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.

One of the best snowboarders to have come from the UK, Scott caught the boarding bug when he was just 12. With character and bags of natural talent the sponsors (namely Red Bull and Oakley) came calling and Scott has spent much of the last decade getting extensive coverage in the UK and global snowboarding press, as well as featuring in a host of breathtaking movies.

So, here’s what Scott thinks about Avoriaz:

“Part of the Portes du Soleil, Avoriaz offers some of the best riding in Europe. It boasts 2 terrain parks and has some epic off piste areas, which allow you to get away from the crowds. I did my first season there about 7 years ago and I’ve uncovered pretty much every area there is. Compared to a  lot of places in Europe, Avoriaz still comes out on top. Just over an hour’s drive from Geneva you can be having breakfast in the UK and carving the slopes by lunch time. I’ll usually start the day with a few warm up laps down “Starwars”. This is an epic run and if you ever bump into someone who’s ridden here they’ll know exactly where I’m talking about.”

For more info on Avoriaz and the rest of Portes du Soleil including a piste guide and piste maps, check out Snowfinder Portes du Soleil.

James started snowboarding over 20 years ago and was recently voted the UK’s 4th best snowboarder ever. He began his career perfecting tricks in the snow park, and then developed into a pure backcountry boarder. He’s done over 10 seasons based in Chamonix and last season won 3rd place in the highly coveted World Freeride Tour event held there. His knowledge of the slopes in and around Chamonix is second to none.

Here’s what James think of Chamonix:

“Chamonix is situated in one of the most unique valley’s in the world. It never fails to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as I drive up the valley at the start of the season and Mont Blanc comes into view, followed by the jagged peaks surrounding the Aiguille du Midi that dominate this long deep valley.

Chamonix is a traditional mountain town steeped in mountaineering and skiing tradition, winter after winter attracting mounatineers, skiers and snowboarders from all over the world looking to prove and challenge themselves. The valley has probably got the bext lift accessible terrain in the world, from the mind boggling Aiguille du Midi lift that puts you at the foot of Mont Blanc to the famous slopes of the Grand Montets.”

For more info, including James’s favourire runs and apres ski spots in resort, check out Snowfinder Chamonix.

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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.

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