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he Swiss resort has decded to do more to help families enjoy their time on the slopes. It's part of a new strategy to attract more people. The Crans-Montana-Aminona Ski Lift Company has a selection of new things that it claims will benefit families. From young beginners to teenagers and parents. One new development is that the ski kindergarten at the Signal intermediate station, will no longer be reserved for ski school clients only and will from now on be open to any beginner who wants to have fun whilst they learn. Relaxing in Crans-MontanaRelaxing in Crans-MontanaThere are themed, fun mini-areas separate from the Verdets piste to guarantee skiers' safety. Aminona will be a picnic area, a fun area with checks on speed, and will also incorporate a six kilometre sledge run and the beginners' button lift. Aminona is synonymous with nature and traditions, with the Colombire eco-museum nearby, and traditional restaurants such as the Cabane de Taules, the Tièche and the Cure. There's an educational exhibition about avalanches that you can get to on skies and another exhibition on fauna and flora is currently under construction. As an added bonus the lift company is also introducing special new lower rates for families this winter. ---------- Resorts opening Monday November 15, 2010 - Email this article to a friend We have reported on the opening of Cairngorm in our main story and resorts elsewhere are opening up including Verbier and Snowbird. The conditions aren't great in The Alps but in USA it is better. Check out the pictures from Monday. It has been a bit topsy turvey in The Alps and so far the early season snowfalls have not been as good as last year or the winter before. There have been some great conditions, but it has been changeable. The PlanetSKI base resort of Verbier was due to open on November 6th, but was postponed until last Friday. We had some reporters out skiing and snowboarding at the weekend, but first here's a few pictures from round the mountains from Monday. Formigal, Spanish PyreneesFormigal, Spanish Pyrenees Arcalis, AndorraArcalis, Andorra Obergurgl, AustriaObergurgl, Austria Meanwhile in Verbier when it opened last Friday it wasn't great first thing this morning with rain in the village but that did at least mean it was fresh snow at the small open area at Lac des Vaux. "There's a few of us out enjoying the first skiing and snowboarding of the winter and the snow is good, much better than I expected and there's more of it," says PlanetSKI reporter, Julian Griffiths. Griffiths runs the Verbier and Zermatt ski school European Snowsport. "I have actually been skiing in Zermatt and Saas-Fee this autumn so it is not quite my first ski of the season but it is always good to see the lifts firing up in my home resort." Verbier opens, Friday November 12thVerbier opens, Friday November 12th On Saturday though it was much better with clear skies and even some sunshine. But what about elsewhere? Over in Tignes, France, last week it was superb. The picture below is from the Grande Motte glacier taken by our good friend, Phil Brown, who runs Impulse Racing and has been out coaching in the resort. So far so good in TignesSo far so good in Tignes "Current conditions are very good with good cover on the glacier after it was closed on Saturday due to high winds. The winds over the weekend brought some fresh snow in and refreshed the runs on the Motte," he told us last week. "Today was sunny and clear on the glacier with cloud in the valley which, combined with the snow conditions, made the skiing up there pretty good." But it then changed and things deteriorated as the weather warmed up. Now it has gone back to being good again with fresh snow. On Tuesday we heard from Phil Smith who runs the ski instruction company, Snoworks. "Conditions are absolutely fantastic. We were skiing powder all day. Fantastic on the Grande Motte. Run to Val Claret from the Grande Motte fantastic. Need lots more for Espace Killy to open but great skiing," he tells us. The temperature has been playinghavoc with what snow has fallen. Last month it was cold and there were some pretty decent snow falls. In Austria it was the coldest October in more than 35 years. The average temperature was 7.8c. This was the lowest figure since 1974. On October 22nd Tannheim in the Tirol recorded the lowest temperature in Austria of -11.6c. Since then it has warmed up, but near Innsbruck at the moment winter has most definitley returned. . In the western Alps the forecasters say the temperature will go up again this weekend and in places it will be raining at 3,000m. So, what do we know as fact? It has been a poor Autumn for snow falling and remaining. However it is only November and who knows what will happen for the coming winter. We certainly don't. Maybe though we have been rather lucky the past two seasons with great early season conditions and we are now returning to life being a bit more uncertain. Whatever happens we will try to tell it as it is here at PlanetSKI. For better or for worse. We hope it is for the better. It does though seem a bit better in North America. On Saturday Mt. Norquay, in Canada, opened. Good conditions greeted skiers and snowboarders when Cascade chair opened at 9am today. Cooler temperatures and hard work by snowmaking crews meant several terrain park features were also available to skiers and riders. The resort