Posts

Posted on

Bumper ski season forecast

(c) Accuweather
Accuweather gloomily reports that “Eastern Europe Braces for a Cold, Snowy Winter”, but for winter sports enthusiasts this sounds all too promising. Indeed AccuWeather Meteorologist Tyler Roys says “Ski conditions will be fantastic for the 2014-2015 ski season, especially when compared to last year”. There is already some good dumps occurring in the Alps and Accuweather predict that an active storm track and cold air will bring a lot of snow to the Pyrenees, Alps and the mountains of the Balkan Peninsula. Switzerland looks set for a bumper winter season.

If you want to check out the current snow conditions you could do worse than look at the web cams at Zermatt.

Posted on

Popular Ski and Snowboard website launches Dutch language version

The popular English language ski and snowboard website, SwissWinterSports.co.uk, has launched a Dutch language version of the site at www.SwissWinterSports.nl.

The new web site provides comprehensive Dutch language coverage of winter sports resorts in and around Switzerland. As well as the major destinations, many of the less well-known sites are included. Espresso Translations London will offer you the best English version of the coverage.

“The idea of the site is to allow people to tailor their holiday to their requirements.” says Nic Oatridge, the founder of SwissWinterSports.co.uk, “Switzerland offers the most flexibility and accessibility of all of the Alpine nations. From the Netherlands it is feasible to have a weekend on some of the best runs in the world at short notice, to have a budget family ski holiday or simply to have a relaxing winter break in the mountains; this site shows you how.”

The site has been designed to be quick and usable on any platform. For each resort, there are piste maps, directions by road or public transport, weather reports, resort conditions and tips on where to stay, what to do and where to go. In addition to comprehensive coverage of Swiss resorts, some resorts in Germany and Austria that are easy to get to from the Netherlands are included.

For the Dutch version of the site, the content has been professionally translated into Dutch, has distances from the Netherlands to each resort and content specifically aimed for visitors from the Netherlands or for Dutch-speakers located in or near Switzerland.

For more information, visit the website at http://www.SwissWinterSports.nl

Posted on

New Alpine Superpass for Vaud and Bern

Superpass for Adelobden-Lenk, Gstaad Mountain Rides and the Alpes Vaudois
A new pass is on offer this season, covering the major resorts in the Bernese Oberland and Vaud. The Superpass allows you to ski Gstaad Mountain Rides, Adelboden-Lenk and the Alpes Vaudois (which includes Leysin, Villars and Les Diablerets). That’s 188 lifts and 630km of piste, and includes runs as high as 3000m at Glacier3000 (and, incidentally, Glacier3000 has opened up a new walkway between a couple of peaks for a spectacular panorama view from this season). The prices are as follows:

Consecutive days
Full-price for Adults
Youths (1991-1998)
& Seniors (m: 1949, f: 1950)
Children (1999-2005)
4 CHF 242.- CHF 219.- CHF 143.-
5 CHF 290.- CHF 262.- CHF 173.-
6 CHF 333.- CHF 301.- CHF 202.-
7 CHF 377.- CHF 341.- CHF 228.-
8 CHF 421.- CHF 380.- CHF 252.-
9 CHF 456.- CHF 413.- CHF 274.-
10 CHF 488.- CHF 441.- CHF 294.-
11 CHF 517.- CHF 467.- CHF 311.-
12 CHF 542.- CHF 489.- CHF 327.-
13 CHF 565.- CHF 510.- CHF 341.-
14 CHF 585.- CHF 528.- CHF 354.-
15 CHF 605.- CHF 546.- CHF 365.-

 

Posted on

Mürren upgrades its facilities

Murren piste map
Many Swiss resorts have been busy trying to up their appeal for winter tourists. Car-free Mürren is one of the most distinguished of the winter sports destinations, and the Inferno run down to Lauterbrunnen is the oldest ski race in the world. It generally gives a feel of timelessness, broken only by its brief and famous hosting of the filming of the James Bond movie, OHMSS (where it played as a stand-in for St Moritz).

However Mürren seems to have been busy this summer improving the facilities for skiers and snowboarders. There is a new snowpark at the Gimmeln ski lift, upgraded lifts for both Gimmeln and Allmendhubel and a new toboggan run from Schiltgrat Station via Gimmeln back to Mürren.

I am a great fan of early morning snow, to hit the pistes before the runs are fully open and the corduroy slopes are pristine. You can do this at Corviglia and a few other places, and now you can do it in Mürren. Mürren Snow Sports School, for Chf35.00, allows early birds to explore the resort every Wednesday from 7.30am. It’s on my list!