One of the consequences of the UK leaving the EU was the end of British people being able to work freely in Europe. As well as the EU it included other ski nations including Norway and Switzerland that are outside the EU, but inside the Schengen area. The UK is not in the Schengen customs area. It had a damaging impact on young people from the UK who wanted to work in ski resorts, as we have reported: Skiing, Snowboarding & Working in the EU after Brexit Worries continue for Brits wanting to work in the Alps after Brexit Jobs for British ski instructors and resort staff under threat Ver ..read more

Vail Resorts owns 37 ski resorts across North America including Vail itself plus Breckenridge, Beaver Creek and Park City. It also owns Andermatt-Sedrun in Switzerland and Perisher, Hotham and Falls Creek in Australia but these resorts are not included in the figures. Season-to-date total skier visits were down 7.8% compared to the prior year season-to-date period. Season-to-date total lift ticket revenue, including an allocated portion of season pass revenue for each applicable period, was up 3.2% compared to the prior year season-to-date period. Season-to-date ski school revenue was up 7.0 ..read more

A delegation from the IOC’s Commission for the Future Olympic Winter Games is visiting this week. It will inspect the proposed sites and will be examining the level of popular support for the bid, the environmental impact and political & financial guarantees. If it is impressed it will recommend the bid to the IOC Executive Board in mid-June, ahead of the official award on 23rd and 24th July in Paris, before the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. The Games would centre around Nice on the Mediterranean coast, and the Alps to the north. There will be four venues: Haute-Savoie – Cross-country skiing ..read more

I am not much of a yogi. I’m not bendy and I get distracted easily. But I do appreciate that we should do some form of stretching before and after exercise – especially skiing. I also appreciate that it’s been a difficult winter season with resorts looking to offer visitors other activities when the snow is less than optimal. So could a few days of spring skiing and yoga in Les Menuires – which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year – be the perfect solution? Yours truly in the snow. Image © Katy Dartford/PlanetSKI. When I arrived in the middle of April at ‘Chalet Camarine’ in Saint M ..read more

Regular readers will know we have been living in Innsbruck on an extended stay these past few weeks –  it is the ultimate Ski + City location in the Alps. 13 ski areas around the city with 23 attractions off the slopes, all on one pass: Innsbruck Ski + City Pass But you don’t need a pass for what has come to be one of our new favourite activities – ski touring. Axamer Lizum, Innsbruck. Image © PlanetSKI One of the first resorts around Innsbruck that we went to back at the beginning of March was Oberperfus. It is a small resort with just three main lifts and 17kms of slopes. It’s about a ..read more

The International Snow and Mountain Tourism Report 2024 has been unveiled at the Mountain Planet trade show in Grenoble, France. The report is compiled each year by the Swiss consultant, Laurent Vanat. It has been published every year for the past 16 years in partnership with Mountain Planet. It examines the ski, snow & mountain industry and its evolution. It highlights the current situation, trends and potential of the ski & mountain market. Laurent Vanat at Mountain Planet The latest report on the 2022/23 season reported that the ski industry is healthy and reached attendance level ..read more

Men’s Races There are set to be 38 World Cup starts and an additional six at the FIS Alpine Ski World Championships, that’s 44 races in total. The draft men’s calendar for the upcoming season includes ten Downhills, nine super-Gs, ten GSs, and 13 slaloms. Men’s Provisional Schedule. Image c/o FIS Women’s Races The woman have a total of 37 World Cups and six WSC races, adding up to 43 races. There are nine Downhills, ten super-Gs, 11 GSs, and 11 SLs. Women’s Provisional Schedule. Image c/o FIS See further details on Ski Racing Media The post Provisional 2024/25 FIS Alpine World Cup Calenda ..read more

With the snowsports season now over teams from contractor Balfour Beatty, appointed by Cairngorm Estate owner Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) are set to be deployed on the mountainside. Here is their account of the current state of play in a released statement: A prime area of focus will be hundreds of ‘scarf joints’ linking beams and piers along the 1.7km viaduct. These were installed as part of a major reinstatement programme that ran for just over two years from November 2020. In addition, testing is under way on tensioning works to beams and diaphragms that were also installed as pa ..read more

For the last two years the inaugural cross-border races from Zermatt to Cervinia have been called off due to the weather. Earlier it was announced that they would not be on the schedule for next season: Zermatt-Cervinia downhill races axed “The training provision for elite athletes in all winter sports will be discontinued and reassessed for summer 2025, in line with the decisions of the FIS and the two national federations Swiss-Ski and FISI regarding the World Cup races in Zermatt/Cervinia,” said the CEO of the Zermatt lift company, Markus Hasler. A statement from the lift company goe ..read more

This winter generally got off to a poor start in the USA with the snow arriving late. Now though there are above average amounts in some resorts with people flocking to the slopes. Spring skiing in the USA. Image © PlanetSKI Spring skiing in the USA. Image © PlanetSKI In Utah some resorts have extended their season after good falls of snow this Spring. If the weather continues to play ball a hand full of resorts plan to continue with a couple hoping to open into May. Alta: April 21st Deer Valley: April 21st Park City: April 22nd Brighton: April 28th Snowbasin: April 28th Brian Head: May 5 ..read more