Zoom go bust

The popular Anglo-Canadian airline Zoom has gone bust leaving thousands of independent travellers stranded and tour operators on the search for alternative flights for customers.

The low-cost airline, which served a number of Canadian cities from the UK, was founded in 2001 and has proved particularly popular with people looking for cheap ski holidays in western Canada's ski resorts including top Worldski destinations such as Whistler Blackcomb, Banff and Lake Louise.

In a press release Hugh and John Boyle (founders of Zoom) said: 'We deeply regret the fact that we have been forced to cease all Zoom operations. It is a tragic day for our passengers and more than 600 staff. We are desperately sorry for the inconvenience that this will cause passengers and those who have booked flights and have done everything we can to support the airline. Even as late as yesterday we had secured a new investment package but the actions of creditors meant we could not continue flying. The collapse of Zoom is beyond our control.'

Anyone booked on the airline as part of a ski holiday package should be protected by the ATOL licence and be found alternative flights by their tour operators. All bookings made with http://www.worldski.com/ have been protected and alternative flights found.

Snow already in Breckenridge

Breckenridge Ski Resort - It´s the height of summer in Colorado but winter has reared its head early as snow dusted Breckenridge and with opening day at Breckenridge only 83 days away things look good for winter 2008-9

Horizon Air Announces Daily Flights to Mammoth

Horizon Air announced today the airline will offer new daily nonstop flights from Los Angeles to Mammoth Mountain for the 2008/2009 winter sports season starting December 18, 2008

“The addition of commercial air service to Mammoth represents a big step toward realizing our shared vision to become a destination ski resort community,” said Rusty Gregory, CEO of Mammoth Mountain.“Instead of a drive of five hours or more, you’ll be able to take a 65-minute flight, arriving in Mammoth in time for a relaxing dinner before hitting the ski slopes of Mammoth the next day.”

Horizon’s new flight is expected to boost tourism to Mammoth by facilitating inbound travel from a wide variety of national and international airlines that fly into LAX. Similarly, travelers from Mammoth will gain an easier way to travel, with connections to dozens of destinations coast to coast and around the world served by Alaska, Horizon and other airlines at LAX.

The new daily service runs from Dec. 18, 2008, through April 12, 2009. The one-hour-and-five-minute flight departs Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) daily at 2:20 p.m. and arrives at Mammoth Yosemite Airport (MMH) at 3:25 p.m. The return flight leaves Mammoth at 4:05 p.m. and arrives at LAX at 5:10 p.m.

Just 15 minutes from the Mammoth Yosemite Airport, Mammoth Mountain currently hosts more than 1.1 million skiers per year, making it the third most visited mountain resort in the country. Mammoth Mountain is Southern California’s favorite ski resort, well known for long seasons and plentiful snowfall.

Colorado results are in! It's a record year for snow

Eight Colorado ski resorts saw snow reports worthy of the record books according to Colorado Ski Country USA. The state of Colorado saw more than 100 powder days based on a tally of the number of days one resort or another picked up new snow. After many resorts delayed opening their doors because of poor early snow conditions the season really did kick off with a bang in December.

Among the 26 ski resort members, record snowfall was recorded at Beaver Creek (430 inches), Crested Butte (422 inches), Monarch Mountain (482 inches), Powderhorn (320 inches), Silverton (550 inches), Snowmass (450 inches), Steamboat (489 inches) and Telluride (353 inches).

Vail saw its third snowiest winter on record, Durango Mountain Resort recorded its fifth snowiest winter and snowfall totals at both Sunlight Mountain Resort near Glenwood Springs and Copper Mountain landed in the top 10 in the resorts’ histories, according to Ski Country.Keystone ski resort tied its best snowfall in the previous eight years, and Eldora received its best snow year in the previous five years. December and January were record snow months at Snowmass and Vail, and Telluride received record snowfall from December to February. January and February snowfall were amongst the highest in Loveland’s history, and 2007-’08 marked the first time Steamboat surpassed the 100-inch cumulative mark for three months in one ski season — from December through to February.

New service from LA to Mammoth Lakes

The FAA have approved for the coming winter a daily daytime service between Los Angeles LAX Airport and Mammoth Yosemite Airport.

This is great news for skiers and boarders and with plans to use a 76 seater Bombardier turbo prop international travellers will no longer be faced with a car journey of 4 journey from Reno or a 6 hour drive from Los Angeles and San Francisco.

This is great news for UK skiers who want to visit Mammoth Mountain, one of the best ski resorts in North America and plans are afoot to increase this in 2011 to 8 flights a day as regional flights from Las Vegas, Northern California and San Diego are added.

1 stop flights to to Aspen from Gatwick with Delta

Delta Airlines have announced that they will start daily non-stop flights from Atlanta to Aspen/Snowmass starting on December 20, 2008 and retain the service throughout the winter 08/09 season!

This is great news for skiers and boarders and means that those looking to take a ski holiday in Aspen or Snowmass can make the trip with Delta Airlines with only a single stop over in Atlanta.

In the past two years the team at Worldski have seen several new air routes coming into Aspen Airport making Aspen/Snowmass the easiest and arguably the best Ski Resort for total travel time for any UK skier. I mean who can beat a 15 minute transfer time to your hotel!!!!

So we when it comes to booking your holiday to Aspen and Snowmass this coming winter remember that you have the choice of the following flights:

United Airlines: Daily Direct from LHR - DEN with easy 28 minute flight time service to Aspen/Snowmass

United Airlines: Daily Direct Flight(s) into Chicago (ORD) from LHR with connecting service to Aspen/Snowmass

Delta Airlines: Daily Direct Flights(s) into Atlanta (ATL) from LGW with connecting service to Aspen/Snowmass.

...and don't forget about the daily non-stop flights on British Airways from LHR to DEN. Although there is no code share flights up to Aspen/Snowmass with a ticket from BA, there are multiple flights on United Airlines and now Frontier Airlines from Denver to Aspen/Snowmass!

Considering 3 years ago there was no way to come to Aspen/Snowmass from the UK on a protected 1-stop flight things have come a long way.

With these kind of options we look forward to see many of you on the slopes this coming winter.

Sir Elton rocks Ischgl

The end of season ski parties are getting bigger and bigger with stars such as Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Sting, Tina Turner, Bon Jovi, Stereophonics and the Scissor Sisters having all performed in the past to huge crowds in ski resorts in Europe and North America.

Last week was no exception with Sir Elton John as the main attraction in Austria as he performed at the end of season party in the ski resort of Ischgl. Having just squeezed the rock legends piano into the cable car, Sir Elton John gave a 2 hour 'free' concert at an altitude of 2,320 metres and worked his way through his greatest hits including Rocket Man, Daniel, Pinball Wizard, Bennie and The Jets, Crocodile Rock and Yellow Brick Road.

Sir Elton admitted he had never skied or snowboarded. "I would love to as it looks fun, but my travel insurance won't allow me to in case I beak an arm or something," he said before the show.
Concerts like this are really a marketing strategy for the ski resorts, and for 25,000 skiers at the weekend the concert was a nice end to a great days skiing. It is also part of a strategy for ski resorts to offer more than just skiing to attract a wider client base, partly fuelled by worries about global warming and the prospects that there will be less snow in the future.