Edition 16
Christmas 2011
Positive Altitude Club
The CIVIL SERVICE SKIING & BOARDING COMMUNITY Newsletter
La Plagne Hits 50!
Special points of
interest:
•
Google Street View
Your Resort
•
Hochfugen—a
schneeloch.
•
Wear a helmet—
save on insurance
•
Community—Sales
and Wants
•
PAC Event—30
March 2012—
Hemel Hempstead
Inside this issue:
Mammoth Finds
2
Baggage woes
4
Austria Isn’t Chilling
9
Snow arrives
10
Happy Birthday
Breckenridge
10
Terminator Visison
12
All I want for
Christmas!
14
The French ski are of La
Plagne is 50 years old
this winter season.
50 years ago in 1961, La
Plagne opened with a
mere 2 drag lifts. the plan
was always to make it big,
although perhaps the resort's
originators never
realised
just how
big. La
Plagne,
now has
more than
100 lifts
of all types including 9
amazing double-decker
cable cars and boasts being part of the Paradiski
area with 220km of runs .
The original resort was
opened on the La Plagne
Plateau and is now called
Plagne Centre. The ski
village itself was designed
by Michel Besancon. His
revolutionary idea was to
build a ski village with an
emphasis on convenience; hotels and apartments were ski to the
door and the main shopping area was all indoors
in an effort to make the
whole experience accessible to all ages and ski
abilities
(and to
make
ski
holidays
more
affordable).
This
was a dream that has
certainly been achieved,
with La Plagne offering
arguably the most convenient overall ski access
of any resort in the area
(including its more fashionable competitors!) This
design proved to be the
catalyst that caused the
massive expansion
throughout the 70s and
80s. The ski area grew to
encompass the
nearby
villages
of Champagny, Les Coches and
Montalbert. Over the next
few years, more purpose
built resorts were added
to the traditional alpine
villages; Aime 2000 was
constructed in 1971,
Plagne Villages (originally
called Super-Plagne) was
opened in 1972, Plagne
Bellecote in 1974, Plagne
1800 in 1981, Belle
Plagne in 1982 and
Plagne Soleil in 1990.
Each year it attracts more
than two million skiers to
its 10 base villages.
La Plagne has announced plans for a precise €8,780,100 (including
VAT) three-year beautification project that will see
much of its 1960s concrete transformed in to
something thoroughly
modern.
Positive Altitude Club
Aime La Plagne 2000 Hits 40!
The ‘Snow SteamBoat’ at is known in
French was designed
in 1970
A bit like Marmite, some
love it and some hate it.
The somewhat urban
design has been the
home to many holiday
makers over the years.
The “Paquebot des
Neiges” as it is known in
French or ‘Snow SteamBoat’ was designed in
1970 by architect and
planner Michel Bezançon.
The building, now classi-
fied as a listed building ,
was the first construction
on the Aime la Plagne
site, based at 2100m.
The building was officially
listed in 2003 under the
label ‘Heritage of the
Twentieth Century’. This
label was awarded by the
French Ministry of Culture.
This architectural complex
was built at the dawn of
the development of mass
tourism for the French ski
resorts. The ‘Paquebot
des Neiges’ originally
offered a capacity of
2500 beds and 14 shops
within a very compact
area: a mere 220m long
by 50m wide.
All that saved space
made way for plenty of
extra skiing and was the
template that many resorts to follow in later
years.
Mammoth!!!
In October 2010, a bulldozer operator working
in Snowmass Village,
near Aspen, uncovered
the bones of a 43,500
year old Columbian
Mammoth.
This has turned out to be
one of the most significant
scientific discovered in
Colorado in recent years.
To date, this single site
has produced
Page 2
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
eight to ten American mastodons;
four Columbian
Mammoths;
four Ice Age Bison;
two Ice Age dear;
a Jefferson’s
Ground Sloth;
many tiger salamanders;
and large quantities
of well preserved
plant matter—some
of which is still
green after tens
of thousands of
years.
In just 18 days of excavation, the Denver Museum of Science and
Nature crews recovered
approximately 600
bones and bone pieces
and plan to continue the
excavation.
Edition 16
Alpe d’Heuz to Expand
Alpe d’Heuz recently
announced its plans
to expand the resort.
