Travelling with a baby on a winter sports holiday

Luke    ash     family ski holiday, ski holidays, ski holidays with a baby, Skiing, skiing holiday, skiing in France, skiing with children

As any skier or snowboarder knows, the time from leaving home to actually getting on the slope is full of excitement and anticipation. But with lots of extra luggage to get safely to the resort, long transfers, more frequent delays and the inevitable first morning scramble to get kit and lift passes, it can also be frustrating and tiring. Now try doing all that with a baby…..

Pre-departure our flat was divided into different packing zones: baby food, baby bottles, baby clothes, baby toys, baby toiletries, baby nappies, baby medicines (just in case), baby sleep stuff, baby outdoor kit, baby day bag and a small corner for everything else (including snowboard and snowboard kit for me, skis and ski gear for my wife).

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Bobby Martinez and Dane Reynolds: Surfing Dropouts?

Jeff    surfingholidays     ASP tour, pro surfing, Surf, Surfers, Surfing, surfing holidays

Recent months have seen two of the ASP’s top competitors deliberately and indefinitely drop from the roster. This summer, Bobby Martinez unleashed a flurry of expletives for the association after his swan song session in New York – effectively cutting his tie with professional competition.

Association or not, it's a solo sport Image: Flickr/Daniel Flower

Then, in December, ever-popular Dane Reynolds tendered his resignation with an unusually revealing blog post on his website. The tour they are leaving behind represents the apex of the sport to many: the best of the best duking it out on the best waves in the world. Competition is fierce just to be considered for the world tour.

Money. Travel. Fame. Waves. What could make these two men willingly leave the “Dream Tour”?

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Top 10 Scuba Diving Sites in France

James    scubadivingholidays     diving, Diving Holidays, diving in France, Scuba Diving, scuba diving holidays, scuba diving in France

Last week I sent a friend a text for some tips on fine French diving. He misread it and gave me the address of a Bistro on the Rue de Rivali. Let’s be honest, our Gallic cousins are best known for their gastronomy, but the country boasts almost as many great places to dive as to dine.

Scuba diving in France Image: © ATOUT FRANCE/Palomba Robert

So if you like your moules to be found clinging to the side of wrecks and prefer your fish swimming off the Cote D’Azur rather than swimming in garlic, check out our “menu touristique” of the top 10 scuba diving sites in France.

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Review of the Raven Core snowboard: The best cheap snowboard?

Luke    snowboardingholidays     snowboard, snowboard gear, Snowboarding, snowboarding gear, snowboarding gear review, snowboarding holidays

The Raven Core snowboard is one of the cheapest snowboards on the market. At the time of writing you can pick one up with Raven bindings for £170. Even so, the low-end price tag comes with impressive sounding specs, such as a 3-stage rocker/camber profile, true twin-tip shape, tip-to-tail wood core, sandwich constructed sidewall and an IS4400 extruded base.

The Raven Core snowboard

My previous experience of buying snowboards is that you get what you pay for. So, does this model from Raven Snowboards live up to its specs or its price tag?

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Winter Festivals 2012: Snowboard Events and Ski Parties

Lucy Grewcock    ash     chamonix, ski fetivals, Skiing, Skiing Holidays, skiing in Austria, skiing in France, Skiing in Serbia, Skiing in the US, Snowboarding, snowboarding holidays, Switzerland, whistler, winter festivals

What could be better than spending a week in the mountains, shuushing down iced-white pistes and bounding through fresh powder? How about adding world-class DJs, all-night parties, arty events and extreme freestyle competitions? Welcome to the world of winter festivals 2012…

Winter festivals are never just about the sports Photo: Will Bremridge

From Austria to North America, ski parties have snowballed in the past few years, and they’re set to get even bigger and better in 2012. Here’s a few that are full-on winter festivals, add these to your calendar: read more

Top 10 Treks in Nepal: the best routes in the Himalayas

Sophie Nicholson    trekkingholidays     Hiking, Himalayas, Nepal, Trek, Treking in Nepal, trekking, trekking holidays

For any true mountain lover, trekking in the Himalayas in nothing less than a rite of passage: the ultimate trekking destination. Each year, thousands of trekkers and mountaineers make their way to Nepal to see its awe-inspiring mountains first-hand and to immerse themselves in this sacred and culturally diverse land.

Trekking in Nepal. Image: Flickr/mckaysavage

Nepal is blessed with a rich and demanding landscape of lush green forests, high shining mountains, hilly foot trails, and beautiful lakes and springs. With such an abundance of trekking holidays on offer, it can be difficult to know where to start when planning a trip to Nepal.

This guide hopes to help point you in the direction so that you can find the trek best suited to you. Trekking in Nepal may be a once in a lifetime holiday, so we want to make sure you get it right, right  from the beginning….

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Snowshoe beats boot for winter walking

Sophie Nicholson    trekkingholidays     Iceland, snowshoe, snowshoeing, trekking, Trekking in Iceland, Walking, winter sports

For some, the onset of winter cannot come soon enough. Most skiers, snowboarders, ice climbers and snow leopards spend all year impatiently waiting for temperatures to fall and for snow to start falling on them there hills.

Sometimes boots just aren't enough. Image: Photos: Ragnar Th. Sigurðsson

However, not all outdoor enthusiasts are made of the same stuff, and for many of us average hill walkers, the arrival of winter can actually put paid to any trekking holidays we’ve planned – and be a bit of a pain in the icicle.

If you are not versed in the world of crampons and the art of self-arrest, a hard winter can kind of put paid to any of those fabulously relaxing and invigorating winter walking days out on the hill.

But don’t pack away your trekking gear just yet…

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