Dom Killinger  0:07  
So Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of The white out Podcast. I'm Dom publisher at in the snow and I'm so lucky to be joined by Rob Stewart Co host, journalist PR extraordinaire, a self confessed gear geek. welcome, Rob. How are you?

Rob Stewart  0:23  
Well, I'm good on Blimey, that's that's quite intro. I think we I need to lower people's expectations a bit on that one. Yeah, it's good to be here again, genuinely very excited about getting out there on the snow. And for me, it's just two weeks away from a quick weekend and Val Thorens. 

Dom Killinger  0:40  
That sounds like good news. Rob I didn't realise you were going there and that's going there for the opening.

Rob Stewart  0:46  
Well, technically not the opening though. We've heard they have delayed their opening by a week I think so I might be there at the end on the opening weekend. I think we'll hear from you about the snow dome but I think it's it's coming isn't it

Dom Killinger  1:01  
does look good. So let's give a big shout out to our sponsors of this episode ski weekends for total flexibility you can stay as long as you like to ski weekends they do week too. So with more choice than ever before, they have fantastic catered chalets, or two to five star hotels in more than 30 of the best known resorts across the Alps and beyond. Team really asked the experts with over 100 years of experience and are on hand to help you find your next ski break. Check out ski weekends.com To book your next flexible ski break. Been a fortnight since we chatted robbed. I'm looking forward to catching up on all the best snow conditions which we're about to nail the news from around the Ski World. Some gear that we've managed to get our hands on and how to save about cash when you go skiing and what else we got coming up this episode. Yeah,

Rob Stewart  1:52  
we've also got you know, didn't know you could ski there. And the resorts spotlight of the week as well, which is none other than Andermatt that incredible Swiss destination recently acquired by Vail Resorts.

Dom Killinger  2:10  
So first up, Rob, I'm on snow watch. Where can we ski now and where is the best? No, I hear you asking is changing daily, which has to be good news because we like variable weather in the app. So this time of the year we want it to be a bit mixed up. It's looking like we could be in for some bigger dumps over the next week. We've seen a bit more snow at altitude this week, especially in the western and northern Western alps. So we're talking to outplay engelberg, glacier 3000 This latter part of the week and maybe already hit by the time this podcast goes live is a cold front which will reach the northern Western Alps. Yeah, so that's exciting that could well bring a foot of snow in the northern Alps. So especially the French and Swiss Alps, which could see a treat in resorts and potentially the Dolomites might benefit too. So this weekend is expected to get colder and potentially some extra snow we could be seeing even bigger snowstorms in the French and Western Swiss Alps and that could extend to Italy by early next week. So I'm talking 21st 22nd 23rd of November for listeners there's about 20 ski areas opened in Europe already without most of them are offering high altitude sea skiing and obergurgl is the first non glazier resorts to be open with a bit of artificial and real snow mixed in so plenty going on and with most resorts only a couple of weeks away from main opening they are all praying for the big dumps that we're promising right now the two leading finish ski areas of levy or Levi however you want to call it and Ruka have both been open for a month already they started early October they have definitely benefited from that Levy Well cup ski race on this weekend right.

Rob Stewart  3:45  
very exciting you're gonna love it and solid two days Saturday and Sunday looking forward to that so

Dom Killinger  3:50  
looking at country by country we are Austria's the most open resorts so far seven, including kitzsteinhorn kanantal, pittstal, Stubai, Solden and the hints that's glaciers or open let look snowy on pictures they're opening on the second December hopefully those photos aren't just media pics, so don't get too excited unless you check some of those webcams. I've checked and it is looking alright. SomeIschg also looking pretty snowy on the webcams also opening on the second of December and Ichgyl opening to with their top of their mountain concert on the 26th of November so not far away from that while snow cannons are blasting to temperatures must be pretty cold down there. And the ski welt Also looking pretty good as also opened up slowly obergurgl in the Tyrol fires up its lifts all I think that's today their opening light which I really amazing on to Switzerland, engelberg, murren, Zermatt,  near somewhere, it's all open and looking okay, but it is early days. So again, do keep an eye on the webcams and those detailed weather forecasts or Arosa, Lenzerheide has also opened as well as verbier. I wonder if they're going to do their usual Santa skiing the first week of December which always looks quite cool.

Rob Stewart  5:00  
Should you surely work don't you? Yeah, well, I I'm always up for dressing up 

Dom Killinger  5:05  
we don't want to know about. And then an and Andermatt they're also both open at the same applies there and Glazier 3000 start opening this week and fast to get excited about any resort in Switzerland at the moment probably be satisfied. That looks pretty good moving on to France. Not quite rosy just yet but next week we could see all the difference there are dramatic changes looking like are coming out and if we do see those big changes, the likelihood is we'll do a quick podcast bonus episode next week. Resorts that had to delay their opening unfortunately. So they're now opening fifth, fourth and fifth of December vows for and the same story also delayed their openings but I think all for the right reasons they want the resorts to be great team also looking at the 26th opening which is definitely later than normal laymen were in Courchevel. They're looking good on social pics. Let's hope they're telling a good story and a truthful story. There is a let's hope this new front coming in this weekend with some good news. So moving on to Italy to glaciers are currently open in Italy vous. The non glacier resort of Sadat was also open for some limited terrain but moving across the pond rock Oh yeah, a very different way to story so if you're ready to go skiing now the USA is definitely the place you want to be heading is one of the best starts the season in recent memory now offering Colorado California Idaho, Utah, Washington with more than a dozen resorts now open

Rob Stewart  6:28  
Check Montana in there as well. I I'm going I'm going I'm going.

Dom Killinger  6:34  
Park City in Utah lifts crank a Wednesday. 16th is the earliest resort opening in more than 25 years. Mammoth opened on the fifth of November I was in contact resort that resort staff that day and they were absolutely maxed out snowing heavily, which was very exciting sugar bowl and resorts in safe South Lake Tahoe saw massive foot deep snow falls with cars sliding around and everybody going crazy. They all kicked off their season early earlier than initially planned on Saturday, the 12th of November, heading across the Breckenridge, Colorado open night November. I'm going there in March as well as a basin. Wolf Creek love land also open on the fourth picked by Winter Park on 31st of October and Keystone opened even early on the 28th so they've got plenty big sky Rob. Yeah, you're going to be big sky, Montana. Yeah, I've just checked out their webcams and it was snowing on the cam as I watched that was about 40 minutes ago so serious Instagram pictures coming from you in January no doubt for sure. Utah has its first resort opening to which is which is Brian head. I don't know how they get that name. But hopefully it's not something like deer valley but better known also posting some pretty exciting pictures and Aspen looking snowing opening on the 19th finally Canada while I've got two more seconds to speak ski big three. Lake Louise sunshine. They're all open for business since the 11th. And on the 11th of November webcams looking great. Their mountain orky open on the 10th marble base and Jasper 50%. Open Rob, I'm finished. That's all folks. Wow, take a breath.