Phase one would include the intention of
replacing the old bubble lift (televillage) that
runs from Huez village
to Alpe d’Huez in the
near future.
The TO Huez village
piste is being regraded
and new snow cannons are being installed for the forthcoming season. The
bowl, although southfacing, is a traditionally
a ‘cold bowl’ and also
ris much easier.
Les Deux Alpes (a
neighbouring resort)
have also submitted
proposals to extend
their pistes with the aid
The Signal de l’Homme of snow cannons down
side of Auris en Oisans the north face to the
Town of Freney. Freney
has now had a new
is a very short hop to
blue run cut down its
Alpe d’Huez
eastern side. This extremely quiet sector of
Imagine Vaujany to La
Alpe d’Huez has for
years been the domain Grave on the same lift
of the ‘off-piste brigade’ pass. Although the
and red run skiers only. problems of maintaining
a decent snow coverage in this area would
This new run will not
affect their territory but be a major issue. Watch
will make the access to this space!
the green areas of Auhas the benefit of being
in the tree line, thus
ensuring a bit more
visibility in poor
weather.
Resort of Alpe d’Huez
Google your resort
If you'd like to get a
feel for what a resort
is like before you
head off on your
holidays you'll now
be able to get a good
idea from Google
Street View.
The tool which was
previously limited to
roads and paths has
now been extended to
encompass a number
of ski resorts so you
can make your way
around the ski area
from the comfort of
your armchair.
The tool, which was
Page 3
previously created
used a car or a trike for
the areas where are
the car could not venture to, has been made
possible using a camera mounted on a
snowmobile which
travels around the resort recording the lay
of the land.
The specialised snowmobile was invented
by Daniel Ratner especially for the Winter
Olympics in Vancover
2010.
The Tool only covers 5
major North American
resorts including Whistler in
Canada and
Sqaw Valley,
Breckenridge,
Deer Valley
Google street view—Whistler Mountain
and Crystal
Mountain in the
USA view here http://
maps.google.com/
help/maps/
streetview/
gallery.html#skiresorts-and-slopes
However if it takes off
watch out as more
mountains come on
line.
Positive Altitude Club
Baggage Woes
How to avoid airline baggage
charges? Don't
want to pay
through the nose
to take your skis to
the slopes?
A couple of skierfriendly airlines still
won't charge to carry
luggage and equipment (and they won't
charge to carry your
golf bag, either).
'No-frills' carriers such as
Ryanair and EasyJet led
the way. But now almost
everyone is at it - adding
baggage charges to the
cost of a booking, and
bumping up prices on a
regular basis. For anyone travelling
with skis, snowboard and boots
- or golf clubs or
a surfboard - it's
been an infuriating, and costly,
development.
With Ryanair,
the off-peak
fees for one
20kg suitcase and a pair
of skis add up to a staggering £130 return.
However, there are three
airlines which still do not
charge to carry your skis
or your suitcase - Austrian Airlines, Swiss and
Virgin Atlantic. So you
should always check
their schedules if you're
planning to take lots of
clobber on your trip.
Sometimes, the basic
ticket will cost more. But
that might not be the
case once you've added
in the extra charges.
If you can't afford bagPage 4
gage charges altogether, how do you
minimise the amount
you pay?
1. Check for special
offers - especially if
you're booking in the
autumn. That's when
airlines are promoting
their winter routes, and
trying to tempt skiers on
board - for example,
Bmi baby, which flies to
Geneva, Munich and
Toulouse, has run a
skis fly free offer in recent seasons.
2. Pay online, not at
the airport. If you fly
with a baggagecharging airline, make
sure you've paid for
everything you plan to
take when you book
online. Don't leave it
until you get to the airport, or you'll pay for the
privilege. For example,
with Ryanair, it costs
£20 more to check in a
20kg bag at the airport
than it does online - for
each leg of the journey.
And during the Christmas/New Year peak it's
£30 more.
3. Stuff your ski or
board bag. Several
airlines have generous
weight allowances for
'specialist sports equipment' such as skis or
snowboards - with
EasyJet, for example,
it's 32kg. So stuff as
much of your gear in
with the ski or snowboard as possible, and
ditch your other suitcase altogether
(although some of the
package companies,
Thompson, Crystal
have very ungenerous
weight allowances and
insist that only the skis/
poles/board may be in
the bag and retain the
right to refuse carriage
if they feel that you are
carrying clothing items
in the ski bags.
4. Max out on your
hand-baggage allowance. Most airlines set
the weight limit for
carry-on bags at
10kg, which is
just enough to
cover the weight
of your ski boots
(average weight
is 6kg). Unfortunately, there's a
maximum size
for carry-on bags
- 55cm x40cm x 20cm but so long as you don't
have enormous feet,
you should be able to
squeeze boots into a
rucksack which conforms to the restrictions.
5. Pack light. Remember, you'll be in your ski
outfit all day, every day,
so you won't need
more than a couple of
outfits for the evenings.
Wear one of them onto
the plane, plus your ski
jacket, and fleece - and
don't bring an extra
coat.
Edition 16
It’s not easy being green
A resort in the US has
announced plans to
become the world’s
first resort us 100%
waste water in their
snowmaking.
Arizona Snowbowl in
the San Francisco
Peaks is planning to
use 180 million gallons
of recycled and treated
waste water according
to reports. The resort
plans to use the waste
water, collected from
treated sewage, in an
attempt to cut down the
use of clean drinking
water in resort.
The water will be stored
in a reservoir in San
Francisco Peaks and
then used in the resort’s
snow cannons and other
snow making equipment.
The US Environmental
Protection Agency has
described the water as
safe to use, as long as it
is treated. Reports state
that some environmentalists had quoted studies that the treated water
could still contain industrial pollutants and carcinogens, there are also
reports that Native
American tribes have
opposed the plans as
the land is on sacred
ground.
concept and as long
as the water is
proven to be safe and
clean, the local Native American tribes
can be appeased and
pumping the water 15
miles doesn’t counter
balance the positives.
With more resorts looking
for more environmental
ideas, such as Val
Thorens’ new solar panelled hotel and Tignes
using their hydroelectric
dam, the environmental
impact of skiing and
snowboarding in now
surely moving in the right
direction.
This is a very interesting
Banana flambé
One of Val d'Isère's iconic landmarks burned down on the resort's opening
weekend. Bananas was a popular restaurant and après-ski bar full of memories for several generations of skiers. The bar was closed to customers and
there were no reports of any injuries. Ricky, its charismatic owner, was in Paris
at the time and hadn't planned to open for business until next weekend.
Page 5
“The US
Environmental
Protection Agency
has described the
water as safe to
use, as long as it is
treated. “
Positive Altitude Club
Report by Steve Darler
Hochfugen—Schneeloch
They call Hochfügen a
schneeloch - a
snowhole.
The day I tackled
its slopes last season was the proof
of it. After four
days of freakish
thaw, with temperatures rising to
double figures on
the slopes (a thoroughly worrying
but these days
likely occurrence) , winter returned to the Alps.
“The area
encompasses two
mountain bowls
and several areas
of trees, as well
as steep
couloirs.”
amongst the widelyspaced trees of
Hochfügen, I lucked
onto a powder day.
Actually, it was really a
powder afternoon, underneath the fresh
snow there was plenty
of crusty stuff left over
from the thaw. But at
least the firm underlayer added extra
'rebound' - so our powder turns were nice and
easy. I was on my Volkl
Superstar Sixs; great
skis for the bumps and
ice but heavy work in
the powder, I was glad
to have the help.
In the Zillertal (the valley
is in Austria and has
several resorts scattered
along its length. The
The area I skied - nice
most well known is
Mayrhofen),
where I had
taken a late
deal to, I had
got fresh
snow, too.
Across most
of the valley,
above
1200m, there
was 5-10cm
of light, fluffy
powder. But
when I transferred by chairlift from
the slopes of the ski
area Hochzillertal to its
near-neighbour
Hochfügen, I found more
than double that.
rolling terrain, with
short steep pitches
amongst scattered
trees - was perfect for a
day of low cloud and
heavy snow. But
there's a lot more to
Hochfügen than this
Up until that point I'd
when the skies clear.
been fogbound, scooting The area encompasses
about in pretty humdrum two mountain bowls
conditions. Suddenly,
Page 6
and several areas of
trees, as well as steep
couloirs. The more
westerly of the two
bowls is home to the
Ostwand (the East
Wall) - a big, open
slope which is the
scene of a qualifying
event for the Freeride
world tour.
Overall, the fantastic
variety of terrain - trees,
bowls, chutes, pistes reminded me of Snowbird in Utah. There's a
strong freeride culture
here too: it's no accident that committed offpiste skiers have congregated here, and
they've been working
hard in recent years to
develop the
level of information and
support
available to
their kindred
spirits.
At the top of
the main
gondola
there's a
transceiver
check point where you
can check your avalanche beeper is both
receiving and transmitting a signal. Meanwhile, dotted around
the slopes there are
info boards showing
freeriders what kind of
terrain lies ahead.
Edition 16
I rather wish they'd now
complete the picture and
do what American resorts
do - securing all terrain,
not just the pistes against avalanches. But
even so, it's a compelling
place for anyone with the
right equipment and the
appetite and energy for
off-piste skiing or boarding.
Hochfügen: it’s on my hitlist and I urge you to put it
on yours. It's a 40-minute
drive from Mayrhofen, the
main resort in the Zillertal.
The small market town
of Zell am Zillar is also
a good base for exploring the area (I recommend the Hotel Brau)
and you can use the
valley train (included on
the ski pass) to get to
Hochzilltal.
But you could also stay
here - in a little outcrop
of hotels at the bottom
of the lifts.
Bizarrely, for a freeriders' ski area, it's home
to one of the best restaurants in the Alps -
the "Alexander" in the
Sporthotel Lamark.
The Gault Millau guide
gives it a stratospheric
18/20 points for its
food, and in 2005
made its young chef,
Alexander Fankauser,
its chef of the year. In
fact, even if you don't
stay in the hotel, it is
probably worth eating
dinner there.
A good day at Hochfügen
deserves nothing less...
Wear a helmet - Save on insurance
Not only does it make
common sense to wear a
helmet on the slopes now it could save you
money too. Travel insurance company http://
www.essentialtravel.co.uk
/ is offering 15% off its
policy prices to skiers and
snowboarders prepared to
use them.
The firm is worried that
helmet use is still alarmingly low - but three quarters of its customers said
they would wear them in
return for lower premiums.
How can it be sure customers will honour the
deal?
“The reality is they can't.
They'll have to rely on
trust” says a spokes-
Page 7
women. “When people book
online they'll be directed to
advice on the dangers of not
wearing a helmet.”
The firm is working with retailer Ellis Brigham and brain
injury association Headway to
raise awareness. It wants
helmets to be as standard on
the snow as they are for cyclists.
How did you make your first
ever trip to the slopes?
For just over a third of skiers
and snowboarders (34%) it
was on a school group, according to new research.
Among men that figure rises
to 41% and in the 18-24 age
group it's over two thirds
(68%). Slightly more than a
quarter (26%) first took to the
snow with friends, but
only one in five (20%)
went with their families.
The survey was conducted by YouGov on
behalf of school trip operator SkiBound - part of
the TUI group which also
owns Crystal and other major ski holiday brands. It
shows that a further 12%
decided to go skiing of
snowboarding in conjunction with - or were more
likely persuaded by - their
partners. Five per cent went
for a ragbag of unspecified
reasons and 2% - who must
have hit the après-ski
Schnapps with a vengeance - couldn't remember.
Sport Hotel Lamark Hochfugen
Positive Altitude Club
It’s Snow Joke……
No snow in Sweden
where start of winter has
been delayed by a
month
This year Scandinavia is not its frozen
self, with unusually
warm weather delaying the onset of winter in northern areas
normally decked in
white.
The lack of snow has
been bad news for
winter sports —
That’s a real dry slope — Levi in
World Cup ski races
Finland
have been dropped,
or held on artificial
snow, and mountain ski
resorts are unable to open.
There are even reports of
bird song and blooming
gardens in some places
typically entering the winter
freeze at this time of year.
Some flowers, like roses,
have actually begun to
blossom for a second
time,' said Mats
Rosenberg, a biologist in
Orebro, south-central
Sweden.
Weather experts say this
autumn is on track to become one of the warmest
on record in northern
Scandinavia, where the
start of winter has been
delayed by more than a
Where in Scandinavia is Sodankylka month in certain locaand Are?
tions.
