Food you must try when skiing!!

There are some foods that you absolutly have to try when your away skiing! not only because they are really nice but also because they will warm you up.

I am the most fussy eater in the world and really struggle with alot of textures of food rather than the taste, so to most these might not seem like the best food that you can eat when on the slopes but to me they are and if its your first time in a country then you have to atleast try them..

Last week I was in Austria Skiing with my family and I struggle alot there with food because I dont really eat pork but my winter warmer and midday love was definately
Goulash soup! If You want to try and make it yourself if only takes 15minutes to prepare and about an hour to cook. It has a sweet yet spicy flavour and is a beautiful blend of beef tomato and paprika. Give it a google and have a go!

When I was younger we always skied in France and I think I scared my parents with the amount of Tartiflette I ate out there, I would happily have eaten it for breakfast lunch and dinner if I had been aloud. I don't 0ften like cheese but this is deninatelly my exception to the rule! It is a rich warm filling dish of cheese, creamy potatoes and baco the is ideal to share with friend and really easy to make.

Now this is not my favourites but it definately goes down extremely well with my family and there is never any left even my 4 year old sister is happy to fill herself silly with a cheese fondue! Whenever we ski across the boarder from france to switzerland this is what all my family order. Made from a mixture of cheeses and white wine served with crusty bread to dip in and eat till you think your going to pop!

Although I don't like cheese fondue I am a total sucker for a chocolate fondue. How can anyone turn down a mixture of melted chocolates and loads of fruit to dip into it, although marshmellows are an amazing alternative but can become very sickly much faster.

I hope you enjoy these and give them a try especially when your out in resort! Happy Skiing!

Girl falls from ski-lift

Police are looking for a German couple who fled after a 10 year old girl was seriously injured when she plunged 30ft from a ski lift.

Emily O'Rourke from Mullingar, Ireland, dangled for nearly a minute before she slipped from the grasp of fellow skiers onto the ice and snow below in Westendorf, Austria. Yesterday she was being treated for three cracked vertebrae in hospital in nearby Sankt Johann. Soctors said they expected her to make a full recovery after Sunday's fall.

Skiers watching from the ground said they had seen the unidentified German pair clinging onto the child. Police said they grabbed Emily and according to witnesses tried to hang on to her until the lift could reach the landing station – but she fell to the ground when they could no longer hold on. The couple were initially praised but refused to discuss how the lift bar had been raised during the trip and then fled saying they wanted to enjoy their remaining time on the slopes.

Hansjoerg Kogler, the boss of the lift company Bergbahnen Westendorf, said: "I really cannot understand their behaviour. We wanted to question the couple about the events, but they were not co-operative, they had nothing to say, they said they only had half day passes and therefore wanted to go skiing.

"There are still many open questions about how the accident could have occurred. The couple did not even leave their contact details in case of any inquiries and of course now we need to speak to them to see what went wrong."

Police said that adults travelling with children had a duty of responsibility to make sure the safety bar was down and that they were secure.

Big Opening Weekend for Skiing 09-10

Many of the world's major resorts in at least 10 countries are opening for 2009-10 season this weekend. In Europe, the ski season begins in Andorra with Grandvalira opening a fortnight early after heavy snowfall in the Pyrenees.

In the French Alps, Europe's highest major resort, Val Thorens is the second resort to open in France, joining Tignes which has been open for nearly two months already. In Austria, Obergurgl is opening and in Switzerland, Andermatt, Davos, Klosters, Flims and Laax join Engelberg, Zermatt, Verbier, Les Diablerets and Saas Fee which are already open.

In Italy, Livigno is opening early and is running its lifts free of charge this week with no lift pass required. More resorts are opening in Finland, Norway and Sweden joining the 20 or so already open in Scandinavia.

Across the Atlantic In Canada British Columbia's Big White, Sun peaks and whistler resorts have opened this weekend, joining Alberta's Banff resorts, Lake Louise, Marmot Basin and Nakiska which have opened in recent weeks.

More areas are opening in the today US too including Boreal in California and White Pass, they join the latest openers Mt Baker in Washington State and Breckenridge, Colorado, which opened a few days ago.

Alpine ski season off to earliest ever start due to heavy snowfalls

Over the weekend, skiers and snowboarders enjoyed outstanding conditions for this time of year as a handful of European resorts opened earlier than expected following snowfalls of up to 20ins (50cm) in the past week.

In Saas Fee, Switzerland, snow depths have already reached more than 3ft (1m) on upper slopes, while the Austrian resort of Kitzbühel earlier set an 80-year record by opening on October 24.

In Switzerland, the resorts of Zermatt, Saas Fee, and Verbier have lifts running at weekends boasting “excellent” conditions following snowfalls in Thursday and overnight on Saturday. Resorts in France and Italy are also offering weekend skiing.

Despite not being among the highest of the Austrian resorts, Kitzbühel was one of the earliest to open its lifts last month, after heavy falls over the last three weeks.

Many Alpine resorts had been becoming increasingly nervous about the unseasonably warm weather of late, which saw temperatures as high as 65F (18C) – fearing a repeat of the dire season of 2006/7.

Concerns have also been raised over the impact of the global economic crisis and poor exchange rates that have forced up the cost of holidays in Europe, especially for British tourists.

Experts said that a plethora of cheap deals available this year are also helping fuel sales.

Last year many Alpine resorts experienced the best snow conditions in a generation.

