TheChek News Flow

Eastern promise

Perhaps it is because Alpine off-piste routes are getting ever more crowded, perhaps because bragging rights are harder to win in the social-media age, but skiers are travelling ever further in search of virgin slopes and fresh tracks. This winter, there seems to be a growing consensus among tour operators: for adventure skiing, you should head east.

Mountain Tracks, for example, is launching a new trip to Georgia, offering the chance to make ski ascents of little-visited peaks in the Svaneti region, staying in farms and small village guesthouses (eight nights, from £1,895). Mountain Heaven’s bread-and-butter is smart chalet holidays to well-known resorts such as Meribel and Morzine but this season it is branching out to Iran. Its guided trips take in three resorts in the Alborz mountains, as well as sightseeing in Tehran (seven nights, from £1,100). Similarly, Snoworks’ instructors are normally found running classes in Courchevel and Tignes but in February will be leading a new ski-touring adventure in Kyrgyzstan. Guests will stay in a yurt camp at 2,700m in the Terskey Ala-Too mountains, and will be transferred to the slopes each day by snowmobile (10 nights, from £2,325).

However, trumping all those, both for sheer remoteness and the chance to make first descents, is Elemental Adventure’s trip to Russia’s Kuril Islands. This chain of 56 volcanic islands stretches 1,300km from the Kamchatka peninsula to Japan, separating the Pacific from the Sea of Okhotsk. Harsh weather conditions dictate that itineraries be left flexible, but Elemental Adventure’s trips start from Petropavlovsk, capital of Kamchatka, then travel south by MI8 helicopter. On a trip in April this year, the group landed on the uninhabited Makanrushi island, becoming the first to ever ski there. They went on to Onekotan, landing on the summit of a volcano before skiing into the crater, to be picked up by helicopter on the frozen lake at the bottom (around €11,500 per person, depending on group size and mileage flown).

Height of luxury

In 1946, officials in the French region of Savoie set out a bold plan to reinvigorate the economy by transforming a grassy mountain plateau into the country’s first purpose-built resort. It turned out to be a lasting success: this winter the resort celebrates its 70th anniversary and is now home to no fewer than 20 five-star or palace hotels — more than anywhere in the country outside Paris. The latest to join that roster is the newly built Hotel Les Neiges, the first mountain hotel from the Barrière group. The 42 bedrooms, featuring lots of larch panelling, cashmere, velvet and fur, are the work of designer Nathalie Ryan, who spent a decade creating boutiques for Christian Dior. Prices start at €1,200 a night and soar to €18,000 for the biggest suite. Next door, the Aman Le Mélézin is also preparing for the anniversary, putting the finishing touches to an eight-month refurb (doubles start at €1,155).

Also five-star but a fraction of the price is the new Taj-I Mah, the first hotel of that rating to arrive in more down-to-earth Les Arcs (doubles from €260). Meanwhile in Val Thorens, the old Mercure hotel is being relaunched as the four-star Fahrenheit Seven, full of retro nods to the 1970s (doubles from €230). hotel-les-neiges.bebarriere.com; amanlemelezin.com; hotel-tajimah.com; fahrenheitseven.com

Olympic return

Fresh from the success of the movie of his life, Eddie “the Eagle” Edwards is to lead a tour of some of British Columbia’s most celebrated resorts on a one-off trip in February. The week-long group trip includes the chance to ski alongside Edwards at Kicking Horse, Revelstoke and Lake Louise, and accompany him to the place where he found fame in 1988 — the Canadian Olympic Park in Calgary.

Departs February 25, from £2,595 per person, not including flights to Calgary; kickinghorsepowdertours.com

Wingsuits banned

Chamonix, Europe’s capital of extreme sports, has banned wingsuit flying after a spate of deaths. Eric Fournier, the town’s mayor, announced the ban earlier this month following the death of a Russian who crashed into a chalet after his parachute failed to open. This year has seen more than 20 wingsuit fatalities worldwide and five in Chamonix alone. In August, one wingsuit flyer in Switzerland was livestreaming his jump on Facebook when he crashed and died. Many blame the rise of new confidence-boosting suits, which encourage relatively inexperienced flyers to attempt risky manoeuvres.

New routes to the slopes

Swiss is to launch new flights this winter between London and Sion in the Valais, where the runway is less than 3km from the nearest ski lift. The slopes of Nendaz are 6km away, Crans-Montana and Verbier less than 16km. Swiss will operate the route only during the February peak, but is doing so as a trial and may increase the frequency in future. The Swiss air force is due to stop using the airport as a base by 2020, prompting it to refocus on passenger services. Meanwhile British Airways is launching flights from Stansted to Chambéry, France, and Delta will fly from Heathrow to Salt Lake City, close to resorts including Park City and Snowbird.