Ski Blog | Self-Catered Holidays
END OF SEASON REVIEW - 30 April 2012
So most resorts are now closed for the winter and nearly all still have snow - what a season it has been!! Arguably the best in living memory!
How was this possible when the press who always love a negative story were writing doom and gloom stories about no snow at the beginning of December?
Fortunately the weather doesn’t read the press and nor do we! We ignored them and got on with skiing and organising holidays across the Alps and were lucky enough to get in plenty of skiing ourselves.
We here at Altitude skied Courchevel, Le Grand Massif (Flaine, Les Carroz, Samoens, Morillon), Morzine & Avoriaz in France and in Italy the Monterosa (Champuloc, Alagna & Gressoney) and all in amazing snow conditions from the powder of Courchevel at Christmas through to the spring snow in April!
The snow was amazing we had some great adventures including a very scary 50m abseil, watching friends jump off snow covered roofs and of course skiing some great runs both on and off piste!
Whilst we should remember the good times we can’t forget the sad news through the season the coach accident carrying children back from a ski holiday, the tragic loss of life in the Belgian coach accident, Sheffield Ski village burning down, the sad loss of life in accidents through the season all reminders that we should make the most of every minute we have on the slopes!
Hope you had some magical moments on the slopes this last winter – have a great summer!
And if you have snow withdrawl symptoms you can always check out our Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts!
Our First Blog….Is it Going to Snow?
What’s the seaweed you having hanging on your back gate telling you?
The berries are plentiful, the onion skins are thicker, the marmottes are doing something or other and so that means that another winter is on the way!
We were wearing shorts & t-shirts just a couple of weeks ago in record temperatures for October and now there is snow down to 1300m this weekend!
Who knows what is going to happen this coming winter – last winter started with record snow falls at the end of November. Altitude’s first day skiing was on Saturday 4th December – it was an amazing powder day! I was heard to shout more than once that day something on the lines of “WOOO HOOO! If this is what Verbier has to offer bring it on!!” It was going to be a fantastic ski season!
Hmmm.....Except it wasn’t!!
After Christmas there was a serious lack of snow across most of the Alps through the rest of the season and that powder day turned into one of only two truly great days for me – the other for the record was on March 12th.
Oh well, we had three good seasons before this one, so a ratio of one not so good season to three good isn’t so bad!
Altitude was based in Verbier last winter and was fortunate to ski the legendary resorts of St Anton, Zermatt and Chamonix as well as La Plagne, Le Grand Massif and Les Portes du Soleil.
This year we hope to ski more resorts visit more chalets, speak to more owners and holiday makers and hopefully over the next five months or so we can give you some idea of what it is like working in a ski resort, some helpful tips on how to book the best ski holidays, information about ski & snowboard equipment, updates on ski resorts, reports on great day trips, amazing powder days and more.
So with the first ski magazines arriving on my door mat, the nights drawing in and the ski show in just a couple of weeks I’m off to look at the berries, the onion skins and the Marmottes of West Sussex to see if we are going to have a great season. I can't wait!