J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by admin

Catedral ski area, Bariloche, Argentina the biggest ski area in South America is selling an online ski pass this winter enabling guests to purchase ski passes wherever they are with a credit card. The online ski pass then automatically downloads to a KeyCard or Proximity Card electronic lift ticket. When guests arrive at the ski slopes the ticket is activated as they pass through the first turnstile to the ski lifts.

On the mountain Catedral is offering cross country skiing this winter with a new 4km long trail near the Upper Station of the Amancay cable car in a forest of "lenga" trees (austral beech) standing at 1650 to 1550 meters ( 5400 to 5085 ft.) above sea level. The area gets good snow cover and there's easy access for beginners and advanced skiers.

The resort's terrain park has also had a revamp with new and renovated circuits incorpoirating boxes, rails, jumps, barrels and an extraordinary multiple module.

Finally a new fleet of 20 state-of-the-art, 2009 model snowmobiles and quad bikes have been acquired . for daytime tours through the snowy forest and night-time caravans to the new restaurant at La Cueva. The ten new 400cc CAN AM Bombardier 4x4 2-seater quad bikes and ten 550cc Bombardier SKI DOO snowmobiles are based at the Lower station at the South Sector Cabin.

La Cueva has been entirely refurbished as a cosy mountain living-room, with great views of the incredibly beautiful surroundings. The facility has a brand-new kitchen with ovens for preparing homemade dishes and serves up Patagonian food tasting, and offers free wine and champagne tasting at what has become the mountain's most exotic and exclusive place, with only seventeen guests at a time.
Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc

Intrawest, the company which owns 10 leading North American ski areas including next winter's joint winter-Olympic venue, Whistler Blackcomb, is reported to be looking at ways to reduce its debts according to Canadian media reports in the past week.

The media reports speculate that this may involve selling one or more of its resorts, although the company itself has made no comment on this suggestion.

Intrawest is reported to have approximately $1.7-billion (US) in loans, and last autumn during the low point of the global financial collapse, managed to re-finance the debt at the 11th hour to save needing to seek creditor protection.

Intrawest was established in the 1970s and has gradually grown over three decades acquiring Blackcomb Mountain in 1986 and then many other famous resorts including Tremblant in Quebec and Copper Mountain, Winter Park and Steamboat in Colorado.

The company has made its name and had much of its financial success on the basis of well designed, pedestrianised resort base villages generating income more from real estate than from ski area operations. It is a model subsequently copied by many other ski area operators and which Intrawest brought to Europe with ski resort developments at Les Arcs and Flaine in France.

The original owners sold the company at the peak of its financial success to date in 2006 to Fortress Investment Group LLC for $2.8-billion.
Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc

bandit wrote:I suppose that dates me )

Yep, you're as, er, young as I am! Did that route a couple of times on the way to Les Arcs.

The five star Ferienart Resort and Spa in Saas Fee has won more awards for its environmental achievements.

The hotel already achieved the first Swiss Milestone for sustainable development In November last year. The Milestone is the most important prize of the Swiss tourism industry. This year the hotel has received a new special prize for the first time for the country's best progress in sustainable development. Finally the hotel has achieved the ISO 14000 global environmental management certification.

This summer The Ferienart Resort and Spa, in collaboration with Celsius Pro, is offering new 'weather insurance' for holiday guests. The good weather guarantee is offered to all hotel guests who book at least three nights between June and October. If it rains for more than two days during their stay, the overnight stay for each additional rainy day will be free of charge. A rainy day is classified as such if the weather station in Saas-Fee measures more than 5 mm of rainfall. This coiuld be good news for summer skiers, as the rain may fall as snow on the glacier – meaning both free nights in the luxury hotel and fresh powder on the glacier.

Finally, the majority of the rooms in the Ferienart Resort and Spa have now been converted in to suites, with what were formerly two rooms will be made into one suite. The entire main building, which was constructed in 1983, has also received a facelift.
Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc

Through our partners, you can book Package Ski Holidays at the Ferienart, or room-only deals at Ferienart Resort and Spa.

