1. Family Focus Tour 2006. A tour to family oriented ski resorts Big White and Silver Star, designed for kids and their families, with pro snowboard rider Tim Jackways as tour leader. Departs 20 January 2006.
2. 2006 Senior Ski Tour. Back by popular demand! A seniors tour to Heavenly (Lake Tahoe), Silver Star, Big White and Sun Peaks departing 11 February 2006 for 2, 3 or 4 week options.
3. Ski the Best of USA. Ski at Heavenly, Vail, Keystone, Breckenridge and Beaver Creek with tour leader Phil Clemow, departing 20 January 2006.
4. Masters and Blasters Tour
   Ski at Silver Star and Red Mountain plus 2 days optional cat skiing, with Tour Leader Phil Clemow with an option to enter in the Over the Hill Down Hill Master Races at Silver Star. This is a fun event for most with a little bit of competition just to add interest. Departing 05 Feb 2006
5. Location Location Location Tour
   Ski at Big White, Red Mountain and Fernie with Tour Leader Uli Dinsenbacher. Uli is general manager of Porter Heights Ski Field and is a qualified Ski Instructor. He will be offering helpful advice, ski tips and casual lessons during your holiday
   Departing 25 Feb 2006.
6. The Big Kahuna Play Hard Tour
   Hostel accommodation tour. Ski/snow board at Big White, Silver Star, Kimberley, Lake Louise, Sunshine Village and Fernie with Tour Leader and pro-rider Tim Jackways
   Departing 03 Feb 2006
7. Rocky Ripper Ski Tour
   Ski at Sun Peaks, Lake Louise, Sunshine Village, Fernie with Tour Leader Paul Goldfinch. Paul has made 17 trips to North America in the past 18 years. He has a love affair with North American snow and enjoys sharing his passion with other like minded skiers, no matter what their skiing ability. Departing 03 Feb 2006

Despite the dropping exchange rate, the USD and CAD rates are still pretty good. However, the prediction is for it to drop lower later this year which will impact on NZD prices.

In order to avoid such increases, we recommend booking your holiday soon, before the exchange rate drops again. We will purchase forward foreign exchange, thus guaranteeing the price at today's exchange rate. This could save you a few hundred dollars. Pay your NZ$500 deposit on your booking, with the balance due 80 days prior to departure.

January Flights. Many flights to/from USA and Canada in January are already heavily booked, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to find cheap seats for your requested dates.

This is predominantly because North Americans are flocking to NZ and Australia over peak times to enjoy our summer and our beautiful country, so they are filling the planes by the group load.

From 23 December – 10 January the flights are almost booked out already, and the entire month of January is very heavily booked.

So DON'T MISS OUT - BOOK NOW! If you wait, it may cost you NZ$300 - NZ$500 more to get the flights you want on the dates you want.

NB. We can hold flights for you NOW and sort out your land arrangements later. You will need to pay a NZ$100 non refundable deposit, which goes towards your airfares.

Office open Saturday mornings: Our office is open on Saturday mornings from 9am – 12pm, May until October. So feel free to come in and see us, or contact us here – we're always happy to talk to you.

The Ice Palace Hotel at Sun Peaks Resort will open its doors for the first time in December 2005 and will be open until April 2006. Built entirely from snow and ice it will be a totally unique, magical building, featuring many ice sculptures, 28 themed suites complete with gas fireplaces, a wedding chapel, spa, an igloo village for special events and the “Chill Out” bar which features ice sculpted glasses.

Each winter the Ice Palace will be built to be new design. For its inaugral year, it will be designed as a snowflake.

If you've never skied in Canada before, read this report from a first time skier to Canada

“My skiing experience had been limited to occasional weekend trips to Whakapapa, avoiding the ice and rocks, and being frustrated by mountain closures. My husband had never gotten past snowplough position on the icy beginners slopes at Happy Valley.

So a trip to Big White and Silver Star in Canada was planned to see if North American ski fields were really all they're cracked up to be. And, yes, they are, and more so, exceeding expectations. We arrived there in early December, but even this early in the season the snow was much better than what we were used to. Not a rock in sight! Just miles of wide open long groomed trails snaking between pine forests, blue skies, and spectacular scenery.

There were countless trails to choose from, all well signposted so you couldn't get lost. And long – many of the blue and green cruiser trails took us from the top to the bottom of the mountain; 3 - 4 km of pure exhilaration (the longest run was 8km!). The snow was dry, powdery and very forgiving when we fell, and although it was cold, we never got wet. My daughter and I loved every second of it and became much more proficient skiers – even managed some moguls!

On one occasion, one of the many high speed detachable lifts broke down and we had to wait for 10 minutes until it was fixed. By that time there would have been maybe 200 people waiting in the queue – people we had never seen on the slopes, which shows just how many different trails people were spread out over. Within about 10 minutes, the whole queue had cleared and we were on our way back to the top again. The speed, efficiency and number of lifts was staggering and apart from that one time, we never had to wait for a lift.

By the time it became dark (around 4 – 4.30pm) we were too tired to ski any more so it was a relief to ski right back to our on mountain accommodation, and collapse in comfort. No cold bus trips back down the hill in Canada; our hotel and condos were right there at the base of the lifts, and they are all pure luxury. After dark we'd check out tube town, the ice skating rink, internet cafes and some of the restaurants.

All in all it was so much more fun than I'd expected. In NZ, skiing had always included a certain amount of hard work – waiting for the bus to get you up to the skifield, struggling up from carparks with your gear or long queues for the ticket lines and gear hire, trying to avoid the rocks and patches of ice, not knowing where the trails are because nothing is signposted, 5 minutes skiing and 10+ minutes waiting in lift lines…. And then there were the days when the mountain was closed! Small wonder we didn't bother skiing much here.

But in Canada it is just so easy. Everything is right there in the village; you can ski straight out of your door to the lifts and you don't have to struggle for anything. And the skiing is fantastic. Can't wait to go back and check out some other ski resorts. Think I'll leave my husband behind next time though; he got a blister on his heel on day 1 and never got back on the snow again, so he still can't ski!”

Anyone can look at a ski resort website or brochure. There are thousands of them and they all have one thing in common - they all claim to be the best! So how do you know if they really are as good as they claim ? Here at Dive Fish Snow Travel, we offer a lot of quality locations that we have personally checked out. If they don't meet our standards, we won't sell them. We will only offer what best suits your requirements and budget.

We have the expertise and first hand knowledge to give you truly unbiased and objective advice on where to go for your next snow holiday.

If you enjoyed reading Snow Times please forward to your ski buddy.

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Regards - "THE SNOW TRAVEL TEAM" - Dive Fish Snow Travel
39A, Apollo Drive, Mairangi Bay, Auckland, New Zealand.
Auckland PHONE: (09) 479 2210 - TOLL FREE: 0508 348 334
EMAIL: snowtravel@divefishsnow.co.nz

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