Our picks of unusual destinations and
must-try sports for serious snow plans
1. Airboarding in France
I’m lying on my stomach, speeding down a
slope, which at any other time would be labeled a wipeout, but here at Alpe D’Huez,
it’s known as airboarding and it’s the coolest way to travel! I’m on what’s
basically an inflatable sledge, similar in shape and size to a boogie board but
with grooves on the bottom, so you can make sharp turns or an emergency stop.
In our short safety briefing we’re told to just roll off the board if we need
to stop. Not that we need much help falling off. With the hair-raising,
high-speed races down the airboarding circuit, it’s inevitable. Hit a clump of
snow and, no matter how tight you’re holding on, you’ll fly off.
Saying that, it’s easy to pick up, but
tactical thinking pays off. You steer by shifting your weight from side to side
so, in one race, I aim for the raised side of the track to get some height,
pick up speed and bomb past my friend to the finish. Think all the thrill of
boogie-boarding and sledging and then some. Plus, you get transported back to
the top of the course in a snowmobile!
2. Arctic Adventure in Norway
The trouble with ski holidays is that you
can never be sure of snow. But visit the mysterious and fantastically beautiful
Vesteralen Islands in northern Norway and you’ve guaranteed a week of full-on,
varied activity. Meet the local Ray Mears-alike to learn survival skills, go
snowshoeing up a mountain, dog sledding with huskies and cross-country skiing,
and take a walking tour to get up close and personal with reindeer. Plus you’ll
get to see the Northern Lights, on four evening expeditions, too.
The seven-night Arctic Circle Adventure,
including flights, most meals, three-star accommodation and service of a guide,
costs from $3.5 with Exodus (exodus.com)
3. Paragliding over the French Alps
There’s nothing like overcoming a challenge
for boosting your confidence and improving your technique, even for experienced
skiers. So, on a trip to Les Deux Alpes with the Ski Club of Great Britain, I
find myself nervously strapped to a paraglider, with my instructor Kim telling
me to ski down to slope until we take off. The French call this ‘parapenting’
and, once we’ve in the air, it’s an exhilarating yet peaceful sensation and
much easier on the legs than the days of off-piste skiing they’ve just had to
endure. In fact, I’ve been made to feel thoroughly intrepid all week, kitted
out with a harness, avalanche transceiver, sholve and probe, as we navigate
glacier runs, gullies and powder fields at La Grave-La Meije. I go home feeling
like both my brain and body have been challenged. And with my confidence
soaring higher than the moguls I’ve conquered on La Meije, I know I’ll be much
more adventurous on my next ski trip
A seven night chalet hotel ‘Development’
holiday at Les Deux Alpes costs from $1,275, including flights, transfers,
instruction and Ski Club Leader service, with Ski Club Freshtracks. For info
and more options, visit skiclub.com/freshtracks; les2alpesleisure.com.
4. Biathlon in Austria
If you want to feel like a Bond baddie,
this is for you. First, you ski around a circuit as fast as possible with a
rifle strapped to your back, then lie prone, calm your breathing and shoot at a
target 50m away. The biathlon, held in Austria’s Seefeld, was originally a
training exercise for Norwegian soldiers and combines two classic disciplines:
cross country skiing and shooting. It’s a great calorie burner, and there’s
something strangely satisfying about firing a gun and hitting a bull’s eye. But
don’t be fooled into thinking this is for gun geeks it’s about concentration,
control and finding an inner calm.
The 4*Hotel Central costs from $78 per
night B&B (central seefeld.at). Fly by easyJet to Innsbruck from $90 return
(easyjet.com). A two-hour biathlon lesson costs from $67.5 (xc-academy.com).
5. A beach & ski break in Lebanon
Stay in buzzing Beirut and you could ski
down the slopes of Mzaar and relax at the popular beach club Oceana, all in the
same day. The Mzaar resort (skimzaar.com) is just a 75-minute drive from
Beirut, and there is a $40.5 shuttle from the glamorous InterContinental
Phoenicia to its sister hotel, the InterContinental Mzaar (icmzaar.com). The
ski season lasts from mid- December to mid-April.
