The first video I ever saw on the Internet was the trailer for Level 1 Production’s 2005 film, “Shanghai Six.” I couldn’t stop watching it on my clunky Apple iBook in sixth grade science class. Just a few months later, a website called YouTube was introduced to the World Wide Web. And although I was young and foolish at that time, I knew the coolest sport in the world was about to get a whole lot cooler. Read on
Shooting the breeze about the ski industry, the great outdoors and general gossip from the Doorstep Skis HQ in Morzine, France.
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Sunday, August 27, 2017
OPENING THIS WINTER: Le Colibri Cafe Bistro
Report courtesy of Source Magazine Morzine,
It’s always very exciting when something new opens in Morzine, especially when they serve food and drink! Le Colibri Cafe Bistro is a huge 100-seater venue on the site of the old Le Colibri theatre in the very centre of town and opens in December. Locals Manon and Pauline Baud have planned fresh, modern interiors and intend to offer a truly family-friendly vibe.
Le Colibri will open between 8am and 10pm each day. Food will be served non-stop with a strong focus on local, homemade products. There’ll be five different brunch dishes for example, with homemade bagels. A French brunch will include a hot drink, fruit juice, cheese and ham, eggs, bread, pastries, toast, homemade preserves honey, yoghurt, fruit salad and granola, while an American brunch features pancakes with maple syrup. Read on..
It’s always very exciting when something new opens in Morzine, especially when they serve food and drink! Le Colibri Cafe Bistro is a huge 100-seater venue on the site of the old Le Colibri theatre in the very centre of town and opens in December. Locals Manon and Pauline Baud have planned fresh, modern interiors and intend to offer a truly family-friendly vibe.
Le Colibri will open between 8am and 10pm each day. Food will be served non-stop with a strong focus on local, homemade products. There’ll be five different brunch dishes for example, with homemade bagels. A French brunch will include a hot drink, fruit juice, cheese and ham, eggs, bread, pastries, toast, homemade preserves honey, yoghurt, fruit salad and granola, while an American brunch features pancakes with maple syrup. Read on..
Thursday, August 24, 2017
The Portes du Soleil Winter Lift Pass just got EVEN BETTER!
Each year the guys at at Source Magazine we take the price of the Portes du Soleil winter lift pass
and compare it against the price per skiable kilometre of other big ski
domains. The PDS pass always comes out on top, consistently providing
the best value for money in the Alps.
And if you live here for the full season, or ski several times in the Portes du Soleil, your winter just got a whole heap cheaper.
In a move which it hopes will inspire more young people to take up skiing (or indeed ski more often), The Portes du Soleil have introduced two new season lift passes for this coming winter season.
This ridiculously cheap season pass is likely to be a huge win with seasonaires heading to Morzine, Les Gets or Avoriaz this winter. Similarly, if you enjoy multiple ski holidays in the area each winter and are used to paying between €230 for 6 days on a youth pass or €255 for 6 days on an adult pass, you’ll save big time when you buy the Young Persons’ Pass.
SAVING: €460*
*Based on the official PDS season pass prices for youths in Winter 16/17
SAVING: €692*
*Based on the official PDS season pass prices for children in Winter 16/17
I
And if you live here for the full season, or ski several times in the Portes du Soleil, your winter just got a whole heap cheaper.
In a move which it hopes will inspire more young people to take up skiing (or indeed ski more often), The Portes du Soleil have introduced two new season lift passes for this coming winter season.
PDS Young Person’s Pass
For those of you aged 26 and under on 30th November 2017, your season pass will cost just €370 (or 400CHF) this winter. You must buy your pass online before 30th November, they’ll be available from the beginning of August on the PDS website.This ridiculously cheap season pass is likely to be a huge win with seasonaires heading to Morzine, Les Gets or Avoriaz this winter. Similarly, if you enjoy multiple ski holidays in the area each winter and are used to paying between €230 for 6 days on a youth pass or €255 for 6 days on an adult pass, you’ll save big time when you buy the Young Persons’ Pass.
SAVING: €460*
*Based on the official PDS season pass prices for youths in Winter 16/17
PDS Children’s Pass
Children under the age of 10 years enjoy a FREE PDS season pass with the purchase of one adult season PDS pass during the Winter 17/18 season. Yes, you read that correctly. You must buy your passes on the PDS website before 30th November and your child must be under the age of 10 on this day to get a free pass.SAVING: €692*
*Based on the official PDS season pass prices for children in Winter 16/17
Ski Area Exchange Vouchers
We’re all used to getting those precious little tickets to ski in other European ski resorts with the purchase of our season lift passes. These will continue and during Winter 17/18 will include 5 free day tickets for the 4 Valleys ski area in addition to 5 free day passes for Aletsch Arena. You’ll need to buy your passes before 30th November 2017.I
Sunday, August 20, 2017
Why the Portes Du Soleil keeps solo skiers coming back!