Page 8
hares and willow grouse
— that change colour with
the season turned white
weeks before the snows
came, bringing an eerie
feeling to the snowless
wilds of Lapland.
also been struggling
however, as higher
than average temperatures of 10C has
left some resorts
without any snow for
30 days or more.
Sodankyla in Finland and
Are in Sweden are just
two of the affected areas
'It was really very weird —
ghost-like white figures
darting among the yellow
leaves and lichen,' said
Viljo Pesonen, mayor of
the town of 9,000.
Temperatures are so
high that even highpowered snow cannons can't make
snow fast enough
before it's melted by
the sun.
'They don't go by the
weather conditions, time
determines when they turn
white. It has also made
the place much darker as
there has been no snow to
lighten the shortening
days,' he said, adding that
heavy rain during the day
had already cleared fields
of snow.
Earlier this month, World
Cup Alpine skiing races
were moved from Levi,
Finland, to Austria because of the lack of snow.
'But there is some snow at
the very top, and so you
have to throw the skis over
the shoulder and make the
4-mile walk up there if you
want to ski,' said Benny
Paulsson, a spokesman
for Are's tourist office.
In the Finnish town of Sodankyla, north of the Arctic
Circle, snow cover started
November 17, the latest
date in 100 years, said the
Finnish Meteorological Institute.
According to Sweden's
meteorological office
SMHI, the average temperature measured for
November so far is 12.6
degrees Fahrenheit (7
degrees Celsius) above
average.
Animals — such as stoats,
Ski resorts in Austria have
Cross-country World
Cup races in Norway
last weekend had to
be moved from barren ground in Beitostoelen to Sjusjoen, where it was
cold enough for artificial snow to stick.
Ski lifts remain idle in
Are, Sweden's biggest ski resort, which
normally opens in
the first half of November. But there is
some snow at the
very top, and so you
have to throw the
skis over the shoulder and make the 4mile walk up there if
you want to ski,' said
Benny Paulsson, a
spokesman for Are's
tourist office.
According to Sweden's meteorological
office SMHI, the average temperature
measured for November so far is 12.6
degrees Fahrenheit
(7 degrees Celsius)
above average.
Edition 16
Austria isn’t Chilling….
Ski resorts in Austria
are set to lose a fortune
as a baffling rise in temperatures has left resorts in the Tirol and
Salzburg without any
snow.
Temperatures are so high
that even high-powered
snow cannons can't make
snow fast enough before
it's melted by the sun.
Kuhtai ski resort spokesman Wilhelm Mareiler
said: ’This year it is a very
out of the ordinary situation. There has been absolutely no snow. We
can’t make snow either as
it is not cold enough. We
will have to delay opening
for a week or two and
hope it snows in the
meantime.”
There has been no snow
for over 31 days in the
Austrian Alps where temperatures are still higher
than 10C.
boarders heading to Austria in December don't
need to panic.
‘Although lower resorts
could struggle, relative to
what they have had, the
month ahead is looking
better.
'There’s a slowly increasing chance of snow, but
fortunes aren’t going to
change hugely. If there is
snow, though, it could last
because it will stay fairly
dry.
'However, over the next
five to seven days there
won’t be much change
because there’s a mass
of high pressure milling
around.’
He added: ‘It would be
unheard of if it didn’t snow
some more, though.’
Tourist board, argued
that the lack of snow
is only more apparent
because we've been
spoiled in the past.
She said: 'It could be better but we have to remember that it is still November and we have
been lucky in previous
years that the snow has
come early – traditionally
ski resorts open Christmas week so we still have
time for plenty for snow.
Tirol is home to five glacier ski regions – Stubai,
Kaunertal, Soelden,
Hintertux and Pitztal – all
of which have been open
for skiing since October,
although the coverage is
limited. The best snow is
to be found at the high
altitude French resorts
Becky Horton, a UK
spokesperson for Tirol
The season in Austria
doesn’t start in earnest
until mid-December, but
resort managers there will
still be looking with envy
across the Alps at France,
where most resorts have
already received good
dustings.
However, UK Met Office
forecaster Steven Keates
said that skiers and snowPage 9
Spot the snow...Seefeld Austria
“There has been no
snow for over 31
days in the Austrian
Alps where
temperatures are still
higher than 10C.
Positive Altitude Club
Snow arrives in the Alps!
Hello winter...we’ve
been expecting you….
