World Cup – Alpine Winter Sports

27/09/201927/09/2019

SKI Club Awards

The Ski Club of Great Britain’s Industry Awards took place last night at the Sea Containers Hotel in London, celebrating achievements in the ski industry and providing a wonderful opportunity to mingle and enjoy the after-awards party.

Chemmy Alcott – former World Cup alpine ski racer and Honorary President of the Ski Club of Great Britain – hosted the evening, whilst Ian Holt, the Ski Club of Great Britain’s new Chief Executive, co-presented the awards. Winners were voted for by Ski Club members or were determined by Net Promoter Score, a type of satisfaction survey.

The award winners for 2019 are:

Best Tour Operator or Travel Agent: Ski Safari
Best European Resort: Wengen
Best Rest of World Resort: Whistler
Best Retailer or Equipment Store: SportPursuit
Best Airline: British Airways
Best British Airport: Edinburgh
Best GB Snowsport Male Athlete: Dave Ryding
Best GB Snowsport Female Athlete: Jaz Taylor

In all categories there were a couple of additional commendations awarded. For airports, Bristol and Manchester joined Edinburgh, whilst our favourite airlines after BA were Swiss and Easyjet. I have some reservations about celebrating airports and airlines given their environmental impact, so I think it was a shame there were no awards celebrating contribution to the environment, but perhaps there will be next year.

The top three resorts were Wengen, Val d’Isère and Zermatt.

05/12/201805/12/2018

The ski season has started

Les Dents du Midi
The ski season in the Northern Hemisphere has well and truly started, but the snowline has retreated in recent days as warmer weather hit the Alps. Most of the resorts with skiing and snowboarding on glaciers have opened. Verbier, open at weekends to date will be fully open from this weekend.

The weather has caused havoc with the winter sports schedule, with a number of World Cup events re-scheduled. However the higher resorts are gradually opening, and colder conditions and snowfall are due this week. Les Diablerets, for example, is currently enjoying temperatures around 10 degrees Celcius, but will be below freezing by next Monday.

The World Meteorological Organisation says there is a 70% chance of El Niño developing for the ski season this year. If so, it will almost certainly bring colder temperatures and more snowfall than normal to the Alps.

For those looking ahead to Christmas, ski conditions look promising. Zermatt, for example, will see fresh snowfall most days ahead of the Christmas break.

10/02/2016

Pirmin Zurbriggen Switzerland’s Greatest Skier

When I was a younger skier, glued to the BBC’s BBC Ski Sunday for its dreadfully short season, the most successful ski racer of the time was Pirmin Zurbriggen, He seemed unstoppable and almost single-handed kept the Austrian challenge at bay. He retired at the peak of his career aged 27 to return to his roots in Saastal, in German-speaking Wallis/Valais.
Saastal
During his career he won he won four World Cup titles, an Olympic gold medal and 9 World Championship medals. Who knows what else he would have won if he had continued.

I know his family runs a hotel in his home town and rumour has it that if you stay there you have a chance to explore the local slopes with the great man. Anyway, the reason I bring him up is that there is an interview with him at Powder magazine, including some footage of him racing.

10/06/201510/06/2015

FIS Ski World Cup Calendar 2015-16

Despite all the controversy over the football world cup, the men’s Alpine world cup schedule for 2015-16 was announced in Bulgaria last week by the International Ski Federation (FIS) without a whiff of controversy. Indeed the mood was celebratory as the 50th birthday of the FIS World Cup was announced with 24 venues and 47 events.

Sölden hosts the first races on 25th October, with all the classic ski races in the New Year, starting with Adelboden on 9th January. Wengen, Kitzbühel, Schladming and Garmisch-Partenkirchen follow, then circuits in South Korea and Japan have been added before the schedule reverts to Chamonix.

The World Cup finals round off the season in St. Moritz from March 16-20th – St. Moritz will also be hosting the 2017 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships.