La Plagne
La Plagne is a French ski area in the alpine valley of the Tarentaise. Since 2003, La Plagne and the resort of Les Arcs form Paradiskis ski area. It is currently owned by Compagnie des Alpes, La Plagne is the most popular ski resort in the world with more than 2.5 million visitors a season on average. La Plagne lies at altitudes between 3,250 metres and 1,250 m, La Plagne has 100 km2 of ski area spread across four communes. La Plagne has 225 kilometres of slopes, and a large off piste skiing area including Bellecôtes North Face, a bobsleigh and skeleton track was built in La Plagne for the 1992 Winter Olympics held in nearby Albertville. La Plagne was created in 1961, as with many resorts in the Alps, the agriculture and mining industries were in crisis, which led to young people leaving the valley in search of work. In 1960, four towns created an association to defend their interests, with an initiative of Dr. Borrionne, on 24 December 1961, La Plagne opened, with its two drag lifts and its four slopes.
Emile Allais, great ski-champion, has helped La Plagne to grow, immediately, La Plagne generated a great deal of success, and in 1966, Guy Lux, a French TV, presented Interneiges, a live competition between two French resorts. The first of the resorts of La Plagne opened in December 1961, the name of Plagne Centre dates from 1982, before which the resort was before simply called La Plagne. Plagne Centre has an urban, but functional architecture, and was created by Michel Bezançon, called the Steamer of the snow, the main building of Aime-La Plagne was created by Michel Bezançon. In 1990, the Club Med was built, with an inspired by Tibetan temples. At the end of the 60s, this village, located in the valley of Bozel. The Vanoise National Park gave Champagny possibility to develop its summer activities, in 1969, Champagny became attached to the La Plagne resort, rather than to nearby Courchevel. Champagny is on a slope, unlike the other parts of La Plagne, meaning it gets more sunshine. Montchavin is found in the commune of Bellentre, Alpine farming community with many originaland pretty buildings.
Now there are 3 chairlifts serving the village of Montchavin, with one linking to Les Coches, a distance away. Created in 1974, this resort was in project since 1968 and it was to be called Les Ours, but it is the summit of Bellecôte which gave its name to the new resort. Michel Bezançon drew the resort like a dam to close the valley
Sestriere
Sestriere is an alpine village in Italy, a comune of the Province of Turin. It is situated in Val Susa,17 km from the French border and its name derives from Latin, ad petram sistrariam, that is at sixty Roman miles from Turin. The main mountains around Sestriere are, Monte Fraiteve 2,701 m in the north-east, Monte Sises 2,658 m, Punta Rognosa di Sestriere 3,280 m and Monte Motta 2,850 m in the south-east. Sestriere is divided several smaller hamlets, Sestriere Colle, on the pass top, Sestriere Borgata, in Val Chisone, Champlas du Col and Champlas Janvier. Formerly, the pass belonged to the municipality of Cesana, the ski resorts at Sestriere were built in the 1930s by Giovanni Agnelli and have been further developed after the Second World War by his nephew Giovanni Nasi. Sestriere is a skiing resort, during the winter holidays the population goes up to about 20,000 people. Together with the villages of Pragelato, Sauze dOulx, Cesana Torinese and San Sicario, Sestriere is connected to 146 skiable pistes, for a total of up to 400 km of trails, of which 120 are provided with artificial snow.
Sestriere has one of the few facilities where it is possible to ski at night on a floodlit run and it regularly hosts FIS Alpine Ski World Cup events, and it hosted the FIS World Championships in 1997, and the IPC World Championships in 2011. It was a venue during the 2006 Winter Olympic Games. Pragelato - the resort is part of the Via Lattea, is connected to this area by the Pattemouche-Anfiteatro cableway, Claviere - This small resort is just over the border in Italy and is included in the Monts de la lune lift pass. It is where the Olympic cross country ski teams practised for the Olympics in 2006, San Sicario - The biathlon and Alpine skiing events were held there in the 2006 Winter Olympic Games. They held the bobsleigh and luge events here, one can attempt the Olympic womens super G and downhill courses. Sauze dOulx - Free Style Skiing Olympic events held here in 2006, the resort is acclaimed for its lively après-ski. Serre Chevalier - Nearby French resort with over 250 km of skiing, there is a free day of skiing here on your lift pass.
Montgenèvre - Nearby French resort with over 85 km of pistes, montgenevres ski area has 8 green runs,12 blue,22 red and 10 black slopes and is linked to the Via Lattea ski area. There is a day of skiing here on your lift pass. In the summertime it is possible to play golf on Europes highest 18-hole course and it is a starting and arrival point in the Tour de France and the Giro dItalia. Due to its location across two valleys, Sestriere is close to several hiking paths, Sestriere organized an International Athletics Meeting from 1988 until 1995 and in 2004
Resort
A resort is a self-contained commercial establishment that endeavors to provide most of a vacationers wants, such as food, lodging, sports and shopping, on the premises. The term resort may be used for a property that provides an array of amenities, typically including entertainment. A hotel is frequently a central feature of a resort, such as the Grand Hotel at Mackinac Island, some resorts are timeshare or fractionally owned, or wholly owned condominium complexes. A resort is not always a commercial establishment operated by a single company, commonly these facilities are of higher quality than would be expected if one were to stay at a hotel or eat in a towns restaurants. Closely related to these resorts are convention and large meeting sites, generally these occur in cities where special meeting halls, together with ample accommodations as well as varied dining and entertainment, are provided. An all-inclusive resort charges a price that includes most or all items. At a minimum, most inclusive resorts include lodging, unlimited food, sports activities, all-inclusive resorts are found in the Caribbean, particularly in Dominican Republic and elsewhere.
Many offer sports and other included in the price as well. They are often located in warmer regions, the all-inclusive model originated in the Club Med resorts, which were founded by the Belgian Gérard Blitz. Some all-inclusive resorts are designed for specific vacation interests, for example, certain resorts cater to adults, while even more specialized properties accept couples only. Other all-inclusive resorts are geared toward families, with facilities like craft centers, game rooms, all-inclusive resorts are very popular locations for destination weddings. A spa resort is a short term residential/lodging facility with the purpose of providing individual services for spa-goers to develop healthy habits. Historically many such spas were developed at the location of natural hot springs or sources of mineral waters, golf resorts are resorts that cater specifically to the sport of golf, and include access to one or more golf course and or clubhouse. Golf resorts typically provide golf packages that provide visitors with all greens and cart fees, range balls, accommodations, in North America a ski resort is generally a destination resort in a ski area.
Ski resort is less likely to refer to a town or village, a megaresort is a type of destination resort which is of an exceptionally large size, such as those along the Las Vegas Strip. In Singapore integrated resort is a euphemism for a destination resort. A holiday village is a type of self-contained resort in Europe, a holiday camp in the United Kingdom refers to a resort where the accommodation is in chalets. The term holiday park is used for a resort where the accommodation includes static caravans, there are 1500+ timeshare resorts in the U. S. that are operated by major hospitality, timeshare-specific, or independent companies
Surface lift
A surface lift is a means of cable transport and is a transportation system used to transport skiers and snowboarders where riders remain on the ground as they are pulled uphill. Once prevalent, they have gradually been overtaken in popularity by higher capacity aerial lifts like chairlifts, surface lifts are most often found on beginner slopes and very small ski areas. Surface lifts have many disadvantages compared to aerial lifts, they require more passenger skills, surface must be continuous, they impede skiable terrain, slow speed, with the increase in snowboarding, surface lifts are replaced by chairlifts. They are often utilized at glacier skiing resorts because their supports can be anchored in glacier ice due to the lower forces, the first surface lift was built in 1908 by German Robert Winterhalder in Schollach/Eisenbach, Hochschwarzwald. A steam-powered toboggan tow,950 feet in length, was built in Truckee, the first skier-specific tow in North America was apparently installed in 1933 by Alec Foster at Shawbridge in the Laurentians outside Montreal, Quebec.
The Shawbridge tow was quickly copied at Woodstock, Vermont in New England in 1934 by Bob and Betty Royce and their tow was driven by the rear wheel of a Ford Model A. Their relative simplicity made tows widespread and contributed to an explosion of the sport in the United States, before tows, only people willing to walk uphill could ski. Suddenly relatively unathletic people could participate, greatly increasing the appeal of the sport, within five years, more than 100 tow ropes were operating in North America. A rope tow consists of a cable or rope running through a bullwheel at the bottom and one at the top, in the simplest case, passengers grab hold of the rope and are pulled along while standing on their skis or snowboards and sliding up the hill. The grade of this style of rope tow is limited by passenger grip strength, metal handles can be attached to the rope to help grip. Steeper and longer rope tows require the use of a nutcracker, the rider wears a harness around the hips. To this is attached a clamp, much like the nutcracker from which it derives its name and this eliminates the need to hold on and allows the rope to be supported at waist height by pulleys.
This ssystem was used on many fields worldwide from the 1940s, a T-bar or J-bar lift is employed for low-capacity slopes in large resorts and small local areas. It consists of a cable loop running over a series of wheels. Hanging from the rope are a series of vertical recoiling cables, the horizontal bar is placed behind the skiers buttocks or between the snowboarders legs, and pushes the passengers uphill while they slide across the ground. The first T-bar lift in the United States was installed in 1940 at the Pico Mountain ski area and it was considered a great improvement over the rope tow. An earlier, potentially home-grown, T-bar was installed at Rib Mountain, Wisconsin, in 1937, invented in the 1930s, J-Bars were installed in the 1930s in North America and Australia, with the Ski Hoist at Charlotte Pass in Australia dating from 1938. J-bars have been superseded by T-bars which have twice the capacity, a J-bar closely resembles a T-bar, except that each carrier holds only one passenger
Antarctica
It contains the geographic South Pole and is situated in the Antarctic region of the Southern Hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At 14,000,000 square kilometres, it is the fifth-largest continent, for comparison, Antarctica is nearly twice the size of Australia. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice that averages 1.9 km in thickness, Antarctica, on average, is the coldest and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the continents. Antarctica is a desert, with precipitation of only 200 mm along the coast. The temperature in Antarctica has reached −89.2 °C, though the average for the quarter is −63 °C. Anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 people reside throughout the year at the research stations scattered across the continent. Organisms native to Antarctica include many types of algae, fungi, protista, where it occurs, is tundra. The continent, remained neglected for the rest of the 19th century because of its hostile environment, lack of easily accessible resources.
In 1895, the first confirmed landing was conducted by a team of Norwegians, Antarctica is a de facto condominium, governed by parties to the Antarctic Treaty System that have consulting status. Twelve countries signed the Antarctic Treaty in 1959, and thirty-eight have signed it since then, the treaty prohibits military activities and mineral mining, prohibits nuclear explosions and nuclear waste disposal, supports scientific research, and protects the continents ecozone. Ongoing experiments are conducted by more than 4,000 scientists from many nations, the name Antarctica is the romanised version of the Greek compound word ἀνταρκτική, feminine of ἀνταρκτικός, meaning opposite to the Arctic, opposite to the north. Aristotle wrote in his book Meteorology about an Antarctic region in c.350 B. C, marinus of Tyre reportedly used the name in his unpreserved world map from the 2nd century A. D. Before acquiring its present geographical connotations, the term was used for locations that could be defined as opposite to the north.
For example, the short-lived French colony established in Brazil in the 16th century was called France Antarctique, the first formal use of the name Antarctica as a continental name in the 1890s is attributed to the Scottish cartographer John George Bartholomew. Antarctica has no population and there is no evidence that it was seen by humans until the 19th century. Explorer Matthew Flinders, in particular, has credited with popularising the transfer of the name Terra Australis to Australia. Cook came within about 120 km of the Antarctic coast before retreating in the face of ice in January 1773. The first confirmed sighting of Antarctica can be narrowed down to the crews of ships captained by three individuals, according to various organisations, ships captained by three men sighted Antarctica or its ice shelf in 1820, von Bellingshausen, Edward Bransfield, and Nathaniel Palmer
Courchevel
Courchevel is a French Alps ski resort. It is a part of Les Trois Vallées, the largest linked ski areas in the world, Courchevel refers to the towns of Courchevel 1300, Courchevel 1550, Courchevel 1650, and Courchevel 1850, which are named for their altitudes in metres. They are situated in the commune of Saint-Bon-Tarentaise, the resort centre of Courchevel is at 1,747 metres. The somewhat misleading name Courchevel 1850 was chosen for marketing reasons to compete with arch rival Val dIsère and it is the Jardin Alpin area of Courchevel 1850 which is actually located at 1,850 metres. Courchevel is in the commune of Saint-Bon-Tarentaise in the Tarentaise Valley, the original resort was planned during World War II with a study in 1942 by the Vichy regime and in a doctorate by the town planner Laurent Chappis. Chappis was a choice to direct the development of the resort in the immediate post war years. Courchevel 1850 was significant, as it was the first resort in France to be constructed from scratch, within the Tarentaise Valley you find the biggest concentration of world-class ski resorts in the world.
Most well known neighbour systems are Paradiski and Espace Killy, a weekly lift ticket in Courchevel/Les Trois Vallées gives you a choice to ski one day in each of the other two systems mentioned. There were once plans to all systems and resorts to create the - by far - largest ski area in the world. However that vision was ended with the creation of the Vanoise National Park, the Courchevel valley includes the town of La Tania, built as competitors accommodation for the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville. Le Praz hosted the Olympic ski jumping and Nordic combined competitions for those games took place at Tremplin du Praz in Le Praz, there was a ski Jump in Courchevel 1850 on the snowfront however it was removed recently due to safety precautions. Courchevel is the most eastern resort of the Three Valleys, the biggest connected ski area in the world and it is renowned for its excellent lift system which is virtually queue free, even at the busiest of times. In the 2011-2012 season Courchevel rebranded, changing the names of each of the four villages in an away from the association with altitude.
Courchevel has 11 luxury hotels with a 5-star ranking, in 2011 France introduced a very prestigious 6th star ranking for hotels, named palaces. The palace 6th star ranking is awarded to the most prestigious, exclusive. No more than eight hotels in France have received this rating, two of those eight hotels are in Courchevel tree-lined Jardin Alpin area. No other ski resorts in France have hotels with the palace ranking, Courchevel is known for its fine dining. Its the ski resort with the most Michelin starred restaurants, a total of seven restaurants share 11 Michelin stars, including four restaurants that have been awarded two Michelin stars, including Le Chabichou
Breckenridge Ski Resort
Breckenridge Ski Resort is an alpine ski resort in the western United States, in Breckenridge, Colorado. Just west of the Continental Divide in Summit County, it is one of the most visited ski resorts in the western hemisphere. Breckenridge is owned and operated by one of the leading ski resort operators, Vail Resorts, Inc. which operates other ski resorts in Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota. The mountain first opened on December 16,1961, consisting of trails on Peak 8 serviced currently by the Colorado SuperChair, the main lift was a double chairlift, Lift 1, which had a midway unloading station. Lift 1 ran from the area up to a point slightly west of the top of the current Colorado SuperChair. This small butte overlooks the Rocky Mountain SuperChair and is accessible by hiking from the Vista Haus along a dirt road in the summer. A year later, a chairlift was installed up the double-black trail Mach One. The lift, numbered Lift 3, ran from near the present-day Peak 8 SuperConnects midway load station up to near the top of Lift 5, in 1965, Lift 1 was supplemented by Lift 2, constructed to serve the south part of Peak 8.
