Visitors in the Kitzbühel region this winter can ski further than ever before thanks to both new lifts, and a new ski ticket which covers 1,000km of piste from the Tirol to Salzburg regions.

The stats for the new Kitzbüheler Alpen AllStarCard are impressive with 357 cable cars and lifts included covering 1,081 kilometres (670 miles) of piste, 762km of them with artificial snow cover. There are also 83km of marked ski trails, the runs total 90,820 vertical metres between 800 and 3200m high, and there are 256 mountain restaurants to visit and 70 ski schools to teach you!

The pass includes the Kitzbühel and SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser-Brixental regions which are now lift-linked thanks to new lifts at Westendorf creating an area of more than 400km (250 miles) of piste. The Schneewinkel region by st Johann is also on the pass as is the Hochtal Wildschönau, Alpbachtal, Skicircus Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang and Zell am See-Kaprun regions including the Kitzsteinhorn glacier to 3,203m. A free ski bus is available for use with the All Star Card according to the terms for the relevant ski region.

Passes are available from one day (Adults cost 43 Euros) to 14 days. A six day pass costs 204 Euros.

www.kitzalps.com

Natural snow fell over the past week in Viet Nam and in the United Arab Emirates and has been declared a “once in a generation” occurrence in both of the normally hot countries.

In Viet Nam a thin layer of snow was deposited on Mau Son Mountain in the northern province of Lang Son on January 23-24 as the average temperature dropped to minus one degree Celcius.

In the United Arab Emirates, the northern emirate of Ras al Khaimah reported that a three mile wide area in its Jebel Jais mountain range received four inches (10cm) of snow on Friday, “a situation so rare that the local dialect doesn’t even have a word for it.” according to media reports.

Crown Prince Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, who is planning an indoor snow centre for his emirate larger than Ski Dubai, visited the area to see the snow.