“Freezing level is
said to be about
1300m, which is good
news for the upper
pistes.”
After one of the driest
and warmest Novembers
on record we at PAC HQ
were beginning to wonder if snow would ever
fall on the Alps (the dim
memories of the bad winters of t 1989/1990 - so
much so that we even
doubted the promising
snow forecasts for December. But lo, the white
stuff has come.
Obviously, it's not time to
get out your fat powder
skis just yet. Remember,
the snow is falling on
grass or rock on many
slopes. Freezing level
is said to be about
1300m, which is good
news for the upper
pistes.
However, because of
the warmer weather,
on many of the lower
pistes, the snow cannons haven't been running, so there's no
base of man-made
snow yet on which to
ski.
But at least it's a
start!
There’s been good reports of dumps across
the Alps with the larg-
est deposits being in
the French Alps, although the forecasts
for Austria and Northern Italy are starting to
look promising. Lets
hope the cold weather
remains and resorts
can top up the natural
stuff with artificial snow
to make a decent base
for the rest of the season
The best snow is to be
found across the pond
in North America, with
good snowfalls reported across the
Rockies and Canada.
Happy Birthday Breckenridge
The US resort most
popular with the British,
Breckenridge, celebrates its 50th birthday
this December.
It seems that there might be
quite a party. Breckenridge
in Colorado opened on 16th
December 1961. The idea of
building a ski resort in
Breckenridge began during
the late 1950's, when Bill
Rounds of the Porter and
Rounds Lumber Company
became interested in bringing skiing to the valley.
The Peak 8 Ski Area started
up on December 16th 1961
with a single Heron double
chair and a mid-way unloading station. There was also a
short beginners T-bar.
It was the start of what was
to follow and Breckenridge
has now become one of the
Page 10
most popular US ski resorts
with British visitors.
If you like your facts here
are few to mark Breck's
birthday.
• Breck has received approximately 432 meters
of snow since it opened.
• Breck has welcomed
visitors from over 60
different countries.
• Breck has hosted approximately 39 million
skiers and snowboarders.
In the first season there
were around 17,000 total
skier visits; now it is
1.63 million.
• Breck was the first ski
resort in North America
to install a high-speed
quad chairlift, in 1981.
• Breck became the first
ski resort to allow
snowboarding in
Colorado, in 1984.
• Breck installed the
Quicksilver Super 6,
the first and only double loading chairlift, in
the USA in 1996.
• Breck features the
highest high-speed
quad chairlift in the
world, the Imperial
Express Superchair,
topping out at an elevation of 12,840 ft
(3,914 m).
For more information see
Breckenridge’s website
Positive Altitude Club
There was man made snow
in them tha Hills of Hemel….
Although the Alps are
looking less than their
normal snow covered
glory…
There was plenty of
snow (man made of
course) at Hemel Hempstead’s Snow Centre
which hosted the 5th
PAC event in October
2011.
Everyone who attended
enjoyed the chance to get
their ski legs back on the
recreational slope and for
nearly half the price and
twice the time of Hemel’s
standard booking price.
Our thanks goes to Simon
Perry from CSSC London
whose tireless efforts enabled the event to go
ahead even though numbers attending were down
from the last event in
2010.
Hemel Hempstead
Snow Centre was constructed in just 13
months, The Snow
Centre features a
160m long main run
and a 100m nursery
slope inside an
8,000m2 ski box.
As a last hurrah to the snow the CSSC London announces its next ski/snowboard
event at Hemel Hempstead Snow Centre.
Time: event starts at 11am and concludes at 4.30pm
What’s on Offer:
Two Hour Ski Lesson
Cost: CSSC member: £28 Non-member: £35
Two Hour Snowboard Lesson
Cost: CSSC member: £28 Non-member: £35
Two Hour Recreational
Cost: CSSC member: £23 Non-member:£30
Buffet available: £5 per person
Page 11
For an entry form, please
contact Simon Perry on
01494 888435 or email on
simon.perry@cssc.co.uk
Positive Altitude Club
Terminator Vision
Science fiction has been predicting
little screens in cyber-glasses that
sit in front of our eyes for decades,
perhaps most famously in the form
of the hi-tech letters that scrolled
in front of Arnold
Schwarzenegger's
robot optics in The
Terminator.
