The Future Of Snow

If I had a penny for everyone that asks for a "high altitude chalet" for their annual skiing holidays nowadays then I would be a very rich man!

But how can you blame them? The British press have been bolstering their winter broad sheets with the effects of "global warming" and the dreadful snow conditions that we have been apparently experiencing in the alps. This has of course been spurred on by doom mongers sat in a London press office, with all but a poorly placed webcam to gain their daily insight on the true snow conditions at a local level*. Nevertheless, they still feel qualified to paint a pretty dreary picture to the unassuming public as to the future of European skiing holidays.

Many webcams are inaccurately placed and only show snow at the Tourist Office altitude which is often below the snowline and not where the real skiing is. Morzine in particular, (one example of a great British ski destination), has suffered this over sight by the Tourist Office who have chosen not to lodge their webcam at the skiing altitude, but rather at a 900 metre resort level.

Coming from one who has spent every week of the ski season touring the alps over the last 11 years, then I feel qualified to have an opinion. Although I have seen a change in snow, it is not as dramatic as one is led to believe. If anything the seasons are simply shifting. We are getting the same seasonal levels of snow as we were a decade ago, but it now chooses to come later and stay for longer. April skiing is now bigger business than ever as it steals demand from the festive weeks; and rightly so because the reality is that April is experiencing higher levels of snow than ever before.

Thankfully, various ski associations with first hand knowledge of the actual snow levels of last season have sought public correction and recognition from the media as to the unfounded nature of their premature remarks; remarks about the uncertain future of European skiing holidays.

I have heard many tales of skiers cancelling their Christmas skiing holidays at the last minute with huge losses in cancellation charges, simply because they choose to believe all they read in the papers! If they had taken their holiday as planned and paid for, they would have found a ski resort skiing normally above 1500 metres, and please remember that most premier French resorts have 95% of their skiing above this level anyway.

Indeed the resorts where skiing is placed below 1300 metres are experiencing the "wrong kind of precipitation", as temperatures are rising. However if you pick a resort where the skiing is above 1300 metres, then you will be experiencing normal skiing conditions and full coverage of ski area, which nowadays is further enhanced by snow cannons; snow cannons that are actually making the skiing better than ever before.

Perhaps the snow that we have just experienced in Chamonix, (July 1st 2007) is not a good omen that the snow is still prevalent, but acting as a harbinger to climate change or a merging of the seasons?

The fact is that last season was actually a better season for snow above 1300 metres than the previous two years. long term weather forecasts are suggesting a rise in precipitation over the alps in the next ten years, along with relatively low levels in temperature rise. Therefore although there may be rain at low levels there will be greater amounts of snow at higher altitudes, thus making resorts above 1500 metres all the more in demand for European skiing holidays.

Shaun Parker has been at the forefront of the Skiing Holidays Industry for 15 years. Now serving over 10,000 clients per year for snowboarding, mountain biking, activity and ski holidays, Alpine Elements provide a complete package for Apline holidays all year round. Visit http://www.alpineelements.co.uk

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Nintendo Taking Market Share?

5: Shifting Media Man
Nintendo needs to ditch mini-disks and cartridges and publish games on full size compact disks. It will help get rid of your cute, fuzzy, little kid image.

4: Deadline Driving for 8 Billion Red Coins
Dont hype up a game until youre sure you can release it on time. You get me all worked up about a game like Twilight Princess and then push it back, and back, and back until youve pushed back into another console! It gets old! Stop doing it. Finish the game then tell people about it six month before you release it. problem solved.

3: Footrace with Sony the Quick
Its a little late for this one Nintendo, but you need to beat Sony to the market if you can. Get your Revolution hardware out and in our hands and take our dollars as soon as possible because after we buy an X-Box 360, 4 controllers, and a hard drive were probably going to have enough money for just one Next Gen system. If you can beat Sony to the market and suck up $250 bucks plus the cost of controllers, games, and memory cards people wont be willing to shell out the $600 bucks plus games and accessory money for Play Station III.

2. Nintendo's Image lost
You need to fix your image, you have the 3-9 year old market cornered, and nobody can touch you, but now its time to graduate to the big leagues. If you want to survive and latch onto the adult audience I suggest buying a well-known franchise like Grand Theft Auto or create one and make it a Nintendo exclusive. Remind people Nintendo started the age of multiplayer console shooters with Goldeneye.

1. To the Top of the Mountain
Last, but not least, you seriously need to get a better shell for your controller. I personally like it and think it's brilliant, but people aren't ready for it yet. You need to have a more traditional controller for your next gen system. I'm NOT SAYING YOU SHOULD GET RID OF THE MOTION SENSOR, but definitely scrap the remote control look.

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