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Backstreet Boys to kick off Schladming’s 2025-26 season
The iconic boyband Backstreet Boys are bringing the magic to Austria’s Schladming-Dachstein region as headliners of the local Ski Opening festival on 6th December 2025.
More acts are to be announced, with last year’s edition featuring Sting, Simply Red and Bryan Adams playing in front of a packed crowd, while Robbie Williams has also featured in the past.
Most people will recognise the band’s best hits, including I Want It That Way and Everybody (Backstreet’s Back).
Schladming is home to more than 230km of slopes, with plenty of brilliant lifts and ski huts to indulge in food and drink at.
Brand new ski flight route for North-Easterners
Skiers in Newcastle are soon to be treated to even more holiday choice.
Newcastle Airport will now have regular TUI flights during winter to Sofia - from where you can easily reach a range of Bulgarian ski holidays.
Resorts like Bansko and Borovets provide cheap and very cheerful nights out - a natural fit for those Geordies who love their own city’s raucous nightlife and iconic treble shots.
They’re also super options for beginner skiers, thanks to their brilliant ski schools and gentle tree-lined runs, while families are also more than welcome there.
Huge investment to modernise Austrian ski area
A €25m modernisation project is underway in 2 resorts that are part of the Salzburgerland Sportwelt ski area.
In Filzmoos, a new reservoir is being constructed at 1,600m, with the aim of securing the resort’s snowmaking capabilities for the future. “Without the [new] reservoir, continuing winter operations would no longer be possible”, said the region’s Managing Director, Daniel Berchthaller.
Meanwhile, in the Fageralmbahn part of the ski area in Forstau, a new 8-person cable car will open at the start of the 2025-26 season, replacing a couple of 2-person chairlifts - dramatically increasing the route’s capacity and “expanding and improving the quality of the ski offerings for children and families”.
French ski train boost with possible new gondola
Plans to connect a valley town to a popular ski resort with a huge new gondola will be welcomed by skiers who prefer the scenic rail route to the Alps.
The French town of Magland will soon be connected to family-friendly Flaine (part of the Grand Massif ski area) by a shiny new 15-minute gondola which is said to be opening in late 2025. It’ll beat driving times by 25 minutes!
There was originally an aerial tramway when Flaine was constructed in the 1960s, but it was closed after cars ultimately took over. However, climate change mitigation efforts have changed minds, with the gondola predicted to replace 85,000 cars, 500 lorries and 100 buses each year.
A new high-speed rail station will soon join it. Pencilled in for 2029, Magland will become a hub for quick trains down from Paris where skiers can jump off and straight onto a gondola - replacing the need for road transfers, which take about 40 minutes.
