Arapahoe Basin Cam. Arapahoe Basin is now part of the IKON Pass.
I guess it is difficult to be an independent resort in the current climate of concentration of the ski market in the US, so now A Basin will be part of the competitor of the Epic Pass – the IKON Pass. The IKON Pass can be used in 40 global ski destinations, including six in Colorado, now with A Basin:
Aspen Snowmass, Steamboat, Winter Park Resort, Copper Mountain, Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, and Eldora Mountain Resort.
The FIS Camp is a classic event every season, with one version in Europe and one in South America. The International Ski Federation supports this fantastic camp to create the future World Champions and FIS racers from all over the world.
FIS CAMP- South America Chile July, 2019. Photo Courtesy: FIS Camp, Chino Martinez.
16 kids, ladies and men spent 21 days in a ski resort in South America; this year it was the chance for EL Colorado, in Chile at the base of the Andes to host the camp. El Colorado is located one hour from Santiago City. It is a great ski resort, with lots of experience in ski racing and race training, which hosted many amazing athletes over the years of the likes of Ilka Stuhec, Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin.
The FIS race camp is about skiing and much more: the camaraderie between the kids and coaches while staying at the same Hotel and sharing ideas and techniques is invaluable and creates a great vibe for the entire group.From 6;45 am breakfast is served, in order to start skiing at 7:30 am for 3-4 hours. Then is time for lunch all together, with a second short session in the afternoon.
Vail Resorts to Acquire Peak Resorts, Owner Of 17 U.S. Ski Areas
Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: MTN) today announced it has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire 100 percent of the outstanding stock of Peak Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ: SKIS) at a purchase price of $11.00 per share, subject to certain conditions, including regulatory review and Peak Resorts’ shareholder approval.
Liberty Mountain. Photo: Peak Resorts. Vail Resorts to Acquire Peak Resorts, Owner Of 17 U.S. Ski Areas
Through the acquisition, Vail Resorts will add 17 U.S. ski areas to its network of world-class resorts. Located near major metropolitan areas, including New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Columbus, St. Louis, Kansas City and Louisville, the resorts include:
Mount Snow in Vermont
Hunter Mountain in New York
Attitash Mountain Resort, Wildcat Mountain and Crotched Mountain in New Hampshire
Liberty Mountain Resort, Roundtop Mountain Resort, Whitetail Resort, Jack Frost and Big Boulder in Pennsylvania
Alpine Valley, Boston Mills, Brandywine and Mad River Mountain in Ohio
Stranded tourists heli-ported after Stanserhorn CabriO cable car breakdown
From Swiss.ch
Around 150 tourists stranded at the top of the Stanserhorn mountain in central Switzerland had to be rescued by helicopter after the cable car they came up with broke down.
On Friday evening, the monitoring system of the open-air cable car triggered an emergency shutdown due to a technical defect, said the operators. Passengers in the cabins were able reach both ends thanks to a backup mechanism. However, those who were at the top of the mountain were stranded. They had to be transported by three helicopters to the valley below.
The Stanserhorn Cabrio is arriving to the top station in Stanserhorn mountain. Stranded tourists heli-ported after Stanserhorn CabriO cable car breakdown.
“At no time were they in any danger,” said the Stanserhorn cable car operators.
Repairs were scheduled for Saturday morning and the cable cars are expected to return to service Sunday morning. A similar incident took place a week ago on the Niesen mountain in the Bernese mountains. The breakdown of the funicular railway had necessitated a rescue by helicopter.
Delta Airlines is making it cheaper to travel with large sports equipment. It is eliminating the USD 150 specialty sports bag fee, copying what American Airlines did earlier this year.
Travellers will be paying normal baggage fees for sporting equipment as long as it meets the weight and size requirements of Delta. Delta charges USD 30 each way for the first checked bag and USD 40 for the second on domestic flights.
Delta slashes price of overlarge sports gear. Aerial view of Lausanne and Lac Leman
This policy takes place for tickets purchased on or after July 17th. Alaska Airlines was the first carrier to slash the oversize sports equipment fees in 2017. United did the same in 2018, but only on nonstop flights to and from California for surfboards.
