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Friday, 30 November, 2007

Black Diamond Skis 2008

Black Diamond have been in the ski market for a couple of years now. Their skis were originally manufactured by Atomic in Austria but they have moved production to their own factory in China. This has given the company more control over construction and allowed it to expand the product line to ten skis catering for alpine, randonnee and telemark skis. The twin tips could also do a tour in the park. The emphasis is on perrformance, surface area and relatively light weight. Julia from Black Diamond Europe showed us the range of mens and women’s skis.

Posted by davidof at 12:40 AM
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Wednesday, 28 November, 2007

Henry’s Avalanche Talk in Val d’Isere this Saturday

As some of you will know the first weekend of December is the traditional opening date for Val d’Isere. Although the Foehn and Lombard winds have had a bad effect on the November snow Meteo France is predicting a storm for the week-end with lots of fresh snow. It is certainly cold enough with temperatures well below freezing.

Posted by chrisradford at 11:57 PM
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Henry’s Avalanche Talk launches new information services

Henry’s Avalanche Talk, launches new information services to help you stay safe and have fun out on the snow. HAT (Henry’s Avalanche Talk) have completely revamped their web based information services. In addition to the weekly ezine, there are now 4 new blog sites.

Posted by chrisradford at 11:54 PM
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Monday, 26 November, 2007

Salomon turns 60

We will probably all be content to make our sixtieth although there will be the inevitable feeling that our glory days lie somewhere behind us. It seems that way for Salomon, once one of the powerhouses of ski equipment design.

salomon advert 1965
“Your guardian angel”, Salomon advert circa 1965

Posted by davidof at 10:48 PM
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Thursday, 22 November, 2007

You dig, or you die!

January 2004, the temperature was - 7 °C and winds were blowing at 100 km/h. Not a place you’d put a dog out let alone a group of trainee soldiers from hot African countries. In the bitter cold of the 2600 Restefond pass in the Southern Alps the order was given: “dig or die”. Two officers perished in the storm and another two were rescued “in-extremis”, one in a hypodermic coma. Three officers were before the military division of the Marseille criminal court this week accused of manslaughter and breaching health and safety regulations.

Posted by davidof at 09:29 AM
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Are Southern Alps ski resorts ready for winter?

Last week we covered the drought in the south of France and how this may affect ski resorts over the winter. While the Northern Alpes have had a snowy start to the ski season, some resorts opened earlier than normal, the situation further south is more worrying. There was fresh snowfall at the end of October but temperatures have since been high. The col d’Agnel (2630m) has 25cm of snow on the ground, 15cm fell over the last 24 hours but further south at the Col de Restefond there is barely 10cm and the zero isotherm is around 2700 meters. The situation regarding water stocks looks better but two clouds hang over the ski resorts of Céüze near Gap and the Val d’Allos.

Posted by davidof at 12:27 AM
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Monday, 19 November, 2007

Record breaker for les 7 Laux

After last season’s poor winter with a loss of over 600,000 euros mid-mountain ski resorts have been looking skywards with some trepidation over the last few weeks. The storm which has blasted Austria and Switzerland, dumping around a meter of snow in 24 hours in Davos, finally ground its way south into the French Alpes. Although it had lost some of its early force it still managed to leave 50cm of snow at the top of the pistes of les 7 Laux in the Isere department. Enough to give the piste director the seemingly crazy idea of opening his ski resort in mid-November.

les 7 laux opening day 2007

Posted by davidof at 06:59 PM
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Thursday, 15 November, 2007

French ski resorts race to open

With fresh snow covering the Vosges, Jura and Northern Alpes, French ski resorts are racing to get their ski areas opened. Here is round-up of the current situation. The greatest quantities of snow, around 40cm fell in the pre-alpes and at mid altitudes – around 1500 to 2000m.

december snow
Early season snow is a bonus for ski tourers

Posted by davidof at 09:53 AM
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Zag is back

It looked like game over last Autumn for the Bourg St Maurice ski company with their original designs. The company had been doing well with 2000 pairs of skis sold per annum however they faced a funding gap after the withdrawal of one of their shareholders. They maybe did well to miss the miserable 2006-7 winter. The company was refinanced by their Pyrenean rider Franck Bernes-Heuga but keeps their shaper Stéphane ’ZAG’ Radiguet on the team. We caught up with Steph at the Mondial.

Posted by davidof at 07:12 AM
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Tuesday, 13 November, 2007

‘Cham’, The Beach on Ice!

After the success of ‘Boy A’, which has just been made into a film, Jonathan Trigell’s second novel ‘Cham’ is about the quest for powder and forgiveness in Chamonix Mont Blanc.