THIS WEEK’S HEADLINES

New Apple Patented Technology Could See Automatically Enforced Speed Limits On Ski Runs
White Pass Expansion Underway
South American Ski Season Kicks Off With Big Snow
Dolomites Declared Natural World Heritage Site
New Environmentally Friendly Plastic Used In Smith Ski Googles
Gastein Plans to Bring Palm Trees to Ski Slopes
WWF Commend Engadin For Environmentally Friendly Ski Event Organisation
Property Prices “Holding Up” in French Alps Reports French Property Developer
Castleford SNO!zone to Support Local Hospice
St Anton Unveils Revamped Ski Museum

New Apple Patented Technology Could See Automatically Enforced Speed Limits On Ski Runs

New patents granted to the Apple Corporation in North America last week include several that have implications for recreational winter sports men and women, as well as professional.

One clever new piece of kits allows for wireless heart rate monitoring and notification to resort medical crews if a skier goes in to cardiac arrest or has other medical events on the slopes.

Another will allow for smart lift tickets to be published that include GPS technology and allow for the live tracking of all ticket holders on the mountain, including the speeds at which they are travelling.

One resulting application of the technology would allow resorts to set speed limits on all or some pistes and to know who transgressors are and fine them are confiscate lift tickets, without needing them, to be seen and physically tracked down by ski patrollers.

It is not clear if the technology will advise skiers how fast they are moving to enable them to avoid breaking speed limits.

White Pass Expansion Underway

Work is underway at White Pass ski area in Washington state to expand the ski area over the coming two seasons.

One of the few new lift projects currently underway in North America, and one of the still rarer terrain expansions, is scheduled to be completed for winter 2010-2011 and will see two new quad chairlifts installed to open up the Hogback Basin area.

The new lifts will include Chairlift 5, a fixed grip quad chairlift approximately 3,500 feet in length with a top terminal elevation of 6,150’.  Chairlift 5 will open up include four new ski trails and one lodge access trail along with an access trail from the existing Holiday Trail and an egress trail to the existing Quail Trail.

The second new chair, Chairlift 6, will be a detachable quad chairlift approximately 4,050 feet in length with a top terminal elevation of 6,460’.  Chairlift 6 will access seven new trails and an egress trail to the mid-mountain lodge and onto the existing Quail Trail.

All developed and undeveloped trails and facilities are in a sub-alpine area of naturally open vegetative terrain necessitating very little tree removal and almost no ground disturbance according to the ski area.

A new Mid-Mountain Lodge will be located on a slight ridgeline between chairlifts 5 & 6.  This structure is seen by the area as a critical component in the development of the basin, by allowing the White Pass guest to enjoy the two upper chairlifts without returning to the base area for services.  The footprint of the structure is planned to be approximately 2,000 sq. ft. with two levels.

South American Ski Season Kicks Off With Big Snow

Heavy snowfall in  South America, reportedly measuring over two metres at some resorts, has led to most of the continents 30 or so ski areas in Argentina and Chile opening over the past week.

Las Lenas in Argentina has reported over seven feet (two metres) of snow on upper slopes and Portillo in Chile says it has 145cm (just under five feet) of snow on upper slopes and 70cm (28 inches) in resort.

Children will enjoy Portillo’s new magic carpet surface lift this season, making learning to ski and snowboard even more fun. The lift is located on the Escuela Tres run and is 80 metres long.

Other improvements include 500 pairs of new skis and improvements to the popular Portillo hotel swimming pool which has been updated with extra jets and a mini waterfall.

Dolomites Declared Natural World Heritage Site

The stunning Italian Dolomite mountains have been declared a Natural World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

The organisation made their decision at a meeting in Seville, Spain, on June 26^th.  The concluding report of the IUCN’s international commission of experts, judged the Dolomites, with their particular geological, botanical and scenic qualities, to be unique in the world.

“The Dolomites now officially belong to the most beautiful mountains in the world.” said a statement from the Dolomiti Superski organisation which operates nearly 500 ski lifts in the mountains in winter, covering one of the world’s largest ski pass areas with up to 1,200klm (750 miles) of runs open on one ticket.

Rising from the depths of the primordial ocean 250 million years ago, the Dolomites were shaped by the relentless effects of water, wind and ice. Named after the geologist who first studied them, Déodat de Dolomieu, and protected by numerous national parks, the Dolomites rise to an altitude of more than 3,000 m.

