New Mexico ski areas offer ski helmet rentals

All of New Mexico's ski areas will now offer helmet rentals for skiers or snowboarders under the age of 18. State Sen. Eric Griego had been planning to introduce legislation to require slopes around the state to offer the rentals but the ski industry beat him to it.The issue became moot after Griego approached ski industry officials. He learned that only three of New Mexico's eight downhill ski areas—Santa Fe, Sandia Peak and Pajarito Mountain—didn't already offer such rentals. The three ski areas have since agreed to begin renting youth helmets, said George Brooks, executive director of Ski New Mexico.

"The senator and the ski areas in New Mexico have the same interests," Brooks said. "We all want the consumers, our guests, to be safe and enjoy the sport."

Geraldine Link, director of public policy for the National Ski Areas Association, said no states mandate youth helmets on the slopes but most ski areas nationwide offer rental helmets and many parents choose to purchase helmets for their children. "Through voluntary measures, we have achieved high usage rates," she said. Griego became concerned about the availability of children's rental helmets after taking his godson skiing at Santa Fe Ski Basin on Dec. 30. He had promised the boy's parents he would put the kid in a helmet.

"I got up there and found out they didn't rent helmets," Griego recalled.

So he purchased a $70 helmet, the On the same day at the ski area, a 10-year-old girl from Bushland, Texas, died after crashing and sliding into a tree. She wasn't wearing a helmet; investigators said she sustained head trauma. "My feeling was that if they're going to rent skis and snowboards, they ought to rent helmets, too," Griego said. cheapest model offered. Griego said some were selling for as much as $300.

We have some fanastic priced helmets including a new range of Rossignol ski helmets, so be sure to have a look at www.skiwear4less.com before you leave for your next ski trip.

X Games Gold for Briton Jones

Jenny Jones, 28 from Bristol, has become the first Briton to win a medal of any colour at the annual X Games, clinching victory with the last run of the competition. Her overall score of 90.00 gave her victory by almost three points from Spencer O’Brien of Canada in second on 87.66. The invitation-only event, held in Aspen, Colorado attracts the world’s top competitors. An ecstatic Jones said: “My first run was sketchy, my second run I cleaned it up, so it looked better and I felt happy with the run but it wasn’t enough. I just had to go for it on the last run with the last jump”

“I was so pleased to win and suddenly the emotions went crazy and I had to try hard not to cry. It means so much to me to win an X Games medal and to win gold is the icing on the cake”

Britain’s other competitor, Zoe Gillings, was eliminated in the semi-final of the Snowboard Cross but withdrew from the consolation final after injuring her heel. There was encouraging news however for British skier Chemmy Alcott. Returning from injury, Alcott managed15th place in the woman’s World Cup giant slalom in Cortina.

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Heavy snow returns to Europe's ski resorts

Storms are set to bring heavy snowfall to European ski resorts this week after a two week sunny spell.

More than a metre of snow is forecast for the French resorts of Les Deux Alpes, Alpe d'Huez, La Plagne, Les Arcs and Meribel, and the Swiss resort of Verbier. Lech and Obergurgl, in Austria, are expecting more than half a metre of snow, while the Italian resorts of Cervinia and La Thuile are expecting almost a metre. Many other European ski resorts are expecting between 25 and 50cm.

"This new snow has come at the perfect time," said a spokesman for the Ski Club of Great Britain. "It's been cold and sunny over the past few weeks, which was starting to affect conditions on south facing slopes," he added.

Snow has already begun to fall in some resorts, the French resorts of Val d'Isère and Tignes received 20cm of snow on Sunday and have a further 75cm forecast. In the Italian resort of Courmayeur, 15cm fell on Monday and a further metre of snow is forecast to fall before the weekend.

"These are some of the best conditions that I've ever skied in Courmayeur," said Jonny Baird, a mountain guide in the Courmayeur and Chamonix area. "There is powder everywhere and it's thigh-deep in places."

This latest heavy snowfall will top up Europe's pistes ahead of the February half-term. However, many resorts already have an excellent base layer after heavy snowfalls in November and December, which saw the best start to a winter ski season in Europe since 1974.

In Britain, heavy snow in western Scotland over the past week has enabled Nevis Range to open for the first time this season and the resort is expecting a further 16cm of snow by the weekend. Glencoe, also in western Scotland, has 18cm forecast this week and is expected to open on Wednesday.

All Scottish ski areas open for first time this season

All five Scottish ski centres will be open by Wednesday this week, as heavy snow in Western Scotland allowed the two remaining centres yet to open for 2008-9 – Glencoe and Nevis Range – to open for the first time.

Glencoe plans to open this Wednesday at 10am, a spokesman commented, “Heavy snow over the last couple of days has improved the overall situation on the mountain. All runs are now complete although some are narrow in places.”

A spokesperson for Nevis Range to the north commented, “We are open for skiing! Fresh snow at all levels and most main runs complete but unconsolidated. Pisting is in progress and more runs will open as the week progresses.”

There has been less fresh snow in the East where the other three centres are located, and have been operating intermittently since back on Halloween 2008. However all three remaining centres there (Cairngorm, Glenshee and The Lecht) are open with limited terrain.

Ski death provokes helmet debate

The death of a woman in a highly publicised skiing collision has shaken holidaymakers and sparked debate about safety on the piste.

There has been plenty of early snow in the Alps and the ski season is in full swing. But in Kitzbuehel, the news of a fatal skiing accident has overshadowed the usual frivolous atmosphere at this time of year. People in Germany and Austria have been shocked by the recent ski accident involving a senior German politician, Dieter Althaus, and it has triggered a debate about wearing helmets.

In the accident, which happened on New Year's Day, a Slovak woman was killed and Mr Althaus, the governor of the eastern German state of Thuringia, was seriously injured when they collided while skiing. Mr Althaus, 50, was flown by helicopter to hospital in Schwarzach and he was placed in an artificially-induced coma. According to surgeons, he suffered injuries to the skull and brain. Neurologists said it was likely that the helmet that he was wearing saved his life.

Beata Christandl, a 41-year-old mother-of-four, was not wearing a helmet. She died on the way to hospital after suffering from multiple skull injuries. The accident happened at a junction of two pistes in the Riesneralm ski resort in Austria.

According to reports in the German media Mr Althaus was skiing on a red, intermediate, slope which crosses an easier slope, on which Beata Christandl was travelling. One investigator said both skiers were travelling at around 50km/h (30 mph).

Josef Schmid, a spokesman for the Austrian skiing federation, urged all those on the slopes to err on the side of caution. "We recommend that all skiers should wear helmets, it's not just young children, adults also need protection," Mr Schmid said.

"With the new carving skis, people tend to ski faster these days and they overestimate their own abilities. The slopes are very busy and it's much safer for everyone if you wear a helmet," he said. Politicians and leading figures in sport have called for the wearing of helmets to be made compulsory for skiers and snowboarders in Germany and Austria. In Italy, it is compulsory for all children under the age of 14 to wear a helmet on the ski slopes. And the idea has support from among skiing's elite." A helmet would help to reduce the severity of injuries," said Hilde Gerg, the 33-year-old German Olympic slalom champion, who has now retired from professional skiing, in an interview with Bunte magazine.

Over at our main website www.skiwear4less.com we have a great selection of adults and childrens ski helmets for you to choose from. So be sure to purchase one for your next ski trip, to ensure you and your family stay safe.

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.