Where to do a season, 2021

A snowHead

Background: 60s couple, 5 years in, wife still tells the hire guys she's a beginner (she's much better than that), and I am an agricultural inter. We are going to GM for the month of March, as well as GM next week for a sneaky one.

For the whole 5 years, since we started, we've planned 'a season' when herself retires. We actually refer to a season, but it will be Jan-Mar.

Wish list:

1 Nice comfy accom.
No accident that this is the top priority- it's a holiday abroad as much as a ski bash. I can't believe how carp a lot of the interiors are on the sites I look at! Hey ho.
2 A varied area to meet our abilty
Several in one ski pass would be fine, no need to be linked like the 3V or GM. We will be driving. But we only know those 2 areas well- where else should we be looking? and in what base town/area?
3 Sensible ski pass prices.
The 3V would be £2500 ish, whereas GM is about £850-£900
4 Budget
£1000 all in! Very Happy

. Failing that, about £10k for accom and lift pass

That all sounds very vague now I've typed it, but we are committed to it, all being well health wise, hence asking now. I seem to be going round in circles.

All ideas (esp about where) gratefully explored. Ta.

CG

PS, quite fancy the Val Cenis group of resorts, but accommodation....

A snowHead

for jan-mar, I'd suggest you avoid the major resorts in france. Feb will be very busy thanks to french half term, especially in GM and 3V. Consider the salzburger super ski area in austria, the magic pass in the swiss valais, or perhaps a lesser known french area such as the Maurienne Valley with the Eskimo pass

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

if you decide on salzburger superski or ski amade the season passes are discounted if bought before the beginning of december. Prices much less than you've quoted above.

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Swiss Top 4 area - Jungfrau region (Wengen, Grindelwald, Mürren), plus Gstaad, plus Meiringen-Hasliberg, plus Adelboden/Lenk. Season pass is seriously cheap at CHF777 for next season. Base yourself in Grindelwald or Interlaken.

https://top4.ski/

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

There was a survey on here, a few weeks back.

Pound for pound, Sestriere (Italy) and Les Menuires (France) deliver by far the best value for money in Europe.

Huge ski areas. Cheap season ticket. Cheap living costs.

For ~£10k, you really should be doing 5 months, Dec to Apr.

At your age, it could be the last chance.

Do as long as poss.

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@Whitegold, £2500 for the 3V passes isn't cheap in my view. Les M would be good...

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I know it’s probably not in budget but epic pass and ski every one of their resorts in a season?

After all it is free

If you are British/non-EU citizens you are limited to 90 days, so January to March is possible, 5 months is not. The Salzburg Superpass or the Dolomites pass offer pretty much unbeatable piste km per euro but you'd need a car to make the most of them. Be aware that the month of February is general very busy due to school holidays, so you could split your 90 days and exclude the peak weeks.

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If you do get tempted by the 3V, The 3V season passes for 2 are €2400, give or take, plus €50 for carre neige.
As far as accommodation is concerned, your problem is that you are likely to end up having to find a full season rental, or find an accommodating local agent who can help you out for a shorter period. We have done both using agencedesalpes in St Martin de Belleville-who were very helpful (This year we took the plunge and bought somewhere!). We also rented a place in Les Carroz for a couple of winters 10 years ago. Looking back, much as we liked Les C, the GM, the value lift pass and convenience for Geneva airport, the 3V win for longer term variety,

Get in early as nice accommodation, which is up for weekly rental but might otherwise rent for longer, gets booked for New Year and half term weeks up to 12 months in advance. if you are prepared to live slightly away from the resorts, some nice rentals do come up in places like Bozel plus villages close by. If you can blag your way onto the local expat Facebook group The Valley Echo- nice rentals lower down do pop up. Also leboncoin is a good website for private and agent rentals.
Speaking for ourselves, we didn’t mind driving to the lift, but do like to be able to walk into the village for a beer and groceries etc.

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@Charliegolf, lift pass wise, GM usually do a half price (€450 ish) early bird discount and last year, which may have been a one off as they had to cover a project financing, the PdS did 4,000 passes for €500 ...

I don't know anything (shocking that, isn't it) about Austria.

Generally I think you want somewhere not only varied but with good below tree line skiing for crap weather. Also, probably not just a "ski" resort, but somewhere a little more alive.

French Vacances Scolaires not as bad as they used to be, so not the red line it used to be.

You could consider something like basing yourself in e.g. Aosta which is a proper and quite nice town. CHeaper accom. No idea about Aosta valley pass.

60’s is not nearly old enough to think “last chance”, about ANYTHING. Still young!

May I suggest setting aside the 10k for some private lessons?

