Sherman's Pick for 10 Best Ski Resorts for Nonskiers

With only four in the U.S., mixed-interest groups better get passports ready if following Sherman

 ShermansTravel selected "Top 10 Ski Resorts for Nonskiers."  The magazine's selection -- or perhaps the selection of Becca Bergman whose byline appears after each writeup -- is heavily canted toward resorts in other countries. This is not surprising in the sense that Alpine resorts have long considered themselves winter destinations, rather than ski destinations. The list include links to "smart splurge" and "great value" accommodations but not the main resort websites. I've added those for your convenience.

ShermansTravel's Choices

• Bad Gastein, Austria
• Megève, France
• Mont Tremblant, Quebec
• Park City, Utah
• Sierra Nevada, Spain
• Stowe, Vermont
• Sun Valley, Idaho
• Taos, New Mexico
• Whistler/Blackcomb, British Columbia
• Zermatt, Switzerland

Claire's List

I'm not taking issue with the selections above as much as feeling there are some better choices. I would just like to have seen more domestic destinations that are more convenient and affordable these days for US skiers -- and those criteria don't even take into account the additional hassles of overseas air travel in effect for the foreseeable future. Here are six (three in the US) that I think would have been worthy for ShermansTravel's list:

• Aspen, Colorado - Enchanting old mining town with a deserved reputation for high prices but a lot of surprisingly affordable, often free, non-ski options. These include free bus area transportation, free cross-country skiing and snowshoeing trails and tours, free art museum, three ice skating rinks, excellent intown spa, winter flying fishing on the Roaring Fork and Fryingpan Rivers and much more.
•  Banff/Lake Louise, Alberta - Located in Banff National Park, town of Banff offers terrific shopping, museums and galleries. Heart-of-the-park cross-country skiing and snowshoeing adventures, including at nearby Lake Louise, which is jaw-droppingly beautiful.
•  Jackson Hole, Wyoming - The ski area is known for steep-and-deep skiing and riding, but the picturesque Town of Jackson offers fantastic shopping and gallery hopping. There's an Olympic-size skating rink at Snow King Resort. Visit the National Museum of Wildlife Art and then take an unforgettable sleighride through the National Elk Refuge, just north of town, or take a snowmobile trip at Togwotee Pass to the south. Plus snowshoeing and cross-country skiing in Grand Teton National Park, which actually borders the downhill ski area, and a day trip to magnificent Yellowstone National Park beyond.
•  Innsbruck, Austria - Two-time Olympic host in the heart of the Tyrolean Alps offers urban culture and urban pleasures. Twenty museums, from archeology to the most modern art. 14th International Fair for Contemporary Art INNSBRUCK (February 19-22) is major.Splendid shopping, window and otherwise, in the historic Old City. Vibrant nightlife.
• St. Moritz, Switzerland - Glamorous resort in Rhaetian Alps. No better place for window shopping, skating, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, winter walking, sledding, horsedrawn carriage rides and spectating at top-level sports competitions, including polo on the frozen lake.
•  Vail, Colorado - Fabulous shops in charming pedestrian village, fine spas, scenic gondola rides (free after 1:00 p.m.) and free valley-wide bus transportation. Cross-country skiing, ice skating, snowshoeing and nearby snowmobiling. Excellent dining. 

Galveston's Tourist Zone Devastation Revealed

Hurricane Ike's legacy is a swath of devastation; popular Strand severely damaged

Even as hurricane evacuees were allowed back to hurricane-battered Galveston, TX, to survey the destruction, the Convention & Visitors Bureau website continues to chirp:

"Galveston offers 32 miles of relaxing beaches, superb restaurants, top
resort hotels, marvelous downtown shopping, numerous antique stores,
incredible art galleries, fabulous entertainment and one of the largest
and well-preserved concentrations of Victorian architecture in the
country.

"Galveston is a small romantic island tucked deep within the heart of
south Texas possessing all the charm of a small southern town and just 40
minutes south of the fourth largest city in the United States. At 32 miles long
and two and a half miles wide, most residents can't remember the last time they
visited the mainland and, if circumstances permitted, they would never
leave.

"The Island has seen its share of calamities, yet the worst natural
disaster in U.S. history could not erase the tranquility of a Galveston
sunset.

"From soft sandy beaches to famous 19th century architecture, the island
is surrounded with incredible history and unique beauty."

Sure, there's a donation solicitation from the Greater Houston Community Foundation on the site to "Help Bring the Island Back. Donate to the Hurricane Ike Relief Fund." But that doesn't begin to describe the devastation they found following the cataclysmic 12-foot storm surge and 110-mile winds that made landfall earlier this month. CNN cameras showed closed, flooded stores on The Strand, Galveston's popular 26-block tourist zone, once home to some 100 shops and restaurants. There is limited water (none of it drinkable), and residents and business owners are permitted in only to assess the damages and to undertake very preliminary clean-up but are required to leave the island again by 6:00 p.m.

Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas and officials from the Port of Galveston and the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston met with an ad hoc Senate committee who said that the city is seeking $2.3 billion in emergency government assistance -- $1.2 billion for the city; $600 million for the hospital and $500 million for the port.

Ironically, it is US Senator Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat who chairs the ad hoc Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Disaster Recovery Subcommittee, which held the hearing to examine the federal government's response to back-to-back Hurricanes Ike and Gustav -- ironic because the government was painfully slow to help New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina three years ago. And that was before the government was steaming full speed ahead to bailing out failed banks and insurance companies to the tune of $700 million.

Bottom line for travelers: don't plan to visit Galveston Island any time soon, unless you're planning to volunteer for some kind of rebuilding crew.

P.S. On September 29, Boulder blogger Alyce Barry put a post on her with links to additional photos of Galveston and conjecture about the future of the island.

Travel Gear: The Best and Worst of the Year

Travel writers' evaluations of 2009's winners and losers

Practical Travel Gear published a short list of the best and worst travel items for 2009. There were, of course, good suggestions for tote bags, clothing and miscellaneous accessories, and some on the "worst" list that made me laugh out loud. Contributor John Gordon wrote, "Some things I just don’t understand, like Planesheets for covering airline seats. Besides the dubious claims of cleanliness, I’d just feel a little weird being the only passenger on the plane sitting in a zebra-stripe seat." I've got to agree on that one, though in this age of swine-flu fear, I suppose there are travelers who feel more protected by temporarily slip-covering their airplane seat in washable or disposable covers -- butt-ugly as some of them are.

No one asked me, but I'd include among the best those TSA-approved luggage locks. They're not new, but neither is Ex-Officio travelwear that the site praised. I've always wondered about unlocked bags both as invitations to pilferage and as ways that someone behind the scenes at an airport can make anb innocent traveler an unwitting mule for smuggling contraband. I'd include noise-canceling headphones, not new either but invaluable on a small, noisy airplane or a long flight on any plane at all. And finally, I'd include those not-new-either inflatable neck pillows, which are great now that airlines have become chintzy with little pillows. I like to sleep on planes and appreciate the comfort.

Great Snow Conditions Launch 2010

Happy New Year -- and happy powder season across the snowbelt.

My friend Maja has been in St. Moritz, Switzerland, over the holidays. On Wednesday she wrote, "winter wonderland! ..snowing snowing snowing...." On Thursday she wrote, "December 31st, St. Moritz..and it's snowing like crazy! I wish all my friends a great New Years Eve bash!!!!!! To a fab 2010!" And yesterday, on New Year's Day, she wrote, "Happy New Year!!!!!! What a spectacular start! Love 1.1.2010! Fab Skiing! tons of powder, blue skies, GREAT fireworks ... evening another snow storm.... true winter wonderland.....I am feeling like a winter princess..... a great 2010 has begun! Happy New Year, cheers cheers cheers!" Thanks, Maja. I just wish St. Moritz had a current snow conditions picture on its website or that the site had a more straightforward to obtain to copy here and share with everyone.

My pal Nancy wrote from Maine, "Gotta Love This Snowstorm! It's great for the ski industry!" Hey Nancy, it's great for all of us who like to slide on snow. The photo at the right was taken at Sugarloaf, Maine, a happy fresh-snow scene repeated across New England. Vermont ski areas reported 3 to 9 inches of new snow, which in the Northeast is a major dump. Most Vermont areas were in the 2- to 5-inch category, but Mount Snow, in the southern part of the state reported 9 inches! If true, Mount Snow must had its own micro-weather system, because New Hampshire ski areas also welcomed 3 to 5 inches of new snow, and Jiminy Peak in northwestern Massachusetts reported just 1 inch.

But what of the Rockies? I went to Snowmass between Christmas and New Year, skiing on beautifully groomed snow on three cold, clear, wind-free days. It started snowing on the evening after day three, just as I was leaving. My son, Andrew, teaches skiing at Purgatory near Durango in southwestern Colorado. He tole me that they got about a foot in the days leading up to New Year, that conditions have been great there too, and that he, his ski school colleagues and their clients are eagerly awaiting their next powder day.

The biggest snows (and the best January deal) might just be at Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The resort clocked in 19 inches of snow since Wednesday morning and is expecting  huge storm that is forecast to hit the Tetons over the weekend, bringing another one to two feet of new snow. And the resort has an amazing January deal. The ‘Buy 2 Get 2’ airline offer from any departure city in the country, amounts to half-price fares on any airline for a group or family or four or more. Book before January 15 and travel by January 31. Combine that with lift/lodging packages starting at $81 per person, per night, and it's hardly worth staying home.

On the other side of the soaring Tetons from Jackson Hole, Grand Targhee has snared three feet of snow in the last three days. Th images are awesome, but I'm not skilled enough to download one and post it, so click here and be dazzled.

And if you don't ski, snowboard, cross-country ski, skate-ski (a dynamite exercise) or snowshoe, January is the time to do it. Learn a Snowsport Month features dynamite deals that generally include very affordable instruction, equipment and lift tickets or trail passes. Each participating ski resort or cross-country center sets its own program.