The best known peaks, such as Marmolada (3,342 m), Tofana di Rozes (3,225 m), Sassolungo (3,181 m), Three Peaks of Lavaredo (2,999 m), Mount Pelmo (3,169 m) and the Pale di San Martino (3,192 m) are the centre pieces of one of the most charming mountain landscapes on the planet.

“The Dolomites are not the highest mountains in the world, but they are the most beautiful,” commented one mountaineer.

To make the most of the scenery the Dolomiti Superski management recommend visitors take a ride with the cable car to the Sass Pordoi (2.950 m), the Lagazuoi (2.800 m) or the Marmolada (3.342 m) and enjoy the extraordinary beauty of this winter-landscape.

Every evening the “pale mountains” dress their peaks in fiery red, turning to dark violet. A colour show called “Enrosadira”, which due to the special qualities of the Dolomitic rocks can be seen only in these mountains.

“Are you craving for it? Cheer up, soon we have winter!” said the Dolomiti Superski statement.

New Environmentally Friendly Plastic Used In Smith Ski Googles

A product called Pearlthane® ECO is being used for the first time in ski goggles from Smith Optics.

The new plastic, manufactured by a company called Merquinsa, uses renewable-sourced materials in the make up of its, “Bio Thermoplastic Polyurethane Elastomers” (Bio TPU), and is used in Smith’s new Evolve collection of goggles.

Pearlthane® ECO are made up of up to 90% renewably sourced and recyclable materials with properties very similar to traditional petrochemically-based products, thus contributing to global warming reduction.

According to an independent preliminary life cycle analysis, manufacturing Pearlthane® ECO contributes up to 40% less global warming emissions.

In a statement, Smith Optics said they had chosen Pearlthane® ECO because of… “its environmental benefits and due to its outstanding set of performance features, such as flexibility at low temperatures, robustness and ease of processing.”

“At Smith Optics we understand that the products we make directly affect our environment. There has been a contradictory or dichotomous relationship in our industry between how we produce our products and how we live our lives and enjoy our sports. We as a company pride ourselves on making products that help people enjoy the outdoors and those products need to be created in a manner that is as environmentally friendly as possible. Finding Merquinsa’s Pearlthane ECO material has been the most dramatic step we have been able to take toward our goals,” said Smith’s Senior Product Manager, Ben Flandro.

The renewable-based content of the Bio TPU used in Smith Optics’ ski goggles is officially certified as 44%.

Smith products are sold in more than 50 countries through sporting goods and specialty stores.

Gastein Plans to Bring Palm Trees to Ski Slopes

Bad Gastein’s lift company, Gasteiner Bergbahnen, has announced a special event next Easter – time; ‛Palms on Alms’.

The event, on 28th March 2010, will see 50 genuine palm trees ‘planted’ high up in the mountains at Sportgastein as the centre piece of the tropically themed celebrations.

“Perfect conditions on the slopes, lots of sunshine and– that is sunshine skiing with true Caribbean feeling. The green, exotic plants against a background of blue sky and white snow in Sportgastein’s alpine skiing region are a sight you don’t see every day.” Said a lift company spokesman.

Cocktails and music should make the sunny ‛Palms on Alms’ atmosphere enjoyable for all.

WWF Commend Engadin For Environmentally Friendly Ski Event Organisation

The Swiss branch of the WWF has given a positive report on the annual ski marathon in the Engadin region around St Moritz, which is one of the country’s larger sporting events, attracting thousands of competitors.

A newly released WWF Report on the efforts of major Swiss sporting events to be environmentally friendly says that the Engadin Marathon makes a concerted effort to reduce its environmental impact, by encouraging participants to use public transport to reach the area, using power from renewable sources at the event, providing bio-degradable containers for food, and bio foods among other initiatives.

Property Prices “Holding Up” in French Alps Reports French Property Developer

The London office of leading French Alpine developer The MGM Group has reported that it’s sales are  holding up in the current tough property market. Describing results as, “slightly down” on last year’s figures, the group has none-the-less surpassed its sales target for the five-month winter season.

MGM’s London-based sales consultant Richard Deans says the company achieved more than 200 off-plan sales of ski properties without having to reduce prices by more than five to ten per cent.

“Within eight weeks of announcing plans for 40 new ski-in, ski-out homes in Les Arcs, we had sold one-third of the properties to British and French investors,” he said. “At Bisanne 1500, half of the 12 apartments in our proposed new development Le Chalet Ameria also were sold off-plan. Such immediate interest remains typical, despite market conditions, with off-plan sales continuing to be achieved as much as a year ahead of the completion of new developments.”