Rooms at the Phoenicia InterContinental
(phoneniciabeirut.com) cost from $270, per room per night. BA flies direct to
Beirut. Abercrombie & Kent (abercrombiekent.com) features the Phoenicia.
6. Snowshoeing in France
Snowshoeing
in France
It’s my first time ever on the slopes in
fact, it’s my first day and I’m already skiing down the six-mile long
L’Escargot, the longest green run in Europe. They don’t believe in wasting time
here in Val Cenis in Haute Maurience that very evening we’ve bundled into a van
and arrive in the dark at Bessans in upper Haute Maurience for a spot of
snowshoeing with our mountain guide, Jean Lignier. Snowshoes have come a long
made out of a hardwood frame with rawhide lacings, today they’re synthetic and
lightweight. And it’s brilliant fun.
Enjoying the tranquility of the evening at
an unusually cold minus 260C, I actually see frost from just as we
set foot on to the snow. We move effortlessly across frozen ponds, small hills
and through a nearby hamlet. Snowshoeing requires no skill; just put one foot
in front of the other and go. And if you’re a total winter sports beginner,
it’s a fun way to get acclimatized.
A week in an apartment for four people at
the four-star Les Chalets de Flambeau costs from $960. Fly from London City to
Chambery from $100.5.
7. A tour of the Canadian Wildereness
The
stunning views at Lake Louise
Follow in the footsteps of Wills and Kate
and Cosy up in the Great Divide Lodge, just as the royal couple did on their 2011
tour of Canada. It’s warmed by wood stoves and lit by oil lamps and is located
right by the world-renowned and breathtaking Lake Louise in Banff National
Park. While you’re there, take a two-day Skoki Lodge Wilderness Experience,
venturing from the Lake to the lodge via a seven-mile snowshoe hike through
stunning scenery, including vast frozen rivers and mountain passes.
One week at Lake Louise costs from $2046,
including flights, transfers, lift pass, equipment hire, half-board and drinks,
with Inghams. Wilderness trip from $223.5 pp half board (inghams.com).
8. Dog sledding in arctic Sweden
Want to get away from it all? Go on a
five-day dog sledding circuit of Sweden’s far north, deep inside the Arctic
Circle, and travel through beautiful icy landscape on a traditional wooden sled
harnessed to five husky dogs. They run incredibly fast through mostly flat
terrain of frozen rivers, lakes and patches of forest and the odd winding
woodland trail. Each day consists of dog ‘mushing’ for four to five hours, with
a break for lunch, before camping in basic woodland cabins with bunks and
wood-fired stoves. Caring for the huskies is part of the deal; it involves
preparing their food twice a day, scooping up frozen poop, and laying hay beds
in the snow each night. A major highlight of the trip is, of course, the
spectacular Northern Lights, plus the incredible sense of peace.
The six-night Arctic Circle Dogsled
Expedition costs from $4138.5, including flights, transfers, accommodation,
most meals and services of a guide, with Exodus (exodus.com)
9. Speed-Riding in France
Speed-riding is a mixture of paragliding
and skiing. Around 2,000 metres up a mountain, with a small canopy (the ‘wing’)
attached to your back and a pair of skis on your feet, the idea is to zoom down
so the wing fills with air and plucks you a few feet off the slopes. Great fun
but not to be tried unless you’re already competent on red pistes.
A week at Chalets Edelweiss in La Plagne
costs from $1029 per week per person, with Lagrange Holidays (lagrange-holidays.com).
A half-day’s tuition costs $109.5 (speedriding-school.com)
10. Ski cross in Italy
Now a fully-fledged sport in the Winter
Olympics, ski across is an exhilarating race over jumps and banks. After a few
lessons, you’ll be as keen on finding jumps on the piste as any snowboarder.
Notices can have lessons at San Sicario, near Claviere, on the Italian/French
border. Expect a few bruises and don’t forget your helmet.
Crystal Ski packages to Claviere cost from
$930, including flights, transfers and half-board accommodation, with Crystal
Ski (crystalski.com). Ski across tuition is $48 per hour with the San Sicario
ski school.
