Vallnord Pal Arinsal is ranked as one of the top 9 bike parks in the world by Red Bull.
In a ranking put by Red Bull about 9 bike parks that are worth to ride in the world we find Vallnord Pal Arinsal that has been recognised as one of the top bike parks, thanks to its Annual World Cup downhill and cross-country races. This adding to the fact that the small state of Andorra is a tax-heaven and it has drawn mountain tourism lovers with the pristine Pyrenean peaks. Commencal is also based here. Vallnord offers also numerous downhill and freesytle tracks, endure options, pumptrack, 4x track and kids’ ride area making it a fantastic destination for all gravity-centric riders. Accommodation is very good and good quality for money, and the favourable weather gives Pal Arinsal a long season. The season goes from May to October.
World Cup Vallnord Pal Arinsal 2018. Photo: Vallnord Pal Arinsal. Vallnord Pal Arinsal is ranked as one of the top 9 bike parks in the world by Red Bull.
The other parks in the Red Bull list are Whistler, Canada; Portes du Soleil, France; Åre, Sweden; Queenstown, New Zealand; Sölden, Austria, Bike Park, Wales, UK; Coast Gravity Park, Canada; and Evo Bike Park, France.
This year’s World Cup will take place from the 2nd to the 7th of July in Vallnord, Pal Arinsal. Last year’s World Cup gathered 63,000 visitors during 9 days of MTB in Vallnord Bike Park La Massana with the last category of DHI and the categories of M30 and M40 of XCO. The Sunday of the event, the resort hosted 22,000 viewers.
A new ski resort project for Malargüe, Mendoza Province in Argentina.
From Sitio Andino
A new ski resort project in Malargue will be located in the area of Baños de El Azufre (Sulfur), in the Valenzuela River Valley, on Provincial Route 226 that leads towards the Planchón Vergara International Pass. The resort will consist of a mountain village with two thousand beds and six means of elevation. The place chosen by the investors guarantees five months of snow, with a base at two thousand four hundred meters above sea level, and a summit at four thousand meters.
A new ski resort project for Malargüe, Province of Mendoza, Argentina
José Beccar Varela, one of the investment partners said that the idea “is in a project phase, and they have the property title to be able to invest.”
“Meanwhile we continue to study the terrain,” and advance research on snow behaviour related avalanches, considering that the settlement of a mountain village is projected, and choose the exact location for the location.
Mountain Travel Symposium 2019 in Whistler – a recap.
Just came a couple of weeks ago from the Mountain Travel Symposium, an event I have been working for the past six years and which I enjoy every moment of it. I noticed however, that as I am getting old, it is taking me longer to feel back human again.
Trentino attendees having fun at the top of Whistler Mountain. Photo: Mirta Valentini – Trentino Marketing. Mountain Travel Symposium 2019 in Whistler – a recap.
The Mountain Travel Symposium (MTS for short) is not a sprint, definitely is a marathon – An event that lasts one week and for me makes me be twelve days away from home from my husband and kids. MTS is the largest mountain and ski gathering of suppliers from all over the world – ski resorts, hoteliers and service providers, with tour operators that sell skiing, also from all over the world, and ski clubs and ski councils from the USA and Canada, that travel internationally.
I am in charge of the international market and on widening the international attendees year on year. This is a part-time, but yearlong job for me. Now I have a couple of weeks to get ready and close all things from this past event before we open the early bird registration for MTS 2020. MTS 2020 will be in Squaw Valley, at the Resort of Squaw Creek, in North Lake Tahoe, CA, USA from March 29 – April 4, 2020. In May we’ll be opening registration, with the best rates available for one month only. Then rates go up four times during the year, so whoever can register early, get rates that are USD 800 cheaper than the last published rates!
The French delegates at the Trade Exchange Reception. Photo: Mountain Travel Symposium. Mountain Travel Symposium 2019 in Whistler – a recap.
But, getting back to MTS 2019, the event was in Whistler, BC. Canada. We have been In Whistler also in 2015, but the event took the Fairmont in Blackcomb. This year the event was at the Whistler Village Conference Center. I was an attendee at MTS being at the same place in 2002, when I was having my own incoming tour operator Ski Patagonia, where I was selling trips to Argentina and Chile.
Cerro Bayo to create a new chairlift departure at 1400 meters
Cerro Bayo in Villa La Angostura, Neuquén province in the Lake Region of Argentina, is to create a new chairlift departure, 100 meters higher than were it was before, now at 1,400 meters.
Excavating the ground to place the new start of the quad chairlift. Photo courtesy of Roberto Thostrup- Cerro Bayo. Cerro Bayo to create a new chairlift departure at 1400 meters.
