News Updates

26/08/08
2 Places left for 7 Volcanoes Trip
We have 2 remaining places departing this friday for the Chile 7 Volcanoes. Call Phil Smith ASAP on 0033 684440748.

20/08/08
Aupair Needed for This Winter
Phil and Emma Snoworks directors are looking for an aupair to help out with their children for this coming season. more details

20/08/08
Plans for a new ski resort development in Bulgaria
Environmentalists say the resort will encroach on to protected national park land where construction is illegal, however the plans now appear to be moving forward despite Bulgaria’s Environment Minister saying they must not.  The situation has led to criticism of the minister from both land owners and environmental groups. Construction of the new winter resort Panichishte-Ezerata-Kaboul has already begun.

20/08/08
Heavy snow has been reported at most ski areas in New Zealand over the past week
With Mt Ruapehu reporting recent snowfalls are some of the heaviest of the past two decades. Turoa, one of Ruapehu’s two resorts, has reported the greatest ever recorded accumulated snow depth in New Zealand of 455cm (just over 15 feet). Does this mean that the northern hemisphere is going to follow suit?

20/08/08
Free Ski Passes For Children under 14yrs
In a move to re-establish its high value credentials, for all Andorran ski areas and for the first time, Andorra will offer free ski passes for children under 14, booking through an English or Irish tour operator.

18/08/08
New Bollé Collection for 08/09 Now Out

Bollé's stunning new collection for this coming season is out now. Phil, Emma and Lee will all be sporting their latest eyewear this season. To see their latest range click www.bolle.com

Phil Smith & Emma Carrick-Anderson, Snoworks instructors, sporting Bollé eyewear.

18/08/08
keep up to date with Snoworks Blog
keep up to date with Snoworks courses, resorts, venue on our Blog. Click here

18/08/08
Chile Argentina - Now Taking Bookings for 2009
Chile Argentina 2008 was sold out. We have therefore opened bookings for 2009. Price to be confirmed but we hope it to be the same as this year. You can reserve your place with a deposit now.

15/08/08
Second Season of Virgin’s Verbier Lodge Nears Sell-Out
Richard Branson’s new property, ‘The Lodge’ in Verbier which debuted last season, is already largely booked up for next winter. Fancy staying here with Snoworks March 2010?
more details

15/08/08
New “All Weather” Snowmaking Machine Tested In Israel Ahead of Installation in Alps
The first IDE snowmaking machine has been assembled and tested in Israel prior to shipment to the Alps. The Snowmaker is capable to produce 950 cubic meters of snow per day.  Snowmaking took place east of Netanya, Israel, under summer conditions (ambient temperature above 30 C) during the second week of July. Israeli skiers enjoyed skiing on the ski slope at the test site. more details

15/08/08
Record Winter Sales for 07/08 season
The good snow conditions from last winter brought record number of skiers. The Compagnie des Alpes, the world’s largest ski lift and resort operator by passenger numbers, has announced record lift ticket sales for the 2007-8 winter season.

15/08/08
Ski Jacket Incorporating Solar Panels To Be Launched This Winter
A new ski jacket incorporating discreet solar panels in the collar is due to be launched by Zenga this winter.  The jacket should be able to charge “just about anything” in five hours, with mobile phone and iPod users a key market.  Due to be released in November. 

15/08/08
Over 100 Engineers Working On 2.6km Indoor Ski Slope For Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi’s National newspaper has reported that a team of 114 German engineers  have been laying ground works for what will be by far the biggest indoor snow slope in the world at Jebel Hafeet at 2.6km (1.7 miles) long. more details

15/08/08
UK Operators Report Business Up Despite “Credit Crunch”
The British ski market appears to be performing at record levels for 2008-9 sales despite the growing financial pressures on UK families. more details

15/08/08
World’s Highest Gondola Lift Opens In China
Doppelmayr has completed a new gondola with eight passenger cabins which reaches 4,843m above sea level in China.  The lift accesses The Aba Great Glacier in Sichuan province, about six hours driving time from regional capital Chengdu. more details

Falke announce new partnership with Snoworks.



We are please to announce we have a new partner that we will be working with for this coming season. Falke Ergonomic Sports System. Falke design and manufacture extremely high tech sportswear for skiers and athletes. We hope to be introducing benefits to Snoworks clients in the near future.For detailed info on the Falke range go to www.falke.de

25/07/08
Mystery skier competition
The mystery skier competition on facebook has been revealed. It was Rupert Tildesley, ex Snoworks instructor.

