Each year, to celebrate St Patrick’s Day (a bit early) and to honour their friends (now), the anglo-­‐saxons, Peisey Vallandry offers visitors to the giant Paradiski area in France (paradiski.com), of which it is at the heart, the chance to play rugby at altitude and on snow.

This year on Wednesday 14th March, thanks to the Fédération Française de Rugby [who have officially approved the ‘pitch’] and sponsors Peisey Vallandry Tourist Office, ADS and the Départemental de Savoie de Rugby, visitors will be invited to participate at 2300m in this high adrenaline – and now high altitude – sport.

Of course the rough and tumble of a good game of rugger takes on a whole new guise when it’s played by participants wearing ski boots, but oddly that doesn’t put people off, in fact, this event is always well attended.

To enter you need to put together a team of seven people and decide on a team name before registering to participate at Peisey Vallandry Tourism Office (+33 (0)479 07 88 92) before 11am on 14th March. The day begins at 11am with matches from noon, lasting four minutes each and the winner decided at 2pm.

Snowfall and snow levels are reaching record levels in Alberta and British Columbia in Western Canada.

While many other parts of North America are still struggling to fully open all their lifts and runs for winter2011-12 during an uusually dry winter, the West of Canada has been deluged fairly consistently since last autumn.

“This month goes down as one of the snowiest January’s on record. There is unbelievable snow conditions at both Fernie and Kicking Horse with total snowfall at both over 19 feet now. Today alone, Fernie has seen over a foot overnight!!” said an excited Matt Mosteller of Resorts of the Canadian Rockies which runs the two centres.

Meanwhile a little to the east and north, over the border in Alberta, with over three months left to go in the ski season, Marmot Basin near Jasper has already received over 12 feet (372 cm) of snowfall which is 93% of its annual average.

If the next three months produce even typical amounts of snowfall, Marmot Basin will exceed its all time snowfall record of 529 cm set way back in 1965.
Regardless of the numbers, skiers and snowboarders have been absolutely thrilled with snow conditions at Marmot Basin and, to some, it has come as a bit of a surprise, says the resort’s Brian Rode.

“There is very little snow on the ground in Edmonton and when some people get to the mountain they are really surprised at how much snow we have. Marmot’s base elevation is very high so the rain that has fallen at lower elevations this winter has been all snow at Marmot,” added Rode.

There have been big snowfalls over the weekend in the Southern Alps and the Pyrenees according to snow reporting agency www.skiinfo.co.uk

It’s good news for resorts in the region as while most had adequate snow cover from accumulations in December, there had been little fresh snow in January and lower slopes were beginning to suffer.

This was in marked contrast to the record-breaking huge accumulations in the Northern Alps.

The big falls were reported in Andorra, the French Pyrenees and southern French Alps, the southern Italian Alps and the Spanish Pyrenees.

Temperatures in Andorra dropped as low as -10C with a high of freezing over the weekend as the powder snow fell adding over 50cm (nearly two feet) there on upper slopes.

One of the big winners was Spain’s Baqueira Beret which reported 95cm (3 feet, two inches) of snow during the storms.

In southern France Serre Chevalier and Isola 2000 reported big snowfalls, in Italy Limone near the Mediterranean Coast was another big winner.

A new survey has found that hotels in Courchevel, France; Lech in Austria and St Moritz, Switzerland were the most expensive to stay in based on their average rate for a double room in January. Although several of the top placed properties are suites only with no double rooms.

In top spot was The Suites de la Potiniere at an average $1958US (£1245) per night. Eight of the ten most expensive were in the three European resort with hotels in Deer Valley, Utah and Aspen Colorado in the USA taking the other two spots.

The survey, by Luxury-Hotels.com, backs up the findings of luxury chalet specialists the Oxford Skiing Company which annually compiles a list of what they have found to be the 20 best ski chalets in the world (www.luxurychaletcollection.com) – although not necessarily the most expensive – and found this season that a property in Courchevel, Ormello, peaked at €200,000 Euros a week – almost twice the cost of Richard Branson’s ‘The Lodge’ in Verbier for its most expensive week over New Year.

With Courchevel, known in recent years for its popularity with Russian skiers and in one highly publicised case for closing a piste to a wealthy South Korean businessman in 2005 so that he could learn to ski alone, in top spot for priciest in both the hotel and chalet categories, it also shows costs for top-end accommodation in France can out-strip Switzerland despite the strength of the Swiss Franc.
The top ten according to the survey are:

1. Les Suites de la Pointière (Courchevel, France) $1958
2. Aurelio Lech (Lech-Arlberg, Austria) $1423
3. Carlton Hotel (St. Moritz, Switzerland) $1256
4. Almhof Schneider (Lech-Arlberg, Austria) $1185
5. Suvretta House (St. Moritz, Switzerland) $1121
6. The St. Regis Deer Valley Resort (Deer Valley, United States) $1037
7. Gasthof Post (Lech-Arlberg, Austria) $1012
8. The Little Nell (Aspen, Colorado) $1002
9. Le Mélézin (Courchevel, France) $1001
10. La Sivoliere (Courchevel, France) $951

Nassfeld, the largest and most modern skiing area in the southern Austria province of Carinthia, has an interesting new option for its visitors this winter.

Nassfeld gives its guests the chance to take part in what they’re calling “the fastest language course in the Alps” with instruction on the unique Carinthian dialect for international guests as they make the 17 minute, 2km long ride up to the slopes on the resort’s Millenium-Express gondola.

“Skiers from abroad find this short introduction very useful since it helps them to find their way around the huts and skiing area.” Said a resort statement.
The short language lesson delivered in German or English deals with Carinthian terms like local food and drink specialitiers such as “Pfiateich”, “Jagatee” or “Kasnudeln.”