will, for now, be open for weekends only. Mt Norquay joins The Lake Louise Ski Area, which was the first resort to open in Canada on November 5. Sunshine Village, offering almost entirely natural snow, is just one snowfall away from opening. Looks good in CanadaLooks good in Canada Below are some photos we have been sent from the opening day at Keystone. It was open from top to bottom after recent snowfall. Opening day in KeystoneOpening day in Keystone Breckenridge has also opened with some fresh snow. Opening timeOpening time Winter has arrivedWinter has arrived And Snowbird in Utah has opened on Saturday 13th - a week ahead of schedule. "Snowbird will open at 9 a.m. with the Aerial Tram accessing intermediate and advanced terrain in Gad Valley, Gadzoom chairlift accessing intermediate and advanced terrain and Chickadee accessing beginner slopes," says a statement we were sent here at PlanetSKI. "Additional terrain will be evaluated as weather conditions permit. As of Nov. 10th, the Little Cottonwood Canyon resort has received 53 inches of snow to start the 2010/11 winter season." Meanwhile in Mammoth it looks pretty inviting. ========== Man skis every day for 7 years Friday November 12, 2010 - Email this article to a friend Rainer Hertrich, from the USA, has been out on his telemark skis for 2,567 days in a row. He aims to ski 100 million vertical feet before he stops. It does though raise one question; Why? The 49-year-old telemark skier took up his somewhat unusual odessey on November 1st 2003 . Since then he has skied 84 million feet of vertical descent and he plans to carry on at least until he hits the 100 million mark. He reckons that will be February 2012. He has a target is one million vertical feet per month, that's about 3,000 vertical per day. He celebrated his 7 years of continuous skiing at Copper Mountain in Colorado on Halloween at the end of last month. He says it is one of his favourite places to ski. Through the summer months he has to hike up to find small patches of snow, but he has apparently always managed it. Otherwise he heads off to South America where he is able to ski early in the morning in the USA before he takes off and then when he lands he is able to ski the next day in The Andes. He currently "holds" the Guinness World Record, but it is unofficial at the moment. His record for "Accumulated Vertical Descent in Consecutive Days on Telemark Gear" will become official once he takes a day off. For an interview with Rainer Hertrich, who originally comes from Germany, see the video below. He doesn't give much away though. So why, and how, did he start? He was in Jackson Hole when he heard about people who had skied 6m vertical feet in a season. As he was not far off that number at the time he decided to give it a go himself to get to 6m. He managed it and then just carried on from there. He headed off to Utah. Now he does much of it in Loveland and Arapahoe Basin in Colorado. The resorts usually open in October and carry on into June. He keeps track of it all with an altimetre watch. He actually wears three in case of technical problems. Now that, or an accident, would be a disaster. Photo credit: Mark A. Piscotti ------ The future of ski boots? Friday November 5, 2010 - Email this article to a friend One of the worst parts of skiing is wearing the boots. Uncomfortable, heavy, impossible to walk in and awkward to put on/take off. There is not much going for them; except they make skiing possible. An interesting new development is taking place. There is no way of changing much of the above and it is a fact of life that us skiers just have to put up with. A stiff heavy boot is needed to connect the ski to the skier and it enables us to enjoy the sport. However there is a significant new development in the comfort area and the way to ensure a rental boot fits correctly. The rental company, Skiset, has developed a re-usable boot liner. 60% of UK skiers currently hire ski boots so it could help many people. The company has shops across all the major European ski resorts. It is heat mouldable ski boot liner that you buy and then simply rent the shell from the resort you are in. The benefits are obvious - it fits, it weighs less than a ski boot for airline baggage allowance purposes, its hygienic and you will feel like you have your own boot. Change is in the airChange is in the airIt costs €69 so it can work out cost-effective too depending on how often you ski. The company claims a tailored fit that previously only owning ski boots could provide. The Skiset ski boot liner has a heat moldable footbed that sculpts around the owners foot through normal usage. The body of the Skiset ski boot liner is made of high quality, durable, heat retaining materials including a padded synthetic wool upper and reinforced shin and calf panels. "With the Skiset ski boot liner we are offering skiers the opportunity to experience all the benefits of owning their own boots without the need to actually buy and transport them around," says the Managing Director of Skiset, Philippe Koiransky. The Skiset ski boot liner has been developed specifically for Skiset by Salomon. Most sizes are available with variables including foot size, foot width, calf size and are compatible with any ski boots. For the 2010/11 season it will be available at most Skiset rental locations in France and selected resorts in Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Andorra.