 Poster: A snowHead
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Seeing another thread about Tahoe reminds me how much I hated it.
Tacky, ugly and sad. That's the place, the skiing was ok but nothing more
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I've only been to La Plagne, 3V (VT and La Tania), Livigno and Ski Amade. Would return to all of them, although Livigno isn't a first choice simply because of the transfer. VT is a bit desolate and unpleasant in poor conditions, La Plagne is ugly and Bellecote can be a pain, but I've never found any of those things to be such a hindrance that I don't want to return.
Like @Conrad Bool, I don't understand people that say La Plagne lacks variety, there are a few places that pistes run side by side and are similar, but on the whole there's good options.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Keystone Colorado, most fake little purpose built village I ever encountered. Even the village center firepit thing is gas powered and no doubt snuffs out promptly on schedule.
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Levi, Finland. Poor link between the two areas and bus isn't included on ski pass as it is in Ruka which has better variety of pistes. I know not your usual resorts but would go back to Ruka in a heartbeat, well next Christmas but Levi, no thanks. Great x country at both though
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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All skiing is good in my book, even a miserable foggy day in Aviemore is fun!
But of resorts I've visited, most of them I probably wouldn't go back to for various reasons. That includes most of the Alps, especially the bigger resorts. It's not that I didn't enjoy them at the time, it's more a case of preferring to ski elsewhere. I've never had a truly bad ski holiday except for Kitzbuhel due to a total lack of snow.
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Not so much resorts I wouldn't return to, but ones I wouldn't go to in the first place:
Morzine - just much, much too low and insufficiently snowsure.
Sölden - Only driven past it on the way to Obergurgl, but all we saw were a few tiny ribbons of brown snow snaking down through the muddy fields to an incredibly ugly town straddling a busy main road.
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| foxtrotzulu wrote: |
Not so much resorts I wouldn't return to, but ones I wouldn't go to in the first place:
Morzine - just much, much too low and insufficiently snowsure.
Sölden - Only driven past it on the way to Obergurgl, but all we saw were a few tiny ribbons of brown snow snaking down through the muddy fields to an incredibly ugly town straddling a busy main road. |
Is it really fair to criticize those two when everywhere else in recent years have been suffering too?
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Not sure I could be bothered to go to Morzine and Avoriaz again. Both were too busy for me. Morzine was wet and Avoriaz was too moguled. Too get between them both was a half hour queue.
Although I have some friends who don't go anywhere else..
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| wib wrote: |
| Just returned from Ischgl and can't understand why it seems to be gaining almost cult status. |
Because of the wide age range, the party atmosphere, the large gangs of beer-ed up retirees on the lash like fiends from 5pm til........9pm. Because of the fabulous food at the Panznauerstuber (probably spelt wrong) and the japanese place (Lucy Wong ?), and the very friendly atmosphere.
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Cortina. Beautiful scenery, nice town, but the longest gondola/lift queues I've ever known and it's a pig to get to the various areas - we were stuck in traffic for an hour or more. Though we did go over New Year, might be different other times.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| northernsoulboy wrote: |
| Cortina. Beautiful scenery, nice town, but the longest gondola/lift queues I've ever known and it's a pig to get to the various areas - we were stuck in traffic for an hour or more. Though we did go over New Year, might be different other times. |
The longer you are stuck in traffic and queuing for a Gondola, the less time you have to feck yourself up while skiing. 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| northernsoulboy wrote: |
| Cortina. Beautiful scenery, nice town, but the longest gondola/lift queues I've ever known and it's a pig to get to the various areas - we were stuck in traffic for an hour or more. Though we did go over New Year, might be different other times. |
Was it just too many people or is it poor lift infrastructure?
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Vars - We had a fab holiday there in 2014 but got very lucky with snow, weather, queues and timing of Marseille holidays. Such luck won't hold in the future, so a return visit would surely be a disappointment.
Montgenevre - We've had two fab holidays there in 2015 and 2018 but a third visit might get a bit "samey". Definitely on the list for a summer visit though, to sample the MTB routes.
Reberty - Grim / uninspiring. If we were going to the 3Vs we'd go elsewhere e.g. one of the lower Courchevels.
Lermoos - We had a great Christmas / late honeymoon there but got lucky with snow, as the resort is very low and the "local" glacier skiing (which was our backup option) was at the end of a long, convoluted journey and wasn't very good anyway. Besides, we got the only room in the hotel containing a suit of armour, from where the only way is down!
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You know it makes sense.
