The famous racing pigs of Klosters were back for 2010!

A new year, a new decade and a new snow news roundup. Whatever your interest, we’re sure to have a news story that will tickle your fancy. You like pigs and racing? We have racing pigs. Don’t worry, we’ve also got buckets of ski based knowledge from Turkey, Scotland, Serbia, Whistler and more. Read on to see what’s been happening all over the ski world…

THIS WEEK’S HEADLINES

Turkey Announces 40 New Ski Areas
New iPhone App Guide To 1,000+ Ski Areas Launched
Great Skiing In Scotland
New Year’s Day Pigs Race Again In Klosters
WWF Warn “Ski Area Plans Threaten Europe’s Last Untouched Forests”
Try Something Different In Paradiski
Ski Club Launch ‘Get Covered’ Campaign
Whistler Fits Kids With GPS Tracking On The Slopes
Upgrades At Serbia’s Leading Resort
Where’s Walter?

Turkey Announces 40 New Ski Areas

The number of ski areas in the world may be increasing rather than decreasing with hundreds of new centres having opened in Eastern Europe and in Asia over the past decade.

The latest country to announce a big increase in their ski area count is Turkey, where government ministers announced plans to open up to 40 small ski centres across the mountainous east and south east of the country over the next two years.

Sports Minister Faruk Nafiz Özak announced that the Turkish government plans to promote winter sports for children and to boost socio-economic development in rural areas as part of its democratic initiatives in the region, which borders Iraq and includes areas with a Kurdish majority where sometimes violent conflict has occurred.

Sports Minister Faruk Nafiz Özak is considering projects for encouraging winter sports for kids in eastern and southeastern provinces including Hakkari, Van and Tunceli. He said the projects could contribute to the government’s pursuit of social and legislative reforms as part of its initiative to end the decades-old conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

The first of the 40 planned centres are due to be built on the slopes of the Sümbül Mountain in Hakkari and on Harsi (Ovacık) Mountain in Tunceli. They are expected to be complete by the end of the year and open for the 2010/11 season. More ski areas are reported to be under construction in Turkey’s Ardahan, Van and Ağrı provinces, too. Existing ski centers in Siirt, Muş and Bitlis are being upgraded as part of the programme.

“I find this project very important. The ski centers will boost socio-economic activities fueled by winter tourism in the region,” said Özak told local media

“Skiing is not only a sporting activity, but also affects social and economic life. Skiing is the best option for eastern and southeastern Anatolian provinces that are covered in snow for more than six months a year.”

Despite its reputation with Western European tourists as a sunshine destination, Turkey is one of the world’s most mountainous countries and is home to some of the highest peaks in the region. There is a long skiing history in the country and around 20 ski areas currently operational. A new cable car built by Doppelmayr opened recently to link an Anatolian beach resort with a ski area above. It provides the possibility for a combined ski and sun holiday with the 4/.3km long lift Europe’s longest cable car and the world’s second longest.

New iPhone App Guide To 1,000+ Ski Areas Launched

A new guide to mountain resorts worldwide has been published on the iPhone. The PeakLocation app, published by the team behind the popular PeakLocation.com website, is a guide to both where to go skiing and becomes a companion while you’re there.

The PeakLocation app provides a vast amount of high quality information on winter and summer mountain resorts around the globe. 44 countries are currently covered and there are over a 1,000 locations listed.

As well as a wealth of guidebook style content in your pocket, the PeakLocation app makes use of the iPhones in-built technology to add a new dimension of interactivity for users.

For example you can record your high altitude exploits right on your iPhone by simply opening the PeakLocation App and adding a “high point” and your altitude and location will be stored on the phone.

“Bragging rights in the resort bars will be yours or simply take a screen shot and email it to home to your friends and family.” said PeakLocation’s Rupert Fisher.

For each resort listed the PeakLocation App provides key statistics, details of the nearest airport and often a professionally written review by award-winning veteran ski writer Patrick Thorne.

The newest feature for the App allows users to download live weather information for the majority of the resorts listed.

The App also lists the world’s 50 highest resorts by their height. “PeakLocation App owners can cross check the published heights of resorts and their highest lifts against the height they’re given by the iPhone’s GPS height when they visit the resort,” said Fisher. “It will be interesting to see how these measure up to numbers published by the resorts.”

There’s also a Google map pinpointing a resort and its surrounding area.

“It’s a fantastic time saving feature when you’re in an unfamiliar area or for planning your trip to the mountains!” said Fisher.

