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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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

Planning a Ski Holiday with a baby

Luke    bestskiholidays     family skiing, ski, ski holidays, ski holidays with a baby, Skiing, skiing in France, skiing in Italy, Skiing in Slovenia, skiing with children

Planning a Ski Holiday with a baby

My wife and I recently had a baby, and having missed out on ski holiday last year due to the pregnancy, we have decided having a baby will not stop us hitting the piste this winter. So, what extra planning do you need to take a baby away to the mountains for some fun in the snow?

Help is always at hand

Childcare facilities

If you are going away to ski or snowboard and your child is too young to start learning, then you will either have to take it in turns to stay in and look after the baby or get some form of child care. My thoughts are that if you have paid to go skiing, then spending half the potential slope time babysitting is not an option.

I’m sure most resorts have crèche services, but we were keen to ensure ours was run by a British company, to UK standards and staffed with English-speaking nannies. So, for that extra piece of mind, we looked into childcare through package ski holidays and found the Pepi Penguin Club run by Crystal Ski. It takes infants from 6 months to 4 years old and runs in Tignes, Flaine, La Plagne and Alpe d’Huez in France; Claviere and Val Di Fassa in Italy; and Kranjska Gora in Slovenia. All staff are fully qualified and CRB checked and referenced, so you know you are leaving your child in safe hands.

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Skiing in France: are smaller resorts better value?

Lucy Grewcock    ash     France, Skiing, Skiing Holidays, skiing in France, Snowboarding, snowboarding holidays

When skiing in France I had always stuck to the Alp’s biggest resorts to get my winter kicks; hotspots like Tignes, Val d’Isere, Chamonix and Alp d’Huez not only offer hundreds of kilometres of ski terrain and a network of speedy lift connections, but also boast all-action après scenes, non-stop nightlife and a smorgasbord of restaurants and accommodation options – so, why settle for anything less?

Can you go small and get more?

Cost was the main reason that I dared to consider a ski a resort with anything less than 200km of piste and 50-odd après bars.

But, a few winters ago, after a costly MOT had left my bank account at an all-time low, I begrudgingly booked a cheap apartment in the compact resort of Les Contamines Monjoie, where 40 piste-runs and handful of bars stood in very poor comparison to the 200 plus pistes and countless bars I’d enjoyed in Val d’Isere the year before. But with ski-pass and accommodation in Les Contamines costing around half the price of last year’s splurge, it was small-resort or none at all.

Since then, I’ve tried other smaller resorts and realised there’s much more to skiing holidays in France than offered by the biggest and most famous destinations, and here’s why:

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