Fast Track Ski News

A New Toboggan Run in Hochgurgl

pthorne — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:26:31 +0000

A rare new toboggan run has been created at Hochgurgl in the Aaustrian Tirol, leading down to the bottom station of the Hochgurglbahn lift in Pill.
The new run is three kilometers (nearly two miles) long, and has many fun turns en route. The run is floodlit for nightime descents and is easy to reach thanks to the Hochgurglbahn mountain gondola.

Hochgurgl is the higher village linked to Obergurgl, itself one of the highest traditional villages (not purpose built for skiing) in the Alps.
Obergurgl is one of the world’s few classic ski resorts and unlike some of the others, it’s got superb skiing and an admirable snow record as well as the picturesque village.
Obergurgl’s altitude means village level snow is the norm from November to May, with lifts right up to 3080m (over 10100 feet), the big vertical is skiable right through the season.
Descending the toboggan run you will also see the spectacular scenery of the surrounding Ötztal Alps region, if you look up.

Spring Snow Season Kicks Off In Canadian Rockies

pthorne — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:04:19 +0000

When many of the world’s ski areas close around Eastertime, the ski season still has a month to run at several resorts in the Canadian Rockies.
This year is looking especially good at Alberta resorts Banff, Lake Louise and Marmot Basin near Jasper to the north which are reporting some of the best snow conditions in 30 years.

For those looking for something a little different there are a number of fun events happening post Easter in the region.
On April 17 Lake Louise hosts the Cardboard Box Derby. Here you get to be creative using cardboard, string, tape and then put your cardboard carpentry skills to the test. Teams of 1-4 people (all comers welcome) try to out-wit and out-sled each other in this humorous and fun competition.
Then Banff’s seven month long ski season nears its end with the 82nd annual Slush Cup which takes place at Sunshine Village on May 24.
The event celebrates the closure of the ski hill for another year – or for about five months anyway until the 2010-11 season starts in the autumn - and features wild and crazy individuals brave enough to ski or ride into a pool of ice cold, slush water, wearing their craziest and most original outfits.

New Events At The Brits

pthorne — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:54:47 +0000

The Brits Festival, the largest British snow and music festival in the Alps which also incorporates eight British Snowboard and Freeski events, including, The Animal Slopestyle, SNO!zone Halfpipe and Trespass Snowboard/Skiercross Championships gets underway in Laax, Switzerland later this month.

The organisers have announced a new event open to all - the Garmin Speed Challenge. In addition both the popular Red Bull Homerun and the much loved Cushe Airbag will be back for this year’s event which runs from 21st – 28th March 2010.
This additional events as well as admission into all of the Brits club nights, and the chance to demo the latest equipment from the Festival’s hardware sponsors is free for all Brits revellers when they arrive in Laax and flash a Brits festival wristband fixed firmly around their wrist.
Garmin, the satellite navigation company and creators of a series of GPS devices geared toward the snowsport enthusiast, will be introducing the brand new Garmin Speed Challenge at this year’s Brits.
Throughout the week revellers will charge the slopes to register a fastest time to be displayed upon the Garmin Leader board positioned centre stage at the Après Arena. Destined to spark post-slope boasting and debate, the Garmin Speed Challenge winner will naturally receive bragging rights plus a free trip to The Brits 2011 to defend their crown.
Back by popular demand Red Bull Homerun will finish off the high-speed Brits action on Saturday 27th March, when hundreds of competitors race en-mass from the top of the mountain to the bottom five miles below. The starting line sees an army of skiers and snowboarders jostling for position before racing to their kit – Le Mans style – and then tanking it flat-out all the way to the bottom for glory.
Known for their innovative way of doing things, Brits official footwear partner, Cushe will be on hand again this year to offer some extra slope time on the Cushe Air Bag. Situated in the heart of the Après Session Arena, it will give the maverick an opportunity to push the boundaries all week, and set the scene for the Cushe Huck Fest, a one night only all-comers contest encouraging Brits wristband holders to throw their inhibitions to one side and their bodies skyward for crowd appreciation and a haul of Cushe prizes.

Winter X Games Come To Europe

pthorne — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:13:33 +0000

The first Winter X Games in Europe is due to be staged on the slopes of French resort Tignes, from March 10th to 12th. The X Games have been huge in America for the past decade and have become a launch pad for some of the world’s top freestyle talent on skis or boards.

Two terrain park designers from the American company Snow Park Technology, Chris Gunnarson and Franck Wells, who have been travelling around the freestyle planet for 14 years with their state-of-the-art equipment, habe been in the resort for the past two weeks creating the competition sites top athletes will ride.
Gunnarson and Wells actually started work on their terrain park masterpiece last July, on the resort’s summer glacier snow sports area and are now back pushing the snow to make the Slopestyle modules, bringing down the half-pipe bottom and raising height of the SuperPipe to its full king-size dimension
The X Games will bring three days of sports and parties with spectators able to view the action from the foot of the Slopestyle and the SuperPipe to watch training, eliminations and the eight final events.
Along with big air events the X Games will showcase Snowmobile demos, never seen in Europe before.
The X Fest partners’ village will offer free entertainment all day then at sunset, DJs will perform on the big stage giving the opportunity to party till dawn.

Whistler Fills Post Olympic Vacuum

pthorne — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 10:12:47 +0000

With Whistler’s 50 year dream of staging the Olympics now half-way through, the famous Canadian resort is now beginning to look at what comes after the Paralympic Games are over.