This is due to the snow line getting higher over the years (the snow line is the linw from where the snow naturally falls each season). This chairlift is a double chairlift, that, even it is not new, it will modernise the area and give more uphill capacity, specially to the younger skiers. In this way, the resort of Cerro Bayo can secure the use of this ski circuit area at the end of its ski season in the month of September.
The ski season in Cerro Bayo goes from June 23rd to September 23rd, if snow conditions allow. Cerro Bayo is known as a boutique resort, with amazing views of the Lago Nahuel Huapi and proximity to Villa La Angostura, one of the more exclusive areas of the Lake Region in Patagonia with lovely hotels, cabins and gourmet restaurants. Close to the San Carlos de Bariloche airport, this small resort is for the discerning client that want something great for their families and something exclusive as well.
Dangerous avalanche conditions are expected ahead of Arctic Man
From KTVA
Next week, hundreds of snowmobiles will descend upon the Hoodoo Mountains north of Paxson for the annual Arctic Man event, and avalanche forecasters want them to know that conditions are especially unpredictable this spring.
“The mountains are shedding.” warned Debra McGhan of the Alaska Avalanche Information Center. “It might be stable in the morning, but by afternoon things are letting go.”
Dangerous avalanche conditions are expected ahead of Arctic Man
On Saturday, two brothers were buried in an avalanche while riding not far from where Arctic Man takes place. No one was hurt, but it was a reminder of the dangers.
It’s a transitional year for Arctic Man, which will not be hosting its classic ski races this year. The unusual race has been held nearly every year since 1986, but interest has slowed. After 33 years, the popular Arctic Man Race of teams of two – a skier and a snowmobile, is ending. The race had the skier in each team, going down the mountain, being towed by the snowmobile uphill again and then skiing back down for a second time.
Val d’Isère and other ski resorts in the Savoie region of France are launching a show of solidarity with UK Remain supporters.
They are staging a special event as the last Eurostar train, before the rescheduled Brexit departure date, leaves Bourg-Saint-Maurice for London early next month.
Some 48% of skiers who visit Val d’Isère each winter come from the UK and locals fear that, at least in the short term, the Brexit chaos may have a significant effect on future bookings.
French ski resorts organise anti-Brexit campaign. Photo: Val d’Isere.
French hoteliers, ski instructors, shopkeepers, and seasonaires who make their living from the ski industry are planning a raucous send-off for holidaymakers boarding the final direct train of the season as it leaves the station for St Pancras at 9.30am on April 6 2019.
Bourg-Saint-Maurice is the station for nearby resorts that include Val d’Isère, Tignes, Les Arcs and La Plagne.
Eldora Mountain’s Expansion is approved by Gilpin County
From the Mountain Ear
Gilpin County. Eldora Mountain Resort requested approval of a Special Use Permit for the expansion of Eldora Ski Resort into northern Gilpin County on March 5, 2019, at the Gilpin County Courthouse. The proposal included construction of a lift return and a lift operator building, on property owned by Tolland Ranch, LLC. The owner has given written consent and approval to this application.
During the hearing, the Community Development Director, Stephen Strohminger, said that there would be no new roads that this development would incur, and no vehicular traffic of any kind will be present except for heavy equipment when needed for maintenance. No impacts to water quality or quantity are expected.
Eldora Mountain Resort’s sign. Eldora Mountain’s Expansion is approved by Gilpin County.
The USFS Rocky Mountain Region has conducted an environmental impact report and has approved this project. The proposed Jolly Jug Lift is expected to be approximately 3,250 feet in length with half of the line in Gilpin County, and a structure to house a composting toilet system.
The bottom of the proposed lift is approximately 4.5 miles from Highway 119 and 1.6 miles to the south to Tolland Road, as the crow flies. No negative visual impacts to views and vistas are expected based on the information given.
The new lift would provide access to existing runs on the front and back side of Eldora and additional intermediate and expert level terrain on the south side of the mountain. Eldora General Manager Brent Tregaskis said, “This lift really fills that void at a very high level.” Skiers would be able to ride the Sundance Chair, ski down to the Jolly Jug Lift, and ride to the top of the ridge.”
Saddleback ski area might get back in business with another new prospective buyer
The purchase price was not disclosed. The ski area has been closed since 2015.
From the Portland Press Herald
An investment firm from Boston has made an offer to buy Saddleback Mountain, stating that they’ll invest between $25 million to $30 million after the sale to help restart the Rageley ski resort, now closed for four years.
Saddleback ski area might get back in business with another new prospective buyer.
The property is owned by the Berry family. The details of what Arctaris Impact Fund is offering to the Berry family has been disclosed in an email to the owners of Saddleback condos. The email was sent by Andy Shepard, CEO of the Outdoors Sports Institute and Tom Federle, a Portland attorney who have been working with Arctaris trying to purchase the ski area.
Saddleback was Maine’s third largest ski resort offering lots of local jobs and drawing thousands of tourists each winter while it was opened.
