SNOW Alps 25-26 web - Flipbook - Page 24
FLURRIES
A League of its Own
Never content to simply ride the wave, Shaun White has created
a new one. Part daredevil, part disrupter, the three-time Olympic
gold medalist brings his signature charisma and future-forward
vision to The Snow League, the first global pro league dedicated to
snowboarding and freeskiing. With White at the helm, this is winter
sports as high-performance spectacle. White calls it “the kind of
global competition I could only dream of during my career.”
Season One spans three continents and four resorts with after
parties held at a secret set of coordinates and trophies by Tiffany.
Broadcast across 90 countries, viewers can listen in via microphones
on the athletes. The action kicked off last winter at Buttermilk
in Aspen Snowmass, where 36 elite snowboarders battled in the
halfpipe. Next stop, the Secret Garden — a Beijing 2022 Olympic
venue — in December 2025, where top freeskiers join the lineup.
After a pause for the 2026 Winter Games, the league returns to
Aspen in February before the grand finale at Laax, Switzerland in
March 2026, where the first Snow League World Champions will
be crowned. Athletes will earn points at every stop, with winners
claiming a share of the record-breaking $1.6 million prize pool.
— Leslie Woit
The Newest
Spa Obsession
Trust the Germans to turn sweating into theatre. Aufguss —
meaning “infusion” — is a traditionally Teutonic sauna ritual
that’s sweeping ski-resort spa hotels, transforming heat into
high drama. Picture it: your muscly Saunameister pirouetting
with a towel, wafting clouds of rosemary or cedarwood steam
through a room of spellbound bathers. Aromatic ice balls fizzle
on the rocks, sometimes to music, and suddenly your sweat
session feels like an operatic crescendo. Après ski with a twirl.
Once a niche curiosity, Aufguss is now the wellness trend to
chase. You’ll find Europe’s beau monde stripping off for steamy
treatment sessions at the toniest five-star wellness addresses
across the Alps and the Dolomites. And this winter, North
America’s extravagant BASIN Spa – the new indoor-outdoor
thermal wellness sanctuary at Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise,
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Alberta – brings sauna-chic over the pond.
Designed by Italian super-architect Matteo Thun — born
Mathäus Antonius Maria Graf von Thun und Hohenstein,
known for creating chic sanctuaries such as South Tyrol’s
Vigilius Mountain Resort and Bürgenstock above Lake
Lucerne — BASIN is minimalist luxury at altitude. The infinity
pool stretches toward the iconic lake’s edge, while self-guided
“circuits” bubble and drip through Finnish and bio saunas,
steam rooms, hot-stone massage suite and Turkish Hammam,
reflexology pool, a Kneipp walk, and a salt relax room. The views
are from a dream: turquoise Lake Louise, Victoria Glacier, fed
by constant flow of mineral-rich, glacier-fed water. Move over
cold plunge — this is hot culture. — LW
