It’s time to plan!

This is a quick reminder to those of you who have been talking with you friends and family about celebrating the arrival of 2010 with your ski/snowboard gear on. It’s certainly not too late to plan it but do it quick.
Ski resorts and hotels/residences or apartments now offer New Year deals but the closer the celebration is, the higher the prices and the fewer the available accommodations. For example, the Puy Saint-Vincent ski resort now offers a 10% reduction in about 10 of its accommodations if reservations are made in September at the latest. You then get 5% off in October and pay full price after that. By experience, the bigger apartments (6+ people) are rented faster and if you are fussy about ANYTHING, you need to be quick because you might not find suitable accommodation later.

Take a look at what the celebration looks like in Tignes, France:

…been there, done that, and loved it!

To get our share of fresh air, my companion and I spent four days in Innsbruck this summer.

On Monday, we arrive late and under pouring rain. After dropping our bags off at the hotel, we go to the tourist office to buy the 3-day Innsbruck card (€35/person) and 3 hours of wireless internet access (only €5,90: way cheaper than the one provided by our hotel). The Innsbruck card gives to its holder access to all public transport of the region, including the trams linking to neighboring villages, to all lifts (one ascent and one descent per lift) and all museums. This card is actually the way to go if you plan on using lifts because otherwise, it takes only two rides to spend more than €35…  We then find an appropriate restaurant and dine… In terms of dining out, Innsbruck has a dozens of restaurant to choose from, from Thai cuisine to traditional Austrian cuisine. Even though I’m not a big fan of Austrian cuisine, we always find something pleasant. Note that sadly, like in most of Austria, the city becomes very very quiet after 8 or 9pm.

Since clouds are low and rain is to be expected, we decide to dedicate Tuesday to the visit Innsbruck and some of its museums. Touristy and very well maintained, the older part of Innsbruck is interesting and small enough to easily be visited on foot. In my opinion, the museum of the Golden Roof is the only one really worth seeing, and a climb up the stairs of Stadtturm (the town tower) is definitely worth the sweat. If you cannot or do not want to go up all those stairs (140+), you can head to the 360° Bar. The view is not quite as nice as from the tower, but at least the climb to the 7th floor is done by elevator.

Wednesday, the clouds finally lift and we can admire Innsbruck under the sun, surrounded by majestic mountains. We take the tram from the city center to the village of Mutters, where we ride the Muttereralm lift up to 1,600m and then walk the Innsbruck Almenweg. I say walk instead of hike because it’s almost on flat land, cows and sheep are met along the way and many parts are accessible to strollers and wheelchairs. It was pleasant but not very demanding, and the poorly done marking of the trails made us at all time wonder it we were on the right path.

Thursday, we decide to discover the Nordpark so we take the cable railway from the Innsbruck Congress Center up to 860m (section Hungerburg), and then a cable car to 1,905m (section Seegrube) and a second one to 2,256m (section Hafelekar). The panorama offered at that height is breathtaking. We then ride the lift back down to 1,905m, where we have lunch in a mountain hut and hike down to 860m. There is some nice hiking to be done but to our greatest surprise and disappointment, here too the trail marking is confusing. From 860m, we go back on the cable railway and make a stop-over at the Alpenzoo. Mostly for kids, the Alpenzoo presents alpine animals (bears, wild cats, wolves, different species of birds, etc.). It is a clean zoo and animals can enjoy reasonable living space. One last short ride on the cable railway and we are back in the city.

Will we return to Innsbruck? I’m not sure we would go back in summer (after all, been there done that) but probably in winter to ski, admire a completely different scenery and meet a different crowd.

Get more information about sights and hikes in and around Innsbruck here.
Get information and book your accommodation in Innsbruck here.

Not sure what you want to do during the gap year you were sooo looking forward to six months ago? More and more young people put their gap year to profit to take courses and become a qualified ski instructor. Oh and obviously, you don’t have to get the qualification close to home!

Once again, The Skiing Department Blog offers great insight and info on the topic, with links to a few establishment offering ski instructor courses. See the post here.
Note that only one of the schools listed offers training in the Alps (in Verbier and Saas-Fee): the Warren Smith Academy.

Isola 2000, in France, is part of the Domaine du Mercantour. It is located in the southern section of the Alps (Alpes maritimes), less than 100 km from Nice. Since the Mediterranean is so close—you can see it atop the summit of Sistron on a clear day—it is plausible to ski during the morning and have tea by the sea in the afternoon.

The resort might not be very big but offers all activities usually found in bigger resorts. During summer, visitors can go on different hikes (with or without a guide), rock climbing, horseback riding and fishing. The resort’s swimming pool caters for families and beautiful cycling paths allow the discovery of the resort. The more adventurous can go mountain biking or try the «Isoliane» adventure course.

The resort of Isola 2000 lies at 2000 meters and has 2000 hectares of skiable terrain to offer during winter. You’ll warp down the longest run for a nice two kilometers on over 120 km of pistes. There is one snowpark and 40-some combined runs. The breakdown of these is 30 beginner runs, 4 advanced and a dozen intermediate. See plan. There are 22 lifts to keep you chugging down all day long and if that’s not enough, there’s also snowmobiling, ice-skating, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and heliskiing and many more activities to keep everyone busy.

