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 21st June  2004

Snow in scotland! Patrick "Snowhunter" Thorn reports :

"Fresh snow was reported to be falling on Cairngorm over the weekend as temperature plummeted to around zero.  This was typically ironic after several winter seasons in Scotland with limited snow cover."

There is no likelihood of lifts re-opening for summer skiing, but it is probably that several hardy souls will hike up the mountains tonight for the traditional midsummer ski to celebrate the longest day when daylight lasts nearly 24 hours in the Scottish Highlands."

Also, many people will have followed the Glencoe closure news; it now seems a buyer has been found "Glencoe Mountain Resort Ltd"

 27th February  2004

Lebanon to bid for the winter Olympics? It seems it is on its way! From www.dailystar.com :

Sannine Zenith Lebanon, the largest tourist project ever planned in the region, will start issuing Global Deposit Receipts (GDRs) in nearly one month to raise the $1.4 billion investment necessary to start the construction of Phase I.  Amine told The Daily Star on Thursday that as soon as the construction begins, it will take Al Salam three years to complete Phase I of the project, which comprises the development of the ski resort and the main infrastructure works. 

“The entire project will be completed by 2010 and when finished, Lebanon will be ready to submit its candidature for the Winter Olympics,” said Amine. 

According to the public relations manager, Sannine Zenith will be able to host the bulk of the events necessary to submit for the Winter Olympics since there is already an international sports village included in the plans. 

16th January 2003

I have just come back from Bride les Bains which is about as weird as you can get in the Trois Vallees. There's not actually any skiing, but a rather long Gondola which takes you up to Meribel. Fine for a weekend, courtesy of www.skiweekends.com and dirt cheap. I just wish they would run the gondola into the evening. What's so special about 5pm, when you've already got the damn thing running!

16th December 2003

I have just returned from Cervinia, which isn't particularly weird, but the reaction of the staff at the Hotel Mignon  to some of our group was.  When they booked they had been told "3 Nights is e195, 4 nights is e180"  and were unable to convince the hotel to do 3 nights at the 4 night price. So they booked the fourth night, figuring it would be useful to have the room during the day. Win-win right?

Wrong. The owner of the hotel 'went mental' when they announced they were checking out 12 hours early, saying she could have let the room to someone else, and asking them to pay an extra 15 euros. Go figure.

Snow, though, was pretty good for so early in the year and we stayed at the SERTORELLI SPORT HOTEL, which I would recommend to anyone,  and I would give you the link, but the weird web designers at www.ciaociaoitaly.it have made it impossible to access the right page; deeming it necessary for their own weird purposes to move you automatically from the hotel page back to the main page. Nice one; a bit of a rant off my chest about the Mignon and some web page critique all in one item.

21st November 2003

From www.snow24.com newswire:

The world's 40th indoor snowdome is due to open this month in India, the 13th country to open an indoor snow facility.

The new facility is a joint venture operation between the Indian theme park operators Polo, who also have plans for a new indoor snow facility on Australia's Gold Coast and the Japanese Pantine corporation, the company behind more than a dozen indoor snow centres in Japan and other countries in the region.

The centre, an addition to Polo's existing Fun-n-Food theme park, covers 2000 square metres and includes an ice ring, 110m ski and tubing slope and a snow play area. Polo's managing director Mr Balwant Chawla says that the centre is the first of ten indoor snow slopes planned by the company across India.

And this made me laugh, though possibly off topic...

Söll in the Austrian SkiWelt will again stage its infamous Blondes' Ski World Championships on 13th December as part of the resort's Winter Opening whiuch starts on the 12th and ends on the 14th of the month.

The Opening is centred on the party tent in Söll, with presenter Bernhard Fleischmann, and live bands Grabowski, P.n.8 and Relax the village famous for its lively nightlife looks\ set to live up to its reputation once again.

The Blondes' Ski World Championships will be based around the Hochsöll resort and will work with the motto "Blondes have more fun." Those (un?)fortunate enough not to be blessed with naturally blonde hair will find a "blonde colouring service" is available to ensure both hair and mood is brightened up.

The Championships get serious when it comes to the contest for top place in the competitive racing, although there are 'fun races' for those who can't be bothered. and fun classes: after all there is a trip to win in each category to get you motivated. Special package deals including accommodation and event admissions for opening weekend are available through the tourist office.