The gondola-riding ‘language students’’ receive a ‘diploma’ with a list of the ten most important terms of Carinthian ,Ski-German’ and their translation printed on the back when they arrive at the upper terminal of the lift.

The Brits music and snow sports festival in Laax, Switzerland this March has announced its musical line up for the week from Monday 19 to Saturday 24 March.

First seen at The BRITS in 2004, world renowned scratch legend DJ Yoda is set to return to headline the Festival with what the organisers promise will be an incredible live audio-visual set on the Friday night (23rd March).

“Expect to hear the Indiana Jones theme mixed with woofer-worrying Dubstep or The Muppet theme cut with MIA when Yoda descends on Laax with a brand new live AV show to blow your thermal socks off!” said a statement freom The Brits organisers,

DJ Yoda is jnown for his mind-blowing turntable skills that fuse funk, reggae, drum ‘n’ bass and even big band swing and country and western and has been credited as “one of the ten DJ’s to see before you die” by Q Magazine.

Also on the 2012 line up are BRITS regulars and Scratch residents Matt Smooth and DJ Lyley who will be joined by UK hip-hop heavy weights Yungun and Mr Thing for a night of grimy beats and rhymes.
There’ll also be a live AV set from Bristol based turntable genius DJ Cheeba and organisers say they still intend to provide a night of epic live action too, which will include a banging live band (to be announced shortly!)

“Will it ever stop?” – that’s the question that some of the ski resorts in the Alps are asking after their third huge snowy deluges in six weeks.

Famous resorts including St Anton in Austria and Chamonix in France received another metre or more of snow earlier this week taking snow depths to around five metres (17 feet) – some of the deepest snow this century and sure to leave the slopes in great condition right up to May, even if it stops snowing now – and there’s no sign of that.

Snow depths on the slopes in the Chamonix valley now vary between two metres (seven feet) at the base up to 4.6m (15 feet) up top.

There have been consequences to all the heavy snowfall however – including high avalanche danger meaning off piste is a no no in most resorts at present.

The Freeride World Tour due to take place in Chamonix, the sport’s spiritual home, was postponed at the weekend and finally took place at the Brevent on the famous ‘Pentes de l’hotel’ on Monday 23rd January. Local boy Doud’s Charlet won the men’s snowboard challenge and the Kiwi Sam Smoothy won the ski challenge.

Anyone skiing or boarding in Ischgl for the rest of this season may be surprised to find giant snow dragons located at various points around the slopes of the famous Austrian resort.

The ten dragons are the work of international snow sculpting teams from around the world who have been competing in the resort’s annual ‘Shapes In White’ competition.

Each team had four days to work on their creation, which this winter had the ‘dragons’ theme, using 4m (13 feet) high piles of snow as their starting point. Finding the snow hasn’t been a problem this season after the huge snowfalls earlier this month which cut off the high altitude resort from the rest of the world for a few days.

One of the dragons has a UK connection – The Welsh Dragon has been carved by German sculptor Dieter Faust and his girlfriend Birgit Tögel-Emrich, who live in London and were inspired by the red dragon on the Welsh national flag.

Other dragons to be found on Ischgl’s slopes include a Tirolean Ice Dragon, a Baby Dragon, Dragon Ship and House Dragon.
The dragons will be on display as long as they last, which is likely to be right to the end of Ischgl’s very long season at the start of May.

Obviously most people go on a skiing holiday to enjoy skiing or snowboarding, hopefully is beautiful surroundings. What more could we ask for?

Well perhaps good food too! And at a price we can afford. Italy’s Alta Badia ski region, made up of six villages including Corvara which you’ll see listed in the UK as the holiday destination is blessed with both great skiing – as part of the vast 1200km of runs on the Dolomiti Superski pass, and also with some of the world’s most stunning mountain scenery, rated a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2009.

But here there’s a third string to its bow, as Alta Badia is also a gourmet Mecca – and the not the kind of exclusive, unaffordable gourmet Mecca either but one where you can eat superb food prepared from local ingredients to recipes designed by one of the area’s three Michelin starred chefs for prices starting from just a few Euros – whether for an on-mountain breakfast or lunch or down in one of the resort villages for dinner.

Initiatives all season long here include ‘Taste for Skiing2 which showcases the Michelin-star dining on quality South Tyrol produce at 11 traditional mountain huts. There are also wine-ski safaris, cookery courses (local Ladin or gourmet cuisine), a weekly early morning excursion for Breakfast with Powder Snow, and this week the annual Chef’s Cup Südtirol event gets under way (January 22-27).

The chef’s Cup sees a host of the world’s leading chefs gather in the villages to swap ideas and compete at both cooking and skiing. Visitors to the valley this week will benefit from wonderful food tastings and a party atmosphere.

If you fancy a Ladin Cookery Courses whenever you’re in Alta Badia these are offered every Wednesday at the Maso Sotciastel Farmhouse in Badia from 10.30 am to 12 noon. Here Erica teaches you how to cook Ladin specialities such as bales (dumplings), panicia (barley soup) and Krapfen (doughnuts). Lessons cost €13 per person and you can reserve a place via the Alta Badia Tourist Office.

La Plagne (www.la-plagne.com) in the Paradiski region of France has opened a new swimming pool and SPA complex ‘l’Espace Paradisio’ at its Montchavin-les Coches resort village.

Winner of the Famille Plus award, the year round facility offers a wide selection of activities and relaxation facilities for the whole family to enjoy, all with a great view of the slopes.

The indoor winter facilities are spread over 340 square metres and include a 70 square metre pool, a cold plunge pool, Turkish baths, a sauna, a Jacuzzi, infra-red treatment rooms and a play area for children. Aquafitness and aquabiking fitness classes are available.

There’s also a health and beauty clinic with a full array of treatments including massage and facials.