Having started back in 2003, the Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival has now firmly established itself as an annual event
and is held in every October in Scotland's capital city. There are usually around 20 films on show, all aimed at the mountain
enthusiast. The majority are based on climbing, skiing and snoawboarding, but there are also films on kayaking, BASE jumping
and general exploration.
This years event will be held in the George Square Lecture Theatre at Edinburgh University.
Official Website:
www.edinburghmountainff.com
Advertised as 'the World's biggest consumer winter sports show', it's held every year in October at the Olympia exhibition centre
in Kensington, London. It's recently grown into a massive general event, with quite a lot of non-snow stuff going on such as
live music, comedy and food. On the ski and boarding side there are plenty of interactive things to look at and some
competitions on the indoor slope, and there are a massive number of exhibitors (over 200) trying to showcase their equipment,
resorts etc.
It's also worth noting that kids under 11 go in free. Which is nice.
Official Website:
www.metrosnow.co.uk
Natives (and subsequently natives.co.uk) was set up at the end of the 1990's to help seasonal workers find jobs in ski resorts.
The Natives Jobs Fair is a chance to get a taster of what the work is like, meet people who've actually been out there working
for a few seasons, meet potential employers and basically get an idea of the different options that are available to you.
This years event will be held on Saturday 24th October in the Pillar Hall at the Metro Ski and Snowboard Show, Olympia, London.
It's worth noting that this part of the show is free to attend.
Official Website:
www.natives.co.uk
The start of the 2009-10 FIS World Cup competition kicks off (weather permitting, of course)
with giant slaloms for both the men and women.
As with the last few years the races take place
on the Rettenbach glacier above Solden.
Official Website:
www.fisalpineworldcup.com
Battersea Power Station gets transformed into London's very own ski resort as part of the 2009 London Freeze event.
FSO4 Freeze combines the world's best snowboarders and skiers with a massive music line up to boot.
The main snow event is the London leg of the LG Snowboard FIS World Cup, but the weekend also features
an International Freestyle Ski Competition, 2 live music stages and alpine themed bars.
Official Website:
www.londonfreeze.com
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Annual Ski and Snow Events
- 2009 to 2010
A new entry to the calendar that is being advertised as the largest winter sports event outside of the Winter Olympics,
Winter Games NZ has been set up to run every 4 years as a prelude to the Winter Olympics. Which is quite a clever marketing
ploy by the crafty New Zealanders who are behind it. 2009 will be the inaugural running of the event but it's already attracted
over 800 winter athletes to compete in 26 different snow sports, from alpine skiing, snowboarding, cross country skiing,
curling and skating. The good news for anyone wanting to compete is that entry is free, whilst spectators can watch the
events for nothing as well, apart from the stadium events at Naseby and Dunedin for the curling and ice hockey.
This spectacular ski race was started back in 1928 by 5 Brits from Murren's Kandahar Club and now has
an important place on the annual ski calendar as one of the biggest and most popular amateur ski races
in the world. The course is just under 15km long, starting just under the Schilthorn (think James Bond
On Her Majesty's Secret Service at 2790m and finishing right down in the valley at Lauterbrunnen 2000m
vertically below. The winner hurtles down in about 15 minutes but there's plenty of competition - with upto
1800 skiers taking part. The event has become big business for the village of Murren, with other events in the
lead up and a massive Swiss party afterwards.
When it comes to ballooning, the Swiss resort of Chateau-d'Oex is the Alpine capital, and this is the festival to celebrate it.
The 2010 festival will be the 32nd in the history of this renowned international event, and will feature about 100 balloons,
including 10 special shaped ones, from over 20 different countries.
As the festival normally runs in the last week of January it's possible to combine a visit with a skiing holiday
in the area - Chateau-d'Oex is situated in the Pays-d'Enhaut region (between Lausanne and Interlaken) and there are a number
of other ski resorts close by, including Gstaad for the millionaires amongst you.
The 21st Winter Olympics are being held in Vancouver, the third time the games have been hosted in Canada, following Montreal in
1976 and Calgary in 1988. The resort of Whistler will be used for most of the alpine and nordic events, whilst
Cypress Mountain will be holding the freestyle skiing and snowboarding.
Mayrhofen is lively enough for the rest of the season, but come Snowbombing week it quite
literally goes berzerk. Billed as the greatest show on snow, it's "an awesome
alpine gathering with goggles, guitars and great music on the grandest of stages - the Alps!"