165: Orelle, Uzbekistan, Madesimo & 'Le Board' in Val Thorens

We discuss skiing in destinations as diverse as Orelle, Madesimo and Uzbekistan, find out about the new sports centre in Val Thorens, plus we have snow reports from across Europe and some words from a World Champion.   Iain was joined by Sophie Ibbotson and regular guest, Mike Richards. Intersport Ski Hire Discount Code Save money on your ski hire by using the code ‘SKIPODCAST’ at intersportrent.com, or simply take this link for your discount to be automatically applied at the checkout. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Episode 165 4:30 Snow Reports 10:00 Les Gets smoking ban 12:15 Orelle 17:00 Val Thorens 24:00 Uzbekistan 35:00 Madesimo 41:30 Team GB 42:50 Alexis Pinterault 46:00 Ski Touring 49:30 Skiing in Wales   SHOW NOTES Both Mike and Sophie were on ‘The Ski Podcast Live’ panel at the National Snow Show in Birmingham In Episode 90 Mike told us about skiing in Turkey (2:00) The Ski Podcast is sponsored by L3V - the largest ski area in the world Charles Leocha in the book 'Ski Europe describes it: 'On paper, the area is overwhelming, in person it's mind expanding' (3:00) Andy Butterworth of Kaluma Ski reported from St Anton (4:30) Robin Shah is in Verbier (7:14) Alex Armand from Tip Top Ski Coaching is in Les 2 Alpes (9:20) Les Gets smoking ban: A territory without butts (10:00) Iain visited Orelle, travelling by train (12:15) The new Orelle-Cime gondola opened in December 2021 (15:00) Iain travelled as a pedestrian from Orelle to Val Thorens (17:00) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImfJK9dPG0o Iain visited the new sports centre in Val Thorens, ‘Le Board’ (18:00) Eric Blancot is the commercial director at the Val Thorens Tourist Office https://twitter.com/skipedia/status/1604430159637106688 Amirsoy is the new ski resort in Uzbekistan (24:00) Ubekistan has five UNESCO world heritage sites (31:15) Laurent Vanat produces the International Report on Snow and Mountain Tourism (33:15) This excellent article on Uzbekistan by Tristan Kennedy appeared in Snow Magazine Felix Milns told us about parachuting above the Eiger in Episode 98 (34:15) You can find out more about Madesimo in this article from Fall Line (35:00) This is the official Madesimo website (39:00) Double podium for Charlotte Bankes in back-to-back Cervinia World Cups (41:30) Andrew Musgrave took his second World Cup podium  Andrews Musgrave and Young appeared in this special episode of the podcast) (42:00) Makayla Gerken Schofield’s 6th in Idre Fjall, Sweden was her best ever result Kirsty Muir took 5th in the Copper Mountain Ski Big Air World Cup Alexis Pinterault is the most successful French ski racer of all time (42:50) Listen to the full interview with Alexis here  The Alpine Ski World Championships take place in Courchevel and Meribel from 06-19 February (46:00) You can listen to how Al and Iain decided on Atomic Prime Hawx ski boots in Episode 163 (46:45) Iain’s skis from Intersport Ski Hire were Atomic Backland 86s – great skis! (47:00) Listen to Mike talking about skiing in Wales (49:30)  Feedback Dom Winter (POW): “Thanks for making this great episode [about sustainability]“ Miranda Walsh (YT): “Thanks for posting this interview [with Alexis Pinterault]. It's a great listen” Paul Bond (YT): “Great chat” Christian (email): “Thanks for being such a great source of ski info!” Rob (email): “I’m enjoying all your new podcasts”   If you enjoy the show, there's two things you can do to help: 1) Give us a review. You might hear this on other podcasts, but it genuinely does helps others find us  2) you're always welcome to BMAC at buymeacoffee.com/theskipodcast. The podcast is a passion project for me, every episode takes 5-6 hours of my time, but I love it, so if you fancy buying me a coffee that would be lovely.   You can follow me @skipedia and the podcast @theskipodcast