Ski Holidays | Ski Resort Guides and Offers

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.

French Alps based ski coaching company First Tracks will take coaching on the move this winter (08/09) with a new concept – Ski Safaris. Les 3 Vallées based First Tracks will offer four ski safari options ranging from one day ski safaris by land and air - Jet Safari Day Trip, through to the Ultimate Ski Safari on which the skiers will work their way across the Alps guided by their dedicated coach, every day experiencing a new ski area and each night a different place to enjoy – with their luggage transported to the night stop locations.

Secondary schools across the UK are being given the chance to apply for a ski bursary scheme run by the Ski Club of Great Britain. Launched last autumn, the bursary of £500 per school will be awarded to six schools and used to give children a chance to give skiing or snowboarding a go.

The powerful combination of passion, personalised service and expert local knowledge means small owner-managed operators can provide that extra something the big boys just can't match, argues ski journalist Lucy Crisp.

With terms like ‘credit crunch’ and ‘higher cost of living’, ski holidays this winter begin to look like a luxury, but is there a way to still get your fix of snow without hurting your bank balance?

Launching at the London Metro Ski and Snowboard Show commencing 22nd October, Enchanted Holidays Limited are specialists in family winter sport holidays to Madonna di Campiglio in the Italian Dolomites.

As holidaymakers start to make plans for this winter’s ski season, International Currency Exchange (ICE) is advising travellers to buy their travel money in advance to make sure they get the best deal.

Get ready to pack your skis and head for the Oberstdorf-Kleinwalsertal region in Southern Bavaria where the grand season opening in the German-Austrian skiing area “Fellhorn-Kanzelwand” and “Nebelhorn” will take place on 6 December.

Sex in the snow replaces sex in the city as Canada’s Banff outperforms searches to other sexy ski destinations by more than 50 per cent. As the credit crunch bites harder than ever, Cheapflights.co.uk, the UK’s leading flight price comparison website, figures out what’s hot for budget skiing with a little sexy appeal this winter.

After a summer of grey skies, floods and cabin-fever, why not get back in touch with the great outdoors and join Walks Worldwide on a guided, 8-day Winter in Finland adventure, full of activities including husky-sledding, ice-fishing, snowmobiling, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing?

As much as we love the big mountain experience and the buzz of the top resorts like Val d’Isere, Verbier, Whistler and Jackson Hole, what about the hidden gems? Here are some little heard of resorts which ooze charm and character, and offer some really great skiing.

The ease of use provided by ebookers.com to hotels, flights and cruise can now be applied to ski, thanks to the launch of ebookers' Ski Holidays. The online travel agent has teamed up with Dublin based B2BSki to offer skiing products, fully available online, to an array of European resorts including Andorra, Austria, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Norway and Slovenia.