Why the Portes Du Soleil keeps solo skiers coming back
The solo ski experts at The Ski Gathering tell us what is attracting first-timers and veteran solos to Morzine, Avoriaz and Les Gets.
The Ski Gathering offer singles ski holidays for individuals and sociable pairs. They have chalets in Morzine, Les Gets and Meribel. To find out more, visit www.theskigathering.com.
Across the board, solo travel has grown enormously in recent years, mirroring a general trend in ‘independent’ and socialising hobbies. Today, people use apps and websites to find flatmates, meet gym buddies, arrange car shares… and plan their solo-travel adventures.
This is particularly noticeable with ski holidays, where solo travellers are increasingly making their mark. Some solos prefer to ski alone, enjoying the total freedom of the mountain. But most see it as a social opportunity to meet other skiers or boarders and avoid paying the empty-bed supplement. For the latter group in particular, the Portes du Soleil has become a focal point in the solo travel revolution. Why is that?
It’s Perfect for Mixed-Ability Groups
It’s Day One of your solo ski holiday and you’re heading out with a group of people you’ve never skied with before. Head for the Les Gets Bowl - the perfect starting point for mixed-ability groups. Here, five lifts serve twelve interconnecting pistes of varying levels of difficulty. Perfect if you all want to try out different slopes but still meet for the lift ride back up or a swift vin chaud.
The speed demons can head straight for the steep Tulipe red run off the Ranfoilly lift; the less flamboyant can find their feet on the more slow-and-steady Reine des Pres.
Beginners won’t be left out
Resorts like Les Gets and Morzine are perfect for beginners. Friendly people, great ski schools, plenty of beginner slopes, and an easy(ish) descent back into resort. While you’re having lessons, the rest of the group probably won’t be too far away, so meeting up for a long social lunch is still on the cards.
Find time for yourself
One of the best things about solo travel is having the total freedom to do what you want, when you want. You can opt out of group activities and blaze your own trail any time you like. For an afternoon in your own company, intermediates and advanced skiers should head over to the back of Mont Chery in Les Gets. It’s so quiet over there, you can virtually have the mountain to yourself. Soak up the silence and get away from it all for the afternoon.
Looking for an adventure
Solo travel is all about creating unforgettable experiences, so set your alarm and have a crack at the Portes du Soleil ‘Loop’. A big day even for serious skiers, this will take you around the perimeter of this, the world’s largest ski area. Probably not one for snowboarders or inexperienced skiers, this is a demanding day’s exercise and you’ll probably need a guide who knows the way without consulting a pistemap. But those who finish the Loop will never forget the experience. Or stop bragging about it.
Have a guide show you the backcountry off-piste
If you’re traveling independently but are not joining a group of solo skiers, a week can be a long time to ski in splendid isolation. One way to break this up is to get lessons or a guide. The Portes du Soleil has vast off-piste skiing opportunities which are essentially off-limits without an experienced guide, so why not kill two birds with one stone? Explore the road less travelled while getting a bit of company for a day.
Discover hidden treasures
If you’re skiing with other solos, you will probably soon forget that you ever travelled out on your own: we often say that solo travel holidays are for groups of friends who haven’t met yet. A great way to cement this kind of dynamic is to discover new things together, and the Portes du Soleil has plenty of hidden treasures for you to seek out. One example is ‘Les Lindarets’, better known as The Goat Village. Named after the many goats which fill the village in summer, this magical location could scarcely be more picturesque and is the perfect spot for a lunchtime stop-off. It’s a skier’s heaven.
Those looking for an equivalent hell might head for the Swiss Wall. Only to be attempted by the most experienced mogul skiers, this near-vertical drop marks the entry point into Switzerland. Ski or snowboard down it, or watch in admiration from the chairlift to meet up at the bottom. You’ll need a head for heights either way.
So, if your group can’t make it this year, or your friends just won’t even try skiing this winter, there’s really no excuse for staying home.
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
What to pack for Skiing?
The Tasty Ski Company are a hardened bunch of alpine mongrels. They have lost count of how many ski seasons they have done out here in the French Alps. They have also lost count of the number of times some of their guests have forgotten to pack an essential item for their ski holiday. Here is their quick guide to packing everything you need for your week in the french Alps. Read on...
Saturday, August 12, 2017
Ski hire is all the same, right?
