Luxury Ski Holidays in Russia Maybe A Thing For The Future

Last week President Nicolas Sarkozy and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announce a $2.8bn ski investment partnership between the French state owned bank the Caisse des Depots et Consignations and Russia’s state-run North Caucasus Resorts Co to obtain £2.8bn investment for four ski resorts close to the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic games. Situated in the troubled Caucasus region the Chairman of North Caucasus Resort Co suggested that force majeur and security caveats will be part of any investment deal to protect investors as this region was recently shut down by the Russian for 'counter terrorist' measures after 3 Russian ski tourists were shot dead and two seriuosly wounded on their way up to Kabardino-Balkariya, a cable car structure was blown and four people were lucky to escape with minor injuries when the car plunged to the floor, and a series of car bombs were defused.

Russia certainly has good pedigree with Kabardino-Balkariya skiing up to 3,475m but the infrastructure and instability is really limiting tourism development and luxury ski resorts and holidays in Russia are a pipe dream at the moment but not without clear intent from the Russian Government. Certainly lets hope for the sake of the people in the Caucasus that the plans and investment will come as quick as the fast moving chairs they need, rather than it being as slow as the old one and two man ski lifts that currently precede. If its the latter, instability could continue to rise.

Scott Mission 2011 Ski Review

This week we were out with our friends from Chalet Ski with one of the team testing a pair of Scott Mission 2011. Its amazing how such a ski can be branded and built up and if you read the general reviews it seemed that this was the ski for 2011! Having seen it in action its clearly a well marketed piece of equipment. Well done to Scott there! Click on the Chalet Ski link above and see for yourself what the Chalet Ski thought of this ski.

Luxury Ski Chalets

This week we have been reviewing the new Chalet Ski website that has been attracting a great deal of interest in the ski industry, mainly due to its domain name that sets it apart from many of the other start up websites that seem to spring up every day. Those in the industry have been somewhat surprised that in the saturated domain world, a new entrant has managed to obtain such an important web address. The company behind Chalet Ski aren't letting on how they obtained such a 'unique' dot Co dot UK address or what it cost, but our guess is that it wasn't a low cost acquisition, either that or they are very lucky!

From a luxury catered chalet perspective, we were surprised at the quality of luxury chalets within their portfolio, probably 50% of which 10% are of an exceptional standard. I guess this reflects the power of good branding!  

Luxury Ski Resorts

If you are looking for great luxury chalets in a fabulous luxury ski resort, Ski In Ski Out Chalets have some fabulous luxury chalets to offer in the resort of Val d'Isere, right next to the piste. Rarely are there such great properties with such great locations, but being Val d'Isere, anything is possible.

Luxury Chalet Chamonix

Chamonix in recent years has without doubt risen the bar in terms of some of the best luxury chalets as a result of its competitive chalet market. Once a great historic town that had drifted into decay, partly due to the inverted snobbery that Chamonix was a mountain town and certainly not a place for glitz. Today however it has thankfully found the perfect balance; high up its a place to show off your well homed mountaineering and skiing repertoire, whilst in the town centre it is the place to be seen. Great sports shops, restaurants and bars, entwined with designer boutiques from the well known designer brands. Chamonix's move up market has culminated with a real influx of new chalet operators, drawn by its endless sporting activities, and its chic, cool to be seen allure. As a result, a number of high end chalets have found sprung up, increasing the competition that is sadly lacking in other resorts.

Ski New Year

If you are looking for great New year ski deals then you may struggle, however a new site called New Year Ski will at least help identify what is available n this ever increasingly popular week. Its always been a sell out but each year the "No Availability" signs seems to be posted and last year by the end of September it seemed even a stable might have been a hard place to find in the Alps. Apparently New Ski should help with this problem and will place up to date availability on what is still available and where when it launches later this summer. Sounds great, it'll just however be interesting to see what is available!

Easter Skiing

If you are looking at one of the peak weeks for a luxury catered family chalet holiday, you might want to consider next year the Easter ski break where you often get some of the best snow depths and best sunshine too.