“The Olympics may be finished but the party isn’t over” is the message from the resort as it prepares to stage Whistler’s longest-running event of significance, the World Ski and Snowboard Festival, now in its 15th year, the round off the Olympic season.
The festival brings ten days and nights of celebrations of sports, music and arts; this year with an increased commitment of funding to the community’s core cultural contributors.
“As members of the community of mountain sports lovers, we are constantly stimulated by what the artists, photographers, filmmakers, designers, and athletes are doing, so we’re reciprocating by sending some serious stimulus back their way,” says Festival Director, Sue Eckersley.
The World Ski and Snowboard Festival, which runs from Apr 16 to 25 after most other resorts have closed, offers recognition to the grassroots practitioners of new school skiing, snowboarding, film-making, action photography, new media, visual arts and design.
Over $85,000 in cash and prizes will be awarded at the Festival’s athletic events for the best (lycra-free) snowboarders and skiers. More than $40,000 in cash and prizes will recognize the talents of an array of artists.

Rugby On The Snow In Your Ski Boots

pthorne — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 07:50:15 +0000

Peisey-Vallandry, the resort located between giants Les Arcs and La Plagne in the French Paradiski pass, has decided to organise a rugby tournament on snow on March 18th, to celebrate St Patrick’s week.

Selected bars and hotels will run betting shops on the result (although no money is involved] and the game will be supervised by the Comité Départemental de Rugby de Savoie, which oversees the teaching of how to pass the ball, drop kick and so on.
The tournament requires seven players per team, comprising four on the field and three substitutes and in an unusual twist players will have to play in their ski boots.
Each match will last four minutes.

Winter Culinary Festival In Keystone

pthorne — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:48:14 +0000

Any fans of Masterchef who also like to ski or board should make their way over to Keystone this weekend.

Not only has the Colorado resort just been walloped with 20 inches (51cm) of new snow in the past week, resulting in some of the best conditions of the season so far, it is also staging its annual Winter Culinary Festival this weekend.
The festival runs from March 5th to 7th and show-case’s the resorts’ award-winning and internationally diverse cuisine.
Multi-day events include kitchen demos, culinary education programs and wine pairing dinners.
In line with Keystone’s owners Vail Resorts’ Appetite For Life program and commitment to the environment, chefs will be serving sustainable and organic ingredients in several dishes and the event is a zero-waste event where all rubbish will be recycled and/or composted.
There are full details at www.KeystoneCulinary.com

Try The Skibock In Adelboden

pthorne — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 07:43:44 +0000

As more and more new ideas for having fun sliding on snow are introduced by ski resorts artound the world, Switzerland’s Adelboden have decided to look back in to their resort’s history for their own ‘new idea.’ The result is the ‘skibock.’

“Sometime between 1920 and 1930, a family from Stiegelschwand in Adelboden took some old wooden staves made from old barrels and screwed on a piece of wood at 90 degrees and then mounted another plank on to that so it lay above and parallel to the ‘ski’ below.” Explains an Adelboden spokesperson.
The resulting invention, dubbed the ‘Skibock’ and shaped like an H on its side, is now promoted as, “the ultimate fun winter sport accessory,” but back in the pre-War years it was used as a quick (and yes, probably fun) way for children to get to school, more quickly in winter – so long as the school was below their homes.
The modern Skibock has a proper wooden seat which is screwed onto sawn-down skis. Children in Adelboden are still using this means of transport to get to school more quickly in the winter months.
So the Skibock has moved from being a practical object to a showpiece and now to an “Adelboden must” when it comes to winter sports equipment and this winter, for the first time, resort guests can try it for themselves. Indeed resort visitors now have the opportunity to actually build their own Skibock to take away with them in a resort workshop and test it right away on the Adelboden snow.

Val Thorens Offers Mountain Biking On Snow

pthorne — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 07:02:34 +0000

Val Thorens is offering a new activity this winter for those in search of a new adrenaline rush – high altitude downhill mountain biking on snow, at night.

Participants start their descent at one of the highest lift-served points in the French Alps, 3,000m up at the foot of the Péclet Glacier. They then hurtle down the six kilometre (nearly four mile) long “Tête Ronde” run on their mountain bike, descending 700 vertical metres back to the resort.
The activity is only advisable for the very fit and for experienced mountain bikers and is organised on two evenings a week, setting off soon after the lifts close to skiers and boarders.
Bikers are accompanied by qualified instructor Gérald Bigot, qualified instructor, for the descent, who advises on practical matters including the best position on the bike, braking, turns and how to fall safely!
The descent takes about 45 minutes and costs 45 Euros, including hire of bike and protective equipment. Participants are reward at the end with mulled wine for all.

Sun Peaks Launches New Terrain Park

pthorne — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 07:54:41 +0000

Sun Peaks in British Columbia has opened its new terrain park and announced not only news snow features but also a range of events through the season.
The park contains over nine acres of terrain features and jumps for skiers and snowboarders including a new a 20 foot flat box for rail riders, two new 16 foot corrugated culverts and a 30 foot straight rail.

Along with the new features, Sun Peaks is taking care of an element of Park management often lacking and ensuring the highest level of maintenance and safety, and a fresh layout thanks to their dedicated park crew.
Events coming up soon include the Shredidential Election ’10 on March 14, the largest park event of the season. Skiers and snowboarders compete for cash and prizes in this slopestyle contest.
Then on April 4 the Chairman of the Board contest will see snowboarders going head-to-head on three very different park features. At each feature, prizes will be awarded to the rider who throws down the best trick at that specific location. The overall winner will be the entrant who is the strongest rider and most consistent across all three features.