News – Page 7 – Alpine Winter Sports

15/09/201404/10/2014

Winter Ski Deals in Graubünden

I am a great fan of the winter sports resorts in Graubünden, and will be spending the Christmas period in the canton. It is probably the most complete ski and snowboard destination in the world, but it caters well for ever type of visitor – including the budget conscious.

This season Graubünden once again has a range of excellent deals. The season starts on 18th October 2014 on the Diavolezza in the Engadine, which celebrates 150 years of winter tourism. On 22nd November, Corvatsch and Corviglia in St Moritz open. Progressively other resorts open, with Arosa, Samnaun, Flims Laax Falera and Davos Klosters opening in November.

A great deal for getting there is the Rhaetian Railway (RhB) offer, “Railhit 2 for 1” in which two people travelling together from Monday to Thursday only pay for one if they are hotel guests or in self-catering accommodation. The offer lasts from 8th December 2014 to 10th April 2014. RailHit is not valid on a handful of special services, including the pass associated with using the Preda-Bergün sledging slope.

For 35 SFr per person per day for visits of at least two nights, a ski pass is included with accommodation at participating hotels in and around St Moritz.

Arosa once again features the “Ski School Included” for youngsters staying in the resort, whereby lessons are available at no charge.

Now linked to Arosa, Lenzerheide gives you a free lift pass if you book a stay at any time between 28th of November to the 20th December.

Up until 21st December 2014 you also get a complimentary ski pass for slopes in Davos Klosters for every overnight stay in a partner hotel in the area. From 20th December until 6th April the resorts are also offering a local insider to accompany you and show you the best of the mountains. Remember also that Ski Club of Great Britain members still can ski or snowboard for free with a Ski Club representative.

More details on these and other offers are posted at the Graubünden Tourism website.

There are also the usual range of budget options if you are going to Graubunden, with some excellent hostels and budget hotels. Check out the Winter Sports Accommodation Guide.

06/09/201406/09/2014

French say Non to ski guides

English skiers and snowboarders who have enjoyed the company of a Ski Club or travel company guide in France will need to go elsewhere this winter unless a French court ruling is reversed. But this is France and the canny French authorities rarely pass up an opportunity to undermine the spirit of the Entente Cordiale if it means protecting French jobs – just a shame the French government shows so little disdain for creating them in the first place.
SCGB reps often found in the larger resorts like Saas-Fee. This picture was taken in the company of one such rep, from nearby Saas-Grund.
The problem in a nutshell is that the French courts have stipulated that leaders of organised groups must be suitably qualified. What that means for Dad organising a package and taking the little ones for a day on the pistes, or for groups of friends hitting the slopes together, I don’t know, but I do know that all those weeks of training that Ski Club of Great Britain reps get is clearly not of French quality.

Which is a pity, because I often enjoy joining a rep for a day on the slopes and have discovered some useful tips from so doing. And the good news is you can still do it in Switzerland and other Alpine nations. For Switzerland, check out Swiss Winter Sports, where there are bags of insider tips.

01/09/201401/09/2014

Swiss Minimum Wage Frightens Tour Operators

The Daily Torygraph finds socialism even in enclaves of the wealthy, where the Swiss have decided that people working in Switzerland should comply with local Swiss labour laws – and that includes the minimum wage.

Parsimonious UK tour operators have baulked at paying so much as the minimum wage such that some have pulled out of letting chalets in the country altogether.

You can read all about it here.

TOP TIP: Look out for some good chalet deals.

01/09/201401/09/2014

Vind je het leuk om te gaan skiën?

Well, if you understand that title, you probably would be interested to hear that our companion web site, Swiss Winter Sports, is now available in Dutch at www.SwissWinterSports.nl. I toyed with calling it the more vernacular “Zwitserse Wintersport”, but decided to stick with the same branding as far as possible.

The site features both the NL suffix and Dutch language text. It also has road distances from the Netherlands and content on the top bar specifically targetted for Dutch winter sports enthusiasts. Some of the minor resorts on the English-language site have been dropped to keep a focus, as it is unlikely somebody planning a visit to Switzerland from Holland would be interested in a resort with just a couple of surface lifts. The site is a work in progress and the translations are largely machine-generated, so I would be interested in finding a native Dutch speaker to review the text for me. If you know of somebody, please get them to get in touch with me and quote a price.