Five great snow festivals this winter
When you think of winter holidays you might think of planning an escape from the cold and snow to somewhere where you can light a log fire and stay in bed. Not the case, however, if you’re a skier or snowboarder. This great selection of snow festivals should have you avidly filling your calendars and getting ready for some action-packed fun!
1. Billabong Air & Style
It started out as an exclusive underground contest but quickly developed to become one of the most influential snowboarding events around. This year will see 24 of the best snowboarders in the world competing for a $100,000 prize and they can only qualify to compete by TTR ranking, wild card or invitation.
2. Alaska Ice Festival
Held in Fairbanks, Alaska, by Ice Alaska, this festival is a month-long event attracting over 70 teams from all over the world, coming together to compete in the BP World Ice Art Championships. This year the competition will involve over 100 artists and 50,000 visitors from all over the world.
3. Quebec Winter Carneval
The Carneval is held in the center of the Old City Quebec. It creates a lively, festive atmosphere in the beautiful city and is a great place to visit whether you’re into snow sports or not. If you decide to go you’ll want to get “The Bonhomme Effigy”, a full pass for the 17 days of festivities. It’s only $12(CAN) and you’ll have full access to over 300 activities and shows, with the most popular events being the sleigh race, La Dégelée (The Hottest Winter Party) and the RAFT Snow Rafting Race.
4. International Snow Sculpture Championships
Brekenridge in Colorado isn’t just the venue for these incredible championships; it’s also one of the snowiest towns in the US, making it an ideal venue for a snow sculpture championship. The town has free public transportation during the event making it cheap and easy to find your way around and guests can even participate in the voting. Sculpture artists from France, Switzerland, America, Germany and Mexico gather together for snow and ice-sculpting competitions.
5. Belhap Hexe
This is one of the more unusual snow festivals and is held in Switzerland in mid-January. The festival started from an old witch’s tale and hundreds of skiers turn up in costume to watch the Witches’ Descent race. Both the skiing and the costumes are serious- the descent is a 7.5-mile race down 5905 feet of demanding terrain. The last two nights are known as Witches’ Nights and are some of the biggest après ski parties in Europe.
Although these are the top five ski festivals (in our opinion), there are loads more out there, so if you’re an avid skier or snowboarder have a look around and a terrific time!
This is a guest post by Genevieve from GoHen, leading organiser of hen weekends.
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