Ten Terrific Terminals

MSN.Travel spotlights notable new terminals that recently opened or are about to open

"9 Amazing New Airports" is the headline on a story on msn.travel. The story itself proceeds to name 10 fabulous new structures. I guess the headline writers can't count very well, but the list is interesting. Indeed, nine of the 10 that writer Harriet Baskas selected, while amazing and dramatic, aren't entire airports but rather individual new terminals at existing airports. (The exception is Branson, MO's new airport, opening next year.)

Perhaps I'm splitting hairs when I should simply be grateful that there are inspiring spaces that we pass through by the millions every year en route to or from our aircraft -- or while we wait in security lines, wait for our flights to board or wait for our luggage. Of course, the waiting doesn't usually take place in the sublime soaring spaces that are the best parts of the terminals that Baskas identified. The website showcases them in a slide show. More likely, we're in snaking security lines or sitting in crowded departure lounges. (Baskas does include useful information on amenities that help us pass the time.)

The first architecturally significant terminal that entered my consciousness was the Eero Saarinen-design TWA Flight Center (top photo, right) at New York's Idlewild Airport (now JFK International Airport). Inspired by the wings of a bird in flight, the terminal seemed large and futuristic when it opened in 1962. It was a time when air travel was a glamorous adventure, and Saarinen's grounded concrete bird conveyed that feeling.

The last time I went inside the terminal was in the waning days of TWA. I was changing planes at JFK, checked in my bags for an international flight and with time to spare, walked back to TWA and wandered in. Once a busy and glamorous space, the terminal had become shabby with security screening facilities cluttering the middle of the space. After TWA went out of business, the terminal was threatened with demolition. Fortunately, it was saved, and has now been creatively incorporated into fast-growing JetBlue's new terminal (bottom photo), scheduled to open next month.

Of Baskas' list of beauties, three terminals (Changi, Heathrow, Beijing) opened in the first three months of 2008, and four have opened or should be opening during the last three months of the year. Here are her choices:

• Heathrow Airport's (LHR) Terminal 5, which stumbled into operation in March 2008
• Beijing Capital International Airport's (PEK) Terminal 3, also opened around the same time
• Singapore Changi Airport's (SIN) Terminal 3
• John F. Kennedy International Airport's (JFK) American Airlines Terminal, which opened in 2007
• JFK's Terminal 5 (Jet Blue), scheduled to open on October 22
• Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport's (DTW) North Terminal, which just opened last week
• Raleigh-Durham International Airport's (RDU) Terminal 2, scheduled to open October 26
• Indianapolis International Airport's (IND) new terminal, scheduled to open November 11
• Branson Airport (BBG), scheduled to open in May 2009
• Madrid Barajas Airport's (MAD) two-year-old Terminal 4

Delta and Northwest to Wed -- Maybe

Proposed merger clears government hurdle

The Federal Aviation Administration has reportedly accepted plans of a merger between Atlanta-based Delta Airlines and Minnesota-based Northwest Airlines into a combined carrier that will retain the Delta name. It is expected to happen, and the European agency that also had to sign off on this has already done so. Then again, as Yogi Berra famously said, "It ain't over till it's over." Remember that Northwest at one point was going to merge with Houston-based Continental, but that never happened -- although numerous other airline mergers have been consummated since then. In any case, if/when approved, combining daily operations will take 15 to 18 months to combine the carriers daily operations. Share holders are supposed to vote on the merger this Thursday.

The merger may be good for shareholders, it probably won't do a lot for the flying public (because nothing lately has been good for the flying public) and it will be another blow to employees, some of who would surely be terminated. Thomas Kochan, an MIT professor whose who studies the airline industry, said that US airlines eliminated 100,000 jobs between 2001 and 2005 alone, and that airline bankruptcies have also decimated 16 pension plans covering 240,000 employees nationwide. Northwest employees belong to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, while other than pilots, Delta is primarily a non-union carrier. The US Justice Department alone can block mergers on antitrust grounds, but Congress has the powder to protect pension benefits. The current administration and recent Congresses have seemingly been more sympathetic to corporations and their shareholders than to workers, retirees or travelers on common carriers.

13 Airlines Shut Down in 2009

Small and little-known airlines around the world grounded forever

Thirteen airlines that were flying a year ago are no longer in the air. From Air Comet (Spain) to Zambian Airways (Zambia, naturally), the Cranky Flyer found a baker's dozen carriers that folded in 2009 for a number of reasons. None of these have the global importance of, say, Pan Am, but each had a niche. Some were operationally unsound and were shut done by their respective national aviation authorities. Others succumbed to mismanagement and financial failures. Cranky wrote about the often-checkered history of each and what finally did it in. A tombstone graphic accompanied each writeup. Although I never heard of most of these doomed carriers, the stories made for interesting reading -- a must for anyone who vacuums up airline trivia.