  Snowboarding and skiing in Slovenia, a small but perfectly formed nation, is normally overshadowed by more famous ski locations, but Dave Horlock discovers a land of friendly locals, vibrant nightlife and most importantly great snowboarding... |
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  Team SnowSphere survives monkeys and machine guns in Gulmarg, Kashmir to bring this list of top tips to anyone considering venturing out to the Indian Himalayas to ski or snowboard... |
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  In an age of global warming and vicious competition from the large superpower ski resorts, many small ski areas are struggling to stay in business. But that didn't stop David Wilkie from achieving his big white dream; keen for a piece of the ski industry, the English entrepreneur bought a mountain in Slovakia and built Košútka - his very own ski resort. This is his story... |
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  Of all the jobs in the snowboarding industry, being the editor of the UK's two biggest and best snowboarding magazines surely ranks pretty high up on the list. We speak to Mark McGettigan, editor of Snowboard UK, and Ed Blomfield, editor of White Lines, to find out if spreading snowboarding propaganda to the nation's shredders truly is a dream job... |
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  SnowSphere heads to Barèges in the Domaine Tourmalet of the Pyrenees on a Snow Stag Do extravaganza to find a serious lack of snow, but plenty of bière in Le Big Ben... |
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  SnowSphere heads back over to Hokkaido in the land of sumo and sushi for the second installment of The Japan Diaries; the season kicks off on a landing strip of snow at Onze ski area... |
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  Continuing our Secret Steeps series, Dave Scoppa looks at Canada's Red Mountain - founded in the days of the gold rush - the mountain now draws plenty who are looking for white treasure that falls from the sky and creates some of the best ski terrain in Canada... |
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   Something is stirring in the East. Whispered tales of exotic mountains, deserted slopes, untouched nature and undeveloped ski resorts are drifting on the wind. We speak to James Kellow of BoardnLodge.com about their new ski safari tour that offers snowboarders a taste of Eastern promise in Bosnia, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro… |
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 Japan remains one of the most intriguing and life changing destinations for the Western skier or snowboarder. Four years ago, Ben Strivens quit his job and travelled to Hokkaido, Japan to see if the rumours about snow storms that buried houses were true. He never returned home. This is his story... |
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  Forget the French Alps, the Canadian Rockies or even the Scottish Highlands. Unbeknown to most in the ski world, England has a number of ski areas with real snow, real lifts and real pistes. SnowSphere takes a look at the secret ski area of Yad Moss in England's Pennine mountains... |
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 Snowboarding has a famously steep learning curve; it's possible to be linking turns within just a few hours. But this doesn't mean you should ditch the lessons too soon. With a plenty of terrible technique on the slopes, Pete Campbell says many snowboarders should go back to school... |
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 In the third and final part of our Season Blog Series, Ian Felher tells us why despite having a good winter's worth of snowboarding in Morzine France, he won't be returning next season... |
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 The skier turned snowboarder who "never looked back" is a familiar story, but SnowSphere sub editor Jon Mitchell pulls a 180, ditches his Italian "Bastard" board, picks up some poles and heads to the hills to make some parallel turns… |
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  Espresso, gelato, pasta, pizza, panini, prosciutto, foccacia, cappuccino, tiramisu…is your mouth watering yet? Maybe it's time you took a vacanza to Italia and head to the Alps for some snow sports? Dave Scoppa reveals the Italian secret of Prato Nevoso... |
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 Does rolling around on a board with wheels serve to ease the loss of snow underneath your feet, or is it simply a tease during the dry months? Are these two board sports serving different purposes, meaning skateboarding really is no substitute for sliding on snow? |
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  Largely overlooked by Western skiers and snowboarders, the mountains of the Middle East hold plenty of exotic allure for the snow traveller. Mitch Malli hits the ski slopes of "axis of evil" Iran, to find plenty of powder, snowboarding equipment from the 1980s, and a very eager Sun Burnt salesman... |
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 Doo-rag or not doo-rag? That is not the question, but with gansta skiers and fluoro snowboarders on the slopes, has the world of winter sports fashion pulled a backside 180 as snowboarders and skiers swap clothes? |
