Still only 18 years old, James “Woodsy” Woods has quickly become recognised as a rare British ski talent. He joined Salomon Grom Camps at 13 and by 16 was already considered one of the best freestyle skiers in the UK.

After several trips round Europe with the Salomon UK team in the past couple of years, Woodsy spent last season out in Breckenridge … so who better to turn to for a round up of the resort.

“I first came to Breckenridge in December 2009 and the plan was to stay for a month before returning to Europe. However I ended up staying 3! Anyone who has ever been lucky enough to spend some time in Colorado will tell you the same, that there is just no place like it. I fell in love with the pace of life and the huge diversity of the ski areas available. Notably, the freestyle parks are some of the best in the entire world. Drawing in all the most talented major names in freestyle skiing and snowboarding, as well as hosting events such as the Winter Dew Tour (see video below), the freestyle arenas are well worth a look as well.”

For more info on Breckenridge including a piste guide and piste maps, check out Snowfinder Breckenridge, and enjoy this clip of Woodsy enjoying life out in Breck.

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Lesley grew up skiing in Aviemore and has become a double Olympian and Scotland’s best known snowboarder. A pioneer of the women’s snowboarding scene, she’s the only British snowboarder to have won a half pipe World Cup event. As well as starring in and producing her own snowboarding films, she’s also a fully qualified BASI coach and runs the annual Roxy snow camps.

Here’s what Lesley has to say about Les Arcs, part of the Paradiski ski area:

“Les Arcs was one of the first of the big ski resort developments to take place in the swinging sixties, designed for funtionality, ski-in ski-out and to open up the slopes to the masses. Well, is has certainly managed that! A total of 4 seperate villages with all the fun and apres you could ever need, Les Arcs is one of the most beautiful mountain resorts in all of France.”

For more info on Les Arcs and the rest of Paradiski including a piste guide and piste maps, check out Snowfinder Paradiski.

At eighteen, Ed Leigh did his first season in Val d’Isere and the resort captured his heart. After five seasons in the Haute Savoie, his professional career was cut short by injury. As editor of Whitelines magazine Ed visited every continent on earth in search of snow. He is now the snowboarding half of the BBC’s Ski Sunday presenting team and the voice of Olympic snowboarding commentary.

Here’s Ed’s view on Val d’Isere, after five seasons:

“I have visited a lot of resorts in a lot of countries and I still haven’t seen anything that rivals Val d’Isere’s diversity. With one of the highest tree lines in Europe it has fantastic bad weather riding, but it equals this with some fantastic high altitude big mountain riding. All this epic terrain is serviced with one of the fastest and best maintained lift systems in the world. In recent years the town’s reputation has certainly fallen from grace, from its heady days as the jewel in French skiing’s crown attracting the rich and famous, it is more of a stag do heaven these days. However, for those in the know there are lots of different areas to avoid the raucous nights, most notably the world’s most underrated resort next door, Tignes.”

For more info on Val d’Isere, including Ed’s favourite runs, piste maps and more, check out Snowfinder Espace Killy.

Zoe Gillings is Britain’s most successful Olympic snowboard cross athlete of all time. Zoe fell in love with the Portes du Soleil area at an early age and Morzine, with its mixed terrain, has always been a favourite. Ten years in the Portes du Soleil has seen Zoe compete in two Olympic Games, win world cup snowboarding competitions and regularly stand on World Cup podiums. For the last 4 years Zoe has been, and currently maintains the position of Great Britain’s highest ranked Olympic snowsports athlete.

Here’s Zoe’s take on the resort of Morzine:

“Ideally placed between Avoriaz and Les Gets, Morzine has a fantastic selection of tree lined runs where kids rarely get lost and access by road is easy. It boasts a vibrant night life and even an ice hockey rink! Though these days closely linked with Avoriaz, Morzine has kept its identity as one of the preferred resorts of the Portes du Soleil, with larger pistes and an “old town” feel bringing together excellent riding, a vast selection of restaurants and a fun night life. The only drawback with Morzine is sometimes a lack of snow, but being on the doorstep of higher resorts removes this problem and a little known gondola at Ardent takes you straight into a nice Portes du Soleil circuit where the snow is in abundance.”

For more info on Morzine and other resorts in the area check out Snowfinder Portes du Soleil, including Zoe’s favourite runs in both Morzine and Chatel. You can follow Zoe at www.zoegillings.com.

Pat Sharples is one of the leading names on the British ski scene. He started skiing at the age of 6 and by 16 had decided to leave school, and England, to work out in Courchevel. Living in Les 3 Vallees for 12 years, Pat developed a talent for freestyle mogul skiing and then hit the freeride tour in 1996. He’s competed in a number of big mountain freeride and freestyle competitions around the world and has graced a number of ski magazine from covers. Nowadays he runs the Salomon Freeski Gromcamps, works tirelessly to promote skiing around the UK and makes the occasional TV appearance!

Here’s what Pat has to say about Courchevel:

“Courchevel is one of the biggest resorts in Europe, is known for attracting the rich and famous and be the place to be seen in, but you can’t forget that it’s one of the best ski areas in the world with great off-piste, legendary couloirs and the perfect place for taking the whole family as it has something to offer everyone! The huge amount of terrain means you can go back there year after year and never get bored as there is so much to cover. The lift system in incredible and you hardly ever find yourself in lift queues. I love the atmosphere in resort, specifically 1650. You can also find untracked snow if you know where to look, even after weeks without a snow fall if you’re prepared to hike a little. I lived in Courchevel for 12 years and that included spending some summers there too. It’s my first choice of place to go, even now!”

Here’s even more info on Courchevel and the 3 Valleys ski area, including some of Pat’s favourite runs.

Quick update for everyone on our Snowfinder ski guide books for the coming winter season. As we announced a couple of weeks ago, we’re planning a total of 12 ski resort guides for the 2010/11 season covering resorts in France, Austria and the USA. Along with independent resort reviews, piste maps and handy summary descriptions of every run in resort we’ll also be including a special break down of each resort from a well known skier or snowboarder, featuring their favourite runs, apres-ski hangouts and restaurants. We’ve got Ed Leigh covering Val d’Isere, Pat Sharples on Courchevel & Meribel, Scott McMorris doing Avoriaz/Morzine, James Stentiford in Chamonix and James “Woodsy” Woods out in Breckenridge.

Snowfinder Espace Killy

For a little taster, here’s a quick comment from Ed Leigh on Val d’Isere:
“I have visited a lot of resorts in a lot of countries and I still haven’t seen anything that rivals Val d’Isere’s diversity. With one of the highest tree lines in Europe it has fantastic bad weather riding, but it equals this with some fantastic high altitude big mountain riding. All this epic terrain is serviced with one of the fastest and best maintained lift systems in the world.”

We’re also looking at the possibility of converting all our ski guide books over to an ebook format, which will means you’ll be able to access all the info on PC’s, laptops, iPads, iPhones & other smartphones.

Stay tuned here for more information on our ski guide books and for profiles on all the pro riders involved.

Seems like the 09/10 ski season has only just finished, but we’re already planning new Snowfinder ski guide books for next season. We’ll have a total of 12 Snowfinder resort guides covering all the major ski areas in France, along with a couple more in Austria and the USA. We’re also really excited to say that we’ll be getting ski resort reviews from some quality British skiers and snowboarders, including Ed Leigh, Pat Sharples, James Woods and Jamie Nicholls.

We’ll keep you updated on all the progress here, or you can sign up for our newsletter and we’ll let you know when they’re ready.

Snowfinder Portes du Soleil