This is the norm for MGM so, when it started the year by announcing that it is to build 12 new apartments at Les Saisies, buyers snapped up two of them immediately.

Says Richard: “Buy-to-let investors are favouring leaseback purchases in residences de tourisme because they can offer guaranteed returns of five per cent – rather more than the interest being offered on bank deposits currently. Furthermore investors in leaseback properties can off-set their rental income against tax – a benefit not available when letting a property bought outright.

“UK buyer interest in property in the French Alps remains strong despite the poor exchange rates. They have had some effect on the market but the calibre of MGM’s schemes means that we have continued to sell properties throughout the downturn and we are confident about our long-term future.”

Richard says MGM is looking beyond the gloom of the current year and that is why, having sold off-plan more than half of the properties planned within its latest residential scheme in Annecy – the historic lakeside town in the foothills of the Alps – the company has brought forward the start date for building work on the site where 18 new homes are being constructed a few minutes walk from the town centre.

Buoyed by the success of sales and the progress on construction work which means that five of its brand new residences de tourisme will open for business prior to Christmas this year, MGM is preparing to announce plans for four more new developments which it expects to start building in the French Alps early next year. They will be in St Martin de Belleville, Bisanne and Alpe d’Huez. The company also will build what it describes as ‘a new generation of affordable ski properties’ in Val Cenis, a new region for MGM.

The five new residences opening in December include Les Chalets de Jouvence at Les Carroz d’Araches, Le Telemark at Tignes le Lac and Le Coeur d’Or in Bourg St Maurice. The others are La Reine des Pres in Samoens and Le Hameau du Rocher Blanc in Serre Chevalier.

A few properties are still available sale in each of these residences as well as MGM schemes currently under construction in Les Arcs as well as Bisanne 1500, a small hamlet six kilometres from the family-friendly resort of Les Saisies where Le Chalet Ameria comprises 12 apartments for outright purchase, and in Annecy where La Villa d’Artagnan is a contemporary-style development of 18 new homes less than one minute’s walk from the shore of Lake Annecy. They range in size from a one-bedroom apartment priced at €388,000 to a four-bedroom duplex property on sale at €1,211,000. Prices include under-floor heating, an underground garage and cellar storage space.

www. mgm-constructeur.com

Castleford SNO!zone to Support Local Hospice

This summer the SNO!zone in Castleford Xscape will be encouraging people to support the Prince of Wales Hospice when they provide a full day of entertainment in aid of the charity.

The indoor snow slope at Castleford is hoping to raise lots of money on the 18th July with a new event, LIVEZONE, where everyone will be entertained from 12noon until the evening.

The day long festival of fun and music will include a Battle of the Bands in association with Marshall Amplifiers, live from 7pm with a host of local bands battling it out to win a slot at the Limetree Festival.

Fran Hennessy, Events Co-ordinator for SNO!zone said: “We are really looking forward to the event in July, we have been working with the cheerleaders, the Wildcat Dolls, from Wakefield Wildcats who will be holding one hour streetdance workshops for free throughout the day.

“There will be something for everyone from circus skills workshops, facepainters, stalls, giant games to treasure hunts. We are hoping to raise lots of money for the Hospice and really want people to get behind the event as it is amazing to see the excellent work that the Hospice do.”

Mandy Mefcalfe, Events and Community Fundraiser for The Prince of Wales Hospice said, “It is great that SNO!zone are holding this event with the aim to raise money for the Hospice. We rely heavily on the support of local people and are really looking forward to the event.”

Entry to the event is free, although there is a £2 suggested entry fee in place. Collection buckets will be going around all day for people to donate as they wish and help the Hospice raise the vital funding needed.

www.snozoneuk.com

St Anton Unveils Revamped Ski Museum

Often referred to as, “The cradle of alpine skiing,” St Anton am Arlberg’s famous ski and history museum is an important historical record of more than a century of Alpine skiing.

Now the newly renovated museum in the famous ski village presents a new face to the many interesting facts about past times in the Arlberg and the history of winter sports.

The history of skiing, culture and customs as well as the development of tourism is displayed at each individual station.

Summer visitors will find  admission to the museum and restaurant (open in the summer from Tuesday to Sunday) is free with the Summer Active Card.

www.museum-restaurant.at