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.

Need a lift pass, then take your phone

Famous Canadian Rocky Mountain ski resort, Sunshine Village is to trial a new mCommerce mobile phone ticketing system which will allow skiers and boarders to avoid lift ticket windows and to move directly to the ski lifts where their mobile phone will replace traditional ski passes and be scanned to gain lift access.

Sunshine Village, one of North America's most technologically innovative ski resorts, will be completing a live test of the system to review the operational complications of putting this new lift pass system in place for next year's ski season. This is the first time this advanced technology has been trialled in North American ski industry. Upon successful completion of the demonstration test this week, the intent is to implement the programme for the start of the next ski season.

The initial test of the mCommerce application at Sunshine ski resort is being conducted in conjunction with the movie industry's Show Canada Conference and Trade Show being held this week in the nearby ski resort of Banff.

Seasons over - New seasons begun

Once upon a time the team at Worldski were fortunate to have a few weeks off after Easter as skiers put their minds to summer holidays rather than next years ski trip, but those days are over as clients book their ski holidays earlier and earlier.

Following exceptional snow conditions this year both here in Europe and in North America skiers and boarders are getting their reservations in early especially for ski resorts in Colorado like Breckeneridge where for the first time in a number of years a new direct service from United will compete with British Airways. More competition on this route can only serve to bring down prices and attract even more snow lovers westward.

Chalets for the peak dates are also being snapped early and skiers and snowboarders are putting down their deposits early to make sure they don't miss out. A recent booker advised that in a time of uncertainty with the economy and a projected housing slump, planning for next years ski trip gave him something to aim for. I look it this way he said ' better to go without a few luxuries like meals and out and coffee's from Starbucks than miss out on my major treat of the year'

If your looking for a bargain deal and making of the most of the recent great snow then April is bargain time to go skiing.

Last week was a very snowy one in the Europe. Sunday and Monday kicked off the week with widespread snowstorms across France, Switzerland and Austria with some resorts including Val D’Isère, picking up more than 2 feet in 24 hours – and the good new is it’s been snowing on and off ever since. So if that makes you wonder whether there is still time to ski this season then the answer is yes – but only if your careful about where to go.

Normally late season means that the lower resorts which have slopes facing the sun tend to fair badly with slushy conditions so our advice at Worldski is to avoid them altogether and aim high and for us that means skiing above 2000m.

The good news is that holiday prices fall through the floor at the end of the season and with Easter been and gone there are plenty of cheap deals to be had . Our advice as always is give us a call and speak to a member of our dedicated ski sales team on 0870 4288706 and let them point you in the right direction.