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

‘Riding the World’ – 5 Mountains, 5 Continents, all in 5 Days?

Neil Skilton    Adventure Sports & Travel Thoughts, snowboardingholidays     chamonix, Chile, off piste, piste, ski resort, ski resorts, Skiing, Snowboarding

Ok, I enjoy a challenge, but this time I think I’ve bitten off more than I can chew.  What started off as an incoherent, passing thought is slowly rising up from the depths of my subconscious and beginning to take over any normal, rational thinking I may have once possessed.

Image: Flickr/ggvic

Snowboarding on five different mountains, on five different continents.  In five days?!  It certainly has a nice ring to it, and as far as challenging adventures go, it’s pretty high up there.  It sounds like a nice idea – get to travel to some interesting locations, visit new mountains and ski new resorts.  Ski in South Africa!  Who can honestly say they’ve done (or even thought about doing) that?  Definitely a story to tell the grandkids, and probably the first story you told to their grandmother!

Preliminary research however illuminated some stark facts and revealed more than a few logistical nightmares.  What time of year to go?  What countries to visit?  What order to visit them in?  The distance between continents is staggering in places, and flight times are disconcerting.

read more

Top 10 Off-Piste Ski Resorts

Tim B    Top 10 Adventure Sports Travel Lists     chamonix, craigieburn, gressoney, jackson hole, kicking horse, la grave, Skiing, valdez, verbier, whistler

Once a skier has reached a certain level of expertise their whole appetite for the sport begins to change. The pistes become narrow and confining. Fellow skiers transform into irritating and cumbersome obstacles. The black and red poles become the bars of a prison of predictability. Thus, the off-piste skier is born.

Straying off the Piste-bashed track to embrace nature in its purest form has become a world-popular activity. Provided you’ve got all the safety gear, there’s a world of off-piste skiing out there to explore, whether it’s ski touring to find the best views or heliskiing in the most remote locations. Here are ten highly recommended off-piste skiing destinations to get you started: read more