Monoski festival in Chamonix this weekend

If you're heading up to Grands Montets today or tomorrow (Sunday), you may come across a abnormally large number of monoskiers ripping up the slopes, as it's the Cham'XP4 monoski festival this weekend.

Organised by Chamoniard Ludovic Berton who happens to be the president of the French Monoski Association, he commented : "The way things are going, there'll soon be as many snowboarders as us!". And, it seems he's only half joking, as apparently snowboarding is in decline, with the kids turning to freestyle skiing on their funky twin tips and, indeed, monoskiing is making a steady comeback.

As Ludovic admits : "The big time of the 70s and 80s is well behind us, but it's always going to be difficult to rid monoskiing of the label that it's a marginal sport".

That doesn't seem to bother the monoskiers who'll be out in force this weekend at Grands Montets. There are also two monoski manufacturers who'll be taking part offering a free test centre on the slopes on both days. A definite sign that the monoski scene is on the up is that manufacturers produced the biggest range of boards this winter since, well, the days of Apocalypse Snow!

We know it's all a bit tongue in cheek and dayglo one-piece and headband style, but if you've ever seen the first Apocalypse Snow film with Mr and Mrs Rolland doing their tandem monoski scene (complete with bumbags!), you can only be impressed - and we think Regis Rolland is a an uberhero anyway!

For more information (and funny photos) take a look at the Monoski Association website.