The
Jiva Hill Park Hotel (
www.jivahill.com) in France has begun offering easy access to some of the finest ski areas in the Alps. The hotel, located on the Swiss border near Mont Blanc, has created a package that includes helicopter trips to Courchevel, Megève, Méribel, and other ski resorts in the region. The $22,000, two-night visit includes two round-trips to a resort, ski passes, private ski instruction, and sports massages. . . . Sterling Skis, a Colorado company, recently introduced equipment appropriately named (and fashioned) for the Alps. The $3,000-a-pair
Matterhorn skis (
www.sterlingskis.com) are made with nano-carbon bases—the kind that are used for racing—reinforced with an aluminum/titanium alloy and topped with bird’s-eye maple, madrona burl, or palisander santos (a type of rosewood). Sterling plans to make no more than 150 pairs this season. . . . Negotiating a mogul is exciting enough, but you might experience an even more intense (albeit virtual) thrill in VRX Industries’ $25,000
VRX Mach 4 racecar simulator (
www.virtualracerx.com). Ensconced in a Sparco Monza racing seat, you face three LCDs that together provide a 180-degree view of the track ahead. A screen disguised as a rearview mirror presents an image of the track behind. Surround-sound technology, a virtual wind system, and a 1,000-watt transducer beneath the seat (which VRX techs affectionately call the "butt kicker") reinforce the realism.