PeakLocation App users can mark several of the resorts in the app as “favourites” allowing them to quickly access them from the main menu. App users can mark off places they’ve been to or places they’d like to go. Most resorts feature stunning photography showcasing the mountain town or village and providing colour to the text summary. There are more than a thousand images linked in.

The PeakLocation App is aimed at skiers and snowboarders but will also prove valuable to anyone visiting the mountains in summer or winter. It is available now from the iPhone App store priced £4.99.

“Basically, if you’re interested in the mountains then this app is for you!” concludes Fisher.

Great Skiing In Scotland

CairnGorm Mountain’s head of ski patrol Colin Matthew says Scotland is offering great skiing at present, as he came in from checking the thigh-deep powder snow which has blanketed Scotland’s premier ski resort right over the Christmas and New Year holiday period.

The centre is currently enjoying its best start to the season for 14 years with ever improving conditions since it opened in November.

Over 1000 skiers and snowboarders celebrated New Year’s Day at the resort above Aviemore in the Scottish Highlands by skiing on the mountain although overhead conditions were less attractive than on some recent days with falling snow reducing visibility.

The keenest skiers even spent Hogmanay in the car park at the resort in order to be first onto the slopes; several large campervans were parked there overnight in freezing conditions and falling snow.

By New Year’s Day 16000 skiers have enjoyed the early snow on CairnGorm during 29 days of skiing since the resort first opened this season on 28th November 2009. In the same period last season only 4000 skiers took to the slopes and there were only 16 days on which it was possible to ski.

Spokesman Colin Kirkwood commented: “It is unusual for us to have such deep and persistent snow this early in the season and a real bonus for both our regular skiing customers and the many who are visiting us for the first time with several saying that they have opted to ski here rather than in their usual habitat of the Alps.”

“And with temperatures forecast to remain below freezing for the next week to ten days and more snow due to fall, we are building an excellent base which we should be able to hold onto for some considerable time. This all serves to increase awareness of and interest in skiing in Scotland –and of its rewards and challenges.”

New Year’s Day Pigs Race Again In Klosters

The now annual race between ten lucky piglets rang in the New Year at the famous Swiss resort of Klosters, the favourite of Prince Charles.

“The nippy little animals are intended to bring good luck in live form at the change of the year.” Explained a spokesperson for the resort.

The grand New Year reception traditionally takes place on the afternoon of 1st January on the Bahnhofplatz in Klosters.

Around 2000 local people and guests toast the New Year and exchange good luck wishes.

The New Year’s speech was given by the President of the Local Council, Markus J. Haltiner and entertainment was provided by the popular band Supreme.

The Hotsch Race, this year taking place for the 5th time, is now an indispensable part of the New Year’s Day celebrations. Bets are placed on the speedy little porkers on which will be crowned the “2010 good luck pig.”

Although great fun to watch, race insiders confide that getting pigs to run is an art in itself. The ten young piglets from the local Kessler farm are meticulously trained for the big day by farmer Kessler.

WWF Warn “Ski Area Plans Threaten Europe’s Last Untouched Forests”

The WWF has published a lengthy document at: www.panda.org/?184562/Ski-area-plans-threaten-Europes-last-untouched- detailing their belief that plans for new skiing areas in the region around the Carpathian Mountains and the Balkans threaten to harm major protected areas that house some of Europe’s last remaining untouched wilderness.

The document highlights proposed new ski areas and existing resort ski areas expansions in Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Ukraine.

The thrust of the document is that environmental protection laws in place are either too weak or side-stepped anyway in the drive for commercial profits,

“In theory, potential conflicts between nature conservation and development – including for ski tourism – should be mediated by procedures such as Environmental Impact Assessments and the European Union’s Article 6 of the Habitats Directive, which provide a system for evaluating potential impacts on nature and identifying solutions and measures to mitigate negative impacts. In practice, however, these safeguards are of limited effect, and in the face of intense pressure from economic and political forces, nature conservation is often given short shrift.” the report states.

The WWF notes that the Carpathian Mountains are Europe’s last great wilderness area – a bastion for large carnivores, with some two-thirds of the continent’s populations of brown bears, wolves and lynx. They are also home to the greatest remaining reserves of old growth forests outside of Russia.

“It is striking how little climate change and sustainability appear to be entering calculations for many of the new ski areas,” said Andreas Beckman, Director of WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme. “Already, rising temperatures and decreased precipitation and snow cover is causing problems for many facilities, with some poor recent ski seasons.”