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  Kicking Horse is one of the newest ski resorts in North America. Famed for off piste powder and an "experts only" attitude, Tom Wilson-North takes a look at this wild stallion, to see if it lives up to the hype… |
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 Like sand, Australians seem to have a habit of getting everywhere. Aussie native Dave Scoppa explores the pros and cons of meeting his fellow countrymen in ski resorts across the world… |
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  There's something quite surreal about being able to view the Mediterranean Sea and the mountains of North Africa whilst strapping on your snowboard. Rob Gray, based in the southern Spanish mountain range of the Sierra Nevada gives a round up of the 2006/07 season... |
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 Matt Barr, Chris Moran and Ewan Wallace have laid lines on mountains that few people will ever lay eyes on. Iran, Lebanon, Greenland, Uzbekistan and Russia are just some of the far flung snowboard destinations they've sampled snow in. We met up with these intrepid snowboard journalists to see if travelling the world to snowboard in exotic ski resorts and then writing about it was officially the best job in the world... |
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 After a long season of working in a ski resort and putting up with the tourists, there is only one thing to do - become a tourist yourself. Dave Scoppa heads deep into British Columbia with a board, beers and some basslines on a snowboarding road trip into interior Canada... |
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  SnowSphere heads north to Scandinavia, to explore inner city snowboarding on Stockholm's slopes of Hammarby Backen, one of Sweden's urban ski areas… |
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 What's it like to give up your country, the lifestyle you love and a dream job in Whistler, one of the most desired locations in the snow sports world, for the love of a woman? Fran Hardy pays tribute to her Canadian Alien... |
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 Part 2 of our season blog series, Ian Fehler reports on the highs and lows of a winter season in Morzine, France... |
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  SnowSphere braves blizzards in the Highlands to get its first taste of snowboarding in Glenshee Scotland, in a search for Scottish powder which results in donating plenty of p-tex to the gods of the Cairngorms... |
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  Bansko, Bulgaria has been hailed as the next big thing when it comes to skiing and snowboarding. The winter sports media has shouted loud about the large ski area, the extensive freeride possibilities and the low prices that undercut anything in Western Europe. But does snowboarding in Bansko really live up to the hype? Dave Horlock reports... |
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 Editor and founder of SnowSphere Magazine, Sam Baldwin, describes his ongoing affair with a cold hearted lover which has taken him to 9 countries across 4 continents in an ongoing search for snow... |
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 SnowSphere speaks to the legend of Chamonix, Neil McNab - former pro-rider, entrepreneur, student of the mountains and mentor to many a snowboarder... |
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 The SnowSphere crew heads east, to the rust of the iron curtain in search of Slovakian Snow in the Tatras Mountains, and ends up in Poland on a journey to the centre of the Earth… |
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 The first in a series of Season Blogs, we get the inside story of what it's really like to work a winter season. In this introductory post, Ian Fehler and his wife prove that it's not just 18 year old gap year students who can enjoy ski resort life... |
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 Do you call yourself a snowboarder? Yes? So you snowboard for a living? Or do you have all the gear and no idea? What the hell is a snowboarder anyway? SnowSphere takes a look at the reality behind the label... |
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 Whether it's whiskey from a hip flask, smoking green in the gondola, or snorting lines of white powder, snowboarders and skiers have been known to dabble whilst on the slopes. We take a look at booze and recreational drugs in snow sports and question the wisdom of their use... |
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 Want to hit the beach after boarding? Fancy some sand with your snow? Rob Gray of Beach and Board Breaks introduces a hot new concept to a cool winter holiday - Viva Espana! |
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 Ever dreamed of travelling the world to teach snowboarding or skiing for a living? Fancy a break from the nine to five, or need a change of direction? Perhaps you just want to add another string to your snow cannon? We hooked up with Rupert Taylor, founder of Nonstop Adventure to find out how... |
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  Canadian pro-skier, Chris Mansbridge pays tribute to his heroes and takes us on the final pilgrimage of his skiing career; France's famed "Cosmique Colouir"... |
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 Q: What do you do when it's so cold your balls are the size of dry roasted peanuts, yet it's still not snowing?
