• After several years of debate, one of the last bastions of pure skiing has crumbled. Aspen, Colorado, has decided to allow snowboarding. With an eye to skiers who have booked already for the current season, the revolution has been put on hold until April 1. The move reflects commercial reality. The resort's management points to forecasts that by 2005, 60% of all those on the slopes of America will be boarders. Stickers proclaiming "Free Ajax" - the name of Aspen's mountain - have become a common sight there. And recently a group of protesters defied the ban by boarding down the slopes at midnight. But the move has not been made without much agonising. Last winter, a website, aspen.com, polled visitors on the issue, and the result was a fairly evenly split. Snowboarding is already allowed at three neighbouring areas covered by the same lift pass - Aspen Highlands, Snowmass and Buttermilk - which are all a shuttle-bus ride away. Four other resorts in the US are still resisting the tide by continuing to impose bans: Taos, New Mexico, Alta and Deer Valley in Utah and Mad River Glen in Vermont - where some regu lars worry that snowboards would ruin the moguls.
• Skiers headed for another Colorado resort, Telluride, can buy cut-price lift passes online at www.telluride-ski.com for the fortnight beginning January 28. A four-day pass costs $139 (about £95), which represents a saving of 35%. You need to pay at least 14 days before arrival. Savings are also available on a range of accommodation with prices before tax starting at US$99 (about £68). Further information on such deals can be found at www.telluride-ski.com. Telluride, a former mining town where Butch Cassidy robbed his first bank, offers some of the finest skiing in North America.
• For independent skiers, a round-trip fare of £78.60 from Heathrow to Geneva is on offer from Swissair (0845 758 1333) until the end of the month. The deal is valid for departures until March 24. You must stay away for at least one Saturday night and no more than a month and you have to take two specific flights - the 3.05pm out, which arrives at 5.25pm and the 1.30pm back, which gets in at 2.20pm. Both services operate daily.
• Still looking for a half-term ski holiday? Go Dutch in Morgins. Chalet Solutions (020-8239 3399) has space left at two attractive hotels in the Swiss village, which is linked to the sprawling Portes du Soleil lift network straddling the border with France. The chalet-style properties are Dutch owned - and half-term is different in the Netherlands. A week there starting on February 17 costs from £369, including car ferry crossings, half-board based on four sharing a room and a local lift pass. An upgrade to a full area pass costs Sfr125 (£54). There is a £30 discount for children under 16 (one child for each adult booking). One hotel is a five-minute walk from the lifts, the other 200m away. The deal comes with a snag, however. Rooms do not have their own showers or toilets.
• Flexiski (0870 909 0754) can also find rooms this half-term at the three-star Hotel de la Croisette, opposite the main lift station in Courchevel 1850 (above) - which it claims has one of the liveliest bars in town. Prices start at £690 for a four-night B&B package, including flights and transfers. However, as its name suggests, the firm tailors holidays of various lengths and can offer accommodation at the hotel separately for those who want to make their own way there.