Shepard would not confirm the terms and conditions of the purchase – only that the $500 million investment group wants to buy the ski mountain and can afford it. The purchase price was not disclosed.
“Tom Federle and I have been quietly trying to find a buyer for the mountain for the last four years and connected with Arctaris last fall. We have been very impressed with their commitment and capacity to not only buy the mountain but doing so with a long-term view to make the mountain successful,” said Shepard, the former CEO of the Maine Winter Sports Center, in an email Friday. “Arctaris is the real deal and I’m hopeful for the Berry family and for the people of western Maine that we can get a deal done.”
Saddleback ski area might get back in business with another new prospective buyer.
Federle owns a condo in Saddleback. Shepard said his interest in the deal is in “preserving one of Maine’s most remarkable ski mountains and the role it plays in the economy of the region, an interest shared by Tom.”
Saddleback, owned by Irene and Bill Berry of Farmington, has been on the market since July 2015. The ski mountain – one of the largest in Maine with an elevation of 4,120 feet – has not been open since the 2014-2015 season.
The Half Term Family Ski Holiday that did not result as planned
Our Family Half Term ski holiday is always decided one year in advance. Pretty much we always go to the Aosta Valley, as my youngest boy does not want to change location. I see it with my family, and I’ve seen it with many people over the years (even with myself when I’ve started skiing while much younger!)
You go to one resort, you get familiarised with it, and you don’t want to change! All is easy, and just changing to another resort, makes it too challenging. I see it as using an old pair of jeans, that you don’t want to change for something else!
So, we were set to leave the Friday before the half term- as my husband is the sole driver (for me it was too difficult changing sides of the road when I’ve moved from Argentina to the UK, that I daren’t do it again!)
Getting up early pays off – usually. Photo: The-Ski-Guru. The Half Term Family Ski Holiday that did not result as planned.
Our car has been acting funny since September, when the Turbo went off. Then it started revving between 2nd and 3rd gears and we’ve took it twice to the mechanics. The first time we were said it was solved, but it was not, and I’ve took the car back in the garage two weeks before leaving. I did not have the car until the Wednesday of the week we were leaving – we were leaving at 4 AM on the Friday of that week and I was already very nervous about it and seeing if we could rent a car in the UK to cross to the continent.
Apparently, you can do so with Hertz and Avis, but obviously these cars do not bring roof rack, nor winter tyres or chains. So, I was budgeting all that just in case. My husband was saying that if we did not have our car back, we were staying and cancelling the trip, and my kids and me were completely distraught at the thought of it.
The car came out off the garage so then we were going to be ready to go. The night after taking our dog to some friends to look after him, my husband told me that the revving was still there, but that I should not worry. He was sure that this was not going to be anything.
Off we went with our skis, helmets, ski boots, all the paraphernalia you take when you go skiing. We set out in good time and at the Eurotunnel we were given a crossing one hour earlier, so we had time only to go to the bathroom and pick up some coffee and croissants to eat in the car.
We had a very good driving. Last year there was snow from home all the way to Folkestone and from Calais all the way to Italy. This time all the roads were clean, and the weather was beautiful, pretty warm too. This was not the best snow year for the Alps – (Austria and Eastern Switzerland got lots of snow, as well as other Eastern European countries like Romania), but for France, Italy and Western Switzerland the snow was ok, but just.
The Mountain Collective goes on Sale for the 2019-2020 Season.
Valle Nevado, Chile added as first South American partner.
Purchase This Spring for Lowest Guaranteed Price of $449 USD,
Bonus Day at Destination of Choice and Kids’ Pass for Just $99
Starting March 7th, a limited number of Mountain Collective passes are on sale for only $449 USD. In addition, spring pass purchasers receive one bonus day at the destination of their choice for a limited time and two additional days at Chamonix Mont Blanc, France. Pricing for the kids pass (ages 12 and under) is just $99 for the 2019-2020 season when purchased with an Adult Pass, offering an incredible value for families.
Valle Nevado – Mountain Collective. The Mountain Collective goes on Sale for the 2019-2020 Season. Valle Nevado, Chile added as first South American partner.
Valle Nevado, Chile will be a full partner resort this season, joining Alta, Aspen Snowmass, Banff Sunshine, Big Sky, Coronet Peak – The Remarkables, Jackson Hole, Lake Louise, Mammoth, Niseko United, Revelstoke, Snowbird, Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows, Sugarbush, Taos, and Thredbo in this alliance of 16 iconic destinations.
“We are excited for the eighth season of The Mountain Collective,” says Christian Knapp, Chief Marketing Officer, Aspen Skiing Company. “With the ever-changing pass offerings it is clear there is still strong demand for this product. Consumers have a wide range of needs and the Mountain Collective Pass fits a niche. ”
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