A: You make your own.
Gregg Blanchard of Second Nature Snow Making shows us how to get our hands on the white stuff even when Missie Nature ain't coughing up...
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 Don't Fukui with us! We're local. SnowSphere hooks up with the Mixture Crew, a posse of Japanese skiers, snowboarders and skaters to discuss global warming, tree spirits and the world's longest rail... |
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 From Chamonix to Zermatt with over 5500m of ascent, crossing 17 glaciers and 10 cols, the Haute Route takes you through some of the most remote, untouched scenery in The Alps and is a snowboard-mountaineering must... |
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  Want poppadoms with your powder? SnowSphere speaks to Peter Robinson, founder of Ski Himalaya, about his new ski operation in the Kashmir Region of the Indian Himalayas... |
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  Living the Olympic odyssey in Torino Italy, Nat Lencioni indulges the Alpine lifestyle and basks in the glory of team USA...
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  Can Borat bust a backside 3? We don't know. But we can tell you that Kazakhstan makes one interesting place to ride as we go powder hunting in the Tien Shan mountains... |
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  In 2002 the Iceland Park Project was launched. Thanks to its 24 hour daylight, unusual location and pioneering nature, it grabbed the attention of snow media worldwide, boasting the most press coverage of any summer camp, ever. We spoke to Rob Wyke, one of the founding IPP trio, about how it came to be...
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  You’ve packed your bags and you’re off to live the dream of spending a whole winter season on the slopes. Endless powder runs, perfect parks and partying till the sun comes up. You arrive at your new mountainous home, land a job, bag a free season pass and eagerly await the snow. But what if the snow doesn’t show...? |
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 Heli-dropping for charity; a blind beginner boarder aims high... |
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  Skiing the local delicacy in Switzlerland's neutral powder zone. Verbier backcountry at its best... |
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  Snowboarder and entrepeneur Rich Crow speaks about chasing the dream in the French Alps. It's lights, camera, action... |
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 A ten day ski touring adventure, camping deep within Canada's Coast Mountains, Mo Rasiah battles blizzards and basecamp boredom in his epic backcountry journey... |
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 Snowy moonscapes, deep fjords, vast glaciers and a whole lot of untracked powder. Why did Bjork ever leave? |
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  Part 1 in a series of British snow stories, we head to the Highlands and find there’s great Scottish skiing out there if you know where to look... |
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  Part 1 of an epic journey across the South American Andes. Mission: to leave lines on as many mountains as possible... |
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  We speak to the man behind the Chinese freestyle snowboarding scene about the sweet & sour slopes of the Red Kingdom. |
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 It’s been a long fought battle, but have we finally reached peace on piste? |
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Features 
SnowSphere heads north on a mission to snowboard Norway, an oil rich nation of Vikings and trolls, glaciers and fjords, whale hunters and polar explorers... 
Vince Shuley takes a look at the skiing in Las Lenas Argentina to find lots of steeps, deeps and beef. 
It's been deemed Ibiza on Ice, and is known for its monumental, if not a little cheesy, après ski nightlife, but with Pas de la Casa now linked up to the entire Grandvalira region, is skiing and snowboarding in the Andorran Pyrennean principality now a match for its more upmarket Alpine cousins? 
Snowboarding in Gulmarg, Kashmir, was a ski trip unlike any the SnowSphere team had ever been on before. With monkeys, machine guns, soldiers and sandbags, plus plenty of powder terrain and nobody to share it with made this journey an all time favourite with the crew... 
