Snow Biking, Ice Hiking & Dog Sledding in the Canadian Rockies
1. April 2008 by Tridad.
by Karen Schaler/ABC NEWS
Bored with the usual skiing, snowboarding, skating and snowmobiling?
One of Mother Nature’s most impressive winter playgrounds — and home to a new lineup of winter extreme sports — is hitting peak season.
The best time to explore the snowy, ice-cube cold Canadian Rockies is between March and May, when the weather’s not so brutal.
As ski season wraps up farther south, Banff and Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada, rev up for some challenging offbeat winter adventures: snow biking, dog sledding and ice hiking.
Snow Biking: Tour de Snow
For those who have already mastered skiing and snowboarding and are searching for the next adrenalin rush, this is it. It’s daring but the beauty is, even if you’re not the most coordinated person in the world, no problem; you can easily scoot down the hill at your own pace. Once you figure out the balance issue, snow biking can be exhilarating. On the flip side (no pun intended), daredevils and BMX masters will be satisfied with snow biking’s endless possibilities.
It’s basically a combination of skiing and riding a bike. But instead of tires, your bike has skis, and you also wear special ski boots and snow blades (short skis). The bike is very light, so there’s no problem getting on and off ski lifts. Snow biking downhill is similar to skiing; you make S turns and turn sharply to stop. The trickiest part is figuring out how far forward to lean. Go too far, and you’ll fly over the handle bars into a classic “face plant.”
Snow biking is allowed at all three ski resorts in Banff National Park, but the only place you can rent the equipment is at Sunshine Village. It’s about $60 a day, which also includes a half-hour lesson — a great way to go if this is your first time snow biking. Learn more at Ski Banff
Dog Sledding: ‘Ruff’ Riders
If your legs and ego are worn out from snow biking, try getting some love and respect from man’s best friend and sign up for a dog-sledding adventure. The tradition has been around for thousands of years, and, while there are several great sledding operations in the Banff, Lake Louise area, the only group allowed to operate inside the protected Banff National Park is Kingmik Dog Sled Tours.
read more
and don’t forget to purchase a travel/medical policy when going outside the country. Your health insurance policy will not cut it up there
Snowboarders’ bones twice as likely to break
21. January 2008 by Tridad.
Snowboarders are twice as likely to break their bones on the pistes than skiers – with ‘Foosh’ set to blame.
This article recently appeared in…
Those heading to the pistes with boards strapped to their feet are most likely to fall foul of a Fall Onto an Out-Stretched Hand, or Foosh as emergency staff dub the injury.
“Snowboarding is a relatively new sport – but now we are seeing just how hazardous it could be, with 34 per cent of snowboarders – compared to 17 per cent of skiers – likely to sustain an injury from their sport,” said Diane Jackson, spokesperson for Debenhams Travel Insurance, which has carried out the research.
Those most likely to suffer a snow boarding injury are people aged 15 to 24.
Despite the increased risk of snowboarding, many travellers are putting themselves at risk by not organising travel insurance to cover them – either falling back on standard policies or just a European health insurance card (EHIC), which only covers basic treatment costs.
“Winter sports holidaymakers shouldn’t think all they need is an EHIC card,” warned Ms Jackson.
“While it does provide free or reduced cost medical treatment, it doesn’t cover expenses such as being air-lifted off a mountain top – and that could cost thousands.”
She added: “Winter sports insurance is also essential to safeguard your holiday against piste closure, avalanches and theft of equipment – all things that can put an end to the week’s fun.”
Ski Club of Britain research shows there are 210,000 snowboarders in the UK, around a sixth of the snow sports market.