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| südtirolistdeutsch wrote: |
| northernsoulboy wrote: |
| Cortina. Beautiful scenery, nice town, but the longest gondola/lift queues I've ever known and it's a pig to get to the various areas - we were stuck in traffic for an hour or more. Though we did go over New Year, might be different other times. |
Was it just too many people or is it poor lift infrastructure? |
I couldn't say as I've only been there that one week. From memory the lifts were quick and everything - just too many people. Some locals did say that it was the worst week to be there as lots of wealthy Italians (and Russians, lots of them there) go to Cortina for New Year, but I've skied in lots of places over New Year and it was worse than most.
First day up the mountain we queued for 90+ mins for the gondola.
Sitting in a stationary cab breathing in diesel fumes while (not really) moving from one side of the resort to the other was no fun either.
That said, it was absolutely stunning - maybe the prettiest scenery I've ever seen on a mountain - and there are some great long runs. You can access the whole Dolomiti Superski area so if you can deal with the queues it's good. If it was just the worst possible week... I might be talking myself into going back actually!
To be honest, I mostly would go back anywhere.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| northernsoulboy wrote: |
First day up the mountain we queued for 90+ mins for the gondola. |
Aaaarghh!!! Hope you took sandwiches!!
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Poster: A snowHead
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| The Flying Snowplough wrote: |
Vars - We had a fab holiday there in 2014 but got very lucky with snow, weather, queues and timing of Marseille holidays. Such luck won't hold in the future, so a return visit would surely be a disappointment.
Montgenevre - We've had two fab holidays there in 2015 and 2018 but a third visit might get a bit "samey". Definitely on the list for a summer visit though, to sample the MTB routes. |
Sounds odd logic to me on the two above. Certainly I used to have the view that going to new places was a good thing but I'm not so sure anymore. I quite like knowing my way around and having some "guarantees" on what I am getting. The snow conditions are going to vary from trip to trip regardless of where I go.
| The Flying Snowplough wrote: |
| Reberty - Grim / uninspiring. If we were going to the 3Vs we'd go elsewhere e.g. one of the lower Courchevels. |
Try La Tania
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Layne, if Vars and MontyG were our only options we'd be happy to go back but there are just too many other places we'd like to visit/revisit in preference and we have such good memories of these previous haunts. Good call re La Tania. Skied there on a previous Couchevel foray and liked the look of it.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| northernsoulboy wrote: |
First day up the mountain we queued for 90+ mins for the gondola.
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That would most definitely black ball the resort for me! I get frustrated if I have to wait 10 mins for a lift.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| northernsoulboy wrote: |
First day up the mountain we queued for 90+ mins for the gondola.
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Ha, that reminds me of the Kitzsteinhorn waiting 'funnel' in the days of the ill-fated Gletscherbahn.
There were notices up with 1, 2 and 3 hour waiting times! Anything over the 1 hour mark and it was straight back to the bus!
The trip back to Kaprun on the bus in the evening was the biggest free-for-all I've ever experienced.
Nightmare....
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@northernsoulboy, OK this is not skiing related but we went to Cortina this summer and thought we would climb in the Misurina area the first day. It was August 15th. It took us well over an hour for the short car drive just to be turned back at the road upto the Drei Zinnen. All the car parks were full. In the end we spent the remainder of the day sport climbing in the Faloria area. As you say a beautiful area but IMHO a so so town.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Can't be doing with long queues.
A few years back I went with some friends to Les Arcs, a place they had been several times. There was not a lot of snow so as most people we headed high. After spotting the size of the queue on the plateau up there I let go with a whole series of profanities to the bewilderment of my friends. They were completely used to long queues. 10 mins skiing 25 mins queuing, no thanks not again.
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Pila, Aosta - just because of the lifts mainly - old & slow zzz
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| Spike107 wrote: |
| Digger the dinosaur wrote: |
| Andorra. It is just full of people so far out of control you can't relax and enjoy the skiing, which is tame and hilariously over-graded - we skied blacks that would be barely blue in France. Several near misses literally every day while we were there. Fine for partying if cheap booze and cigarettes are your thing, but don't bother skiing there. |
Cheers for the heads up, we're going Andorra in 5 weeks...  Which resort did you stay in? |
Soldeu. Even paid a decent price for a "nice" hotel which actually stank of crap 24/7. Combined with the constant looking over our shoulders (we were pretty comfortable intermediates, and were getting overtaken by people in the classic poles sticking out, legs 4 feet apart, arms flapping, panicked teenage self-taught skier brigade) to avoid getting hit.