A Snoworks fleece goes to Elaine Bunyan who was first to recognize the skier.

25/07/08
Snoworks on Facebook
We've finally come into the modern day and joined the other 80,000,000 people using Facebook. Contact other Snoworks skiers, join up for courses and keep up to date with news and info.
www.facebook.com

25/07/08
Chile 7 Volcanoes 2008
We still have some remaining places left on this years trip. click here for details

25/07/08
Chile Argentina 2008
Our Chile Argentina Adventure for 2008 is full. To reserve a place on 2009 contact our office now.

25/07/08
Japan itinerary now confirmed.
Get ready for the ultimate Japanese Adventure. Ski 4 resorts spanning the north and south islands. The powder in the north island of Hokkaido is legendary. click here for details

16/06/08
New Junior Courses - All Terrain & Race
New for this coming season Junior All Terrain and Junior Race Courses. Now you can enjoy your holiday with complete confidence that your children are enjoying theirs.

Junior All Terrain - Junior Race

16/06/08
CATS
Snoworks are planning to partner the charity CATS. 'Community Action Through Sport'. CATS is a charity which helps young children in the community develop through projects in sport. CATS aims are:
• Help young people engage with the community.
• Reduce anti social behaviour
• Increase youth involvement in sport
• Encourage healthy living
• Encourage access to sport
We are hoping to award a number of children with the possibility of joining Snoworks on the Tignes Glacier in the autumn. Clair Roberts is Project Development Manager with CATS. Many of you will remember Clair from the old Blu Marble days (Booking Agents to Snoworks)

If you are interested in helping CATS please vote for them at:
www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awards

16/06/08
7 Volcanoes
We have lowered the ability level and previous experience for this trip. It is possible to join this trip with no previous ski touring experience. The first two days have been programmed in for training at Corralco. Level 5 ski level and a good fitness level required.

Guido Shilling on the slopes of Casablanca Volcano. photo Phil Smith

16/05/08
2008/09 Course dates are now confirmed. Click i-Skiing planner for all details.

05/5
New Format for Summer Ski Courses
July 19 to 26
July 26 to Aug 2
This summer will see the introduction of our Piste Performance Courses into the Snoworks summer programme. both the Piste Performance and the Race courses will run for the whole duration the glacier is open which could mean up to 5 hours of training per day.

05/5
Chile Argentina August 2008
only 2 places remaining on this trip.

02/5
New Piste Performance Courses
Our new Piste Performance Course will become the most popular courses in our programme. A few years in the making this is no ordinary ski course. Piste Performance has been designed with skier levels 3 to 4 and skier levels 4 to 6 in mind.

Piste Performance for skier levels 3 to 4 exposes intermediate skiers to the skills required to ski all piste's with confidence and control and introduce the skills required to begin to venture into more demanding terrain. It is the gateway into the Snoworks courses. See Piste Performance levels 3 to 4.

Piste Performance for levels 4-6 replaces our previous Technical Course and is run out of the winter season. The course is designed for experienced skiers who are hitting plateaus in their development and compliments all the Snoworks courses. The object is to develop technical skills without the worry of skiing demanding terrain at the same time. The results are huge.
See Piste Performance levels 4 to 6.

02/5
Hintertux May 17-24
Fancy sneaking in one last week before you hang up your skis. Hintertux is one of the only Glaciers that stay open all year round. The Glacier can still offer outstanding skiing at this time of year.

23/4 Snoworks end of season
We still have places available for our last week of the season. All Terrain. April 27th to May 4th.

23/4 Espace Killy closing date extended
Due to the amazing snow conditions in the Espace Killy the closing date has been extended to the 11th May.

23/4 Spring snow
The snow just keeps on coming. Another fantastic end to the season. Year after year April produces some of the best skiing of the season. Another powder day this morning.

23/4 News Update
We've been so busy skiing all the powder this season that we have neglected our News page. For those that have been visiting this page regularly we apologise for not keeping you up to date with events.

2/2 Snow alert in Fernie
A massive 727cm of snow has fallen in Fernie this winter. The past 7 days has seen 172cm fall! You can guess what the conditions are like.
We have a number of accommodation options available. Please call our office quickly to make the most of these amazing conditions.

2/2 Snow falling in Courchevel
A small snow fall overnight setting the perfect scene for the start of our All Terrain and Easy Terrain courses in Courchevel this weekend. Clear sky tomorrow with more snow forecasted on Monday.

27/1 Another St Anton Success
St Anton never lets us down. Another 2 great weeks of skiing with some amazing powder. To quote some regular Snoworks guests, "This was our best weeks skiing ever"
The dates and details of St Anton 2009 will be up on the website soon. Book soon as spaces will be limited to 42 on each week.
Brian Fearn, Tasting the St Anton powder!

Thanks to the Snoworks Backcountry staff of; John Arnold, Phil Smith, Lee Townend, Bruno Falch, Torben Gregerson and Peter Weston.

John, Phil, Lee, Bruno, Torben (no current photo of Peter) our regular Backcountry team in St Anton.

27/1 New Venue For St Anton 2009
We will be changing venue for the Backcountry courses 2009. The Rossana run by Mark Warner will be the new venue. All rooms have recently been refurnished and the hotel is perfectly situated in the middle of St Anton. Details coming soon.

27/1 Congratulations
To Stewart Woodward who recently past the BASI ISTD Teaching module. Stewart is a regular with Snoworks on the Race Training scene and is the only British Instructors working with the ESF in Tignes France. Anyone heading out to Tignes and looking for coaching can contact Stewart on stewartwoodward@fsmail.net
Stewart also works as part of the Snoworks Coaching Team.

27/1 More Snow in Fernie
Another 27cm of snow has fallen in Fernie over the past 48 hours. Excellent conditions. Still places available for our Fernie All Terrain Course.

27/1 9 Volcanoes Article in Latest Ski & Board Magazine
Check out the latest Ski & Board magazine. A full 2 pages is devoted to our Snoworks 9 Volcanoes trip to Chile in September.

22/1 Snow Forecasted For Meribel This coming Weekend
A small dump of snow is forecasted for Meribel this coming weekend. Just in time for the Meribel Off Piste Course starting next week. Still a few places available.

22/1 More Snow in the Alps
Another big dump of snow today in St Anton with more forecasted overnight. Great powder skiing under the Galzig today. 40cm forecasted on Friday evening!!

22/1 Emma Commentating for Eurosport
Thanks to all those that emailed in to say they heard Emma commentating for Eurosport over the weekend.

19/1 Chile Argentina Extravaganza Now Confirmed
Our Chile Argentina extravaganza in August has now been confirmed. We have spaces for 18 people max for this once in a lifetime trip. See Chile/Argentina2008 for full details.

19/1 New Courses with Snoworks Director Phil Smith
We've put two new courses on in Courchevel during February. Limited to 7 per week. Strong level 5's and level 6 skiers.
Monday Feb 18th to Friday 22nd - Off Piste
Monday Feb 25th to Friday 29th - All Terrain

17/1 Emma Carrick-Anderson Commentating For Eurosport
Keep your eyes open this weekend for Snoworks Emma Carrick-Anderson. Emma will be commentating with John Clark on Eurosport for the women's World Cup.

17/1 Gressoney - Female Share March 16th
We have a female share available in Gressoney on our Backcountry Course.

17/1 Courchevel - Female Share Feb 2nd
We have a female share available in Courchevel on our Easy Terrain or All Terrain Course.

17/1 Fernie Snow Update
Snow in Fernie just keeps coming. 550cm of snow has fallen to date this season.

27/12 Snoworks Gap Course Finishes
Congratulations to all those who completed the Snoworks Gap Course. The final 2 week BASI Level 2 exam was held in Courchevel in December.

27/12 St Anton Off Piste Backcountry Jan 12th & 13th
We still have some availability on our St Anton Backcountry course on Jan 12/13.

27/12 Next Course Departing Jan 5th or 6th
We still have availability in Courchevel for:
Easy Terrain
All Terrain
ISIA Pro Training

16/12 Wow - What amazing conditions in Tignes last week
These photos were taken in Tignes on the second week of December! SCGB Reps Rosie and Ben skiing with Snoworks Director Phil Smith.

10/12 Off Piste Val D'Isere Dec 16th
Currently full due to exceptional conditions.
We may run a further group if interest continues to prevail. Please call Linda in the booking office ASAP.

10/12 Skiing conditions in Tignes
More powder.

9/12 Skiing conditions in Tignes
Fresh powder again

8/12 Skiing conditions in Tignes
Fresh powder

7/12 Snow Snow Snow Snow Snow Snow Snow
It's been snowing non stop for days. We are in Tignes and Val D'Isere at the moment. The last time they had this much snow in the village at this time of year was almost 20 years ago.

1/12 Austria gets more snow - St Anton Backcountry
Our Backcountry Courses are booking fast with limited availability left. We have only 4 places left on Jan 19th and Jan 12/13 is booking up fast. St Anton is now open with runs to the village complete and powder snow off piste reported.

1/12 Snowchaser Week 5th Jan Update
We have 3 remaining place left on the Snowchaser week on Jan 5th and the early snowfalls are looking very good in a number of places.

1/12 Gap Course Update
The final week of Ski School Experience for the Snoworks Gap.

Lee Townend, Snoworks Trainer, with Gap Students Alex, Lil, Tom, Zoe, Holly and Heli going through their paces on the Grande Motte.

1/12 December Courses
We still have places for:
Dec 8-15 Val D'Isere All Terrain
Dec 16-23 Val D'Isere Off Piste

1/12 First All Terrain of 2007/08 finishes
Our first All Terrain course of this season came to an end yesterday. The best week of the autumn so far. Clear skies every day and more or less perfect conditions on the Grande Motte.

1/12 Race Results 30/11 Eurotest Training
Welcome back Emma Carrick-Anderson. After giving birth to 3 Children over the past few years, 4 time Olympic skier Emma set a blistering first run to set the time for the Euro testers to chase. Her first time through the gates for nearly 3 years.

Emma flying through the gates to set the time

James McMahon came home with the fastest time with Stu Woodward hot on his tails.

1/12 More Snow Forecasted
More snow forecasted over the next few days starting this evening. 30 cm due Monday and Tuesday.

1/12 Espace Killy Opens
The Espace Killy opened today with all the links between Tignes and Val D'Isere now open.

25/11 Pre-Christmas Availability
Still places left on:
Dec 1-9 Tignes: All Terrain, Easy Terrain, Bumps
Dec 8-15 Val D'Isere: All Terrain
Dec 16-23 Val D'Isere: Off Piste

24/11 Chile & Argentina 2008, 9 Volcanoes 2008
Details due out by the middle of next week.

24/11 Forecast for next week in Tignes
A sprinkling of snow over the weekend and sun for monday, tuesday and wednesday.

23/11 - 100% Gap Students Pass BASI Level 1
Congratulations to Lil, Tom, Zoe, Holly, Alex and Heli on their successful completion of the BASI Level 1 ski instructor qualification. 2 weeks of ski school experience to follow then on the Courchevel for their final level 2 examination.

23/11 Snow update
Snow has been steadily falling throughout the day in Tignes. The Espace Killy is still due to be open on 1st December. The conditions on the Grand Motte are excellent, the run to the village from the glacier is open.

23/11 End of Race Week
Snow storms on the Grande Motte forced the Snoworks Race to be cancelled. Tension was running high in the buildup to the race, the course was set and old debts were about to be repaid. Namely Phil Smith being beaten in the dual slalom in the summer. Hence, the first prize of a 4x4 Porche Cayenne was unclaimed. It will just have to be driven by Phil and Emma for the next year!

17/11 Gap Course heads for Zermatt
Our gap students who have been busy preparing for their level 1 ski instructor exam over the past three weeks headed of to Zermatt this morning.

Holly Stringer, gap student, preparing for her level 1 ski instructor exam.

17/11 Technical Courses changed to full day.
Our new format Technical Courses run in the summer, spring and autumn have been a huge success. All Technical Courses are run out of the main season allowing skiers to completely revamp their skiing in preparation for the winter snows. All Technical Courses will now be full days.

17/11 Courses Nov 24th - Dec 1st
Still places available on our first All Terrain Course of the season. Great snow and more forecasted for this week.

17/11 Update
Last weeks snow storms have finished and the sun is out. Perfect conditions on the Grande Motte with the run all the way to Val Claret now open. More snow forecasted for midweek.

17/11 Race Results
Stewart Woodward the Snowheads Tignes correspondence must have eaten a rocket for breakfast. A second run flyer took him into second place overall. Just piped at the post by Heli Bray ex England Team squad member.

Stewart Woodward cruises to second place overall.

17/11 Last Technical Course of 2007
Still places available for our last Technical Course of this year. This weekend Nov 17th - Nov 24th

Lee Townend and Phil Smith, checking out their rotation! in preparation for the Technical Course.

