Try these new experiences
Try Défi Foly, La Clusaz, France
American-style, end-of-season ‘pond-skimming’ events have, erm, crossed the pond. Skiers and snowboarders, often in amusing outfits, try—and mostly fail—to build up enough speed to cross a pond at the bottom of the piste. The big daddy of the French events is Défi Foly in La Clusaz, which takes place over a 180m lake in mid-April. So far, no-one’s ever made it more than 155m.
Ice palace tours, Hintertux, Austria
Some resorts offer glacier tours, but Hintertux offers tours inside its glacier. You enter a maze of natural tunnels linked by ladders from a small doorway just off the piste. Look out of ice windows and up at jaw-dropping chandeliers of stalactites hanging over you. The tour finishes with a boat ride in the glacier’s internal lake, and you can even go for a dip if you’re feeling particularly brave. The 70-minute experience costs €39.
Dine in a cable car Jasná, Slovakia
The freeride friendly Jasná, Slovakia’s best known ski resort, is launching a unique dining experience this winter. One cabin of the A2 gondola will be transformed into an aerial aperetivo spot. They’ll serve charcuterie, cheese, pastries and prosecco as you cycle round, all from just €15. The resort is just 45 minutes from Poprad airport, which now has four weekly flights from the UK.
Learn these new skills
Backcountry planning, France
This week-long workshop program, run by the British-based splitboard magazine Backdrop Journal is suitable for everyone from first-time splitboarders to those wanting to start planning their own tours. Running from March 8-15th 2025, it includes five days guiding in the backcountry Mecca of the Maurienne Valley, plus seven nights self-catered accommodation for €1,350.
Ice swimming, Samoëns, France
Cold water swimming is said to boost the immune system, improve circulation, reduce stress, and leave you with a sense of enormous well-being. [“Parklife!” - ed.] Trying it at home is one thing, but if you want real cold water, head for the ski resort of Samoëns, site of the World Ice Swimming Championships. Courses cost €15 and include tips on mindfulness. Crucially, the price includes an hour in the mobile sauna afterwards.
Wild skating, Weißensee, Austria
The Weißensee in southern Austria freezes so thick they use Zambonis to create a smooth 25km circuit over the lake in winter. Unlike in crowded indoor rinks, the ice disappears into the horizon. You’ll encounter all sorts from speed skaters, to ice hockey players and even mothers pushing baby buggies. There are cosy cafés en route too, serving kaffee und kuchen to help you warm up.
Listen to these snowsports podcasts
The Ski Podcast
The definitive title of Iain Martin’s show is not unwarranted. The carefully-curated weekly episodes follow a magazine show format, covering multiple ski news stories, plus a mix of features and in-depth interviews. This winter, Martin will be focussing particularly on women in snowsports, with Vicky Gosling, first female head of GB Snowsport, on air imminently.
Looking Sideways
Having clocked up more than 200 episodes, Matt Barr’s fortnightly podcast casts its net wider than skiing, covering all action sports, including (but not limited to) climbing, surfing and skateboarding. His snowsports stories often reach outside the realm of conventional ski media. Last winter featured interviews with direct action advocate Callum MacIntyre, and the author of a new history of snowboarding, Eric Blehm.
The Après
For something lighter, Olympic snowboard medallist Jenny Jones will once again be joined by BBC Ski Sunday’s Tim Warwood and podcaster Ollie Peart for freewheeling, loosely ski-themed chats. It’s a bit like the BBC’s Tailenders, but for skiing, instead of cricket. When pro snowboarder Hana Beaman came on, for example, they talked less about her career and more about Europop.
Watch these ski films and shows
Gwyneth Goes Skiing, Awkward Productions
It seems ludicrous that the farcical court case over Gwyneth Paltrow’s collision with a retired optometrist in Deer Valley, Utah, gripped the world’s media for months. But at least it provided the raw material for this hilariously camp, Edinburgh Fringe style sendup of the episode. The two man cast—Linus Karp as Paltrow, and Joseph Martin as Sanderson—revel in the deliberately low budget production values, and the fact that they know nothing at all about skiing. It’s very funny.
Ticket info at pleasance.co.uk
Hatching Eagles, Tallistudio
Three years before Beijing hosted the 2022 Winter Olympics, China sent its national ski jumping team to Kuopio, Finland, to err... learn how to ski jump. From scratch. “We have a great group,” says their Finnish coach solemnly, as another Chinese hopeful lies spreadeagled on the snow, “starting at an age when no one starts in this sport.” Like a documentary version of Cool Runnings, this remarkable film charts a unique, and not always comfortable, experiment in winter sports training.
Watch on Amazon Prime
Calm Beneath Castles, Matchstick Productions
This season see another bumper line up of action ski movies. Of the big two, Teton Gravity Research’s Beyond The Fantasy is the more obviously goofy and male-dominated, featuring heavy slams and heavier parties alongside the requisite spectacular descents and jumps. Calm Beneath Castles is a slightly more serene ski action movie. It helps that Matchstick Productions have enlisted a few more female riders, but just cos it lacks the bro-ing down interludes, doesn’t mean the action is any less impressive.
Stream on RedBull TV