I've been to a lot of ski resorts, and Andorra is the only place I wouldn't go back to. I have no idea why I found that and others didn't, maybe school or university holidays at the same time, who knows. But the whole place didn't warrant me ever feeling like I should go back to find out.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Quote: |
10 mins skiing 25 mins queuing, no thanks not again.
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I agree. My tolerance for lift queues is near-zero.
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My worst queuing was when the snow at PdS was poor. We were staying on the road between Morzine and Avoriaz (our original holiday was with a company that went bust).
Everybody was using the Cable Car up to Avoriaz and as there was not enough snow to ski back, everybody used it to come back down again. There was 1 hr+ queues to get up and 2Hr queues to get back down again. Horrible.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Probably Les Houches as there is a severe lack of Apre and the skiing there is really limited you have to travel into and past Chamonix where it is far superior in my opinion.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Probably any resort that still has T-bar drag lifts.
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Chambon les neiges, great little resort, no lifts now.
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You know it makes sense.
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| davidof wrote: |
| Chambon les neiges, great little resort, no lifts now. |
Why did they shut down?
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| südtirolistdeutsch wrote: |
| davidof wrote: |
| Chambon les neiges, great little resort, no lifts now. |
Why did they shut down? |
climate change
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Poster: A snowHead
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| davidof wrote: |
| südtirolistdeutsch wrote: |
| davidof wrote: |
| Chambon les neiges, great little resort, no lifts now. |
Why did they shut down? |
climate change |
Wow it really got that bad? Aren't there other ski resorts in the same region that are still opened though?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| red 27 wrote: |
Seeing another thread about Tahoe reminds me how much I hated it.
Tacky, ugly and sad. That's the place, the skiing was ok but nothing more |
The skiing is much more than "ok". And the scenery was unmatched anywhere else.
If that's not your cup of tea, you shouldn't have bothered in the first place. You wasted the time.
To say a resort you'll never "go back" is to say you went without knowing what it's like and only realized it after you've been there. That's pretty spectacularly poor planning. (I've been to resorts with spectacular bad timing, but never one that has so little redeeming feature to entice me to go again)
There're many mountain I won't be in a hurry to go to (or "go back"). But can't name one I have gone and will never go again.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| südtirolistdeutsch wrote: |
| davidof wrote: |
| südtirolistdeutsch wrote: |
| davidof wrote: |
| Chambon les neiges, great little resort, no lifts now. |
Why did they shut down? |
climate change |
Wow it really got that bad? Aren't there other ski resorts in the same region that are still opened though? |
Le Mont Dore. Super Besse.
There are dozens of closed resorts around here, some of which I skied in the past. One I cycled past in the summer, Oris en Ratier, still had snow canons in place but no lifts.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| abc wrote: |
| And the scenery was unmatched anywhere else. |
What is so great about the view ?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| rjs wrote: |
| abc wrote: |
| And the scenery was unmatched anywhere else. |
What is so great about the view ? |
Lake Tahoe
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| abc wrote: |
| rjs wrote: |
| abc wrote: |
| And the scenery was unmatched anywhere else. |
What is so great about the view ? |
Lake Tahoe |
I quite agree.
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@abc, well everyone has their opinion. Squaw (nor most NA resorts) doesn't compare from a town village atmosphere. I agree with @red 27, that the village is lacking.
Terrain, I don't, but it really is hit or miss in Tahoe for a while. I have had top to bottom torrential rain there, that would dissuade me. Also, a massive dump followed by super warm temps, that created super heavy snow and fog all the way to the top. Also got many many really good days, but like I said, weather is so sketchy there. I probably wouldn't travel there if I wasn't close for work, and from UK u fly over better weather odds.
I do love kirkwood tho, with no town and totally based on terrain.
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Thinking about it, I probably wouldn't return to Chatel either, due to the fairly clickety clack lift system. Off to Grand Massif this weekend coming and I've also booked a week in January to Les Menuries, so that gives me another 2 French outings to see if it will sway me from my current pecking order of Switzerland, Austria, Italy,France.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| pam w wrote: |
| Quote: |
10 mins skiing 25 mins queuing, no thanks not again.
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I agree. My tolerance for lift queues is near-zero. |
Go to Scandinavia!
| ysb33r wrote: |
| Probably any resort that still has T-bar drag lifts. |
Don’t go to Scandinavia!
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| abc wrote: |
| rjs wrote: |
| abc wrote: |
| And the scenery was unmatched anywhere else. |
What is so great about the view ? |
Lake Tahoe |
And how is that different from Lac Leman ?
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