17/11 Snow Snow Snow Snow
Snow has been falling in Tignes and lots of it. The run all the way from the glacier to the village of Val Claret is now open.

17/11 Snoworks Race Week Nov 17th - 24th
Still a few remaining places left for this weekend Nov 17th. Snoworks Race Week. Full race training programme, midweek triple slalom and end of week GS Race.

Observer Review
Keep your eyes open for Snoworks in the Observer sometime in March. Jossy Smalley an independent journalist was commissioned by the Observer Newspaper to write about the 9 Volcanoes trip to Chile in September. Jossy joined us for the whole trip. With no previous ski touring experience she successfully got to the summit and skied off the top of 5 Volcanoes.

Volcano Osorno - The next day the whole group skied of the top.

Weekend Snoworks Courses
Keep your eyes open on the planner if you fancy sneaking away for a few weekends. We're looking at planning some weekend ski courses in the Three Valleys. Details coming.

Snoworks Apology
We would like to apologise to Stewart Woodward concerning the statement re Summer Adventure Courses referring to him as a bit of a 'hacker' on the football pitch. Stuart was showing on the football pitch the same refined skills, eloquent poise and stunning tactical awareness when he beat Phil down the Slalom Course on the glacier. It was a first! Apparently Phil had the wrong bindings on his skis. (An excuse often used by 4 time Olympian Emma).

New Technical Week Format
Our Technical Weeks have been completely revamped. Our spring course in Hintertux was the launch pad for the new format and feedback from those who took part was 'simply the best course they had ever done'. Technical weeks continue to be run out of the main season dates where the slopes are ideal for really knuckling down and getting stuck into improving technique. First Technical Week for this season will be running on October 27th.

Summer Adventure Update
Summer in Tignes is meant to be summer not winter! This year we were literally snowed off the mountain. But once up the conditions were excellent. The adventure activities in the afternoon as always proved to be popular although Stuart proved to be a bit of a 'hacker' on the football pitch. Next year we've expanded our summer program to include Les Deux Alps.

Chile and Argentina update
Wow, another amazing summer of skiing in the southern hemisphere. The amount of snow almost proved to be too much and in some of the resorts they struggled to keep access roads open and lifts running.

The 9 Volcanoes trip was a first for us this year and certainly will not be the last. It was straight in at the deep end and most of the group wondered what they had let themselves in for! But at the end of the trip we had managed to summit and ski off the top of 6 of the 9 Volcanoes. (3 had to be called off due to the weather).

Our Chile and Argentina extravaganza was another extravaganza. The amount of snow was immense. The main difficulty was getting everyone to the resorts!! But when there, the skiing was fantastic. Fresh untracked snow in both Corralco and Cerro Bayo and getting to the top and skiing off Mocho Volcano was a highlight. A huge thanks to Gareth and Lee who hosted the trip.

Bollé
Snoworks are pleased to announce that Bollé will be supporting Snoworks from the start of this season. Bollé started producing eyewear in 1888 and has since become one of the worlds leading brands.
see http://www.bolle.com
An equipment review will be coming onto the equipment site of our website soon.

Japan
Ski the land of the rising sun. Still in the process of being organised and we hope to have the details soon.

What's new for 07/08
Snowchaser Week, Jan 5th. No need to wait for the snow before booking. Book on the Snowchaser week and we go and find it. This is new for us this year and going by how popular it is proving to be we may be adding a few for next season.

07/08 kicks off on October 27th
We are almost back round to the start of our 07/08 season. We kick off with Technical i-Skiing plus on the professional side Test Technique and our pre-season Gap Course.

New Corporate Weeks
Following on from last years very successful week with 'Vodafone' organised by 'Adding Value' we've launched a corporate section to our professional courses. We can now offer anything from full on training weeks in leadership, team work and survival to fun incentive trips.

Lee Townend Joins Snoworks
Lee Townend who worked on a few courses last winter has now joined snoworks full time. Lee will be working on almost every Snoworks course this coming season. Lee proved extremely popular with clients last year.

Snow
We've had a few snowfalls out here in Tignes. Last week it was snowing down to 1400m.

Snow report from Chile
Both our August Chile Argentina and Chile 9 Volcanoes saw immense snow falls. Chile has had the most snow they can remember. It is often said that the northern hemisphere will follow the southern. Lets hope so.