Research has shown at least one in 10 athletes suffered an injury during the 2010 Winter Olympics, with alpine freestyle and snowboard cross considered among the most hazardous sports.

Reported in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, the study recorded as many as 287 injuries and 185 illnesses during the international multi-sport event held in Canada.

Other dangerous sports included bobsleigh, ice hockey and short track. The Nordic skiing events were considered among the lowest risk sports, including the biathlon, cross-country skiing, ski jumping and Nordic combined.

The athletes mostly sustained head, spine or knees injuries. They suffered the injuries either during training or the competition.

A total of 82 doctors, who were looking after 2567 athletes, participated in the study.

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Colorado-based Vail Resorts has introduced a mobile app that allows skiers to track details about their skiing days and rides, and share the information with friends online.

The application called EpicMix uses technology embedded on chairlift tickets and passes, to communicate with radio-frequency scanners and calculate the vertical feet skied, runs and days spent on the mountain and recognise special achievements.

Guests will have an option to check their progress online or on the mobile app for free and share the statistics and accomplishments automatically through websites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Facebook friends will also be updated about their friends’ skiing schedules.

Rob Katz, CEO of Vail Resorts, said no one would see the riders’ data unless customers opt for the function, and the company doesn’t plan to share the data with third parties. Riders also can disable the radio-frequency chip.

Scanners are installed at 89 chairlifts across five mountain resorts of Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone in Colorado and Heavenly in California.

Mr Katz said digital media has been a “huge positive” for the ski business, with websites like Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare helping to reach out to customers and non-customers alike.

He added: “This is taking the real experience of skiing and action sports and marrying it with social media in a way that doesn’t require anybody to do anything new.

“People don’t have to take out their phones from their pockets or wear a new gadget.”

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The number of people travelling solo on winter sports holidays is on the rise, according to Ski Club Freshtracks.

Its supplement free single bookings has risen by 40%.

“People are looking for adventure and are keen to go on holidays that suit their own standard of sport, rather than having to accommodate friends and family members,” Ski Club Spokesperson Betony Garner told Travel Daily.

“I think people are looking for more adventurous types of travel and that’s why single skiers are on the rise,” she added.

Solo tourists have been wooed with a number of new offers by the company.

Individual travellers booked more than 70% of the company’s holidays.

“Our concept of skiing together with others of a similar standard and socialising together in the evening has become more popular than ever before,” explained Ski Club Freshtracks Sales and Operations Manager Katy Ellis.

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Winter sports enthusiasts have been given a boost with news that low fare airline Jet2.com will begin operating flights from Edinburgh and Newcastle to Geneva early next year.

The company announced it was bolstering its ski-season offering shortly after British Airways confirmed it would operate a new route from London City Airport to Chambèry in France.

Services to Geneva will be available from Newcastle and Edinburgh between 20 February – the start of school half term – and 27 March. Newcastle departures will also be available from 26 December until 9 January, covering the popular New Year period.

The flights, which start at £29.99 one way including taxes, complement those already on offer from the two North Eastern airports to Chambèry.

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Skiers are being encouraged to flock to ski fields around Australia as the country enjoys huge snow dumps.

Mount Hotham has received its highest amount of snowfall in August since 2001, with 143cm of snow falling in the month – 51cm of which has been measured in the past week. A further 50cm of snow is forecast to fall in the coming week.

Mt Hotham spokeswoman Gina Woodward, who described the record snowfall as a relief, said: “It’s great to see such a snowy August – pre-season forecasts had said it would be drier than this so it’s a great surprise.

“It’s the best second half of a season for many years.”

Dry and cold conditions in July helped man-made snow production peak, Ms Woodward added. She said: “Current man-made snow production is around 150 per cent more than this time last year, allowing us to get more areas and access trails open earlier.

“This will also allow us to keep the areas open in spring with a current snow base in those areas of 122cm.”

All of 12 lifts will be in operation.

Falls Creek spokesman Ian Talbot said: “This is shaping up to be one of our better August snowfalls in a decade.”

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Two British climbers, who were stuck 3,500 metres on top of Western Europe’s highest mountain, were rescued after calling a friend.

Finn McCann and Tom Greenwood were stranded on a tiny ledge on Italy’s Mont Blanc for 21 hours. After having a ‘nerve-wracking’ moment realising that their mobile phones were low on battery, they tried to call mountain rescue teams but were unable to get through.