Whilst the famous Swedish Ice Hotel is made mostly of snow, the more recent Finnish Snow Hotel has more ice in its construction – 300 tonnes to be precise.

Located nearly 200km above the Arctic Circle and close to the ski resorts of Levi and Yllas, the SnowHotel has an IceBar serving Finlandia rather than Absolut vodka but with drinks still served in ice glasses and an ice disco in which to slip—slide the night away. Or you can just marvel at the magnificent sculpture art all around the area.
For winter 2009-2010 the Snow Village including the SnowHotel will be built for the 9th time. Construction begins when the temperature drops about ten degrees below zero which is usually at the end of October or the beginning of November.

Approximately 1,5 million kilos of snow and 300 000 kilos of crystal clear, natural ice are used for the construction. The builders,, specialized in using snow and ice as building material, are constantly developing new tools and instruments for snow construction and exploring innovative ways of taking this art form to new levels.

Snow Village is built entirely of snow and ice and covers approximately 20,000 square metres. During the winter season there are about 3,000 square metres of covered indoor spaces built as a combination of different snow and ice structures. The architectural design and the themes of interior decoration vary from year to year offering always a unique experience. Visitors will find the biggest ice dome in Europe and an á la carte restaurant with ice carved tables , in addition to amazing snow galleries full of beatifully illuminated ice art.

At Snow Village you can also experience an overnight stay in a room made of snow. Because of the good isolating features of snow, the indoor temperature of Snow Village remains always between -2 and -5 Celsius degrees, regardless of the outdoor temperature. There are approximately 30 rooms, all made of ice and snow. Individually decorated suites with different themes are also available.

For wedding couples Snow Village offers a remarkable setting for an unforgettable day of ceremony and celebration. To start with couples can choose between an ice chapel with furnishings made of ice and a traditional, cosy wooden chapel.

Snow Village will open again on December 10th 2009 and will remain open until April 15th 2010 with day visitors welcome from 10am to 10pm.
Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc

The picture perfect Swiss resort of Murren owes its famous revolving restaurant high on the Schilthorn mountain to funding from the film company that made the early James Bond movie, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", the first Bond film after the departure of Sean Connery from the role.

Murren is still grateful to Bond, and despite the film's star George Lazenby only appearing in the role for that one film, thy are still serving up James Bond spaghetti in the restaurant, if not a shaken not stirred martini, apparently.

This summer the resort is celebrating forty years since "On her Majesty's Secret Service" hit the screens, with an exhibition of photographs on the 2970 metre-high summit.

The pictures show how the filming on the Schilthorn took place, and how James Bond and the film crew managed to cast a spell on the entire valley which continues to this day.
The exhibition lasts to the end of October and is free to Schilthorn visitors.
Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc

The Snow Train service which operated an overnight sleeper service between London and the French Alps has been axed by operator Rail Europe for the coming winter.

The service, famous for its high quality staff and low quality French rolling stock had been reported to be growing business as people switched from air to rail and enjoyed the added bonus of an extra day's skiing in the Alps by travelling overnight to the slopes. However Rail Europe are blaming the current economic climate for cutting the service.

The Snow Train involved taking an afternoon or early evening Eurostar to Paris and then boarding an aged chartered sleeper train down to the Alps. This was popular with students and young skiers due to the disco car and party atmosphere but lacked comfort or essentials for families and more mature travellers.

Within days of the announcement of the demise of the Snowtrain however, Eurostar were releasing details of their daytime services to the French Alps which speed down from St Pancras. It also remains possible to do a DIY snow train service yourself by taking the Eurostar to Paris and then a regular sleeper down to the Alps, although this normally involves a simple station change in Paris where the Snowtrain served used just one Paris station.
Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc

bandit wrote:I'm still seeing crowded country maps

Flags? No, I think you were seeing things... :wink: