 Poster: A snowHead
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neilswingler not strictly a vege - I started eating fish again whilst working, so it does seem to have that effect.  However, there are at least three vegetarian restaurants in Zurich, and I've not seen one anywhere in France (I'm sure there are some 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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I think Switzerland should stay just as it is, Austria too for that matter...
When I go skiing the whole experience is (almost) just as important as the quality/quantity of runs, maybe its a girlie thing, I don't know. My idea of holiday hell is some purpose-built, concrete jungle eyesore, masquerading as a 'quality' resort. I want to know I'm in the Alps (wooden chalets, cowbells, etc.), I don't want to eat McDonalds, or chips with everything. I, at least, want the chance to sample some local culture. I like picturesque, traditional villages and that's where, IN MY OPINION, the Swiss and the Austrians' have it licked!!!
If you don't mind the old Blackpool in the sun/snow type mass tourism destinations, fine, go for the cheapest option every time & stay in some shoe-box sized room which is laughingly described as an apartment (I've made that mistake in the past - NEVER, ever again!!) - France would seem to be the biggest culprit in this regard. But, if you want a quality holiday experience, I'd go for Switzerland or Austria every time, in fact I'd live there if I could!!
Last month in Austria we were left to lock up the bar in our hotel on 3 separate occasions during our week-long stay, as the barman finished around 11pm. Where else would you get trust like that? Not at home that's for sure. It's this kind of hospitality that put Switzerland & Austria streets ahead in my opinion. I've never found either to be vastly overpriced. As someone else mentioned earlier, go where the locals go, but this is true for any destination abroad. |
No, it's not just a girlie thing. You've summed up the charm of Austria (must go back there next season) and Switzeralnd pretty well for me, too.
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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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Hi I'm a newbie to this forum (and this skiing business, having only taken it up last year at 23...) and I'm intrigued by this thread. I've now done 2 weeks; both in Champery on the Swiss side of the Portes Du Soleil and so have no experience of any other ski area but I think it's the most fantastic place. Learning was a tad daunting since there is only a 30 yd nursery slope and then Planachaux but the rest of the runs are great. We used a local independent ski school (can I name drop on here?) who were absolutely superb: friendly, always smiling, very enthusiastic and had a great attitude (they even remembered us from last year). They invited us out to a small club where the band came on after midnight and the hospitality was fantastic. Those of us that were beginners last year have progressed so much further than we could have hoped. The village itself is completely unspoilt and is blissfully empty of fellow Brits. In fact, both times we've been it's been blissfully empty of most people (apart from weekends). Our experienced of this place was so good that no sooner had we got back than we bought all the kit. To me, that sums up what a great sking resort (should I use that description?) should be like and although I would love to ski some of the French resorts (the superior piste and uplift quality in Avoriaz gave us a taster...), I could remain forever happy just sauntering around Champery. Plug over.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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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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Sharkymark,
Welcome to snowheads.
The Swiss side of PDS is not huge but scattered around in decent size satellite resorts. Also the Swiss do not go out all the way like the French to make an industry out of it. With less number of skiers the service will be good and friendly. You will have a difficulty to get the same warm and friendly reception in the mega French resort. However as your skiing develop you may like to see more chairlifts instead drag lifts and bigger terrain and the French ones will fit in well. Nevertheless losing your skiing virginity to a Swiss resort is a memorable event.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Does the ski lift ownership structure in some Swiss resorts hamper their development (compared with big French resorts in particular)?
At various times in Switzerland I've heard anecdotal stories of ski lift companies run by committees of farmers who find it easier to take a collective decision to pay themselves a large dividend than to keep investing in improving the lift system. Or if one lift needs upgrading that belongs to an individual, that will benefit the entire system, they can't agree among themselves how to share any resulting increase in revenue. In comparison, if the system is run by a single company, it's much easier to take this sort of decision. I don't know if this explained the situation in Verbier, but for years they had horrendous queues in comparison with other large Alpine resorts because of lack of investment in key bottlenecks.
I also observe that some lower Swiss resorts (e.g. Leysin, Villars, Ski Gstaad area) have made minimal investment in snow making equipment compared with what I've seen in France or Austria. With global warming, this is becoming essential for any resort below around 1700m.
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Julian T, certainly at one time what you described was definately the case, now however some of the resorts have realised that they cannot go on like that, often this results in a form of cooperative ownership and running of the ski lifts with far better results, one of the problems with using artificial snow is that many of the Swiss resorts use their ski slopes in the summer for alpine pasture and thus cannot use the addatives in the water to change the freezing point, this tends to mean that whilst an area may have snow making equipment it might only be useable at quite low temperatures, often this can result in patches of frozen solid snow only slightly less hard than ice to ski on.
As an example Wengen has over recent years either replaced or modified many of its existing lifts significantly improving the numbers being taken up the mountain per hour, what it has not done is add any new lift routes to the area since the 1970's, there is now a good chance that one of the old drag lifts is going to be replaced with a significantly longer chair lift but it will still just be the replacement of one lift with another
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