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About Us
The Ultimate-Ski.com website is a the result of thousands of hours work including contributions from our team of ski journalists whose impartiality, authority and expertise is central to our endeavour - we aim to bring you the best ski resort information online anywhere and then to make it better. It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it...
David Holyoak
Publisher & Managing Director
The founder of Ultimate-Ski.com, David has a passion for all things skiing, especially St Anton am Arlberg which he has visited more often than we care to remember, always taking regular tea breaks between turns - as the picture proves! As Publisher and Managing Director David is often too busy with publishing, web and business development activities to have time to write, so better writers than him get the opportunity to do so with minimum interference. He is also a director of Diabetes.co.uk - the UK's biggest community website for people with diabetes.
Tim Colman
Director
Tim has skied since the age of 16 although, sadly, he spends more time behind a desk than on the slopes these days. His proudest ski moment was being carded to get into the bar at the top of Squaw Valley when the grey hair was already firmly established. A long term resident of Japan, Tim has skied extensively in Japan and the Far East. As the Ultimate-Ski.com webmaster (among many other things) he's the person who puts most of the site content onto the page and if you like the newsletter say thanks to Tim. Lots of people do!
Will Holyoak
News Editor
Will first 'learned' to ski the hard way, on a dry ski slope in Esher where he missed his first turn and broke a leg, but he has since had plenty more fun earning his turns mostly in Austria, America and New Zealand. Having recently been awarded a first in Politics & International Relations from the University of Manchester (we don't compromise at Ultimate-Ski.com), he now works with the Civil Service mandarins in Whitehall, but spends his free time liaising with ski resorts, reporting news and looking after our New Zealand content. Favourite ski resort? It's too soon to say, but ask him about football and only one team matters - Crewe Alex FC.
Arnie Wilson
Editorial Contributor - Switzerland
Ski Author, Editor and Editorial Contributor to Ultimate-Ski.com, Arnie spent 15 years in television before becoming the Financial Times ski correspondent in 1986. In 2001 Arnie switched to became editor of Ski & Board magazine, but still writes for the FT now and then. In 1994 he skied every day for a year - a feat that took him to 240 resorts in 13 countries around the world, and into the Guinness Book of Records. Arnie has now skied in almost 700 resorts and has no plans to hang up his skis until he has made it 1,000. His most recent mission, completed in Arizona in 2011, was to to ski in all 37 of America’s “skiing states”. Our most experienced ski writer by far, Arnie oversees our Swiss content. A true gent!
Rob Freeman
Editorial Contributor - Austria
Ski journalist, Rob Freeman has been lucky for many years that the ski trip he is always about to go on is work, not a holiday. He believes it's only fair to readers that every run on the mountain should be explored, every bar visited and every restaurant tested for quality. That's the aim anyway. A staff journalist on the UK's Daily Mail newspaper and a qualified ski instructor, Rob writes for magazines, newspapers, ski websites and Ultimate-Ski.com. Thankfully there's always another run to be checked out, he says, and always another traverse to be made to find the best snow. Rob helps oversee our Austria content.
Geoffrey Riddle
Editorial Contributor - France
Writer, photographer and skier, Geoffrey first caught the skiing bug when ushered towards a piste in Sierra Nevada aged five. Put at the top, he was amazed at how easy it was to come back down - call it youthful fearlessness. Ever since he's been searching for ways to remain in the mountains without resorting to the lengths undertaken by Arnie Wilson. His professional career has seen him tackle ski areas as far afield as Russia and Turkey. When not writing about skiing and boarding, Geoffrey covers rugby and racing for the Times, Sunday Times, Reuters and the National in Abu Dhabi. Geoffrey oversees our France content and is busy updating and extending it!
Giorgio Bisotti
Editorial Contributor - Italy
Giorgio is an ISIA qualified ski and board instructor with a life time of ski and mountaineering experience. Passionate about the mountains, in addition to climbing the north face routes up many of Italy’s highest peaks, he has also climbed mountains in South America and the Himalaya, at a time when it was a real adventure to do so! Former director of the Livigno Ski School, he now co-owns Echo Travel, a specialist tour operator, organising ski and board holidays in Italy. Giorgio’s invaluable contribution to our Aosta Valley resort reports, offers Ultimate Ski readers accurate and detailed descriptions of the ski areas – both on- and off-piste.
Ruth Lawrenson
Editorial Contributor - Italy
Ruth is co-owner of Echo Travel, a specialist Tour Operator, offering affordable tailor made ski and board holidays in the Italian mountains. Anything from a simple family holiday to an adventurous group heli-ski or ski touring excursion can be organised to suit individual requirements. An Area Manager with Crystal Holidays for many years, Ruth has in-depth knowledge and experience of Italian ski resorts and is able to offer advice on most aspects of a ski holiday! Ruth divides her time between Italy and the UK. A keen Alpine skier and Cross Country ski enthusiast, Ruth enjoys spending any free time writing about great Italian ski areas for Ultimate Ski.
David Cronheim
Editorial Contributor - USA & Canada
An attorney at the law firm of Norris McLaughlin & Marcus, P.A. specializing in business and ski-related law, David still finds time for 30+ days each year on snow. In addition to his work for Ultimate-Ski.com, he is a legal commentator for numerous ski publications including FirstTracksOnline and the Ski Channel. An East Coaster by birth, he has skied extensively throughout North America. His favorite resorts are Sugarbush in the East, Snowbird in the West, and the Arlberg in Europe. David is General Counsel and Editorial Contributor to Ultimate-Ski.com and oversees our USA & Canada content.
Vince Shuley
Editorial Contributor - Canada
Vince Shuley is a published journalist and photographer currently residing in Whistler, Canada. He has been responsible for providing resort reviews for many of our featured Canadian resorts as well as providing feature articles during the winter seasons. He has experience in both online and print media, writing and shooting for numerous Australian magazines. Vince has worked as ski instructor in the US, Canada, Australia and Chile. An avid backcountry enthusiast, Vince is constantly planning the next trip to experience more and more ski destinations and helps look after our Canada content.
Rebecca Miles
Editorial Contributor - Features
Working seasons and quickly realising she wasn't good enough to make a career as a pro skier, Rebecca got into ski journalism and has forged a fledgling career, writing and editing for a string of snowsports publications, including the Ski & Snowboard magazine, Where to Ski & Snowboard, Natives, MetroSnow.co.uk and Ultimate-Ski.com. French resorts are her first love - especially Serre Chevalier - but she has recently been discovering more of Austria (loving the prices and the après ski) and Italy (loving the food and flattering slopes). When she's not frantically typing on her laptop, she'd rather be up to her knees in powder, of course.
Eric Kendall
Editor, writer and skier
Eric has been writing about and photographing adventure sports for fifteen years. He has skied in Europe, North America, South America and New Zealand, writing about his adventures for newspapers and magazines in the UK and beyond. In summer 2007, Eric and wife Penny, relocated from London to their new home – an Auberge at 1,500m in Zinal, Valais, Switzerland which they are now busy renovating until it’s time to get back on the slopes. A recent count left him woefully short of Arnie Wilson’s resort tally, though of course he’s not nearly as old.
James Morland
Expert heli-skier and guide
James is an experienced heli skier having spent the past 10 years searching the world for the best powder. He founded Elemental Adventure, a specialist heli ski tour operator, in 2001 since which time his heli-ski adventures have taken him to the far corners of the Kamchatka peninsula, the western Caucasus, Turkey, Alaska, British Columbia, India and Greenland. James is currently training to become an ACMG (Association of Canadian Mountain Guides) Ski Guide and lives in Chamonix France. Before starting Elemental Adventure he worked as a professional ski patroller in British Columbia, a yacht skipper and manager of fishing lodges in Arctic Russia.
Kevin Wolff
Ski writer and telemark evangelist
Alpine skier until experiencing a Telemark ‘epiphany’ eight years ago and now fully committed to the pain, suffering and ecstasy of the freeheel turn. Survivor of four, full-time, winters in the Alps and when not on two planks can be found enjoying gravity on two wheels. Experienced a sizeable dose of North American, European and Antipodean ski areas and has been writing about skiing for 17 years. Recently developed an infatuation with skiing in Austria and it’s après-ski culture but now lives in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and visits London around 355 days a year.
Graham Austick
Mountain guide and expedition leader
Graham is owner and leading guide at Piste To Powder, the ski guiding company based in St Anton, Austria. Where he has been guiding off-piste in the Arlberg every winter for nearly 20 years. He also offers tuition for skiers wanting to improve their deep snow skiing skills.The rest of his year is spent mountaineeing and leading ski expeditions including first descents in Alaska, Greenland and the Himalayas. Graham now divides his time between St Anton and the Lyngen Alps in Norways Artic Circle where he has built a swish log cabin as a base for guided ski tours by boat.
Nick Parks
Mountain guide and expedition leader
Nick has been an IFMGA mountain guide since 1987. He got into ski racing as a junior and was an instructor in Scotland before his addiction to off-piste. He founded the guiding company Mountain Tracks in 2000 following 10 years as Director of Outdoor Education at Marlborough College. He has been leading mountain expeditions on skis and on foot for almost 20 years, taking clients to some of the most remote corners of the globe. Today Nick is equally at home on alpine and telemark skis and is getting there on a snowboard.
Douglas Krause
Snow Safety Director and Heli-ski Guide
Doug is the Snow Safety Director and lead patroller and heli-ski guide for Silverton Mountain Ski Area in Silverton, Colorado where he runs the avalanche forecasting and control program. Doug also teaches avalanche and backcountry skiing courses, is an emergency medical technician and a big fan of argentine meat. For the past eight years he has spent his summers skiing in South America, as lead guide for South America Ski in Las Lenas with extensive knowledge and experience guiding expert skiers on and off-piste all over Argentina and Chile.
Celia Fielder
Skier, editor and writer
Celia learned to ski in the Cairngorms aged 12 when there was one rope tow up a dirt track from Loch Morlich! Since those pioneering days she has skied in Finland, France, Austria, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, USA and Canada. She has edited Snow & Ice, the Army’s winter sports magazine, since 1991 and contributed as a freelance widely to ski journals. Celia’s favourite ski area? Anywhere in the United States, where she has skied 52 resorts in 11 states from unknown Antelope Butte in Wyoming to legendary Aspen.
Leslie Woit
Ski journalist
Canadian Leslie Woit has skied since childhood and is a certified member of the Canadian Ski Instructors Alliance. She instructed in Canada and Switzerland and then worked as marketing director for Mike Wiegele Heliskiing in British Columbia before editing Fall Line Skiing Magazine. Well regarded for her entertaining writing style, Leslie now writes about skiing - and more - for publications around the world. After a 12-week summer stint working as a milkmaid and living in a wooden hut at 1,500m in Austria’s Steinerne Meer mountains, Leslie is itching to get back to the Alps.
Felix Milns
Ski journalist and photographer
A keen player in the hunt for global powder and always the first to jump into a couloir, Felix Milns is a freelance travel journalist and photographer who specialises in skiing. He writes for The Evening Standard, The Express and The Times and is also a regular contributor to Ski and Board Magazine. Felix has co-authored several books on skiing and regularly appears on the BBC as a travel expert. His favourite resort is St Anton, home of the Mooserwirt , the world's best après ski bar. Prosit!
Warren Smith
Performance ski trainer and coach
Warren Smith is the founder of Snowsport Synergy Ltd and our Verbier off-piste expert. He is one of Britain’s leading professional freeskiers and an internationally certified performance coach. He has spent many years teaching recreational skiers, developing ski instructors and coaching racers all over Europe, and has earned a name for getting results with his students. Warren and his partner, photographer Melody Sky, live in the Swiss resort of Verbier where they have spent 15 years skiing some of the world’s best ski terrain and diving his time between coaching for his Academy, filming and organising events.
Henrik Hultberg
Ski expert and expedition leader
Henrik has 15 years experience arranging trips and guiding groups around most of the best ski resorts of the Alps and since 2001 he has been based in Saint Jacques, Monterosa, Italy, where he also runs the B&B Sherpa Prasec. The last year Henrik became a partner with new ski tour operator Alpine Legends, based in Stockholm. Except for skinning up the hills of Valle d´Aosta hunting the longest powder runs, Henrik also enjoys a good glass of fine grappa in his Grappabar and writing about great skiing areas for Ultimate-ski.com
Siôn Ishmael
Skier and writer
A sport psychology graduate with a passion for skiing, Sion grew up in Germany and Switzerland and started skiing from an early age, supposedly before he could walk. He has skied numerous resorts, mostly in Switzerland, as well as Andorra, Austria and France. His favourite resort is Laax in Switzerland – great atmosphere, good skiing including tree-runs, and amazing terrain parks, the fact that few people know of it and the Rider’s Palace which is one of the coolest hotels in the Alps. Sion will be based in the French Alps this winter.
Christine Ottery
Freelance ski journalist
The former editor of Snow magazine, Christine always hankers after more two-planked action. She has been far and wide on the quest for a story, including resorts in Poland, Sweden and Canada. Working as a ski host one winter, she showed off Val D’Isère’s cruisy blues, ungroomed freshies and knee-rattling bumps, and on her days off learnt to dodge trees and shoot down couloirs. She properly learnt how to ski aged eight when her parents pointed to a gourmet lunch-stop halfway down a very steep, icy run with moguls the size of old minis.
