On Your Marks, Get Set, Snow!

The heavy snow forecast for the Alps late last week did not disappoint, with many of the lower altitude resorts getting a dump of snow.

I've been waiting for images like the ones below since the end of the last ski season, and it looks like the 2008/09 season is now upon us. Check out the images below, taken from the Ski Club site!

Zermatt at 2050m on Thursday;

Chamonix - top of the Montenvers railway on Thursday;

Even Scotland began it's ski season on Friday with the Lecht ski area opening up 3 lifts.

How exciting! Remember, Rail Europe's snow train service commences on the 16th January next year, so book early to avoid disappointment. Eurostar's day ski train service commences on 20th December, and the night snow train commences on Boxing Day. If you're looking for a slightly different Christmas present grab the snow train and head for the slopes between Christmas and New Year. Go to our Eurostar tickets page and have a look for train availability. Prices start from £179 return.

Welcome to 2008!

Hello and Happy New Year to you all!

I hope you all had a relaxing break and are re-charged and ready to tackle 2008.

I took a well deserved break over Christmas and decided to check out England's only ski slope. England has a ski slope I hear you cry? Yep, in the Lake District.

Not only did the continent receive good snowfall, but so did the UK highlands. The one ski run in the Lake District is situated on Raise, next to the Helvellyn range.

The run is very basic, with a wooden hut housing a generator to power the only ski tow up the side of the mountain, and a small ski hut which was built by Lake District ski club members in 1999. The best part is the slope cannot be reached by car. You need a 1 hour hike up Sticks Pass to reach the slope, so only enthusiastic Lake District Ski Club members can ski.

I took the image below from the northery peak to Raise (Stybarrow Dodd) which shows some snow on the slope...and plenty of skiers (although you might need a magnifying glass)!

More recent pics from today show much more snow cover, so ski club members should be enjoying a good weekend! These can be seen on their Flickr page.

Elsewhere, the snow was plentiful over Christmas and New Year, with Austria again taking the plaudits for fantastic skiing and snowboarding conditions.

The latest snow conditions can be found at Ski Club's Snow Reports page.

Snow in Kitzbühel!

Austria seems to be the focus of attention for skiers and snowboarders last weekend.

The picture below is taken from Kitzbühel - beautiful blue skies and fresh snow!


Many of my recent posts have talked about some of the Austrian resorts and the abundance of snow at the moment. However, I have failed to help you out by not telling you how to get to Kitzbühel!

Ironically enough, Daniel Elkin produced a great article for the Observer on Sunday which promotes snow train travel to different European resorts. Daniel covered a few options for how to reach ski resorts such as Ischgl and Kitzbühel in Austria, Zermatt and St. Moritz in Switzerland and Chamonix in France.

So to reach Kitzbühel for example, take a Eurostar train from St. Pancras International to Brussels. Then board a Bergland Express train, which takes approximately 13 hours (overnight).

Alternatively, take the Eurostar to Paris, then from the Gare de l'Est you can take an overnight train to Munich. There is a regular Eurocity service train service between Munich and Innsbruck. From Innsbruck, there are serveral services which connect the 1 hours journey between Innsbruck and Kitzbuhel.

Snow comes early to Austria

Skiers across Europe were given an early Christmas present this weekend as temperatures fell and left many Austrian resorts with a blanket of snow.

Many of the Austrian pistes presented fantastic skiing conditions, more than six weeks before the start of the season.

Hintertux in Austria opened 23 miles of piste for snowboarders and skiers this weekend, whilst the low-lying Schladming opened several pistes a month earlier than planned. Some slopes already hold more than 3ft of snow.

Many of the Austrian resorts will be hoping that early snow will encourage bookings, with the early expectation of a bumper season.

Resorts in France - which attract the largest number of British skiers and snowboarders - have only received a light dusting of snow in the past week. Nonetheless, forecasters have predicted heavier snowfalls before December.

For more information on snow reports across the major European resorts, go to the Ski Club of Great Britain website at www.skiclub.co.uk.