Skiers seeking inspiration this winter can check out the new-look www.maddogski.com for advice on everything from the best places to ski, advice on booking holidays, finding the nearest resorts to destination airports and even searching for the best mountain restaurants.

Designed by digital marketing agency MadeWith, the new site has been influenced by user feedback to offer an independent one-stop shop for skiers with more interactive features and online guides to more than 50 of the world’s finest ski resorts.

In addition to the existing news and advice, new features on the site include a ‘trip planner’ section – with interactive maps, the MadDogSki master packing checklist, links to ski insurance, special offers, top ski tips and a handy resort comparison feature letting users choose up to five resorts to review side by side

Resort guides – independent reviews of more than 50 resorts, with detailed guides to travelling, where to stay, things to do, food and drink and useful tips on every page
Mad Dog Club – sign up to a regular newsletter with offers, deals and news

Flight planner – users can select their local airport to generate a list of destination airports coupled with the closest ski resorts to that airport

Snowpedia – users can read articles, kit reviews, get up-to-scratch with ski jargon and add their own comments or entries

Commenting on the new website, Kate Whittaker, founder of MadDogSki said “Over the past few months, we have developed the site adding loads of news content and tools to help our site visitors plan their best ski trip ever. Working with MadeWith, we have worked to combine our knowledge and expertise with their know-how and capability to present the information effectively and efficiently. This is a website whose main focus is helping people have better ski holidays”

The world’s largest ski resort operator, the French-based Compagnie des Alpes (CdA) has moved to sell its shares in SwissAlp, a wholly-owned Swiss subsidiary of the company.

CDA, concluded a memorandum of understanding on October 21, 2009, with a group of buyers headed by the municipality of Saas Fee. The buyers include the municipality, local business leaders, and an individual investor, Edmund Offermann.

This memorandum of understanding covers the sale for 10.4 million Euros of the entire SwissAlp SA stake (41.6%) in Saas Fee Bergbahnen (SFB), the operating entity of the Saas Fee ski area.

CDA became a shareholder of SFB in 2001, and raised its stake from 35% to 41.6% (2007). However CDA recently sold its shares in another Swiss resort, Verbier, in July, while acquiring more French resorts, with Les 2 Alpes the latest it intends to acquire.

The sales of its Saas Fee shares will result in a net gain of 1.5 million Euros for CDA for the 2009-2010 financial year and will lower CDA debt by 35 million Euros.

The 2009-10 skiing season began in Kitzbühel on 24 October – earlier than ever before. The low temperatures combined with ultra-modern snow-making facilities and almost a metre of new snow mean that skiing is already possible in Kitzbühel ,two months before Christmas.

It’s the second year in a row the 80 year old ski area has broken it’s earliest-opening record, opening two months earlier than usual.

The heavy snow fills skiers with enthusiasm and forms a good basis for this season. Although the geographical location of the Kitzbüheler Alpen means that snowfall is very heavy here every winter, skiing in October is nevertheless a first in the 80-year history of the Kitzbühel cable cars.

From 24 October, Kitzbühel ski resort will be open at weekends and from 28 November, it will be open daily. All 7 of the ski resorts in the Kitzbüheler Alpen have received plenty of fresh snowfall already and are ideally equipped for the coming winter.
Kitzbuhel is often referred to as a ski area likely to suffer from global warming but it has produced figures showing snowfall averages have not declined and it keeps opening earlier each winter season.