Monday, 13 October, 2008
Changing face of the alps
Climate change may not just been less snow, it could completely reconfigure some off piste and back-country routes. Typical is glaciated terrain above 2500 meters. The North Face of the Grande Motte is a popular off piste route in the ski resort of Tignes. At around 6.30pm on the 17th of September members of the piste patrol and other resort staff who were preparing the area for the new season were surprised by an enormous serac collapse.
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Sunday, 12 October, 2008
Courts, climate change and credit crunch hit ski resorts
It is not just les Houches that is having problems for the 2008/9 season. The Col de Porte near Grenoble is involved in a legal dispute which may keep the lifts closed for another season. The Col de Porte is credited with having the first drag lift in France, built in the mid 1930s and was a favourite with skiers from Grenoble who, once upon a time, would cycle up to the resort on a Sunday with skis strapped to their bikes. Although not large, the area offers a popular floodlit funpark and is an excellent place to learn. It also has a great snow record.
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Thursday, 02 October, 2008
Avalanche Days 2008
The French National Association for the Study of Snow and Avalanches is going on the road again with its series of 1 day conferences on snow safety. From November to January the “Avalanche Days” will visit Lyon, Annecy, Romans and Nice.
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Tuesday, 23 September, 2008
Les Houches to remain closed for the 08/09 Season?
The contracts to run the ski domain of both SEPP (Bellevue lift) and the LHSG company that runs the Prarion lift (Compagnie du Mont Blanc + Cachat family) have been recommended to be cancelled by the government commission at the tribunal of Grenoble, potentially making it legally impossible to open Les Houches for skiing this winter.
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Briançon on the brink
At 1326 meters Briançon can boast to being the highest ski town in France. When the municipality invested 38 million euros in a gondola lift to link the center with the ski area of Prorel and the vast ski domain of Serre Chevalier the locals dreamt of riches brought by the white gold of the ski industry. It was a dream that looks like turning into a nightmare as the town is faced with bankruptcy.
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Friday, 05 September, 2008
Karine Ruby trains to be mountain guide
The Chamonix based ENSA has just announce the 46 new traininee guides for France. Amongst the list of names on the ENSA website is Karine Ruby. Karine won Olympic gold for snowboarding at Nagano in 1998. The first time this event had been included in the Winter Olympics. She topped it up with silver in Salt Lake four years later. Now retired from competitive snowboarding following injuries in a boarder cross event she won won six world titles during her career.
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Holiski resorts angry with the CdA
The relationship between local communities and the ski areas run by the mighty Compagnie des Alpes has not been great over the last few years with resorts accusing the CdA of favouring well heeled guests and is tight fisted with investments and lift pass receipts. The CdA has countered that it invests heavily in the ski areas it runs and is operating in a very competitive global market. Resorts were further angered by the introduction of the Carte Skier Fréquent pass last season. Mayors claimed the lift pass would homogenize ski resorts.
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Sunday, 24 August, 2008
Mont Blanc avalanche, little hope for 8 climbers
Rescue services in Chamonix have said there is little hope of finding eight missing climbers, buried by an avalanche on Mont Blanc early today, alive. Two missing Italians checked in with the authorities when they returned to the valley.
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Wednesday, 30 July, 2008
New off piste operator for Chamonix in 2008/9
If you were wondering how to start or improve you off piste skiing skills or get into backcountry skiing you may be interested to know that the British Alpine Ski School based in Chamonix is launching a programme of off piste, backcountry and performance courses for next winter. The courses will be run in partnership with other local providers.
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Monday, 07 July, 2008
Avalanche cords make a come-back
A new avalanche safety system is about to be launched onto the market. Called the “Flash Avalanche” the system is a development of the avalanche cords used by ski tourers before the widespread adoption of avalanche beacons. The main advantage is that is consists of four cords which are only deployed in the event of a slide. Aimed at off piste skiers the Flash Avalanche will sell for 55 euros.
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