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Information about skiing in new places.

Right now I am back in one of my favourite places to ski in Canada: Thunder Bay! While many of you know a bit about Thunder Bay because it was host of the 1995 World Nordic Championships, I thought it might be worth explaining why it is such a great place for a skier to visit or live for those of you who have never been. This morning I woke up to sunshine, lots of...

We have received a few emails from skiers who who were unable to find lodging for the West Yellowstone Rendezvous on March 12. Apparently, there is a snowmobile event in town that weekend called the Snow Blast sponsored by Arctic Cat that will be filling a lot of the rooms. We contacted the organizers of the Yellowstone Ski Festival to see if they could help. They were able to find a motel owner who is...

Traveling to beautiful ski towns across the World to participate in the famous marathons is every cross country skiers dream. Here is the story about four Norwegian friends in their forties and fifties who are doing just that for fun. Check out the photos!  – We are four colleges and ski enthusiasts that every season the last years have traveled to Central Europe to race the big mass-start marathons. The social aspect is always prioritized,...

The snow conditions were excellent for annual West Yellowstone, Montana ski camp held last week. More than 1500 skiers visited the small town of West Yellowstone right at the outskirt of the West Yellowstone National Park. Skiers had to drive 10-15 minutes up to higher elevation to ski in good conditions early in the week, but could use good skis and had great conditions in town (5 minutes walking distance from the hotels) from Wednesday....

November 10 to 14 were this year's dates for xcottawa.ca's annual early-snowtraining camp at Montmorency, about an hour northeast of Quebec City. As mentioned in my last article, Foret Montmorency (Montmorency Forest) might be considered eastern Canada's version of Silver Star or West Yellowstone. It has fairly reliableearly-season skiing, great trails and accommodationswhich are very conducive to training. The accommodations, which are a campus of Laval University's Forestry schoolarefantastic from both training and culturalperspectives. Rooms...

Swedish Skidsport.com reports that plans are ready and approved for Germany’s first ski tunnel. Vuokatti in Finland was first in the World with a ski tunnel that offered year-round cross country skiing. Finland has now several ski tunnels and Sweden will get its first in two years in the town of Torsby. Germany’s first tunnel will be built in Oberhof and is projected to cost roughly 20 million Euros. Editor’s note: Which North American City...

Fairbanksans are now into their second week of skiing. Both Birch Hill and the UAF Trails have been groomed and are receiving heavy use. Skiing started up in Fairbanks on Tuesday the 19th, and has been improving steadily since then. Widespread snowfall has left all ski trails throughout the area in good shape. For the first 2-3 days the skiing at Birch Hill was thin, but still pretty good, due to the fact that the...

The Yellowstone Ski Festival November 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27, 2004 West Yellowstone, Montana We are skiing in West Yellowstone! The trails were rolled for the first time on October 24 and if we keep getting snow, the trails will be in great shape for the Yellowstone Ski Festival. www.yellowstoneskifestival.com or contact: Jamie Greene, Yellowstone Ski Festival Coordinator The West Yellowstone Chamber of Commerce PO Box 458 West Yellowstone, MT 59758 406-646-9427

The Yellowstone Ski Festival is only a few weeks away, and the locals are already skiing the Rendezvous trails. Chris Axelson sent us this report and photos: “Last night we drove down to West Yellowstone [from Bozeman] hoping for a good snowfall. Bingo! Ten inches of snow. The skiing was great on Sunday and there was plenty of it, thanks to the Pisten Bully getting to all the popular loops on the Rendezvous Trail System.”...

There is still more than a week until Halloween, but a number of places around North America are already reporting good ski conditions. As is usually the case, Alaska has some of the best early season skiing this year. John Estle in Fairbanks, Alaska reported to FasterSkier.com on Thursday that they have about 6 kilometers of trails groomed at Birch Hill. Fairbanks received 4-6 inches of snow earlier this week, and light snow is in...

The Yellowstone Ski Festival November 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27, 2004 West Yellowstone, Montana Why attend the Yellowstone Ski Festival? Here are ten reasons to make your plans now: West Yellowstone’s reliable early season snow Beautifully groomed trails Nordic ski clinics for children, beginner, intermediate and advanced skiers Expert instructors Demo the latest in Nordic equipment from all the major manufacturers The Rendezvous Trail system is just a short ski from your door An...

As a cross country skier I have had a chance to see and experience beautiful places around the World both summer and winter.  World famous Smith Rock outside Redmond, Oregon is very high up on my list of places I recommend friends to visit at least once. Justin and Beckie running up the trail to the top Smith Rock offers the type of beauty that strikes you as truly magnificent and doing a workout there...

Iceland’s glaciers can become an alternative training site for those who want early summer and fall skiing reports Swedish Skidsport.com. Ramsau and Val Senales high altitude glaciers have for years been where European skiers have traveled to get on-snow training in the summer and fall. Two glaciers on Iceland might become an alternative to that next season. A lot lower altitude might be very attractive to some teams. Austria’s Nordic combined team had 15 skiers...

The Val Senales glacier, in Italy at 3200 meters altitude, offers year-round cross country skiing. Top teams from around the World are using the popular site for summer and fall training and testing. Ski companies are often found testing new products or materials. Silvio Fauner on Val Senales glacier SOLDA' Ski Wax provided wax service to the entire group.   The Val Senales Glacier is 3.200 meters high.  There is an impressive gondola that is...

Labor Day weekend is the unofficial end of summer, but in some parts of the country it also gave us our first glimpse of winter. The mountains near Anchorage, Alaska were white when skiers woke up on Saturday morning. Termination dust, as it is called in Alaska (signifying the termination of summer) was spread across the peaks of the Chugach Mountains. Aspen, Colorado, which I happened to be visiting at the time, also had snow...

Vuokatti has grown to become a popular training center for Finish biathlon and cross country skiers. At the moment you’ll find German, Russian, Chinese and Finish national team skiers at training camp in Vuokatti. Much of the reason for this is the ski tunnel that makes it possible to ski year-round.

You don’t bike in Denmark to experience mountains and grueling hills. Being flat as a pancake and with an enormous network of bike-trails makes it a great place for easy and relaxing biking. Go there on your own or bring the family, Denmark is known to many as the World’s number-one bike country. Commuters don’t drive to the train station, they bike. I didn’t see any car parking lots close to the downtown Copenhagen railroad...

The third set of my vacation photos from Norway are from are short bike ride up and around the two nearby small towns of Stathelle and Brevik. We stayed on the bike path using the “new road” on the way up, and rode the old coastal road on the way back. The ride took us across the old bridge to Brevik and I’m excited that even this has a bike and walking lane separated with...