Delta Airlines stated: “Delta customers traveling with surfboards, bicycles, golf clubs, scuba gear and other large-sized sporting equipment will now be allowed to check them as part of their standard baggage allowance.
The new Future of Ski Bindings is here: Howell 880 Pro ACL friendly ski binding.
We all know how important ski bindings to skis are. You don’t want them to pre-release, making it dangerous while coming fast down the mountain. On the same way, you don’t want them not to release, as this implicates potential damage to your limbs.
Howell Ski Bindings 800 Pro. The new Future of Ski Bindings is here: Howell 880 Pro ACL friendly ski binding.
The typical binding has a lateral toe release and upward heel release. The Howell 880 Pro has both characteristics, PLUS a lateral heel release.
These bindings will be releasing end of October 2020 and you can pre-reserve with a USD 80 deposit here.
Rick Howell, owner of Howell SkiBindings has been in the business of creating bindings for over 4 decades. He was involved in the release of the Salomon 555, what became the number 1 selling alpine throughout the mid-1970’s. He has a fascinating story about his life – it did grip me and read it all – you can check it here.
He was involved with a group of technicians from Stuttgart on what is now called the ‘‘DIN’ System’, used worldwide for 37 years, by 20 million skiers, including today. Rick worked many years for Geze ski binding company and received the ‘Glass Award’ for successful business accomplishments that caused ‘over 100,000 pair of bindings to be sold in a single year. ‘
The EagleVail chairlift to Beaver Creek was not accepted by the Forest Service.
A chairlift has been discussed since the 60’s in EagleVail.
From Vail Daily and Aspen Times
The Forest Service and Vail Resorts have cited wildlife impacts to deny building a chairlift connecting EagleVail to Beaver Creek.
Aaron Mayville, district ranger for the Eagle-Holy Cross Ranger District has written to Steve Barber, EagleVail Metro District Manager that “a chairlift from EagleVail, across National Forest and into Beaver Creek is not possible right now.”
And Vail Resorts Executive Vice President, Mountain Division has also written to Barber stating that “we are not interested in discussions regarding a lift from EagleVail to Beaver Creek at this point.”
EagleVail golf putting green photo. Chris Dillmann. Vail Daily. The EagleVail chairlift to Beaver Creek was not accepted by the Forest Service.
The officials of EagleVail were interested in a lift as EagleVail residents also were, as it helps increasing property values as a boon for homeowners and a catalyst for renewal.
Vail Resorts owns and operates Beaver Creek Resort.
David Warner, VP of EagleVail Metro District board and longtime proponent of the lift said: “It’s definitely a setback; these were not good letters.”
A lift of U$D 5.2 million
The lift was envisioned to stretch from the current location of the driving range of the EagleVail Golf Club up to Allie’s Cabin or Rose Bowl.
The proponents believe they had been backed up by Vail Resorts about this lift idea in 2016. A chairlift has been discussed in EagleVail since its inception in the ‘60s.
Even before Beaver Creek was built, there was a plan considered to connect EagleVail with the old Meadow Mountain Ski Area.
Warner said he received a bid for U$D 5.2 million from a lift company to build a 11,250-foot-long lift from the driving range to Rose Bowl. People favouring this envisioned asking voters to get an additional sales tax or using revenue from the tax passed in 2018 to finance the construction and operation of the lift.
The proposed EagleVail lift alignment. The EagleVail chairlift to Beaver Creek was not accepted by the Forest Service.
The Property Owners Association board’s members came to a Metro District meeting in April asking the Metro Board for its blessing to conduct a U$D 15,000 study that would examine if there were ‘fatal flaws’ in the lift plan.
But then the Members of the Metro District suggested to just reach out to the Forest Service and Vail Resorts to see if they support the concept, and the answer was a resounding “no.”
Protection of wildlife, mainly the elk herd.
Mayville wrote in the May 4 email that ‘the entire hillside above EagleVail is an ‘elk refuge’ of sorts – when Beaver Creek was built, (a memorandum of understanding) was signed between the Forest Service, Division of Wildlife, Vail Associates, and others to set aside the area for the protection of wildlife (mainly the elk herd).”
