The Skiing Department Blog

People are always asking me where they should go on their next ski holiday.

There are so many ski resorts in the world offering all sorts of different options depending on what your requirements are. It’s such a tough question to answer until you find out exactly what requirements the person or people have:

Are they beginners, intermediates or expert skiers?
What kind of budget do they have?
Do they want something to do in the evening or like apres ski?
Catered or self-catering accommodation?
Traditional Alpine village with atmosphere or a ‘ski in ski out’ purpose built resort offering convenience?

All of these options are available to skiers and before advising on the best ski resort for someone you need to know this information. >> Continue reading

The ‘real’ ski season does not really get going until Christmas time in Europe and the USA.....but as the nights draw in and the temperature drops, many of us can’t resist the thought of getting in a few turns before the crowds turn up. Any mountain area can receive snowfall in the autumn time, but you can’t always guarantee it, and many resorts simply don’t open their lifts before a certain date. I have compiled my list of 10 ski resorts where you can ski before Christmas. Some of these ski resorts open their ski lifts weeks before Christmas, and can insure snow due to glaciation and/or good artificial snow making facilities. I have only included one US resort, but if anyone has any others then please do write in and let… >> Continue reading | 1 Comment

In Part 1, of this Blog Article, I described good European Ski Resorts for Spring Skiing. Now, I am going to describe the snow conditions you can expect, why its a good time to go Ski Touring and list the Advantages and Disadvantages of Spring Skiing.

Skiing in April can be very pleasant.
The daytime temperatures can go well above freezing point. This will cause melting and slushy conditions ,in the afternoons, with a possibility of icy slopes in the mornings. But slushy snow can be fun and spring sunshine is great for the tan. It can still snow though, so be prepared and often heavy snowstorms come in and dump large quantities of powder snow on the upper slopes >> Continue reading

In the Northern Hemisphere, the ‘commercial’ or peak time ski season stretches between the Christmas and Easter holidays but many alpine resorts open well before Christmas and close after Easter.

Of course, Easter falls at different times according to the moon cycle. Sometimes Easter day falls as early as the last Sunday in March or as late as the last Sunday in April. This can have serious consequences on the skiing industry.

Because most skiers associate Easter with the end of the season, an early Easter can mean a very quiet resort for the rest of April. Great for the people that do go there, but not so good for the tour operators and travel companies! >> Continue reading