Forget technique. The thing that holds most Brits back when they hit the mountains in winter is fitness. After all, a life of texting, typing and the occasional trip to the supermarket is hardly adequate preparation for a week of relentless physical activity in an oxygen-depleted environment.
Add a little vin chaud into the equation and it’s no wonder we’re wrecks by the middle of our holiday.
In a perfect world, we’d remedy this situation by undertaking a carefully structured ski-fitness course… More info
The roads get icy. Snow piles up by the inch. And temperatures dance around the freezing mark. It’s winter in Michigan, and these conditions are to be expected.
But while drivers, shovelers and anyone without a sweater may gripe, skiers and snowboarders are delighted.
Snow skiing accounts for nearly 10% of total leisure spending in Michigan, said Claire Bunker of Travel Michigan. In 2007 alone, the ski industry in Michigan brought in $94 million in revenues…Â More info
So you want to learn to snowkite? Here’s a list of must-haves to get you started: a kite, some skis or a snowboard, a generous expanse of smooth ice and a jumbo-size serving of courage.
Local snowkiting maven Rachael Miller insists the relatively new sport isn’t as terrifying as it looks, but it’s understandable if thoughts of getting swept out to sea on a violent tempest creep into a beginner’s mind. Miller wants to prove to you that anybody can snowkite, and if you don’t want to leave the ground, you don’t have to… More info
Fran Lord was getting rather disgusted with the abbreviated ski season last year. Storms had come early and very little snow arrived after January, leaving the Philadelphia transplant frustrated with Lake Tahoe’s winter wonderland.
With the snow conditions at Tahoe’s resorts thinning and the groomed runs about the only decent place to ski by early March, Lord and a few friends decided to venture out of the norm, lining up a day of snowcat skiing.
“I had heard the snowcat conditions were good, but I admit, I was skeptical,†recalls Lord, a 34-year-old English teacher at Lake Tahoe Community College.
Those doubts left quickly – one run was all it took for Lord to become enamored with Pacific Crest Snowcats, which claims to be the only true snowcat backcountry skiing and snowboard operation in California. Skiing on more than 2,000 acres of north facing terrain located between Squaw Valley and Sugar Bowl, Lord and her buddies experienced a day to savor… More info