Stories from guardian.co.uk Travel: Winter sports
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Readers' travel tips: alternative European ski resorts
guardian.co.uk Travel: Winter sports &bull Feb 6, 2012
You don't have to go to the Alps to enjoy great skiing in Europe. Saariselka is within the Arctic Circle and it felt like a frontier to a winter wilderness. It's great for beginners and intermediates as the slopes are wide and quiet. We were hooked on cross-country skiing and snowshoeing -… Full Story »
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Topics:
- Mountains
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Family-friendly ski and snowboard holidays
guardian.co.uk Travel: Winter sports &bull Feb 3, 2012
Wondering how and when to introduce your toddler to the joys of a ski or snowboard holiday? As someone with a sky-high level of snow obsession, who timed my pregnancy around winter and spent more time than is reasonable Googling… Full Story »
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Thank pod: bargain ski apartments
guardian.co.uk Travel: Winter sports &bull Jan 27, 2012
Friday 27 January 2012. I was talking to the gendarmes when the second tree fell, landing on the roof of a small car not 10ft behind me. The night was thick with snow, headlights from stranded cars picking out great fists of snowflakes as the wind hurled wthem through the air. Those vehicles without snow chains lay blinking in ditches or squealing out of control as they skidded back down the icy mountain road. I glanced up at the snow-laden trees creaking ominously in the wind, then back at… Full Story »
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Aaron Coret: snowboarding's slippery slope to a happy landing
guardian.co.uk Travel: Winter sports &bull Jan 15, 2012
Snowboarding can be the ultimate thrill and desperately dangerous. Katal snowboard landing pad inventors Stephen Slen, left, and Aaron Coret at Whistler Blackcomb terrain park, Canada. Seven years ago, engineering student and budding pro-snowboarder Aaron Coret had an accident that… Full Story »
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Ski holidays: cheap flights to the slopes
guardian.co.uk Travel: Winter sports &bull Jan 6, 2012
Friday 6 January 2012. Below you'll find the airlines and aiports that offer access to the greatest ski resorts, plus some good-value ski packages, often in less obvious resorts. We've included the latest baggage charges for a fuller picture of the costs of your trip. We don't yet know how sharply the economic chill will have bitten the ski industry but reintroducing free ski and snowboard carriage on flights would make ski holidays more attractive, and boost sales of ski equipment in the UK. The no-frills airlines currently… Full Story »
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Adventure holiday planner 2012 - in pictures
guardian.co.uk Travel: Winter sports &bull Jan 6, 2012
Still haven't made good that new year's resolution to turn yourself into the next Bear Grylls? Don't worry, we've mapped out the whole year ahead, with an amazing adventure for each month. You could spend April mountain biking in Morocco's… Full Story »
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Topics:
- Mountains
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Switzerland's 'world's best Father Christmas' competition
guardian.co.uk Travel: Winter sports &bull Dec 23, 2011
Friday 23 December 2011. In fact, I can see a hundred of them. I'm at the Santa Claus World Championships in Samnaun, Switzerland, where competitors sledge, sprint, and sing their way through a gruelling programme of Christmas-inspired tasks as they fight to be crowned the world's best Father Christmas. Known as the ClauWau, the two-day contest marks the opening of the winter season in Samnaun, a ski resort at the heart of the "three-nations corner", where Switzerland, Austria and Italy meet. Part international Christmas party, part alpine sports medley, ClauWau is fiercely contested but highly inclusive. Challenges include gingerbread decorating,… Full Story »
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Topics:
- Snowboard
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Unconventional skiing holiday tips
guardian.co.uk Travel: Winter sports &bull Dec 16, 2011
Friday 16 December 2011. It's not much fun travelling, skiing or eating alone, so joining a group of like-minded skiers is certainly the answer. However, most tour operators and hotels charge large supplements for this. Singles Ski Holidays (singlesskiholidays.com) is just what it says on the tin, offering holidays to a choice of seven resorts all season - including Christmas and New Year. Prices start at 695pp half-board for a single room at Chalet-hotel Berangere in Les Deux Alpes, including flights. Alpine Elements (0844 273 5257, alpineelements.co.uk) has chalets in France with en suite single rooms. A single room at… Full Story »
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Topics:
- Mountains
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Get your winter sports kicks in Norway
guardian.co.uk Travel: Winter sports &bull Dec 16, 2011
Amateurs can enter the world finals of a Norwegian race round frozen lakes on kicksleds. Will Team GB grab a surprise victory? Friday 16 December 2011. Last year, I represented Britain in the Kicksled World Championships in Norway. It sounds impressive, doesn't it? Imagine icy wastes and winds howling across Europe's largest highland plateau, home to reindeer, and you have half the picture. The other half is like something from Wacky Races. A kicksled, or spark (the word means "kick" in Norwegian), has a pair of parallel, two-metre-long skate blades, with a footplate on each. Gripping the handlebars, riders scoot… Full Story »
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Topics:
- Mountains
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Splitboarding in Canada
guardian.co.uk Travel: Winter sports &bull Dec 2, 2011
Want to become a truly awesome snowboarder? Friday 2 December 2011. Splitboarding in the Kootnenay mountains, Canada - hike uphill on two fat skis that convert to a snowboard for the run down. Out here there is no sound. Since the chopper dropped us at the cabin and turned back towards civilisation, its rotor noise receding to a faint echo, we've been on our own. Mountains can often seem ominously silent, like sleeping giants, but this is a whole new level. There are no foreign-tongued murmurs from the piste, no steel edges chattering on the hardpack, not even a low… Full Story »
