Ryanair check-in to go online by October

Skiers may soon have to think twice about taking a large suitcase on a Ryanair flight, after it was announced this week check-in desks will be scrapped and baggage fees increased.

Ryanair first announced plans to abolish check-in desks last month, saying most of its customers already check in online, and they will be able to use baggage drop desks for their luggage if needed.

Desks will be phased out and check-in fees will increase in the meantime. From 19 March the fee to check-in luggage at airport desks will double to £20 per passenger per flight. Passengers who book their tickets by 1 May will still be allowed to check in at the airport, but by 1 October, there will be no check-in desks at any of its airports and passengers will only be able to check in online.

Michael O’Leary, Chief Executive of the Irish airline, told The Daily Telegraph, “All we will have is a bag drop where passengers can drop off their luggage, otherwise everything will be done online. Ultimately, we want just one in five people to check in luggage.”

Ryanair is already known for its 'no-frills' policy, with passengers being charged for extras ranging from cups of tea to using a credit card to pay for their ticket. O'Leary also recently told the press he is thinking about installing credit card-operated toilets on airplanes and charging passengers to use them.

Skiers injured in chairlift fall

A structural failure on a chairlift in Spain’s Sierra Nevada resulted in 23 skiers being injured in the resort on Monday.

Six of the chairs chairs dropped approximately six metres to the ground and injuring 23 people after the top section of the tower gave way on one side.
Two skiers were taken to hospital with minor chest injuries and at least 21 suffered cuts and bruises and were treated for shock after falling from heights of up to 26 feet. At least another 35 people had to be rescued from chairs on the lift after it ground to a halt in the resort which is situated in the mountains above Granada. Most of the guests on the lift were ski instructors with their clients, and the Sierra Nevada Ski Patrol, Guardia Civil, Local Police and the Emergency Department immediately implemented an emergency lift evacuation procedure.

Recent snowfall had served to cushion the blow and saved many from serious injury. "Fresh snow beneath the lift no doubt cushioned the fall," said Mariano Gutierrez, a spokesman from the Sierra Nevada National Park. The chairlift is built by Doppelmayr and was installed in late 80’s. A world-leader in lift design and manufacturing, Doppelmayr lifts are in operation throughout the world and have a good safety record. The regional government of Andalucia, Guardia Civil, Doppelmayr and Cetursa, the company that manages the ski resort, have opened an investigation into the incident.

Getting heavy in Heavenly

The Californian resorts in the Tahoe area have been battered this week by the biggest winter storm this season, which has brought huge amounts of snow and some high winds.

In Heavenly and Squaw Valley, they received a colossal 200cm of snow on Sunday night when the storm began. 91cm alone fell on Tuesday night at Heavenly and that was on top of the 85cm that fell the previous night! It continued to snow all day Wednesday but the skies have cleared to reveal a landscape covered in nearly eight feet of new snow. Despite this they are only reporting four lifts closed, so the powder hounds should be out in force this weekend.

In California, Mammoth has also been getting dumped on, with their most recent reported snowfall being 61cm on Tuesday night. It has supposed to continue snowing all through Wednesday and Wednesday night and their upper base of nearly five metres is way above average for the time of year. This season so far is one of their best in a long time, with over ten metres of snow having fallen so far.

German politician found guilty over ski accident

The German politician who was charged earlier this week with manslaughter over a collision on an Austrian ski slope in January, has been found guilty.

The politician, who was involved in a fatal collision with a fellow skier at the intersection of two runs in Austria, was convicted on Tuesday of involuntary manslaughter. Dieter Althaus, who is a German state governor, could not attend Tuesday's trial because he is still recovering from head injuries sustained in the collision which took place at the Riesneralm ski area in Austria.

