zermatt – Page 5 – 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.

19/11/201809/02/2019

World Ski Awards 2018

In 1993 World Media And Events Limited launched the World Travel Awards and, buoyed by the success of this, launched the World Ski Awards in 2013. It’s only a bit of fun, although I am sure it brings business not only to the organisers but also the award winners. The approach is straightforward: votes are cast online by professionals working within the ski industry, and by ski tourism consumers, at the World Ski Awards website.
World Ski Awards 2018
Every year the awards are associated with a three day networking event, culminating in the awards ceremony, this year held in Kitzbühel over 16th-18th November. World’s Best Winners for 2018 included:

As well as awards for the best in the world, there are also country awards, with votes for the best ski resort in Switzerland going to Verbier.
Verbier from SwissWinterSports

01/08/2018

Missing skier identified

The retreating glaciers in the Alps have unearthed (uniced?) a number of bodies in recent years, but one unidentified skier whose body was discovered near Zermatt in 2005 has recently been identified via social media. Henri Le Masne, born in 1919, went missing after skiing in a storm near the Matterhorn in 1954. The Aosta valley prosecutor had been unsuccessful identifying the corpse so he posted his findings on his Facebook page, and the story made it onto French radio where a niece of the deceased guessed it might be her uncle. Belongings matched and DNA confirmed Henri’s identity.

Roger Le Masne, Henri’s 94yo younger brother said in an email made available to the police: “I am the brother of Henri Le Masne … who is likely the skier who disappeared 64 years ago. He was a bachelor and quite independent. He worked in the finance ministry in Paris”.