Isobel Rostron
Skier and writer
Passionate about skiing from an early age, Isobel founded the Snowmole range of guidebooks after a season in Verbier convinced her to abandon a sensible career in the law. She now spends each winter researching ski resorts worldwide - and each summer dreaming about the next winter. She is also the editor of the Warren Smith Ski Academy handbooks and a BASI Instructor. Now living winter and summer in Chamonix - her favourite place in the Alps - Isobel has skied extensively, in France and Switzerland especially
Peter Wilson
Skier, Writer and Photographer
I love to ski whenever I can and have skied in America, South America and all over the Alps. My favourite resort is La Plagne, because I go there the most, but I also love the deep powder in Utah and South America off-piste. My favourite skiing is off-piste - the mountain makes you feel really humble - and I’m beginning to do more and more hikes to get to better, untouched snow. I am also a member of the Newcastle University Freestyle Team, which teaches tricks and jumps in the park.
David Murdoch
Skier
David Murdoch has been an obsessively passionate skier since his first sliding experience at Cairngorm aged 4. He now alternates between a real job marketing investment software and a real love of mountains and skiing. His current objective is maximise the numbers of days skied each year while holding down a full time corporate position. He has skied in many European and US resorts, is a keen heli-skier having twice visited TLH Helisking and regularly competes in the annual Inferno ski race. David and wife Sophie now live in Geneva and Chamonix.
Steve Angus
Ski and snowboard instructor
Steve holds inernational, British and Canadian ski and snowboard instructor qualifications (ISIA, BASI and CASI). Working in Val d’Isère, France from December to April and Coronet Peak, New Zealand from June to September. With more than 12 countries under his skis he has spent considerable time as an instructor in Whistler and the French Alps, as well as Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Having worked with tour operators, British Universities Snowsports Council and ski racing he reckons he spent more hours on skis than at school and university combined.
Richard McGibbon
Photojournalist
Richard is an Australian photojournalist who spends half the year in the Austrian resort of St. Anton and the other half roaming the planet looking for adventure. His ski trips have taken him up remote mountains in Columbia, to the snow-capped peaks of Bolivia and deep into the backcountry of Patagonia. Its been many years since he has last seen a real summer and hopes it will still be a few more. His childhood passion for photography has become his way of documenting and helping to fund his adventures. His photos have found their way into magazines, brochures, books and websites, although he is not always sure how.
Penny Kendall
Photographer
A comparative late-comer to skiing, Penny has spent the last ten years making up for lost time, getting plenty of miles on snow while taking photos for the ski press. Married to our ski Editor and adventure travel writer, Eric Kendall, Penny is accustomed to travelling around the world and recording their experiences on camera as well as chasing Eric up and down some gnarly descents. Her work can be seen in magazines, newspapers and websites, as well as on Ultimate-Ski.com.
Send Us Your News
Our snowsports enthusiasts are hungry for reliable information so send us your press releases and news updates to help keep our audience fully informed with ski resort opening dates, infra structure developments, snow conditions and what's going on in the village including details of new hotels, restaurants and events and special deals. Please send your press releases and ski and snowsports news to: Will Holyoak, News Editor: will@ultimate-ski.comBoxes leftside
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David Holyoak
Tim Colman
Eric Kendall
Will Holyoak
Arnie Wilson
James Morland
Ruth Lawrenson
Giorgio Bisotti
David Cronheim
Vince Shuley
Kevin Wolff
Celia Fielder
Rob Freeman
Leslie Woit
Felix Milns
Graham Austick
Nick Parks
Warren Smith
Douglas Krause
Henrik Hultberg
Siôn Ishmael
Christine Ottery
Isobel Rostron
Peter Wilson
David Murdoch
Steve Angus
Richard McGibbon
Penny Kendall
Tim Colman
Eric Kendall
Will Holyoak
Arnie Wilson
James Morland
Ruth Lawrenson
Giorgio Bisotti
David Cronheim
Vince Shuley
Kevin Wolff
Celia Fielder
Rob Freeman
Leslie Woit
Felix Milns
Graham Austick
Nick Parks
Warren Smith
Douglas Krause
Henrik Hultberg
Siôn Ishmael
Christine Ottery
Isobel Rostron
Peter Wilson
David Murdoch
Steve Angus
Richard McGibbon
Penny Kendall
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