Cross country skiing - links and information from www.crosscountryski.co.uk

Welcome. You can find a lot of cross country (nordic / langlauf) skiing sites if you search the web, and there is a lot of useful information scattered about within them. But many of the sites are concerned with skiing in North America. This site is intended for people who want to ski in Europe. It is more for track and trail skiers than for ski mountaineers, although any skier - including alpine skiers - may find the links useful.

We have tried to bring together in one place the links to information that we have found, been told about, and used over the past few years. There are links to skiing equipment, outdoor clothing, snow conditions, weather forecasts, skiing organisations, ski clubs; also links to piste maps, holiday companies, books and videos about skiing, travel insurance - all sorts of things. It is now usually possible to see what the snow is like on the web cam for your resort - even for cross-country skiers.

There are some links to other sites that offer overviews and ratings of resorts: I suggest that if you use these, do so carefully and compare one with another: any site that gives Seefeld and Tignes equal star ratings for XC skiing does not know what it is talking about! I have also added a copy of my skiing packing list - this is what I take for a hotel based cross country skiing holiday, not what you need ! But it may be helpful to you as a basis for your own list. There are also some images from recent holidays - see links above.

The Snow Centre is the first real snow indoor ski slope within the London area. Situated in Hemel Hempstead, the centre has two slopes of real snow which are refreshed using the latest high tech snow cannons. The centre offers a full teaching programme for skiing, snowboarding using BASI qualified instructors and hosts cross-country training sessions on weekends. Special freestyle snowboard nights are also held on a regular basis, where a range of rails, kickers and tubes are added to the slopes.

Travel insurance. Around 20% of people make use of their travel insurance in some way. For the right Ski Insurance for your travels, look to Direct Travel insurance for a deal to suit you. Or check out One Stop Travel Insurance.

If you want to suggest additional links or advertise please contact us (and many thanks to those who have already done so). We are happy for others to link to this site: please let us know, and we will do the same for you if you wish. It may help get you traffic to your site, as the site has had 170,000 hits in the last 12 months; popular searches are ski weather, nordic skiing, langlauf clothing, cross country skiing in Europe, and Waymark skiing. Email alan.thorntonATphysics.org (replacing AT with @).

Each year there seem to be fewer cross country holidays in the brochures. Headwater and Ramblers offer some guided holidays. Waymark Holidays has been integrated with Exodus, and some cross country ski holidays now appear in the Exodus brochure. Holidays badged as Waymark tend to have a leader for the full 6 days, and don't include a rest day, but that seems to be being eroded. inntravel offer a choice of unguided holidays. Have a look at Travel Horizons for good deals on holidays. Also, consider booking a downhill holiday for the travel and hotel, then go cross-country skiing - it has worked well for us in Seefeld, going with Crystal Ski Holidays. Also check out PV_Holidays. One company, Vitalise Holidays provides subsidised opportunities for experienced skiers to guide visually impaired skiers.

Past Waymark holiday clients may be interested in a history of Waymark compiled by a long time leader, Colin Saunders: Waymark History.

Walking. Many people who go cross country skiing also enjoy walking and other active holidays. Here are some images from a Ramblers trip to La Palma 2009, from a Headwater trip to Andalucia 2010, and an InnTravel trip to the Engadine in Switzerland in 2010. Our local guide for that trip, Ernst Vogel, was excellent.

We hope you find the site useful.

Happy skiing...and walking..............Alan Thornton