Take off to the slopes: 10 ways to make the most of the snow

The winter sports season is approaching its halfway point, but there's still lots new to try out. Colin Nicholson has the latest stories from the pistes

1 Fun in the fjords

Ski touring the Norwegian fjords by boat is growing in popularity.

The aim is to find untouched powder by climbing up one side of a fjord and skiing down the other, while the boat comes to meet you. The scenery is breathtaking – glaciers and snow-capped mountains stretching out into the Arctic Ocean. Go to transalp-cham .com and zubaski.com to find out more about trips during which you stay on the boat, while pistetopowder.com will whisk you from the comfort of the Lyngen Lodge to the slopes by speedboat. The season runs from mid-February to the end of May.

2 Pyrenean pleasures

Formigal in the Pyrenees is now accessible to Britons who like their skiing or boarding sunny and uncrowded, courtesy of flights from Gatwick to Huesca on a Monarch plane being offered by Pyrenair ( www.pyrenair.uk.com). The ski resort is Spain's biggest, having recently invested in high-speed lifts and expanded into four interlinked valleys. Thomson, Crystal and Neilson are offering packages, including a deal on free lift passes up to the week beginning 8 February. Thomson (0871 971 0578; www.thomsonski.co.uk) offers a week's half-board for £469 per person, based on two sharing, including flights.

3 Never get lost

Arguments over paper piste maps may become a thing of the past – your mobile phone can now show where you are on an interactive map. If you already have a mobile, smart phone or PDA with GPS/ GPRS and a touch screen, you can download the map of your resort from Satski ( www.satski.com) for £32 for two weeks or £62 for all resorts with unlimited usage. Or you can buy a touch-screen colour GPS for £199 with unlimited piste maps. So far, Satski has mapped out some of the biggest ski areas, including GrandValira in Andorra; Espace Killy, Trois Vallées, Paradiski and Portes du Soleil in France; Verbier, Zermatt and St Moritz in Switzerland; Kitzbühel, Arlberg, Ischgl, Sölden and Mayrhofen in Austria; and Banff, Fernie and Whistler in Canada.

4 Eco-travel by train

France is no longer the only ski destination you can reach by train. For those looking for an eco-friendly way to travel, European Rail (020-7619 1080; www.europeanrail.co.uk) is marketing the Bergland Express to Austrian resorts such as St Anton, Kitzbühel. Travel out on the Eurostar on Friday lunchtime to Brussels, connect onto a train to Aachen, Germany, where you board the sleeper. Also from this season, Inghams (020-8780 4447; www.inghams.co.uk) is offering rail travel to each of its 12 Swiss resorts. For these, take the Eurostar to Paris and change on to a daytime train.

5 Take the telemark challenge

Check your rental shop – it may now stock telemark skis. The sport's growth in popularity is due in part to new, releasable bindings improving its safety record. So what's the attraction of all that kneeling? "It's the only way you'll get to ski chest-deep powder," say the wags, but most skiers are drawn to its elegance, its history (as the Norwegian forerunner of modern downhill skiing) and a chance to learn a new discipline. It takes far less time for skiers to get to grips with than snowboarding and leaves you with far fewer bruises. Telemarking particularly lends itself to those looking for a challenge on unchallenging slopes or skiing with less experienced friends.

6 On your kite

Snowkiting – also known as kiteskiing or kiteboarding (for skiers and boarders respectively) – is another sport that is taking off. But unlike telemark, which you can get the hang of in a morning, or snowbiking, which you can master in an hour, it takes a lot longer to learn. Sir Ranulph Fiennes may have managed to cover 120 miles a day by using a kite to ski across the Antarctic after only four practice sessions, but unless you have previous experience of power kites, you can expect to spend half a day just learning to handle the kite before you put your skis or board on. Snowkiting is not to be confused with the yet more extreme speedflying or speedriding. This is a form of paragliding, but with a parachute half the usual size, giving you much more contact with the snow and allowing you to jump off small cliffs. For both, you should enquire at the resort to find out if they offer these activities.

7 Safety first

Skiers worried about their knees should take comfort in the fact that with improved bindings, injury rates are falling. Dr Mike Langran, secretary of the International Society for Skiing Safety and doctor to the ski patrol at Cairngorm, says that since technicians at rental shops in France started reducing DIN settings by 15 per cent they have seen a 30 per cent drop in injuries, particularly in women and children. The DIN setting on skis is calculated according to your weight, skiing ability and age, and determines how easily the skis release when you fall. It is indicated by a line against a number on the front of your bindings. Langran is pushing for lower DIN settings worldwide. He also strongly recommends wrist guards to boarders. However, winter sports are far less risky than commonly supposed, he explains, with about three injuries per thousand skier-days reported to ski patrols worldwide. The comparable injury rates for amateur footballers and rugby players are about 10 and 20 times higher respectively.

8 Fly like an Eagle

"People ask me whether I'd ever jumped before the Olympics, but of course I had," says Eddie "the Eagle" Edwards. "Unless you've practised, you'll find a million reasons not to jump when you're up there." Now visitors to Canada's Olympic Park in Calgary can find out how Britain's most colourful Winter Olympian felt at the top of the 90m ski jump he made famous in 1988, reaching speeds of up to 90mph on a zipline, with a parachute to slow their fall. Until 27 March, the centre is accepting only group bookings of 12 or more. The minimum age is six, and the cost £25 per person. Go to www.coda.ca

9 Winter pride

Resorts are always up for a party, and there are so many gay ski weeks that it is now almost possible to spend an entire season going from one to another. They're great fun for anyone who likes their après as much as their ski or wants to learn how to snowboard in drag. However, with the recent cancellation of Alternative Holidays' popular week, which this year was due to be held in Pila, Italy, it may be safest to go for a week organised by the resort, rather than an independent operator. The next ones are Whistler's WinterPride from 1 to 8 February ( www.gaywhistler.com) and the Gay Snow Happening at Sölden in Austria ( www.soelden.at/gaysnowhappening) from 28 March to 4 April.

10 Snap on the latest gear

If you're thinking of buying new ski gear, this is the year to buy at home. UK retailers have held prices at the exchange rates they agreed with suppliers a year ago, when the pound was far stronger, so if you buy in sterling this season you won't feel the rise of the euro or the dollar. Next season we shouldn't expect to be so lucky, because most manufacturers are based in France, Austria and the US. New on the kit front, ski boots with mouldable inners have been all the rage for a while, but Salomon is taking the technology one step further by making boots with mouldable shells. In the Falcon CS Pros, the part of the shell around the toes is shaped to fit the many idiosyncrasies of the typical foot. They cost £230 and are available from Snow +Rock (0845 100 1000; www.snowandrock.com) and Ellis Brigham (0161-211 6200; www.ellis-brigham.com).