Rob Stewart  8:12  
That's a fantastic Roundup. I know there's not all good news there. But you know, I'm a bit of a long term weather geek. And I don't mean a weather geek for long been a weather geek for a long time. Well, actually, I have that as well. But I do tend to look at those long term weather forecasts. You know, a few websites like snowforecast.com, which is probably pretty well known to people but also netweather.tv. That's a really interesting one because you get you get the Jetstream forecast on there. And yeah, it's it's definitely looking so much more positive than it was a week ago. I mean, I think it might settle down a bit after this weekend and next week, maybe warm up slightly before another wave comes in at the start of December. That's what I'm predicting. So yeah, buckle up. We could be in for some very, very decent snowfall. You heard it here. Well, I think we will be actually but you've definitely raised the bar with your snow report on very comprehensive Yeah, my turn to impress you though, with some serious ski news that I've got here. Starting off with take LIGETY, who has jumped on board with the ski tech company called carve. You know it's it Ted, what a nice bloke TED is I've met him and he's a super nice guy. It's now possible though to train with a double gold medalist lawyer if you've got real time audio coaching and drills and concepts built by LIGETY himself, so you get a comparison of your turns and data captured from Lincoln's own scheme to see how close you know one can get to the famous Olympians is neat well famous term and 200 pounds for a car unit and then 149 pounds per year subscription cost on top of that but I've used calf is great bit of kit and it actually does work. I'm not sure why they haven't asked me to partner with them. Yeah, I'm looking forward to taking Ted on. That's for sure. So quick in the news about tallington lakes, the Outdoor Recreation Centre in Lincolnshire, but actually it's not very far from Peterborough. It's remastered it's 120 metre artificial slope with a pro slope surface. It looks really nice. I'm an old school den deck skier myself, but I've never tried pro slope. I don't think so. I might head up to Tamsin the whole setup there is really good, really good peak retreats tour operator that we know very well. You know, I just recently bumped into Xavier Schouller, the owner of Peak retreats and a travel event last week in London he looked as brightly as ever after 20 years of of tour operating. They have 75 resorts in the programme now. Very impressive. Nice bunch of people as well are a really nice bunch of big law firms, but they do go to the big resorts but they also cover those smaller destinations that you might may never have heard of as well. They'll go over in the Italian Dolomites. They have got a couple of new runs, ski runs for this. This winter. I was there in the summer during any mountain bike tour around the Sellaronda, which was incredible. But there's a new black run called La Ria, which starts at the top of the Danta sepez cablecar. Drops down I might have pronounced that wrong. Drops down the mountainside maximum incline of 52% and 310 metres of vertical drop. Pretty impressive. Yeah, the other new trail pillar Pilet formula and off piste route through a rocky forest. From the seiser alum to otter ze soundboards is a very smart town. It's now being carefully prepared and developed, developed to become a spectacular apparently, apparently downhill slope cutting through some woodland. So that sounds nice. I think it's good because you know what to say, to be able to ski down there on a big run like that is that's that's that's a pretty big bit of news. I mean, the dollar weights are impressive. Aren't they just running and the skiing, the skiing, they're the food and everything about the bat the area is fantastic. So we love the Dolomites. New Warren Miller movies coming out. daymaker looks really cool. You know, they've been on some adventures, haven't they capturing some incredible footage and around the world. He had been to Alaska, Switzerland, Canada, US and even Greece. And there's a few cinema venues showing the new daymaker movie coming up 21st November Not long now next week, IMAX Theatre in in London. And then you've got the Curzon Soho the day after on Tuesday, the 22nd. And then in Birmingham can catch that on Wednesday, the 23rd of November at the crescent theatre, all of those starts at 630 in the evening. But yeah, it's always good at the beginning of the season to get a bit of action. Sad news unfortunate the Red Bull owner and co founder founder Dietrich Mateschitz, has died, unfortunately, at the age of 78. I mean, it's incredible when you think about the influence this guy's had on the action sports industry. Yeah. I guess a lot of people think reports or drinks company, but I don't think that's how he saw it. And if you're a Formula One fan, do you think as a racing car company, year you think it's a ski brand, which which it also is, it's incredible what Mark he's left on the sports world really? And Olympic news? Yeah, the government of British Columbia and Canada has said it won't support a Vancouver bid to stage the 2030 Winter Olympics. And you know, following the Olympic forays into new territories over the past 10 years like Sochi, South Korea, Beijing, last time it was in Europe was turin in 2006. BC has declined support been for 2030. So I think we're left with Salt Lake City, who lost most of the games in 2002, impossibly Sapporo in Japan, who last hosted in 1972. There's a few other bidders in the mix. I think Georgia and Kazakhstan might might go for it. But I think that they're unlikely to get it to be honest. A bit tough, you know, where does it go from here? And I'd Norway doesn't seem to want it. So, you know, we'll see. We'll see where that goes in 2030. And finally, Don, well, I'm gasping for air here. The Tour de France which says the wars in in 2023. But as somebody who's really but you know, have to mention that route start to add and mass takes and some of those big classic coals including the ram and the cold as you plan. You know, they're amazing to cycle up. I've been up there. As snail's pace I've ridden up those things. Honestly, when you see those guys race up there, you realise how incredibly fit. Those guys are the 14th stage of the race on Saturday, the 15th of July. Very, very tempted to be there for that.

Dom Killinger  14:29  
Ah, I'd love to believe that. That is such an event, isn't it? So what a fantastic roundup a news Rob that is? That is impressive. Yeah.

Rob Stewart  14:37  
Well, you know, there's lots going on, isn't there and hopefully we'll be bringing our listeners very, very, very latest news hot off the press every every couple of weeks.

Dom Killinger  14:51  
So Rob, onto our Gear Guide. I'm sure you too have spotted some nice gear this week. I've certainly got a few things in my sights. So I will see So if you're happy Oh absolutely go for it I

Rob Stewart  15:02  
love I love this section I love well first

Dom Killinger  15:04  
up for me is the Helly Hansen Lifa Merino Baselayers not too pricey at 65 pounds for the top looks great, obviously a brand heavy handsome really know their gear when it comes to outdoor outdoor adventure. You could use it for anything right from cycling to ski touring or skiing or whatever you're going to use it for as a base layer. It combines they say it combines the impressive natural warmth of Merino wool fibres with the unique wicking properties of Helly Hansen's leaf a stay warm moisture management system so pretty cool piece of kit. I've also got my hands on a pretty nice pair of goggles from zero optics. These are the beacon love the super cool frameless ultra wide gold lens. Absolutely beautiful on these. I didn't think I could look any cooler than I already do. But I love the sale stuff. Yeah, yeah. But you know they are they are great. So retail price on those are at 99. So it's a good price for a nice protocol was that Mozilla and also some lovely ladies based loans that were sent through from Ivy they're a beautiful brand they're so cool far too cool for school really nice stuff. ladies were great wearing this lady's base layer rather

Rob Stewart  16:08  
well. I can imagine I've always said that about you.

Dom Killinger  16:13  
clothing made by women for women is what they say. So always top when it comes to style and substance IV, e Ivy for anybody who doesn't know the brand. We've been sent this in a very cosy leopard print layer, made using 88% recyclable polyester, super soft fleece line high collar. It's an absolute game changer for those ladies on the cold slope. So those cold windy days, pull up that nice high collar and they've got some real nice leopard skin print baseline.

Rob Stewart  16:42  
Nice for them, though. I mean, how come women always get those leopard skin prints and then get what?

Dom Killinger  16:47  
Black?

Rob Stewart  16:49  
Blue? Why can't I have it? Why can't I have something like, I don't know, a gorilla print base layer. For example. That's what why can't we have that we never get to do

Dom Killinger  17:00  
you do write me off. You do sound slightly like Boris Johnson when you say stuff like that? Yeah, I can. I can get you a gorilla print. If that's what you'd like. I'll get that made just to see you wearing it on the slope. So yeah, I'd love that. So there you go. And I think the final thing that I got my hands on this week was dope. I mean, obviously this brand was super cool. They're so cool. They even call themselves dope. They are, quite frankly don't Yeah,

Rob Stewart  17:25  
I don't think you can get away with saying dope or stick or even stoked or any of those other. Yeah, no down with the kids expressions, man. So stick to the script on you. Blogcast. Rob,

Dom Killinger  17:41  
thank you very much. I'll take that as a sound on one of my children talking to me. So anyway, predominantly, her clothing is pretty nice. I have to say very nice. Blocky colours look really good. I thought it was more more of a youngsters brand. But actually you're seeing a whole new wave of these independent brands nail coming out with these superb ski and snowboard gears. It really does look good. You're talking between 130 and 250 quid for jackets, similar price for pants and dope. I've got a whole range of everything from goggles and fleeces and gloves, beanies, the whole shebang. Yeah, I'd honestly say well worth checking out dope you can buy direct off their website which is right store.com But then they have Montek wear as well which is their ski brands. So it looks very very nice. I've got hold of this stuff. My wife tried on the lady stuff I've tried on the men's and actually it's tasty stuff. I think I am going to be down with the kids Rob I think I'm going to look

Rob Stewart  18:35  
sick Yeah, there you go. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it maybe I got the choice not to be outdone by you DOM I've got some pretty sick stuff on my list here as you can see I've got brand new brand here a brand new brand. The wolf Merida environmentally sustainable bass lead brands just it's just launched from Norway pro snowboarder store last Sunday but isn't isn't early investor in this and Ambassador they've got two lines. There's a high performance line featuring a tank called merino wool blend and an everyday line featuring 100% merino wool. You know you've got long sleeve and short sleeve tops and bottoms all those baselayer stuffs but socks balaclava has been is net gators check them out at Wolf merino.com They do look super cool, but the base layer tops coming out around 100 pounds pretty high end stuff they're gonna do collaboration between Dina star skis and the world free ride tour and there's been a star I've got the M free 108 Freeride World Tour Limited Edition ski so freeride ski co designed by Edgar Shayla and read a backyard Wild Free rattle ski graphics feature and led the legend Bec de Ross mountain in Verbier of course captured by photographer DOM they look super cool. they retail for around 700 euros just check them out the Freeride World tour.com website so that's quite a nice little thing to look out for this winter. strictly speaking, this one is a bit useless. But I am telling everyone about it now because I want it. It's not the kit isn't useless. It's just the fact that you can't get hold of it until next winter. But I think you know, we do like to launch this, this gear sort of well in advance. It's the kind of thing that people can keep a lookout for. It's a partnership between DB and safe back DB being the old douchebag brand they now refer to as dB. It's a new back country vest. Its winner is the winner of an ISPO award this year 2022 It's the first system of its kind to actively supply air to snow burial victims, it's different to the old sort of system extends a survival window after burial in an avalanche or tree Well, interestingly, without requiring a mouthpiece, okay, and it will be available next autumn 2023. It's designed to meet the needs of off piste skiers and snowboarders looking for that added layer of protection but check it out at www dot safe back.no. Moving on, we've got somebody saving some money saving tips. You know what I'm gonna run through five my five top tips that I put together so for for saving money basically when you travel. All right,

Dom Killinger  21:11  
my five

Rob Stewart  21:15  
Well, this is my number one, you know, independent travel is fantastic and it works for some people. It's great that we can do it. But despite huge losses in the catered chalet market over recent years, there's still some very, very good UK based operators out there offering really good deals, especially in non peak weeks. If you think of the likes of ski weekends mountain heaven le ski, ski beach family ski company, all those tour operators still providing that kind of traditional family or individual chalet catered chalet holiday, you can't deny that the prices that they offer for a package, it's hard to beat so you know why my top tip is don't think that those tour operators don't exist anymore. Number two is the new wave of flexible chalet operators that are really sort of coming to the fore now and their their business model is I think very, very interesting and what they do as they build services such as catering over the top of self catering holiday, this is not necessarily new, but over the last few years it's been growing and growing. So what the tour operator tends to do is provide the base of the self catered accommodation and then you build your services on top of that. What that means is that in the past those tour operators would have employed staff to cook the meals and all that kind of stuff and that's quite expensive to do in France what that has done genuinely has reduced the cost of a catered chalet holiday for guests and you get a very good service you know those chefs are normally professional chefs. And honestly it comes the price comes out generally lower. So that's that's that's another top tip number three, you know Yeah, I mean pre Christmas gift go for an early season Ski holiday. I've seen some deals today for under 400 pounds so results like Boravets and Bulgaria under 400 including flights and transfers for a week in a self catering apartment. And you know in Bulgaria The food's super cheap going out is cheap so that pre Christmas week is a good bargain week to go for and it's not always that busy and the apps

Dom Killinger  23:08  
and any any points of where you saw that they'll rub that particular one

Rob Stewart  23:12  
and Boravets was on the ski line travel agent ski line website. Perfect. So skiline.co.uk register for that before you know it driving to the apps is not as scary as it might appear to be for some people the roads are very very good through France. You know even when you work out there's costs if you're a family of say four you know you're budgeting I did a ballpark figure about six 700 pounds to get there and back. You know, I think that's quite a generous budget. And if you think about flights over those peak season weeks, you'll never get to get flights for that price for the whole family. Number five, do book ski higher in advance because if you're travelling independently especially you will save money going online and buying ski rental in advance when you if you turn up the resort and walk into that ski shop, they will give you that premium they will they will sell it to you at the premium price. You can save easily up to 50 50% if you book it online in advance for your ski hire so so make sure you do that good advice there Rob.

Dom Killinger  24:12  
I haven't quite got five things together while you've been talking but I know based on your booking ski hire in advance, booked your ski passes in advance as well because without a doubt the most expensive passes are when you walk up to the window on the day. So definitely look online and see if you can put those up in advance. Borrowing ski gear off a mate you know there are plenty of people that only did one trip a year so don't rush out to buy a new jacket or buy skis or buy boots or whatever before you go borrow stuff off a mate if you can. So also consider smaller resorts that connect up to big terrain. That's if you even need big terrain. So places like RL connecting to Val terrain or Briella Berg connects up to the three valleys there. They are great money saving options just by being just slightly out of those mega resorts. But on the same note, my point number three is how much terrain do you actually need? plenty of people I know that go to the big resorts, they buy the big ski paths. And then they ski the same doesn't run every day for a couple of days or four or five day holiday. So it's definitely worthwhile looking at some of the names that you wouldn't initially think of to go skiing and check out the likes of peak retreats because you know what I do go to some of these absolute gem resorts, they are the proper chocolate box places where you get fabulous restaurants, you get good skiing, especially if you've got a family and the kids want to start venturing off on their own a little bit if they're that sort of age, cheaper lift passes, cheaper food and drink when you're in resort real chocolate box places often attract great snowfall and you're gonna get well looked after by a tour operator like that. So they are my budget saving tips for this week. Right, so moving on to what I think is arguably, my favourite part of this podcast is I didn't know you could ski there. And this week, Rob, tell me a place that I didn't know I could ski.

Rob Stewart  25:59  
Yeah, well, today I'm going to talk about Georgia, even if you didn't know, you could ski in Georgia. I'm just hopefully going to give a little bit of advice about going to the country that I have been to, to ski a couple of times, you know, geographically it's wedged between Europe and Asia borders Russia to the north and Turkey to the south. And the most famous resort is Gudauri is very established. It's two hours from the capital of Tbilisi, it's the most commercial Ski Area lots of modern lifts and accommodation choices there. You've got Bakuriani as well south of the so the other direction, another established resort. It was formerly used in Soviet times, actually, for a Olympic Winter Olympic training camps. It's actually very pretty, it's very nice. The real adventure though is a Mestia. It's incredible location totally isolated, you can get there on a two hour flight from Tbilisi or a nine hour drive. So take your pick, but the flight only goes in good weather. It's got incredible peaks higher than the Alps to fairly small ski areas very nice, but small hats Valley and technology and tonnes of ski touring options there. The whole area is a UNESCO World Heritage site it's got these ancient towers across the whole valley and it's mediaeval landscape amazing getting there at the moment it can fly with Pegasus or Turkish that's to airlines which are probably the easiest way there's no direct flights there right now from London. But easy to transfer on someone like Istanbul for example with Turkey you know getting around the country it's not that easy but you can rent I mean there's no real other way unless you go with an organised tour operator more of that in a minute. Okay, you know the accommodation is generally good value and in the city into BC there's some amazing hotels there big international brands but also checkout rooms hotel really lovely boutique hotel, stay desk and love to dairies got everything from four star hotels a small family run lodges in Mestia though it's generally the smaller lodges but they are comfortable and they're great value and live class prices and get dowry which would be the highest in the country. They're around 15 pounds a day or 80 pounds for six days ski pass so you know and invest here they're even cheaper than that. Remember the ski areas are relatively small the dairy is the largest skier it's got 35 kilometres of ski runs and it is very different to skiing in the Alps. I mean you know dairy is probably comparable in some ways to like bar size wise you know, it is a great adventure I think a long weekend to Tbilisi combined because it's a cool city to Bliss ski to believe something very sort of hipster combined with to two days skiing and dairy you know, go for it. Rent a Car roads very good from Tbilisi took a dairy two hours drive, very straightforward, great sort of long weekend, Rob, what

Dom Killinger  28:30  
am I going to be eating when I get there?

Rob Stewart  28:31  
The food's fantastic. And Georgia is a bit of a Yeah, it's combination between sort of Mediterranean and a bit of Asian influence. They're good value, lots of lots of choice. It's best to go with an organised tour and at the moment post COVID There's not that many right now. But mountain Heaven is running a full GA skiing holiday from January the 28th to February the sixth. And they run that before they know the country. So you can check that out on mountain heaven.co.uk.

Dom Killinger  28:56  
That was great. Rob really enjoyed that. Very, very interesting. I have heard you talk quite passionate about Georgia before and I think you've tapped into it. So it's a great time to give a shout out to our two charity partners Rob. Firstly, we've Proud to support snow camp. The game changing National Youth charity, who turned young lives around with the power of snow sports. They do amazing work by harnessing the power of skiing and snowboarding to develop life skills, qualifications, and positive opportunities for over 1000 hard to reach young people year on year. Do go ahead and visit our charity partner today. Snow camp.org.uk

Rob Stewart  29:35  
Yeah, Dom Absolutely fantastic charity snow camp. But I'd also like to give a big shout out to the LE Souter Foundation, who have just announced another athlete 12 year old Alpine skiers avea appointment as a new grant funded skier on their programme. This now means they're looking after four of the UK Top Up and Coming prospective Olympians which is unreal for this fairly new chair. RTM go and check them out the LE SUTA dot foundation.