Erika Stanciu, WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme, Forest and Protected Areas Team Leader highlighted existing ski areas she believes have broken international environmental protection legislation, such as Bansko in Bulgaria.

“We can all avoid ski areas that do not comply with basic criteria for environmental safeguards and legislation”, she said. “For example, Bansko, in the heart of Pirin National Park in Bulgaria, is a popular ski destination that has become infamous for being the first of a series of illegal ski developments in Bulgarian protected areas.”

“Half of the ski runs in Bansko have no environmental permits, while those ski runs which do have permits have violated each requirement of the Environmental Impact Assessment decision. These violations include for example the width of ski runs – instead of the permitted 30m they actually are 60 to 100m wide. The European Commission has initiated penalty procedures against Bulgaria because of violations of environmental law in the case of Bansko.”

Try Something Different In Paradiski

The giant French Paradiski area that encompasses 20 resort villages which are part of the resorts of les Arcs, la Plagne and Peisey Vallandry, is encouraging skiers and boarders to think outside the snowbox in 2010 and consider trying one of the numerous adrenalin-pumping, side-splitting and quirky sports they offer besides downhill skiing and boarding.

Not for the faint hearted, Paradiski offers the more adventurous the chance to experience bobsleighing on France’s only Olympic bobsleigh run, ski-joering, ice climbing, snow rugby, speed-flying, watersliding and much more.

With the Bobsleigh run at la Plagne, you shoot down the 1.5km Olympic bobsleigh run either in a four man ‘bob-raft’ at 80kph, a ‘mono-bob’ with speeds exceeding 90kph, or go for the awesome 120kph ‘taxi-bob’ steered by a professional driver.

Paradiski is the only ski area in Europe with a special ski-joering course where skiers sign up for a unique horse-drawn skiing experience that is an age-old Scandinavian tradition .

Ice Climbers can scale the heights of Europe’s only 22 metre artificial ice tower in Champagny le Haut. There are 26 different routes that are suitable for intermediate climbers and professionals.

If you’re in resort on St Patrick’s Day you can take to the pistes at an altitude of 2,300 metres for a game of snow rugby on a pitch approved by the French Rugby Federation. Then battle it out in the final at the end of the day in the centre of the Vallandry resort.

Finally speed-flying is a thrilling combination of skiing and paragliding you can try is Les Arcs ( www.alerion.fr)

To end the day put on your skis and take a run up and attempt to cross a 12-metre long swimming pool situated next to the Altipost high-altitude restaurant. What’s more, watersliding is free of charge and to add to the fun you can place bets on who will sink first.

If you do still want to squeeze in some regular skiing and boarding you’ll find Paradiski has 425km of runs divided in to 236 runs, a 2050m vertical, two peaks at over 3,000 m, 153 km of cross country trails, two snowparks, five boardercross courses and two half-pipes.

Ski Club Launch ‘Get Covered’ Campaign

In the light of recent travel chaos and accidents in the Alps, The Ski Club of Great Britain has warned skiers and boarders to take out appropriate insurance cover for holidays.

The Ski Club’s new ‘Get Covered’ campaign warns of the risks of skiing or snowboarding without the appropriate cover for winter sports.

A recent survey states that 75% of British holidaymakers don’t check the terms and conditions when purchasing travel insurance and 56% fail to buy cover at all.

For ski and snowboard holidays this has serious implications. Not taking out any insurance can result in huge bills for medical expenses, transport from the mountain or repatriation to the UK.

But what can often catch skiers and snowboarders out is not reading the small print and taking part in, and getting injured in, activities they are not covered for.

“Skiers and snowboarders often get caught out when it comes to insurance. Buying a travel insurance policy is often not enough. The Ski Club urges people to check that they are covered for wintersports and that they read the small print to ensure all activities they will be participating in are covered.” said Caroline Stuart Taylor, Chief Executive of the Ski Club of Great Britain.

The Ski Club offers the following tips for buying snow sports travel insurance:

Firstly, if you think you may be taking part in any extra winter activities such as off-piste skiing or snowboarding, tobogganing, ski touring, glacier skiing, heliskiing or even just hitting the snowpark, make sure your policy covers you for this.

Secondly, check what the provider means by off-piste. Does it cover off piste without a guide?

Thirdly if you, or your children, are taking part in fun races with the ski/ snowboard school ensure this is covered in your policy – many policies do not cover racing, even fun, recreational races.