Thankfully, Zeal
Optics Transcend
GPS ski goggles
are much tamer not only do they
refrain from ordering
you to kill the parents of future resistance leaders, the
screen is located below your line of
vision, so your momentary amazement
at how fast you're going isn't likely to
send you straight into a tree.
Squinting down to see your height,
speed and temperature - or custom
alerts such as when you've beaten
your previous best speed on a particular run - is surprisingly non-invasive,
although a little fiddling is required to
ensure the tiny screen is in the right
place, as it sits right inside the bottom
rim of your goggles.
Adjusting the
numbers on the
display is pretty
easy even when
wearing gloves,
courtesy of big,
child-sized buttons on the arm
of the goggles.
The batteries will
go for around
seven hours, and
the chip in the card can record about 40
hours of your skiing data so you can
relive your runs on Google Maps with
the included software - or force others to
do so on your return from holiday.
They're decent ski goggles, too. Zeal
makes plenty of common-or-garden ski
wear when not doing techno-goggles,
and these are tough enough to withstand a few knocks - which will be a relief, as they cost £450 a pair...
Snow+Rock opens biggest store
The branch has
opened in Croydon
and houses the
three brands Snow+Rock, CycleSurgery and Runners Need.
With the rise in online
shopping some think
traditional stores may be
on the way out. Not
Snow+Rock.
It is perhaps the most
well-known of the high
street snowsports
shops.
The new retail outlet is
Page 12
14,000 square feet and
spread over two floors.
On the ground floor the
store has ski, snowboard
and outdoor wear with
dedicated departments
for The North Face clothing and footwear and
Oakley eyewear.
Upstairs is a boot fitting
area.
Retail shops are trying to
develop their stores as
an "experience" and so
there is a coffee-lounge
with wi-fi.
"We have been waiting
for the right location to
become available south
of London and this is the
bull's-eye!" said Dion Taylor, Managing Director
Snow+Rock Group,
"We have put a lot of emphasis on the retail experience and interior design of the store, so we
are sure customers will
be delighted when they
visit."
The new store though is
up against the onward
march of online shopping.
Positive Altitude Club
Community—Sales and Wants
FOR SALE: 2008 K2 Public Enemy Twin Tip Skis. 169cm
K2 Public Enemy Twin Tip skis with Marker 12 Bindings. Mid Sole Mounted.
These skis were chosen as Ski of the Year 2008.
There is some superficial markings to the topside of the skis . Base and edges
in good condition. There is a small mark on the underside of one ski, but has no
effect on performance.
This is a great all round ski for piste, park and powder.
I’m asking £125.
Contact Paul Colgate
E-mail Paul.Colgate339@mod.uk or phone 020 721 81192
Page 13
Positive Altitude Club
A pair of Salomon X Pro12 Goggles
Salomon X Pro 12 Goggles
The all-new goggle range from a brand known for it’s
pedigree in winter sports has launched its own ski goggle range featuring:
•
20% more vision via the slimline frame (thinking
larger lens area)
•
Scoop shaped air vents which create lowpressure zones, thus pulling moisture away from
the lens and face, eliminating fogging.
•
A flexible construction frame that adapts and fits
to the face for all day comfort
The model shown (left) is the top of the range model at
£140. The range starts from £70
A Fujifilm Fine Pix XP30 digital camera
Ideal for the slopes, this compact camera is freeze,
shock , water and dust proof. The added bonus is
the built-in GPS functionality allowing you to GEO
tag (logging your image locations with longitude
and latitude coordinates, or by place name). A
great tool if you decide to re-visit a resort a couple
of years later and want to remember your favourite
sports, but you sacrifice battery life for this function.
Features:
•
5x Wide Angle zoom lense
•
14 mega pixel resolution
•
Range of picture taking functions
•
HD movie capture of 720p at 30 frames a second
•
The model shown costs £ 139
Page 14
A Fujifilm Fine Pix XP30 digital
camera
The PAC wishes its all its members
and their families a very Merry
Christmas and a Happy New Year
Contacts:
This Edition’s Articles by:
Editor: Andrew Lawson
Tel: 0207 218 9339
E-mail: Andrew.Lawson113@mod.uk
Andrew Lawson, Stephen Darler, Simon Shaw,
Brian Smith