Val d'Isere's current Vallon gondola has made its final ascent after more than four decades of service. The lift at the Iseran Pass went into service in 1981 and has since carried more than 25 million passengers up to the Pissaillas glacier. The original lift was built by Italian firm Agudio, now part of Pomagalski lifts, and was seen as a huge step forward for the sector at the time. The new lift, due to be built over the next eight 8 months in time for next winter, will of course be more modern, faster and more comfortable with a reduced impact on the environment. It will use 30 less su ..read more

The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) is warning travellers that medical costs, particularly repatriation by air ambulance, have more than doubled in the last four years in some cases. As the costs were very high as it was, the organisation says that it makes taking travel insurance even more essential. "People requiring an air ambulance will now find that the cost of being flown safely home on a long haul flight will now cost more than twice the amounts charged in 2019," an ABTA spokesperson said, explaining that in instances where travellers have had a major accident and need to ..read more

Finished the 23/24 season off in style with another trip to Saas-Fee. As usual, travel was dead easy - first flight out of Heathrow to Zurich, train/bus combination direct from the airport railway station. In resort at 13.04 and skiing around 40 minutes later. Upgraded from a single room to a double with balcony in the slopeside Bristol Hotel, which was a welcome bonus. The weather was a bit odd on day one with mild temperatures of the previous week continuing. This meant the lower slopes were a slush-fest - not poor man's powder but real knee-breaking stuff. Higher up it was rock hard - so mu ..read more

Les 2 Alpes (pictured this week) plans to keep operating its glacier summer ski area through to July 7th this year. The resort, which currently reports the snow lying over 3 metres (10 feet) deep up high, will officially end its winter season this coming Sunday, but then re-open the next day for a 10 week 'summer' glacier ski and snowboarding season from Monday 29th April. Much of the glacier is reserved for team ski and snowboard training at all levels, but there are some slopes open to the public and it's also possible to take a ski lesson. The late spring opening plan builds on a chang ..read more

Snow has continued falling in the Alps this week after the weather across the region turned wintry again last week. The pattern mirrors the cold and snowy spring of 2023 which saw snow depths continue to build over a month after the usual snow depths peak in early March. April has seen bases gradually fall from a high of 5.8m at Laax in Switzerland at the start of the month but the latest snowfall has pushed some back up again. About 50 ski areas remain open for the final weekend of April in Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland for the final week of April. The Glacier 3000 ski ..read more

Nendaz, Four Valleys, Switzerland, open for a few more days - with great snow! Snow! Say what? Briefly down to the valleys this week in the European Alps, and pre-season snowfalls in the southern hemisphere. The Snow Headlines - April 18th - Copper Mountain extends season into May, the fifth Colorado ski area to do so. - Fresh snowfall in the Alps on still-open slopes. - More pre-season snow for New Zealand and South America. - Ski season over in much of Eastern Europe, Scotland and the Pyrenees. - Zermatt announces more summer ski terrain for all in 2024. Yes, that's some heavy snow fore ..read more

A huge Euro155 million project to replace lifts at the iconic Les Grands Montets ski area above Argentiere in the Chamonix Valley has been announced, nearly six years after a fire destroyed several key lifts. After a year of studies, fine-tuning, and preparatory work, the plans were announced at the Mountain Planet 2024 trade show currently underway in Grenoble with the Compagnie du Mont-Blanc awarding a Euro107.6m contract to Doppelmayr France to replace the two sections of cable cars destroyed in the 2018 fire, as well as the reconstruction and redevelopment of the infrastructure at the s ..read more

New research from the SIA (Snowsports Industries of America) show that Americans were on average 14 years old when they started skiing or snowboarding, but that two-thirds were even younger. The report shows that the most common way of getting into snowsports was through their family, followed by friends. Only 8% started via the school. Respondents also revealed why their reasons for taking part in snowsports. The most common reason was to the social aspects, followed by the benefits for their health ..read more

Zermatt's lift company, Zermatt Bergbahnen, has announced a change of summer skiing strategy following the decision of the International Ski & Snowboard Federation (FIS) as well as the Italian and Swiss federations to give up on attempts to stage World Cup races on the new course created there. The new policy is to expand the area available to recreational skiers and to help advance young ski racers at the expanse of national squads, which will no longer be offered training facilities. That's the plan, effective immediately, for 2024 at least, the company says its decision is up for rev ..read more

A wandering bear led California's Palisades Tahoe ski area to close some of its slopes. The black bear was initially spotted near the top of the Granite Chief run, "looking curiously at people and the garbage bin at the top," Palisades spokesperson Patrick Lacey told SFGATE. The resort made the decision to close the two lifts closest to where the young bear was, Emigrant and Granite Chief having checked there were no skiers still in the area, for its safety. The bear was seen to have a tag on its ear and a GPS collar which usually means that the bear had been caught and re-released into t ..read more