The growing number of indoor snow centres in the UK makes it possible for Brits to get around a perennial problem that faced us when we bought our ski equipment – testing it first.

We had the choice of buying abroad in a ski resort where we could test it but not easily return it to the shop if there was a problem, or of buying at our local ski shop but not really testing it until we got to the Alps and then had little come back if there was a problem.

Leading French resort La Plagne is recommending Brits grab their new First Tracks tickets to be sure they get the fresh lines in the vast ski area every morning, especially during the busy school holiday period at Christmas, New year and in February.

This new pass allows guests to head up to the summit early, ahead of normal lift opening hours, to watch the sun rise over La Plagne, enjoy a buffet breakfast at the Carlina, and ride the untouched slopes first thing.

The Winter Olympics looks set to be dropped from free-to-air coverage following a recommendation to the Department of Culture Media and Sport.

While a number of high profile events, most notably the Ashes, have been recommended for addition to the current list of crown jewels’ — the sporting events protected for free-to-air broadcasting — the review panel made a clear distinction between the Summer and Winter Games.

The panel, led by former FA executive director David Davies, included the Summer Olympics on their recommended list, while the previous list did not make the distinction between the two events, and simply protected the Olympic Games’.

Ski Sunday returns on 13 December and as well as showcasing the best World Cup action the team will be gearing up for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

It will be presented by Graham Bell and Ed Leigh and will mix classic races with personal insights from Britain’s medal hopes as Vancouver looms. Skier Chemmy Alcott and snowboard-cross star Zoe Gillings will be featured along with the skeleton and bob teams.

Ski Sunday will be shown on BBC2 on Sunday afternoons and this website. And there will also be live World Cup skiing and race highlights online and on the red button.

Austria’s Reinfried Herbst produced a fine second run to win the men’s World Cup alpine skiing slalom in Levi.

Croatia’s Ivica Kostelic was second and France’s Jean-Baptiste Grange was third.

Herbst, 31, was fourth after the first run on a course designed by his coach, but found the speed to upstage his rivals and win the sixth slalom of his career in a combined time of one minute and 49.79 seconds.

Kostelic was 0.28s behind Herbst with Grange, the winner on the same slope a year ago, 0.53s down.

British skier Ed Drake got his Winter Olympic season off to a great start with a podium finish in a European Cup super-G in Reiteralm, Austria.

It was Drake’s best race result as he finished third behind Patrick Kueng and Philipp Schoerghofer.

“It’s the first opportunity to race and to find out how training has gone. Third feels fantastic,” he said.

European Cup is below World Cup level but a top three finish is equivalent to a top 20 result in the top tier.

It is expected to be unseasonably warm across the whole of the Alps this week.

Tignes in France is expecting no snow over the course of the week but instead it is forecast to be sunny and mild. The freezing level isn’t expected to drop below around 2700m, which isn’t good news for the snow making process on the lower slopes.

It should be nice on the glaciers however, as they will remain below freezing and the clear skies will provide great visibility.

Switzerland and Italy are also expecting mild and sunny weather. The exception to this is Wednesday when up to 8cm of snow could fall on the upper slopes of some resorts.

As a cold snap descends on the Wasatch Wednesday bringing significant flakes Friday and Saturday (followed by another sunny, high-pressure system early next week), Ski Utah officials spread cautious optimism through the press rank and file Tuesday at the resort consortium’s annual pre-season state of the union.

President Nathan Rafferty predicted a modest increase in skier visits (3 percent) that would keep skier totals above 4 million in spite of the continued downtrending economy.