Eventually they contacted their friend in the UK who arranged for their rescue.

Mr McCann, speaking on Sky News tonight, said: “We have got our friend to thank for the whole rescue really.

“We got stranded on this ledge and the only thing we could do was call mountain rescue. We had all the numbers programmed into our phone so we were ready for any eventuality.

“We were prepared to call up the Italian mountain rescue or the French. We were just appalled when we called the numbers and found out that neither worked.

“At this stage we were very low on battery and signal so with what little battery we had left we realised we had to quickly communicate with someone.

“We had to resort to calling Chris back home who took it upon himself to organise the whole rescue for us.

“We were so low on battery that we didn’t want to leave the phone on. It was a nerve-wracking moment because we realised if the battery did run out and that text did not get through then we were pretty much all alone on the mountain.”

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Champion snowboarder Torah Bright has had a superpipe named in her honour at the Australian ski resort of Perisher.

The Winter Olympian has won X Games Superpipe gold and silver medals, World Superpipe Championships and has racked up countless TTR wins and a TTR tour title.

The Perisher Superpipe, now named Bright’s Pipe, is a training base for Australia’s Winter Olympic Institute and is the only one of its kind in the country.

“Perisher is proud to have Torah as Perisher’s Ambassador and it was a special moment for us all to see Torah to cut the ribbon and officially rename the pipe in her honour,” said Gary Grant, Perisher’s general manager of marketing, sales and hospitality.

The International trail in Vail was renamed Lindsey’s after alpine skier Lindsey Vonn in February this year after the skier won Downhill gold at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.

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 Alerts have been issued for heavy snow at two resorts in the Alps mountains.

On Sunday, the skiinfo.co.uk reporting agency announced powder alarms for Italian skiing area Cervinia, which saw eight inches of fresh snow, and for the Swiss resort of Saas Fee, which recorded 18 inches of snow.

Ski Info tracks snowfall across the northern hemisphere and issues a powder alarm whenever at least eight inches of snow falls in just 24 hours – this often happens during winter months, not the summer.

Zermatt, near Saas Fee, has also had a big snowfall but has yet to release any details.

A further seven European glaciers are doing business for snow sports: Les 2 Alpes and Tignes in France, three resorts in Austria and two more in Italy. Most of them have had new snow recently.

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Travel agents are attempting to entice British ski enthusiasts back to the slopes with the latest brochures for winter 2010.

The main edition brochure for Crystal, the biggest operator, has already gone on sale, with Thomson due on August 19, Crystal Finest on the 26 and First Choice due on September 2.

Each of the operators will offer lower prices for earlier bookings and they each account for around 40% of the market.

Marion Telsnig at Crystal Ski says: “Operators lost money because of the sudden drop in demand in 2008/09 and there were further big capacity cuts in 2009/10, when Crystal cut about 40% of its chalet programme.

“Since then we have gone to leading resorts, lift pass providers, accommodation companies, transport firms and said that if they want British skiers to return, they must lower prices.

“With the pound firming against the euro, and fuel prices stable, things are moving back in favour of British skiers. But when bookings get going in September, prices must be attractive.”

At Erna Low, one of the first ski operators to the French Alps which began trading in 1932, managing director Jane Bolton says many more customers will drive to the slopes in 2010/11 to cash in on cheaper ferry fares and Eurotunnel crossings, and to avoid airport hassle and a possible repeat of the volcanic ash shutdown.

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Tour operators are now offering a discount to members of a not-for-profit snowsports club, it has been announced.

Skiers and snowboarders who have joined Ski Club will be able to take advantage of a discount of up to 20% that several tour operators are offering when booking holidays to the slopes.

Until now, tour operators working with the Ski Club have only offered up to a 10% discount to members.

Ski Hiver, a tour operator that specialises in self-catered chalets in the Paradiski resort of Les Arcs in France, now offers a 20% discount to Ski Club members with 20% off their holidays.

Alpine Tracks, who offer luxury catered chalet holidays in France and holidays to Norway, now offers 15% off ski holidays for members.

Ski Club members are also now entitled to a 12.5% discount when booking their on or off piste breaks during the 2010/2011 season online.

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