Skiing

Kitzbuhel is one of the great classic resorts; interesting and beautiful mountains, varied standards of skiing all well covered and complemented by a resort centre that sets the standard for the travel industry.  However, its reputation faded as they failed to invest in new skiing infrastructure resulting in slow and inadequate lift capacity for ‘eco’ reasons.  

Never have I skied in the shadow of such dramatic mountains; every run in the Dolomites was dominated by craggy vistas that diverted your attention; pure magic. OK, the Matterhorn is stunning but is not the focus on all points of the compass.  There was drama on another front as well; there had been no snow for weeks and this was mid-January; the plan was to tackle our ‘Ski Safari & Gourmet in The Dolomites’ so we were expecting to cover a large number of different runs.

Kicking Horse: A resort that lives up to its name.
No helicopters are needed to ski over 30,000 vertical feet a day by any social skier whose nerves hold firm.  as he or she will enjoy of the most challenging skiing they will probably ever experience.  There are some 85 ‘chutes’ in Kicking Horse, I would use the more appropriate word ‘drops’ for most runs.  Most of these runs are largely accessed by a single summit gondola lift, a shorter chair ‘Stairway to Heaven’ opens up further breathtaking runs, lift queues are rare.  

Whistler sets a standard that many other ski resorts have to match; right up there with Aspen and some European resorts but for very different reasons. The main concern for many is the flight; eleven hours but you do not lose skiing time as it is overnight and you are chasing the sun outbound.  Passing through Vancouver airport is quick and the transfer is less than two hours to Whistler, the roads are good and it’s worth keeping awake for the stunning scenery.