Isola 2000 can really be considered a discount family ski destination: there’s more beginners’ and bunny hill options here than in many bigger resorts, and no lack of ski schools. Plus, the resort never feels overcrowded, as the crowd almost always stays below what can be handled, and holiday apartments, the ideal accommodation for families, abound.

Because of all this, a family skiing holiday in Isola 2000 is really an affordable option in the Alps, even during high season.

Every year, after my first day riding, I regret not having worked-out during summer but this year will be different! I decided to actually train in prevision of next season.

After reading quite a bit on the topic, it seems like there are two main actions boarders can take during summer to make getting back on the board easier.

1. The first one might sound obvious: during summer, stay active! Ride your mountain bike or try mountainboarding, swim or windsurf, hike or go mountain climbing! These sports might not put all muscles essential to snowboarding to work, but they all constitute a good workout.
2. When specifically training for snowboarding, three groups of floor exercises deserve equal attention: push-ups, sit-ups/crunches and jumps/squats.

You should not wait too long to start, I heard there is good riding to be done as early as November in Tignes, France, Saas-Fee, Switzerland and Hintertux, Austria.

Here’s a workout suggestion that looks good to me:

What do you think about this workout? Anything to add or remove?

1 area, 2 countries, 12 resorts-villages, countless activities included.

In my opinion, the Multi Pass Portes du Soleil is THE tool to fully take advantage of mountain holidays in the Portes du Soleil area, whether you intend to visit the French side, the Swiss side, or both. Valid until September 21st, visitors can by it at local lift and tourist offices. A day pass costs 6€ and a season pass, 50€, but if you stay at one of the numerous participating accommodations, it will cost you as little as 1€ per day of your stay to access all included activities.

The Multi Pass Portes du Soleil is valid in:
France: Abondance, Avoriaz, Châtel, La Chapelle d’Abondance, Les Gets, Montriond, Morzine, Saint Jean d’Aulps.
Switzerland: Champéry, Morgins, Torgon, Val-d’Illiez - Les Crosets -  Champoussin.

It grants its beholder unlimited access to the following installations in each of the above-mentioned resorts: tennis courts, swimming pools, mountain-lifts, bus shuttles, cultural sites and tourist road trains.

I actually fail to see why anyone would visit the Portes du Soleil area this summer and NOT get a Multipass, at least for a few days!

Mountainboarding, also called offroad boarding, dirtboarding, grass boarding or all-terrain boarding is a quite recent sport (which might explain why enthusiasts have not agreed on how to call it yet). Let’s put it like that: mountainboarding a hybrid mountain summer sport, halfway between snowboarding and skateboarding, where sportsmen and women ride a device comprised of a board with bindings and wheels. They can go downhill or on jumps and quarter-pipes and so-on Here’s what it looks like:

Mountainboarders already have their magazine: MountainBoard.net and although you can now mountain board in many ski resorts, only a few mountainboard schools are found. The most reputable is the one found in Les Saisies, France, where is also held The World Mountainbord Downhill Championship. I think I’m gonna give it a try!

A great way to discover Switzerland’s magnificent panoramas is get on a train and, not surprisingly, Switzerland is the European country with the most mountain railway routes. Here are (in my opinion) the most spectacular ones:

Bernina Express

Route: Chur/Davos/St. Moritz - Berninapass - Poschiavo - Tirano
The Rhaetian railway section called the Bernina Express is truly a technical marvel, offering countless breathtaking views. It will take you 2 ½ hours to complete the 145-km trip, which will take you from Davos all the way to Lugano during summertime.
Where the journey takes you: across viaducts, through tunnels and the Berninapass (2,253m), in Davos, Saint Moritz, Graubünden and Tirano, in the Poschiavo valley and past mountain torrents.

GoldenPass Panoramic

Route: Lucerne - Montreux
This 5-hour mountain train trip allows its passengers to see very different aspects of Switzerland: the «Swiss Riviera» in Montreux, with its palm trees that give an almost Mediterranean feel, the alpine black fir tree forests and of course, lots of green pastures.
Where the journey takes you: In Lucerne, Zweisimmen, Interlaken, Gstaad, Meiringen and Montreux, over the Brünig Pass, in the Lake Geneva tunnel, in the Simmen Valley and by many lakes

The Glacier Express

Route: Zermatt - Davos/St. Moritz
You can take the Glacier Express from St. Moritz of from Zermatt, the trip between both will take you about 7 ½ hours. During that time, you get to admire forests, pastures, and streams as well as mountain valleys and peaks.
Where the journey takes you: over 291 bridges, in 91 tunnels, and in 7 valleys. In Davos, St.Moritz, Chur, the Rhine gorge, Andermatt, Brig, the Oberalp pass (2,033m), the Canton Valais, the Matterhorn, and Zermatt.

For any of those journeys, reservations are essential. Train tickets and information on the different routes offered is found on MySwitzerland.com/rail.