Our summer in the mountains – one week in Courmayeur.
Since I first went to Courmayeur, having stopped there for breakfast, on our way home from our annual ski week in Pila, driving through the scenic SS26, I fall in love with the place. When we were coming up, just after coming out the Mont Blanc tunnel, you see the gondolas and the tram on top of the route, plus the town with all its buildings very prettily aligned around the route and I knew I wanted to check it out! Being working in the ski biz for almost all my life, before moving to the UK (in the US/Canada and Argentina/Chile), I knew about Courmayeur as a name, but I have not visited many ski areas outside America.
Summer in the mountains? Why not? The look from Plan Chécrouit in Courmayeur. Photo: The-Ski-Guru. Our summer in the mountains – one week in Courmayeur.
Of all places in our first family ski holiday in Europe, we’ve finished in Ollomont – a small ski ‘field’ – I would say, in the end of the road where mountaineers go to ice climb – but I will write more of this in another post.
But back now to Courmayeur. Since our first breakfast there, we had a second one on the following trip with my friend Claudine from the Tourist Office of Courmayeur and her baby – and then again we’ve been up the Skyway coming back from Lago di Como, and finally we’ve stayed for some nights in winter for two years now – and managed to ski the mountain! First time only one day and the last time, for two (even though my knee was not up for skiing!).
But last summer, I’ve convinced my husband to go at least one week during our summer holidays. I would love to uproot my family there, (to the answers of my husband of what will I do, I don’t speak the language – and me telling him to just learn it!) I wanted to stay in the summer, to see how it is life in Courma in the summer. I’ve been in the fall, seeing at all the hotels – for my Must-Read Guide to Courmayeur. Even many hotels were closed, they’ve opened them to me, and I could see them while many of the maintenance and upgrades were taking place.
SBIT stands for Seasonal Business in Travel. It is a membership organisation of 200 outbound British travel and service companies operating throughout the summer and winter holiday seasons. All members are SMEs and British businesses, not multinationals. Every company shares a common business model: they are highly seasonal so either specialise in winter or summer holidays and their business depend on being able to seamlessly move their temporary UK staff between countries in the EU in order to service their customers during periods of peak demand.
Zenith Holidays, another one of the members of SBIT. SBIT is fighting back Brexit – you can help too! Photo: Ax 3 Domaines.
The Organisation’s Aim
The aim is to protect 25,000 British jobs in their sector and to keep on giving value and choice to the British holidaymakers.
By raising awareness of the threats presented by Brexit, especially a no-deal Brexit, their aim is to ensure that policy makers on both sides of the channel take into account the value UK businesses deliver to EU resorts and destinations and to ensure that they put in place appropriate measures to support their mutual economic benefits – should Brexit in any form go ahead.
Book your Eurostar Ski Train as soon as it goes on sale on Wednesday 17th July 2019
It is very civilised arriving to the slopes by train, if you can do it. This is not only for us living in Britain, but whoever is planning to ski in the Alps and might want to also come and stay in London for some days before or after.
As per Daniel Elkan, Snowcarbon Founder, who is always monitoring what is going on with the sale of the Eurostar Ski Train and the combined Eurostar to Paris with connections to the French trains to get to some of the French Ski Resorts, you need to be vigilant, as the Eurostar Ski Train goes on sale at 8am on Wednesday 17th July 2019.
Book your Eurostar Ski Train as soon as it goes on sale on Wednesday 17th July 2019
There is a daytime and an overnight Eurostar Ski Train.
The Daytime train travels from London to the French Alps- The first outbound train departs on Saturday 21st 2019 and the final one on Saturday 4th April 2020.
Coming back from the French Alps the first train is on Saturday 28th December 2019 and last inbound daytime train is on Saturday 11th April 2020.
Overnight travel dates are the following:
From London to the French Alps:
First train outbound is on Friday 20th December 2019.
Last train outbound is on Friday 3rd April 2020.
From the French Alps inbound into London:
The first overnight returning train is Saturday 28th December 2019.
The final overnight returning train is on Saturday 11th April 2020.
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