The Good Ski and Boot Guide: Rental Step-By-Step
By Jock Dun
Ski hire is all the same, it’s just a question of getting the cheapest price – right? Well you couldn’t be further from the truth.
If you’re planning a ski trip, then sorting out your equipment hire will be high on your list of things to do. The age, the fit, the suitability and the condition of your equipment all make a massive difference to your ability to ski well and progress, not to mention to your comfort, safety and enjoyment.
The internet is awash with sites offering too-good-to-be-true deals on ski hire, and many of the big tour operators will try to sell you ski hire as well. Unfortunately, though, far too often they focus only on the price – as if ski hire was just a commodity – and not on the much more important issues of quality, service and suitability. Yes, of course the price is an issue, but it’s really about the best value for money rather than just the cheapest price or the biggest discount.
READ ON...
If you’re planning a ski trip, then sorting out your equipment hire will be high on your list of things to do. The age, the fit, the suitability and the condition of your equipment all make a massive difference to your ability to ski well and progress, not to mention to your comfort, safety and enjoyment.
The internet is awash with sites offering too-good-to-be-true deals on ski hire, and many of the big tour operators will try to sell you ski hire as well. Unfortunately, though, far too often they focus only on the price – as if ski hire was just a commodity – and not on the much more important issues of quality, service and suitability. Yes, of course the price is an issue, but it’s really about the best value for money rather than just the cheapest price or the biggest discount.
READ ON...
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
Morzine vs. Meribel: Which is the Better Ski Resort?
When it comes to ski resorts, and French ones at that, you’ll be hard pushed to find two more popular destinations with British skiers than Meribel and Morzine. And, if you’ve found your way here, you’re probably finding it hard to choose between the two… Sound familiar?
Don’t worry, it happens. Plus, if this is the biggest dilemma you’re currently facing, I’d like to think you’re in a pretty enviable position!
Both are gorgeous French resorts with plenty of brilliant après-ski, and respectively large ski areas to explore – Trois Vallées for Meribel, and Portes du Soleil for Morzine.
So, which one’s right for you? Sam at More Mountain breaks down the pros and cons of both resorts for you...
Friday, August 4, 2017
Which Ski Run Is Better for the Planet?
The method of clearing a ski run can be the difference between a permanent scar on the mountain and a healthy landscape
PHOTO: Hank de Vre
We’re on a mountain, but at the moment skiing is a distant abstraction. I’m sweating through my shirt and pining for sunscreen, following Jennifer Burt as she leads the way through shoulder-high brush. “In retrospect, maybe I should’ve brought you up the trail,” she says.
We’re at Powder Bowl ski area, north of Lake Tahoe, hiking up the middle of a run—if you could even still call it that. One of dozens of abandoned ski areas scattered around the Tahoe Basin, Powder Bowl closed in 1984. If Burt wasn’t here to tell me, I’d have been hard-pressed to pick out the run from the surrounding forest. But that’s kind of the point. Burt, 40, a restoration ecologist, has been studying how ski slopes regenerate—that is, how they return to their pre-ski-run condition—since 2005, when she was studying for her Ph.D. at the University of California, Davis.
We’re on a mountain, but at the moment skiing is a distant abstraction. I’m sweating through my shirt and pining for sunscreen, following Jennifer Burt as she leads the way through shoulder-high brush. “In retrospect, maybe I should’ve brought you up the trail,” she says.
We’re at Powder Bowl ski area, north of Lake Tahoe, hiking up the middle of a run—if you could even still call it that. One of dozens of abandoned ski areas scattered around the Tahoe Basin, Powder Bowl closed in 1984. If Burt wasn’t here to tell me, I’d have been hard-pressed to pick out the run from the surrounding forest. But that’s kind of the point. Burt, 40, a restoration ecologist, has been studying how ski slopes regenerate—that is, how they return to their pre-ski-run condition—since 2005, when she was studying for her Ph.D. at the University of California, Davis.
Industry experts estimate that as many as half of the country’s ski slopes could close in the coming decades, underscoring the importance—and permanence—of this decision.Initially, she was broadly interested in the ecology of ski mountains as managed landscapes, but soon she noticed that some ski runs looked markedly different than others. When mountain operators build a new ski run, she discovered, they make a choice that shapes how the mountain will look years, decades, and even centuries later. Industry experts estimate that as many as half of the country’s ski slopes could close in the coming decades, underscoring the importance—and permanence—of this decision. This slope, its edges already fading back into the woods, could be a preview of those future abandoned mountains. Luckily, whoever created it made the right choice, Burt says—they went with the chainsaw instead of the bulldozer. Read on..
Read more at http://www.powder.com/stories/news/ski-area-ecology/#4CACpDcY5assBUGZ.99
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