Hurrah - new book to join our fab new range of guidebooks to Alpine ski resorts.

The Mad Dog Ski guide to Courmayeur is packed full of everything you need to know to get the most out of your time in the resort. Get the inside view from the best restaurants and bars to the most exciting pistes.

Highlights include:

• Our favourite bars and restaurants as well as where to find the nest mountain lunches
• The lowdown on the ski area from which runs are ideal for beginners to Mont Blanc off-piste routes
• What to do when you’re not skiing, from relaxing in thermal baths to flying through the air on a wire

…and the best part… it all fits in your jacket pocket!

Order your guide now!

Woke up this morning to find big fat snow flakes falling down outside the chalet window… A couple of hours later and it has just kept going - sideways and vertical. The boys have gone out to circuit the trees - staying as low as possible to get better visability. Woo hoo!!

Yesterday, we were guided round the Les Arcs ski area by Corinne from the lift company. After getting the full story about the Vanoise Express closure (it’s all about the cables…), she took us to the Pisteurs’ hut at the top of the TransArc gondola where we got to see all the rescue kit and talk to them about bombs and mountains - much fun. It was a perfect blue sky day and Corinne took us up to the top of the Aiguille Rouge to check out the panoramic vista and then down a long 7km run to VillaRoger where we stopped for a vin chaud at Le Solliet restaurant - a cute mountain hut on the sides of the piste.

Monday night was a fun night out… we decided to brave the elements and walk from Vallandry to Les Arcs 1800 - it sounded a bit of a trek but turned out to be just a 20 minute walk along a blue road run - wasn’t too bad at all. Grabbed some dinner at the budget restaurant Benjie’s before heading next door to the new Brit bar in the village - Bar King Mad. A trendy interior that wouldn’t look out of place in Shoreditch with Cool Bus Rich spinning the tunes, it was a great night out. Needless to say, the walk home took slightly longer (around 2 hours) probably due to bad navigational activity… it was an adventure to say the least…

The Mad Dog research trip to Peisey Vallandry and Les Arcs is going well… on Fri/Sat, we had around 25cm-30cm of fresh snow followed by a bluebird day on Sunday… Not bad! Sunday was spent riding the ski area and checking out the various villages, pistes and lifts. After a few fresh powder runs on a just opened piste under the Grand Col chair with our Les Arcs researcher Jan-Erik Paul, we dropped down to 1950 to check out the snowboard shop - Concept and to look at some kit before heading down Cascades to the super nice terrace of Le Belliou for lunch.

First day in Les Arcs today and we went out boarding with the crew from Seventy 3 chalets which was good fun. Cruised around on pistes that were pretty bullet proof in places. Dropped down to have a look at the new 1950 village which was as upmarket as expected and grabbed lunch in an Asian restaurant called East which was totally empty - where were all the people? The snow that is forecast for tonight seems to be coming this way - big dark clouds rolling this way… bring it on!

If you want to combine a haggis supper with a weekends’ skiing, head to the very first Burns night supper in Chamonix.

On Friday 1st February 2008, the Chamonix Tourist Office is organising a Scottish Evening, dedicated to the 18th century poet, Robert Burns. The event will take place at the Hotel Prieuré for 250 people and will include a four course dinner including Scottish Salmon, and Haggis imported from MacSweens, followed by Ceilidh dancing with the Lismore Ceilidh Band who will be flying over from Edinburgh for the occasion. The band will be accompanied by Tich Frier. a Scottish Folk singer and to complete the picture, there will be have a professional bagpiper who is a Savoyard Breton (no less!). The evening, designed to introduce some of the Scottish traditions to the Chamonix locals and other nationalities, will see the French guests being served with panse de brebis farcie (or haggis, if you’d prefer).

For more info, see the Chamonix tourist office website.

Want to see how far you can push extreme skiing? Check out the late Doug Coombs along with Seth Morrison and Peter Krause in this trailer for the big mountain skiing flick ‘Steep’.

Doug Coombs, who died in an off-piste accident in La Grave in April 2006 is at the centre of this film. A man who lived his life for the mountains and who sought to educate others in the beauty and the risks of backcountry skiing, this film shows the addiction of ridiculously steep slopes, deep deep powder and freedom in the mountains. Includes massive avalanches, jumping cornices and negotiating crevasses in Cham…

Watch it: the ‘Steep’ trailer

The Doug Coombs Steep Ski Camp continues - check it out too!

Due to technical problems, the 200 person cable car that links the La Plagne and Les Arcs ski area is to be closed for the season. For this duration, no ski passes for the whole Paradiski ski area will be sold.

Nothing to do with skiing but hey, it has snow in it. And we like games…

http://n.ethz.ch/student/mkos/pinguin.swf

Check this out…

In Talma, Finland, you can ski from 10am right through til 9pm. And because it is almost always dark at this time of year, you ski or board on floodlit slopes - one way to avoid that flat light business. Resort reporter, snowboarder and cameraman, Jan-Erik Paul explains the relatively undiscovered allure of a place where you can be hitting kickers one minute, dancing to Finnish bands in the evening before retiring to the infamous ‘Ice Hotel’.

Read the full article

Check out Board Forge - Jan-Erik Paul’s snowboard school.

This Thursday heralds the publication of our updated guidebooks for:

Courchevel and the 3 Valleys

 Meribel and the 3 Valleys

Tignes

Val d’Isere

Great for stocking fillers or just as a wee pressie to yourself!