Portes du Soleil, FR: More Than Just Massive

As someone who’s positioned himself as a fan of low-profile, off-the-beaten-path ski areas, I always feel a bit conflicted when visiting and writing about resorts that are big, popular, and for lack of a better descriptor “mainstream.”

Morzine
Morzine at Dusk ©Gilles Lansard

That said, a cigar isn’t always a cigar and on a handful of visits to the Alps, I’ve been to several major ski regions that are not only big, popular, and armed with completely up-to-date infrastructure, but also charming, full of local color, and with a number of worthwhile bail-out options to avoid the hordes. The Portes du Soleil in the northern Alps qualifies as one of these.

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Force Majeure: Women and Children First

SPOILER ALERT: If you’re planning to see this movie during its current run in New York City or later on premium cable — we reveal a key plot point that occurs in the first ten minutes.

Force-Majeure-Movie-Poster

Do you remember the last truly compelling dramatic film that was set at a ski resort? Neither do I. In fact, I’d have to go all the way back to the 1969 classic, Downhill Racer, starring Robert Redford and Gene Hackman, which Roger Ebert accurately summarized at the time as “the best movie ever made about sports without really being about sports at all.”

Almost a half century later, we may finally have a film set in the lift-served skiing universe that’s at the same quality level: the unsettling Swedish psychodrama “Force Majeure.”

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Hunter: Into the Home Stretch

Spring has been taking its time catching up with the calendar and the Catskills are no exception. While driving through Hunter NY last Thursday, it was hard to miss how much snow still covered many people’s yards at the end of March.

Hunter Mountain spring skiing

As we pulled into the ski area, all of the visible trails had full coverage. Racer’s Edge — which by this time of the season is often specked with dirt — was a perfectly groomed carpet of white.

Pretty much all over the mountain, Hunter has stockpiled a lot of snow (north of ten feet in many spots), which obviously bodes well for the next two weeks. While none of this is a surprise given Hunter’s reputation as a snowmaking beast, it’s still impressive to see in person.

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