Ski Holidays

Austria was recently hailed as one of the world's best destinations for sustainable tourism in the World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report. And the Austrian Institute for Sustainability hails the Naturidyll hotels as the pioneers of Europe with an “aristocratic” green sensibility.

Leading flight search engine, Skyscanner.net, has dipped into its data to see where British winter sports enthusiasts are flying to this winter. Despite economic woes, European ski searches appear healthy with a small rise in flight search traffic for ski airports compared to last year. With a strong US dollar, it seems many Brits are avoiding transatlantic mountains and favouring the more local European peaks.

Adventurous souls who fancy a break from the pistes should ditch their skis for a day and check out some of the other exciting winter activities the mountains have to offer.

Traditionally a major challenge for skiers and snowboarders exploring Canada was negotiating the vast distances between breathtaking snow destinations.

Powder hounds the world over have been gifted another choice destination this season, as the slopes of Japan open to an increasingly international clientele. Japanican.com, the JTB Group site for visitors to Japan, has released a comprehensive guide to the best ski and snowboard resorts across Japan, and is now also selling exclusive ski tours that include budget daytrips from Tokyo.

Whistler Blackcomb officials have announced that Whistler Mountain will open early on Wednesday, November 26. Whistler Mountain will open for daily operations with access to Emerald Express, Big Red Express and Franz’s Chair via the Whistler Village Gondola. On Thursday, the Creekside Gondola will open for the American Thanksgiving weekend, providing access to Whistler Mountain from the Creekside Base through to Sunday, November 30.

The forthcoming ski season is set to be the best in recent years as a barrage of snow sees the slopes open early. Leading resorts in Europe and the US opened up to a month earlier this season to make the most of the good snow conditions.

Rudegirls snowboard weeks are for independent girlies of all ages who have a passion for snowboarding (to either learn or improve), a love of the mountains, and want to hang out, ride, relax & party with likeminded people.

The Austrian Tirol is clothed in a veil of snow, with many ski resorts now open and up to a metre of snow in some places. While the Tirol is renowned for its excellent quality 4* and 5* hotels, many of which are privately run, most of which offer excellent health and spa facilities, the province also has a great choice of smaller, more intimate properties.

An investigation conducted by trivago.co.uk has revealed the top 10 ski resorts in Europe - the best places to enjoy this year’s ski season.

With up to a metre of snow forecast in the French Alps this weekend revolutionary ski equipment hirer, Ski Republic, are reporting record online bookings for their `two for one’ skiis, boots and poles offer with rental sales 500% higher than 12 months ago.

The Austrian Tirol abounds with unusual, charming and cosy places to stay. Skiers preferring to find individual accommodation this winter could consider residing amid nobility at the Jagdschloss Kühtai, an 800 year old lodge with a resident Count, whose ancestors include Emperor France Josef I. The Lodge is in the heart of the mountains at Kühtai, Austria's highest ski resort, and has direct access to the skiing, with individual rooms and suites and prices from € 125,00 per night.

Olympic skier Alain Baxter has launched his first ever official calendar - with a twist. The GB Olympic skier has just completed a 'nude shoot' to raise money as part of his renewed bid for slalom glory at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The calendar features twelve shots of Alain taken by top photographer Trevor Yerbury - most of them nude, but all done in the best possible taste.

Over 1 metre of snow has fallen in resorts and villages right across the Austrian Tirol. The mountains and valleys are carpeted in white and already the Tirol’s five glaciers resorts are open for skiing, as is Austria’s highest parish, the resort of Obergurgl-Hochgurgl.

New British company Snow Season Japan, is the first to offer long stay winter season holidays with a Japanese language course in a choice of Japan’s best mountain locations, opening up Japanese world class powder conditions and a chance to experience an incredible and unique culture to UK skiers and snowboarders.

With holidays one of the first things to be affected in these credit-crunching times, many will assume that the annual ski break may have to be foregone. However, Hostelworld beg to differ and have therefore developed a list of eight destinations that offer budget accommodation coupled with fantastic skiing potential, relaxing stays and a wide range of winter activities.

Experienced skiers looking for a better value winter break and beginners who want more practice without breaking the bank are now able to hit the piste for less thanks to a new ski collection from alpharooms.com. In response to increasing customer demand, the discount travel website has launched a dedicated new ski collection offering some of the most competitively priced deals to top European resorts including France, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and Canada.

Air Southwest has teamed up with Harvey World Travel to offer a range of skiing holidays this winter, as the airline launches new flights to Grenoble from Plymouth and Newquay.

Alberta is known for its long ski seasons and this year two of Alberta’s resorts have become the first in Canada to open their doors. The season is expected to be another bumper year for the infamous champagne powder snow, pristine landscapes and of course the great Albertan welcome. Visitors can expect no lift queues, superb pistes, excellent tuition, vibrant après ski and a favourable exchange rate.

With an 80cm snow base, Obergurgl will open its new season on 14 November 2008 with “Cirque des Montagnes – La Passion”, a fabulous series of events. Artistic entertainment coupled with live music, acrobatics, dance shows, magic moments and comedy performances await you on the occasion of this unique ski opening which takes place on three weekends.

As skis, skates and snowboards are polished and waxed for the up-and-coming season, the Rockies resorts are readying themselves for a plethora of events. Whether you are a spectator or a competitor the Rockies have a challenge for everyone. So why not combine your ski or board trip with an event and try something a little bit different this winter?

Be sure to get enough of the white stuff on your ski trip this season – Graubünden, Switzerland’s No. 1 holiday region, offers over 2,200 km of piste on which to enjoy skiing and snowboarding, with a suitable slope for everyone ranging from family friendly to prepared, carved pistes and powdery slopes for free-riding.

With Whistler and Vancouver set to welcome the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in February 2010, now is the perfect time to discover the host city and resort as well as the province beyond the Games. From the powder filled slopes of the interior to the ski in ski out resorts of the BC Rockies, a wealth of new developments and activities await the visitor.

Severe cold spells across Europe this week have resulted in snow storms across the Alps, with many of the top resorts hit with a great amount of snow overnight. They have woken up to picture perfect images giving us all a taste of a winter to come.

If you can’t get enough of snowboarding and constantly dream of being the next Shaun White then you should be staying at rudechalets. Their recently announced partnerships with Burton Snowboards; Xbox 360 and Ubisoft, the developers of the new Shaun White Snowboarding videogame, provide the basis for a week long snowboarding extravaganza.

Now in our fourth year, the Just Skiing website has been completely revised helping to make our customer's online experience much easier with lots of information about the wonderful Italian resorts of Courmayeur and La Thuile.

Hotel Bella Tola has been heralded as Small Hotel of the Year by Peter and Felice Hardy in the highly acclaimed Hardy’s Skiing & Snowboarding Guide 2009. The Bella Tola oozes Swiss style with its traditionally chic interiors, intimate and luxurious spa, an indoor pool which overlooks the stunning mountains, food to impress the most discerning gourmet and roaring fires throughout, as befits a hotel of this calibre.

After a couple of false starts, the snow looks to have arrived for good this season with falls almost to village level overnight In Niseko, Powderlife has reported. Skiers and boarders were excited to see the cleared main upper runs of all the Niseko resorts unexpectedly blanketed in white, with partial coverage down to about 600m.

Skiers are always striving to find their perfect ski and now Snow+Rock and ski adventure specialists Ski Freshtracks have teamed up to help with this search, offering the chance for skiers to test all the latest skis, on snow, during a ski test weekend in Austria this December.