Prosecutors said Althaus has told them that he has no memory of the accident but takes responsibility for the 41-year-old woman's death. The court fined him 33,000 Euros and ordered him to pay another 5,000 Euros to the victim's husband. The Slovakian woman who had 4 children, died from head injuries as a result of the crash. She was not wearing a helmet, whilst the politician was, which has led to a re-opening of the debate over whether to make helmet wearing compulsory.

Following the incident, a new law requiring all children age 15 and under to wear a helmet on the slopes will be rolled out across 23 small ski resorts in lower Austria from 20 March.

Twitter and iPhone help find lost skier

A missing skier in the Swiss Alps has been rescued with the help of Twitter and an iPhone, but a snowboarder was found dead after the two were separated from the rest of their group on holiday in Verbier.

The Foreign Office has confirmed that the man who died was entrepreneur Rob Williams, 29, who went missing on Monday. Entrepreneur Rob, from Liverpool, was discovered in a stream at the foot of a cliff. He is thought to have fallen more than 60ft after getting lost near the resort. He was on holiday with a group of internet entrepreneurs including Michelle Dewberry, a former winner of the second series of The Apprentice.

Williams, and Jason Tavaria who was also 29, got into difficulty after becoming separated from fellow snowboarders in the resort. Tavaria survived and was found after Michelle Dewberry launched an online rescue on Twitter where she reportedly wrote, "2 of our ski party been missing since 4pm. Conditions terrible. 1 guy found but trapped. 20 man team searching for other." A helicopter search was not possible due to the bad weather conditions, but a GPS signal from Tavaria’s iPhone was used to guide in the rescue services. The rescue attempt continued to unfold on Twitter as details of the whereabouts of the two men were relayed back and forth. The search sadly ended with the discovery of the body of Rob Williams but Jason Tavaria was found unharmed about 6 hours later.

Winter returns to the Alps

Looks like it's not spring just yet. The recent warm and sunny weather in Europe is expected to come to an abrupt end this week, as another winter storm is expected to hit France, Switzerland and Italy bringing lots of snow and much colder weather with it.

In France, Argentiere is expected to receive the most snow of the French resorts in the next five days. 60cm of snow is forecast to fall on the upper slopes and the temperatures will probably be fairly mild in the first half of the week with freezing levels around 1500m, so rain could fall on the lower slopes and in the towns. However on Thursday the snow is expected to start falling even harder and the temperature should drop, meaning fresh snow to all levels.

The same is true for Switzerland during the coming week. The resorts are forecast slightly more snow than France, with Verbier expecting 68cm of snow this week, and 50cm of this should fall on Wednesday and Thursday alone! The same heavy snow is forecast in Zermatt with 31cm of snow expected to fall on Wednesday followed by a further 20cm on Thursday. The combined five day total is a whopping 66cm!

And whilst the rest of Europe is catching up with the two weeks of snow that Austria has been enjoying, some Austrian resorts are still staying ahead with more snow of their own to come. Zell am Zille is also expecting lots of snow, with 48cm expected to fall in the next five days. As with France and Switzerland, this could fall as rain on the lower slopes in the first half of the week but significantly colder weather is expected by Thursday. And in Obergurgl, the snow was still falling on Monday and neighbouring Solden also received 5cm of fresh snow. So Austria is still ahead of the game!

British tourists killed in ravine fall

Two British tourists have died after falling down a ravine in Les Deux Alpes following a night out with friends.

Richard Ryan, 27, and Christopher Lockwood, 28, fell while returning home after a night out in the ski resort. The pair were both from Leeds and were last seen by friends leaving a popular British-style pub to return to their chalet at about 2am last Thursday. The two men were "probably very drunk" when they fell into the Combe Noir ravine, police in the resort have said. A Deux Alpes police spokesman added, "Their friends alerted us that they were missing in the early hours of Thursday. Interviews with friends also revealed both men had drunk large quantities of beer that evening. The spot where they fell is very steep and, although unprotected, there are signs everywhere." The two were among a party of eight British skiers who were due to fly back to Britain at the weekend. Their families have been informed by the Foreign Office.