France Ski Bargains - Skiing Holidays in France » French Ski resorts

Global warming threatens French Ski slopes

Alan — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 17:00:31 +0000

Those who enjoy skiing may want to take note of a new environmental threat, melting snowcaps in the Alps, which may drastically reduce the amount of snow days that occur each year

According to research from the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research, the Alps are now warming at a rate that is more than three times the global average which has caused snow days to fall to their lowest yearly average in the last two decades. The Institute predicts that if the melting keeps up in fifty years any ski resort that is below 1,200m will not have enough snow to stay open.

In response, many ski resorts are going green by utilizing environmentally safe equipment such as the Val Thorens resort in France which uses hydroelectric energy to power its lifts. The resort has also planted around 200,000 trees over the last two decades.

Les Arcs which is also located in France, has also taken some steps to preserve nature such as banning cars from the resort area and burying all of its power cables. Additionally, the topsoil on the slopes is replaced with Alpine grass that reduces the amount of fake snow that needs to be produced.

The French resort is also trying to entice visitors for reasons outside of skiing such as paragliding, biking, hiking, and rock climbing in an effort to increase the versatility of the resort location.

Developers are also now looking at resorts by proposing new initiatives that will help sustain the environment so that the projects have a better long term outlook.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

What do you need from a ski instructor?

Alan — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 04:30:18 +0000

Finding a qualified ski instructor can be tough if you are new to skiing because you do not know exactly what to expect out the experience as a whole, let alone from your instructor. To help you out, here are the three qualities that you need to look for to make sure that your choice is right and the money is worth it.

First of all, you should ask to find out if the person is certified and qualified to offer you guidance. Continuous training is a must to make sure that the ski instructor is giving you the best advice possible and not just their personal preferences.

Often new equipment guidelines and safety tips come in to force, which means that you will want a teacher who is ahead of the game and able to offer you the best and up to date instruction.

Second, you should observe how they teach different levels of skiers to see how well they teach all skiers across the board. Keep in mind that just because you are a beginner today eventually you will be an advanced skier. When that time comes, it will be nice to stick with the same instructor as when you were a novice. Additionally, the ability to work with varied levels of skiers shows that they enjoy mentoring, which means they will be a better instructor overall.

Finally, you need to talk to the instructor on your own and decide if you like their personality. You will learn better if your instructor is positive and upbeat, thus these two qualities are a requirement if you want to get the most out of your lessons.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

French Ski resorts booming

Alan — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 07:09:36 +0000

The ski season last year from 2008-2009 has been great for France due to excellent ski conditions combined with cold weather that kept the snow falling.

As a result, France ski resorts saw their visits increase by about 6.6%, which partially may be due to the fact that the season set of record of 58.6m sky days. Overall the total revenue for operators of French increased over 8.9%.

However, not all ski areas saw the benefits of the increase in skiers over the season, since the ski resorts that benefited the most from the great season were locations such as Plancher Les Mines found in Franche Cornte, Metbeif in Jura, and Le Lioran in Massif Central.

Areas such as Massif Central, which only contributes to about two percent of the skiing activity in France, saw an increase of visitors by over 63% over the last season, while areas that usually attract the most skiers from Britain such as the Alps only saw an increase of about 6.6%.

There are three possible explanations for this occurrence, the recession which caused skiers and holiday goers in general to stay closer to home, the second because there was better snow in the less popular ski areas, and the third because many international resorts suffered from the foreign markets contracting.

The SNTF report showed British skiers are of major importance to resorts in France with about 21% of all skiers in visiting the country of British origin beating out all other nationalities

La Plagne and Les Arcs French ski resorts The La Plagne and Les Arcs French ski resorts are...
French resorts get the worst of the weekend storms A devastating storm hurling winds of 100 kmh with gusts...
French snowsports in decline Along with the Ski Club’s Snowsports Analysis that is produced...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.