If you are going on a ski mountaineering, hiking or trekking trip at high altitude check that your policy covers you. Many policies will limit cover to 3000m or less. If you are trekking above this height you will not be covered.

Check that you have legal expenses cover – this will cover your legal costs if someone injures you and you need to take legal action.

Don’t just go for the cheapest travel insurance policy. Cheaper policies, even those specialising in ‘wintersports cover’ may not actually cover the winter activities you’re planning.

The Ski Club of Great Britain offers insurance policies designed by experts especially for snowsports enthusiasts and designed to help skiers and boarders avoid the above potential insurance pitfalls. Policies are available at standard, super and executive level, for single trips and annual multi-trips. Visit the insurance section on skiclub.co.uk or call 0845 60 194 22 for more details or to take out policies.

Whistler Fits Kids With GPS Tracking On The Slopes

Whistler is the latest Intrawest resort to fit kids with patented flaik GPS units providing real-time tracking information for additional safety while giving Whistler Blackcomb’s youngest guests a chance to track their day on the mountains

The service is available to children taking the Whistler Kids, Ride Tribe and private programs in skib school with the GPS tracking tags, making it possible to locate children and guests on the mountain at any time, while also recording information such as lifts used, runs explored , average speed, how much vertical was achieved, number of trails explored and total distance accumulated.

“Parents this season can look forward to a little more peace-of-mind knowing that we’ll be able to track their children, using flaik’s GPS system, no matter where they are on the mountains. So far, the response from parents and children has been overwhelmingly positive,” says Donna Kerr, General Manager, Whistler Kids. “Our goal at Whistler Kids is to give our young guests the perfect blend of skill development, mountain exploration and fun social interaction in the safest environment possible.”

The tag itself uses cellular technology via a Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) network and transmits information which is then collected by a central server, enabling flaik to not only pinpoint a guest’s exact location, but also his or her physical relationship to other guests or resort staff as well. Once registered on www.flaik.com, users can view statistics from their day on the mountains and share them with friends and family.

Whistler Kids offers group ski lessons for children ages three to 12, snowboarding lessons for ages seven to 12, as well as licensed childcare for children 18-48 months old. Ride Tribe on the other hand, gives youth, aged 13 to 17, the chance to learn how to ride and ski with a highly-certified professional coach who knows the mountains inside and out, top to bottom. Students are grouped in a session with their peers, based on their ability, and can either focus on the fundamentals, if they’re beginners, or take part in Halfpipe and Terrain Park clinics if they’ve got a little experience under their belt.

www.whistlerblackcomb.com

Upgrades At Serbia’s Leading Resort

Serbia’s Mt. Kopaonik ski area has a new four star hotel his winter, the Angela. The hotel has been created by the MK Group from the merged Zvečan and Ras buildings.

The new hotel is part of an 8 million Euro spend by the MK Group on reconstruction and modernisation of the whole tourist complex at the mountain.

The refurbished Grand Hotel will include 75 fully modernised rooms and two new presidential suites with the Aperitiv Bar, Havana Bar, and the Garden Club Restaurant all redesigned.

The building will have higher energy efficiency with power saving and heating improvements, as well as new lifts, restaurant and kitchens.

The new wellness and spa centre, Grand Oaza, covering 2,200 square metres has also been created and there are also new modern indoor children playgrounds, an eight-line bowling centre, fitness facilities and a business centre.

Where’s Walter?

Inghams is celebrating its 75 anniversary this Christmas with a competition to win £1000 worth of holiday vouchers by finding four images of Walter Ingham (shown below) that have been cunningly hidden around the site – www.inghams.co.uk

Walter can be found skiing the slopes in Austria, indulging in a spa treatment and enjoying the spectacular scenery on the south coast of France. Simply discover where Walter is hiding and enter online by 19 February 2010 to win £1000 worth of holiday vouchers.

The competition celebrates 75 years since Walter Ingham advertised in a national newspaper and took his first group trip to Schoenburg, Tyrol in December 1934. The trip was a huge success and just two years later Walter set up Inghams Travel.

Walter Ingham was a pioneer who played a fundamental role in the development of the ski package holiday. He single handily organised transport, food, accommodation, ski hire and even worked with a local ski instructor teaching the group how to ski.

Inghams has come along way since Walter took his first party and 75 years on over five million skiers have holidayed with the winter sports specialists, travelling to over 100 different resorts. Inghams has never lost sight of what makes a great holiday, continuing to create inspirational ski and snowboarding holidays to 13 different winter destinations.