Ski Zermatt, Switzerland - Skiing and snowboarding in the Swiss ski resort

Zermatt ski resort hotel accommodation and map — Switzerland

The village and the mountain: Zermatt and the Matterhorn. Both are legendary. The Matterhorn is the most beautiful mountain in the Alps, perhaps even in the whole world. And Zermatt (1,620m), a car-free health resort and mountain village with international flair offers relaxing and at the same time action-filled holidays whatever the time of year. There’s probably nowhere better to experience a high altitude mountain landscape so intensively as here. In international terms, we hardly need to point out that Zermatt is one of the most famous holiday destinations, as fascinating in summer as it is in winter.

Ski holidays in Egypt

Egypt 

The Sinai Peninsula, in Egypt, separates mainland Egypt from Jordan and the Mediterranean from the Red Sea. Mount Sinai is a mountain massif in the southern central part of the peninsula, where the land is a triangular point. On two of its three sides are the gulfs of the Red Sea. Mount Sinai is a barren rocky massif, rising from red sandy plains.

Of its many peaks, some debate exists over which is the original Mount Sinai of Moses and Mohammed. The mountains with the most supporters, in the debate, are Jebel Musa (7,500 ft.), whose very name is Arabic for ’Mountain of Moses’, and Jabal Katherina (8,651 ft.), the massif’s highest peak. Mount Sinai is not a spectacular peak, but its fame lies in its religious significance to Christians, Jews and Muslims. Moses is reported, in Exodus, to have received the word of God via a burning bush on this mountain, and to have received the Ten Commandments in a cave near the summit. Mount Sinai is also the place from which Mohammed ascended into Heaven. Both churches and mosques have been built on or around the mountain through the centuries.

The most prominent is St. Catherine’s Monastery, an impressive sixth century structure which occupies much of Jebel Musa from the base to 5,000 feet up its north side. Monks of the early centuries zealously carved 3,000 steps into the mountain, leading to the summit. This route gains 2500 feet in elevation from the monastery, climbing past large cypress trees and ancient ruins.

A trail connects the summits of Jebel Musa and Jabal Katherina, and a small chapel stands atop the latter. Today the monks at St. Catherine’s serve as mountain tour guides, but only on certain days, so it is wise to check ahead.

http://www.egypt.travel/

Ski holidays in Kashmir

Kashmir 

In the 19th century Gulmarg was a hill station for British colonials to escape the summer heat. These days, it’s a world-class ski resort blanketed with fresh, light powder from the Himalayas, attracting ski bums tired of Alpine lift queues and fondues. The resort’s claim to fame is the Gulmarg Gondola, the highest ski lift in the world at a dizzying 3,979 meters. At the top station, skiers can take on challenging runs with Nanga Parbat, the world’s ninth-highest peak, as a backdrop.

Gulmarg is intermittently plagued by insurgency, resulting in security lock downs that can stretch on for months, but it has not deterred the 400,000 intrepid skiers who took the Gondola last year. Truth is Gulmarg’s pure ski-natural potential easily makes it one of the best in the world; the whole hearted acknowledgement by the world is just waiting for the political temperatures to cool down, and a ‘little’ better management of infrastructure and marketing by state and private businesses.

Due to its geographic location Gulmarg gets some of the heaviest snowfalls in the Himalayas and it has earned the distinction of being the best ski resort in the Himalayas. The best conditions are usually found for just 6–8 weeks from the start of January until the middle/end of February although the season can start as early as mid-December and run into March.

Access on to the mountain is via the Gondola. Installed in 2005 it ascends from the resort to almost 4,000m on Mt Apharwat and offers over 2,200m of vertical descent. Thanks to the gondola, Gulmarg claims to be one of the highest lift-served resorts in the world.

http://www.jktourism.org/