Croatian ski slopes could be busy this winter

Skiers will abandon pricy mainstream resorts to go off the beaten track this winter, according to the Ski Club of Great Britain, which could make many consider a holiday in Croatia.

Traditional skiing locations such as the French Alps and Austria may be too expensive for many during the period of economic downturn, so a lower-cost alternative may be in demand. Even moving further down a particular valley can affect the cost of a ski holiday dramatically.

Vanessa Fisher, spokesperson for the club, said: "Resorts that are slightly off the beaten track are going to be popular as they are slightly cheaper. [They have] still got access to skiing and those are the types of resorts that skiers will be looking for." As the pound weakens against the euro, the price of ski holidays has risen by around six per cent. That could lead many skiers to seek out an up-and-coming ski destination such as Croatia.

Last week Tim Holmes, manager of the Metro Ski and Snowboard Show, said that snow fans have too much passion for skiing to give up their winter break because of the credit crunch.

Austria gets dumped on

Austria is enjoying the best of the snowfall this week, and the resorts we report on are in excellent shape as temperatures remain comfortably cold. Many resorts are expecting further snowfall this week with up to 50cm expected in some places. Wunderbar!

Most of the country is benefitting from the storm, which is set to last into this week bringing a further 50cms in places. Obertauern is in superb condition following 30cm of fresh snow falling on Sunday.The cold temperatures mixed with sunny spells this week are providing good visibility, so it's a great week to make the most of the resort's powder! The same snowstorm that dumped heavy snowfalls on Obertauern also boosted the conditions at Zauchensee which is very close by. The base depth in the whole resort is up to a metre, as is the base at Waidring in the Steinplatte area. 30cm of new snow fell there on Sunday increasing the base depth on the upper slopes by 50cm.

Kaprun's base on the upper slopes has increased significantly to 258cm, partly due to the fresh snow that has fallen this weekend but also due to improved depth measurements.

More snow on the way

The high pressure which has dominated weather in the Alps for the past few weeks, is set to make way for snowier and milder weather in parts of Switzerland, Italy and Austria early next week.

We've been waiting a little while for another good dump of fresh stuff, and whilst the consistently cold weather has kept the snow in good shape, powder hounds will be pleased to see what the weather has in store over the next few days.

It looks like Switzerland will receive the lion's share of this weather front, with Verbier expecting a whopping 44cm of fresh snow in the next five days, St Moritz 50cm and Zermatt 38cm!

French resorts will also get a look in, with Les Deux Alpes expecting 20cm of snow on Sunday night which should help to boost the already good conditions, and a further 18cm of snow is forecast for Monday.

In Tignes, conditions are still very good thanks to the cold weather and lovely sunshine this week but a top up of 14cm is forecast for Sunday, which should get heavier on Monday night.

Parts of Austria already had some snow this week, with the Piztal area receiving 15cm of snow and powder conditions can already be found across the whole resort. Whilst the weekend is forecast to be largely sunny, clouds will be gathering again by Tuesday when a further 13cm is expected, and Bad Gastein further East should also see 22cm fall by Tuesday.

In Italy, Selva Gardena received 8cm of fresh snow during the middle of the week, and a heavier band of snow is expected to move over the area on Monday night, bringing with it up to 20cm of fresh snow.

Back in the UK, snow fell across most of the Scottish ski resorts this week and the forecast is for temperatures to fall across Scotland over the weekend and more snow to fall from Friday onwards. Glencoe has 25cm of snow forecast and all of the other resorts are expecting at least 10cm.

So it looks like it might be time to put the sunglasses and sunscreen away for the time being, and get those goggles and fat skis back out by the front door.

Alpine farmers making cold cash by selling snow to ski resorts

Cash-strapped Alpine farmers are raking in a fortune harvesting snow and selling it to desperate ski slopes.

Despite a freezing winter, snowfall levels at lower altitudes are down and Austrian resorts have had to buy in trailerloads of the stuff from higher up the mountains.

Across the country, thousands of tonnes of snow have been dug up from high Alpine ski fields and shipped to keep ski pistes open. In Austria, the biggest "snow harvesters" are the owners of the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrassen AG (GroAG), a 65-kilometre stretch of road 2,500 metres above sea level that is Europe's highest Alpine crossing.

GroAG spokesman Dietmar Schondorfer said, "Even if it doesn't snow, every day we have tonnes of snow dumped on the road by the wind, all we have to do is drive back and forward to scoop it up."

Snow for the Southern Alps!

The more southerly French resorts and the Italian resorts should benefit the most from the predicted storm, which could bring up to 100cm of fresh snow to some Italian resorts by Monday.

Cervinia, which has been open since early November, is expecting around 50cm over the weekend, and Madonna di Compaglio opened today, about a week ahead of schedule. They are expecting a phenomenal 100cm of fresh snow by Monday!

In France, Alpe d'Huez plans to open this weekend, along with Val d'Isère and Les Deux Alpes, and conditions are already looking good with a base of 60cm on the upper slopes and a light dusting expected on Saturday and Sunday.

Serre Chevalier is looking forward to 26cm of new snow thanks to the storm but doesn't currently plan to open until 13th December.

In Austria, it's been a great week for snow conditions and the Arlberg region and parts of the Ski Welt will be open from either Friday or Saturday. And in Switzerland, cold temperatures preserved the great snowfall that many resorts had over the weekend, and more is expected to arrive. Saas Fee and Zermatt should be particularly happy with over 60cm forecast in each resort!