjiang province, and is frequently criticised for awful hotels, restaurants and ski slopes by international visitors.

The new hotels have been built in a new development, Sun Mountain Resort, which also includes a heated gondola complete with leather seats, mini-bars and BOSE sound systems as well as a six-seater high speed chairlift with installations laid out to a design by Ecosign, the Vancouver based company which is behind the design of dozens of leading ski areas worldwide, including Whistler.

The last of the three hotels, which have added over 300 luxury hotel rooms in total, will open this autumn and is a member of the prestigious Small Luxury Hotel of The World selection.

Reports indicate however that the new resort area is not yet lift-linked to the original state owned resort and some commentators have noted that this, as well as factors such as temperatures droppuing as low as -30 C in winter remain challenges for the resort.

A fast new road to the regional capital Harbin (just under 200km away) as well as a new rail; link which opened in late 2007 have also improved access to the resort.
Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc

Resort developer Intrawest, the company behind many of North America's successful resorts including Whistler, but currently under financial pressure due to the economic slowdown, is to sell its two European resorts.

Pierre & Vacances Group and Intrawest Hotels & Residences have signed an agreement for the acquisition of Intrawest's lodging and commercial operations at the company's flagship Arc 1950, which was completed last year and the Flaine Montsoleil resort which is still under construction.

Arc 1950 is Intrawest's first mountain resort in Europe. The acquisition agreement includes the resort's lodging management business, which consists of 655 apartments managed under the "Radisson" and "Intrawest Hotels & Residences" brands. Also included in the transaction is the management of two restaurants, a bar and two commercial spaces located in the resort village. The operations at Flaine Montsoleil Resort include the resort's lodging management business, which consists of 138 apartments. All of the staff associated with each of these businesses will also transition under the management of Pierre et Vacances. This includes both on site staff and support staff located in Bourget du Lac.

As part of the terms of the agreement, Pierre et Vacances will operate both resorts in accordance with 4-star tourist residence standards. The addition of these two branded resorts will significantly enhance the Pierre & Vacances Premium Alpine holiday offering, which includes residences currently operated under the Résidences MGM, and Pierre & Vacances residences (Courcheval, Méribel…).

The acquisition is scheduled to close on 1st October 2009.
Pierre & Vacances Group (also known as P&V and PV-Holidays) is the number one provider of holiday residences, villages and hotels all over France. It offers self-catering and hotel holidays in France, Spain, Italy, Morocco, Tunisia, Switzerland and the Caribbean through its five brands: Pierre & Vacances, Maeva, Residences MGM, Latitudes Hotels and Adagio City Aparthotel.

www.pv-holidays.com

Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc