Archive for December, 2009
For winter sports enthusiasts, there is nothing better than rushing down a mountain on freshly snow-covered slopes. To help you find the right ski holiday that will fulfill your craving for an outdoor adventure, here is a list of popular ski slopes in the United States:
Breckinridge, Colorado
One of the better known Ski resorts in Colorado, Breckinridge totals 2,358 acres and has 155 trails. Its longest trail, Four O’clock, reaches a length of 3.5 miles and the resort spans over more than 10 peaks. Of the 155 trails this resort hosts, 36-percent are expert slopes, the largest percentage of slope difficulty, and 13-percent of the slopes have the easiest designation.
Aspen, Colorado
Located in the midst of the Rocky Mountains, Aspen, Colorado, is the Aspen Mountain Ski Resort. Sitting on 673 acres, Aspen Mountain is one of the smallest ski resorts around. It utilizes Aspen Mountain and Bell Mountain which has an elevation of 11,212 feet.
Killington, Vermont
This ski resort is the largest resort in the eastern part of the United States. Utilizing Vermont’s second highest mountain, Killington Peak, this resort sports 200 trails and 33 ski lifts spanned over seven mountains. It is estimated that nearly 17,000 people will visit Killington Ski Resort on a good day.
Park City, Utah
This tourist destination is home to three different ski resorts, Park City Mountain Resort, the Canyons Resort and Deer Valley Resort. Park City Mountain Resort covers 3,300 acres and has 104 trails. Canyon Resort, the bigger of the three, runs on nine mountains, totaling 3,700 acres and 155 trails. Deer Valley Resort recently underwent a nine million dollars renovation to add 200 acres and nine new slopes
Lake Tahoe, Nevada/California
Lake Tahoe, located on the Nevada-California boarder is home to Heavenly Mountain Resort. It features 95 slopes over 4,800 acres. At an elevation of 10,067, this resort is host to Lake Tahoe’s highest peak. It is the largest ski resort in California, with a total of 33-percent of its land developed.
Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania
The Pocono Mountains is home to more than ten different ski resorts. The largest one, Camelback Ski Area, has 33 slopes and covers 139 acres. At an elevation of 2,133 feet, its steepest slope is 800 feet. Located in close proximity to Camelback Ski Area is Jack Frost Big Boulder Resort. This ski area is two resorts combined into one with nearly 30 different ski slopes.
Some people are adventurous and outgoing; too adventurous, in fact that they tend to find someone to share the adventures with. More than sharing their adventures, they want to educate people on the places that they have been to. This is the usual last frontier that traveling people face. By offering their services as travel guides, they are not only able to repeatedly travel to places that they have fallen in love to but they can also share their experiences and adventures to other people.
People also resort to travel guide occupations not only to be able to share their adventure but also to meet people. Meeting all sorts of people is always an exhilarating experience, especially to foreigners with an eye for curiosity. These people are like children that never tire to look the beauty and know the history of the places and monuments that they encounter in their travels. In fact, travel guide professionals must have a good deal of knowledge in history to be able to answer the inquiries. He must also be ready to do animations, improvisations and representations in topics or subjects that are very hard to understand for the foreigners.
Aside from this, it is also a sort of nationalistic pride that fires the travel guide professionals to their work. They do their best to promote the tourism and beauty of their country. In doing so, they feel contented that they are able to do service to their country in their own little way as travel guide professionals.
Common Tasks Of Travel Guide Professionals
Travel guide professionals plan and organize expeditions, tours and cruises that are usually long distance travels. They usually book the tour or cruise details such as accommodation, transportation, equipment and even availability of medical aid. The arrangement usually takes place after he is able to reach a specific required quota in the number of customers.
If necessary, the travel guide professional is responsible for securing the visa, passport and health certificate needs of his tour participants. These permits and important; they are necessary to afford convenience in travel for tour participants. Usually, assistance from the travel guide professional is enough for the tour participants. But nowadays, because of the seemingly never-ending travel requirements, travel guides form partnerships with agencies for securing such important documents.
Throughout the tour, the travel guide professional must attend to the needs of his tour participants, while also giving advice and tips on the best sightseeing or shopping areas available. Some travel guide professionals usually have pre-formed partnerships with shopping establishments or sightseeing areas regarding his tour participants.
In each stop of the travel, he will have to discuss the significance of the area, why they have traveled on those parts and what part in history took place there. Throughout the tour, the travel guide professional already did a research on the best possible travel routes and the destination sites. Also, while on tour, he will evaluate the services received during the duration of the tour, the results of which will be reported to the organizers of the tour beside him.
Tours are usually not free from problems. The travel guide professional must be ready to resolve any problem in accommodation, service or itineraries, and to verify the amounts or fees as well as quality of the equipment to be used prior to the expedition and tour. These types of problems, nonetheless, are manageable for a professional travel guide. More alarming and pressing problems are usually in the form of mishaps or accidents during the tour that can do harm on the health or may even cost the lives of the travelers. In this case, the tour guide must be ready to administer first aid to injured patrons and be able to get medical aid or ambulance for the seriously hurt, immediately.
The travel guide professional must also be adept in various skills. He must be knowledgeable of existing hunting or fishing laws enforced in the area and capable of explaining it to his tour participants. When required, he must be ready to instruct his tour participants in climbing and mountaineering techniques, wilderness survival and be able to demonstrate the use of equipment used in fishing, hunting and climbing.
Characteristics Common To Travel Guide Professionals.
Travel guide professionals must be realistic since his occupation usually includes practicality and ability to manage hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with real-time situations that need fast decision-making attitudes. Since the occupation requires one to work continuously outside, the travel guide professional must be street smart and knowledgeable in current issues and trends. He does not do a lot of paperwork and usually exposes himself or herself to the outside world.
A travel guide professional must be artistic as he is realistic. Artistic in a way as to allow self-expression and does his work without a clear set of rules to follow. He needs to be creative in presenting the various tour stops to his participants. He must try different strategies to avoid letting his participants to be bored with the tour.
A travel guide professional must also be sociable and willing to interact with all sorts of people, of various race and nationalities. Primarily, the occupation of travel guide professionals aims to share interests and experiences to other people and so great people skills are required.
Although it is not necessary, travel guide professionals will be at the advantage compared to other individuals if they are knowledgeable in one or two foreign languages. The English language, although being universal is not very helpful in times of explaining the significance of a particular event in history to a foreigner with a different tongue. Speaking to foreigners in their native language will make them at ease and comfortable throughout the trip.
Travel guide professionals must also have thorough knowledge in geography and also in public safety and security. Knowledge in these areas will make the travel guide professional more effective in ensuring the safety of his tour participants. Knowledge in geography will also arm him with better decisions especially in times of weather change. The comfort of the tour participants is the prime objective of the travel guide professional.
If you have just returned from a great vacation at a ski resort, which might not be the best ski resort, but you had fun, you should write a review for that ski resort and pen down all your experiences, good or bad. Writing a ski resort review will help other people who want to plan a trip to ski. When they read your ski resort review, they will come to know what all to do when they reach the ski resort. Also, it will help increase future customers who based on your ski resort review will want to enjoy all the amenities and activities which you enjoyed.
But while writing a ski resort review, you should take into account some points.
Note down the time of the year you visited the resort, its crucial.
If you want visited during a holiday, the resort might have been a little busy, and the customer service, amenities and waiting times might have been different than what they would have been had you visited during the quieter months, so, for a perfect review, it’s very important to mention the time of the year you visited the ski resort. You shall not miss small details while writing a ski resort review and try to share all the moments with the readers who will read it.
You might also write a negative ski resort review if you had problems with the place or if the waiting time was more even if the visitors were less.
How was your actual skiing experience?
A person spending a fortune on a ski resort would definitely be interested in skiing, so this is one aspect you just can’t miss to add in your review. You should write about the slopes, the level of difficulty they offered, the kind of equipment, if the equipment was easily available at the resort itself, or you had to take yours along or rent it from a local vendor. The whole experience about how you felt while skiing needs to be penned down very carefully, therefore the most important thing while writing a ski resort review is the type of equipment and its availability. If you were no able to ski due to the faulty equipment then you should tell others about the possible problems they are bound to face.
About other amenities.
You should tell others about the crucial aspects of the resort. People reading your ski resort review should know if they have to come prepared for any circumstances such as bad quality food, or too much time wasted in a particular activity, try and add aspects like the educational relevance of the trip.
If you liked something, like an additional amenity, the quality of service, the kind of equipment, the dining area, children’s recreational area or maybe the general ambience of the whole place, you should speak out.
Finally, the Ski resort review should contain the website and other official information regarding the resort.Remember, the ski resort review is not only your experience, but also a great vacation for a future traveler