The bible is out
Tuesday September 7, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

Much of the same information is free on the internet or available on Apps in a more convenient form.

The book comes in at 704 pages thick so is not easily transportable and certainly not pocket-sized.

The book, printed in Italy, has  20,000 copies produced each year. According to the co-editor, Dave Watts, most are sold and those that aren't are given away.

"We are still producing about the same as we did 5 years ago and there is a definite market for a thoroughly researched and well-written ski guidebook," he says.

"It is easy to read and of course you can keep it in your loo or on your bedside table, like some readers do, to dip in and out of at your leisure. Not everyone want to surf the internet the whole time."

He has a point.

The book has the most detail, the widest coverage and it sells the most of all the British ski guidebooks.  For 15 years the book has grown and developed and is now described as the bible of ski guidebooks.

We use it often at PlanetSKI.

Surf or read?So, what is new in this year's edition?

In the current economic climate the book focuses on good-value resorts and there are extended chapters on these type of resorts in Austria, Italy, the French Pyrenees, Spain and Slovenia.

Last year it introduced a Resort Price Index that surveyed bars and restaurants throughout the mountains. The team recorded over 2,500 different prices and worked out which resorts were more expensive than others. 

It is only meant as a guide, but it has produced some interesting findings.

No surprise that Bansko in Bulgaria is the cheapest or St Moritz in Switzerland the most expensive.

Overall though Austria is perhaps cheaper that you might have thought and Italy not quite the good value some say. 

It now costs more to book a holiday in Andorra than it once did, but when you get there it is still very good value with resort costs below average

Switzerland comes out as being expensive and is certainly not helped by the dreadful exchange rate, but not everywhere is pricey. Meiringen is below average.

But where the book scores heavily is its attention to detail with runs, restaurants and new developments all reported in the 1,200 resorts it covers.

It is also well presented and has an independent editorial feel.

There is no doubt that it is under threat from the mass of information available on line, but if you like books, value sound research and impartial advice then it has many more print runs left to go.

As the editor said, there is more to life than surfing the internet!

The book is published by NortonWood Publishing and priced at £18.99. It can be brought at a discounted price on line at www.wheretoskiandsnowboard.com

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