A base lodge was opened on Peak 8, but it was destroyed in an explosion shortly after completion. Breckenridge expanded into high alpine terrain with the construction of a lift from near the top of Lift 2 to near the top of the current Lift 6 in 1967. In 1970, Breckenridge was purchased by the Aspen Skiing Company, from 1970 to 1978, the resort expanded onto Peak 9, opening four Riblet double chairlifts and one triple chairlift. Lift A serviced beginner terrain, while Lift C services trails on the part of the main Peak 9 face. Lift D ran from near the bottom of the Beaver Run SuperChair to near the top of the EpicMix course on Sundown, Lift B ran alongside Cashier, running from the top of the original Quicksilver SuperChair and offloading at the top of the Mercury SuperChair. In 1979, Lift 6 replaced the Peak 8 platter lift, in 1979, an Alpine slide was constructed on Peak 8 under Lift 5. The slide is composed of three fiberglass tubes - Lanes A, B, and C, a and B are for slower and inexperienced riders and run parallel to each other.
Breckenridge and other ski resorts faced a drought in the winter of 1980-1981. In 1981, Breckenridge installed the worlds first high speed quad chairlift. The lift was constructed by Doppelmayr, in 1983, Riblet constructed Lift E, a double chairlift servicing the north-facing chutes on Peak 9
Val Gardena
Gherdëina is a valley in Northern Italy, in the Dolomites of South Tyrol. It is best known as a skiing, rock climbing, the valleys main river is the Derjon. The three municipalities in Gherdëina are Urtijëi, Sëlva, and Santa Cristina, they were served by the Fërata de Gherdëina from 1916 until 1960, Gherdëina is one of five valleys with a majority of Ladin speakers. The form of the Ladin language spoken in this valley is called Gardenese in Italian, Grödnerisch in German, the woodcarving industry has flourished in Gherdëina since the 17th century. Since the 19th century and altars carved in the area have been shipped to Catholic churches throughout the world, in the 18th century, besides religious statuettes, the production of woodcarved figurines of genre art was widespread in the valley. Among them statuettes of beggars generally in pairs, four seasons, in the 19th and 20th century, carving of wooden toys was such a widespread occupation in all Gardenese families that Amelia Edwards called Urtijëi the capital of Toyland.
One of the valleys best-known products is the peg wooden doll which was all over Europe. In one of her many trips Margaret Warner Morley went to Europe to Gherdëina where she was inspired to write the novel Donkey John of the toy valley, the Parish Church of Urtijëi displays a rich collection of statues carved by local artists in the last two centuries. The Museum Gherdëina in Urtijëi owns a collection of historical wooden toys. The valley hosted the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in 1970, Gherdëina is home to the Saslong Classic, a mens World Cup downhill race that has been held almost every year since 1969. Since 2002, the downhill has been paired with a super G race, the Saslong course is considered one of the five classic mens downhill races, along with Garmisch-Partenkirchens Kandahar, Kitzbühels Hahnenkamm, Wengens Lauberhorn, and Val dIseres Criterium. It is well known for the Camel Humps, a series of three small jumps which racers must negotiate in quick succession, two men have managed to win the Saslong title four times in a career, Austrian Franz Klammer and Italys Kristian Ghedina.
If super G wins are included, two men have matched that feat, Peter Müller of Switzerland and Austrian Michael Walchhofer. A womens slalom and parallel slalom were held in 1975. Gherdëina is part of the Sella Ronda alpine ski touring circuit, the Gardena Spring Trophy is an annual international figure skating competition held every spring in the Valley. Gherdëina has a Serie A ice hockey team, the HC Gherdëina, carolina Kostner is a figure skater and cousin of Isolde Kostner, the ski-champion. Giorgio Moroder record producer, performer and DJ Woodcarved beggars Amelia Edwards, a midsummer ramble in the Dolomites. Donkey John of the toy valley
Slovakia
Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Slovakias territory spans about 49,000 square kilometres and is mostly mountainous. The population is over 5 million and comprises mostly ethnic Slovaks, the capital and largest city is Bratislava. The Slavs arrived in the territory of present-day Slovakia in the 5th and 6th centuries, in the 7th century, they played a significant role in the creation of Samos Empire and in the 9th century established the Principality of Nitra. In the 10th century, the territory was integrated into the Kingdom of Hungary, which became part of the Habsburg Empire. After World War I and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a separate Slovak Republic existed in World War II as a client state of Nazi Germany. In 1945, Czechoslovakia was reëstablished under Communist rule as a Soviet satellite, in 1989 the Velvet Revolution ended authoritarian Communist rule in Czechoslovakia.
Slovakia became an independent state on 1 January 1993 after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The country maintains a combination of economy with universal health care. The country joined the European Union in 2004 and the Eurozone on 1 January 2009, Slovakia is a member of the Schengen Area, NATO, the United Nations, the OECD, the WTO, CERN, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group. The Slovak economy is one of the fastest growing economies in Europe and its legal tender, the Euro, is the worlds 2nd most traded currency. Although regional income inequality is high, 90% of citizens own their homes, in 2016, Slovak citizens had visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 165 countries and territories, ranking the Slovak passport 11th in the world. Slovakia is the world’s biggest per-capita car producer with a total of 1,040,000 cars manufactured in the country in 2016 alone, the car industry represents 43 percent of Slovakia’s industrial output, and a quarter of its exports. Radiocarbon datingputs the oldest surviving archaeological artefacts from Slovakia – found near Nové Mesto nad Váhom – at 270,000 BC and these ancient tools, made by the Clactonian technique, bear witness to the ancient habitation of Slovakia.
Other stone tools from the Middle Paleolithic era come from the Prévôt cave near Bojnice, the most important discovery from that era is a Neanderthal cranium, discovered near Gánovce, a village in northern Slovakia. The most well-known finds include the oldest female statue made of mammoth-bone, the statue was found in the 1940s in Moravany nad Váhom near Piešťany. Numerous necklaces made of shells from Cypraca thermophile gastropods of the Tertiary period have come from the sites of Zákovská, Podkovice and these findings provide the most ancient evidence of commercial exchanges carried out between the Mediterranean and Central Europe. The Bronze Age in the territory of modern-day Slovakia went through three stages of development, stretching from 2000 to 800 BC
Norway
The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom. Norway lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land, until 1814, the kingdom included the Faroe Islands and Iceland. It included Isle of Man until 1266, Shetland and Orkney until 1468, Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres and a population of 5,258,317. The country shares a long border with Sweden. Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea. King Harald V of the Dano-German House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway, erna Solberg became Prime Minister in 2013, replacing Jens Stoltenberg. A constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the Parliament, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court, as determined by the 1814 Constitution, the kingdom is established as a merger of several petty kingdoms. By the traditional count from the year 872, the kingdom has existed continuously for 1,144 years, Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels and municipalities.
The Sámi people have an amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament. Norway maintains close ties with the European Union and the United States, the country maintains a combination of market economy and a Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system. Norway has extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, lumber, the petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the countrys gross domestic product. On a per-capita basis, Norway is the worlds largest producer of oil, the country has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world on the World Bank and IMF lists. On the CIAs GDP per capita list which includes territories and some regions, from 2001 to 2006, and again from 2009 to 2017, Norway had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the world. It has the highest inequality-adjusted ranking, Norway ranks first on the World Happiness Report, the OECD Better Life Index, the Index of Public Integrity and the Democracy Index.
Norway has two names, Noreg in Nynorsk and Norge in Bokmål. The name Norway comes from the Old English word Norðrveg mentioned in 880, meaning way or way leading to the north. In contrasting with suðrvegar southern way for Germany, and austrvegr eastern way for the Baltic, the Anglo-Saxon of Britain referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land. This was the area of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, and because of him
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