There’s not a lot of points in paying premium for high number of km if you can only ski 1/3 of it!

You know it makes sense.

@Whitegold, the 90-day rule is 90 days within a 180-day period, so leaving Schengen for 1 day makes no difference, you'd have to leave for 90 days. rolling eyes

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@queenie pretty please, or start the 180 day clock in august/sept

A snowHead

@Whitegold, "cost per km"? no, really, not. How many of those kms do you ski or not in a day. It can only be measured in "cost per skiable day". I don't want to pay for runs I don't do.

A snowHead

@Charliegolf, I've stayed in really lovely self catering apartment in Westendorf (Ski Welt)

Lots of other resorts within easy driving distance.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Just a thought on steering clear of France during feb holidays - one option to keep the cost down and something which may work very well for some renters is to pick a place up from beginning of Jan, agree to vacate it for a week or two in feb (take a break in the south of France And let the owners use it for their peak weeks) and then go back until beginning of April.

Don’t discount Chamonix though you will want a car i would imagine. There is some tough skiing but there is also some easier skiing. With the season pass you get unlimited access to st gervais, megeve, Les contamines and Courmayeur. You also get 6 days in verbier plus day passes in 3 different resorts within about an hour away. So chance to go to a lot of different places.

I think the pass is less than €2,000 for a couple if bought in october.

You have the benefit of one of the busier ski towns for your down time.

I am a bit biased and I know some love it and some hate. Easier to love over an extended period. Most who hate it are those that that turn up at a busy time expecting ski in ski out.

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Portes du Soleil might be a good shout. As @under a new name mentions, they did an early bird pass for cheap last season (€500). You've got a varitey of areas to ski, many of which are lift linked and some outer areas that aren't linked. If you have a car, you can keep costs down by staying outside of the expensive towns like Morzine. You could stay somewhere like St Jean D'Aulps for much less, and you're a 15 minute drive to a lift up into the main area (Ardent) or 10 minutes in Morzine.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I did something similar when I first took early retirement for 2 seasons 13/14 and 14/15. But I did a split 10 weeks. 4 weeks after New Year then back to UK for the manic french holiday season then back for the last 6 weeks of the season. Accommodation is a lot more affordable and readily available then. I did it here in Deux Alpes because I know a lot of people here and in fact got my accommodation that way for a very good price. I've since bought, live here full time and am on my 7th season Laughing

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I'd endorse @nbt, choice of Maurienne valley at the far end based in or near Val Cenis.

There's alot for your specific asks there, especially costs, varied ahd very accessible ski areas meeting both of your skill level needs.

Choice to stay, I'd put Val Cenis Lansvillard first, then Val Cenis Lanselbourg, followed by Bonneval Sur Arc and La Norma as outliers to look at too.

Ski pass covering whole area is great cost too for season proposition with each area offering different character. From Val Cenis, each discreet area is within 30 minute drive or bus connect. much easier to use a car here too without any parking charges and good acces to the snow from carparking, it couldn't be easier.

Big choice of restaurants, great food at reasonable cost. Also supermarket acces in the valley if self catering.

Bonneval would be a great village to stay in, with a very traditional small but spectacular location. It's absolutely beautiful up that end of the valley and no real traffic at all as it's closed from there onwards during winter.

Val Cenis is the most central and biggest village overall though. The whole area is a great place to spend a ski season as an alternative to some of the mainstream headliners.

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@telford_mike, how are they able to stay in CH more than 90days without a visa? I keep telling people they can’t but willing to be proved wrong.

After all it is free

For @Charliegolf the 90 days might not be that much of an issue with some planning..... arrive in resort after New Year (3rd Jan), pop back to UK for a week to avoid silly tourist season and catch up with family & friends early feb (7th?) go back to resort late of Feb (15th) and stay until after Easter (11th April) adds up to the 90 days if I’ve got my maths and diary correct (35days for the 1st stay and 55 days for the 2nd stay)

Tunes to be played but if you’re not planning on being there for December, Christmas and New Year you only need to pop back to UK for a week at some point during the season to get to within the 90 days.

Unless the OP has an EU27, EEA or Swiss passport they won’t be able to stay longer than 90 days ( in any 180 day period) in Switzerland, France, Austria or anywhere else in the Schengen area. Day trips to Geneva ( which is of course in Schengen too ) don’t reset the 180 day clock.

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Of course if anyone does wish to exceed the 90/180 rule, there's always the option of applying for a visa. I wouldn't be surprised if countries like France weren't pretty happy to issue them.

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@Alastair, very much depends on the country. The only visa in Austria is for working/study

@holidayloverxx, clearly that eliminates that option for Austria! France do have a visa available for economically non-active applicants where you need to prove adequate financial resources and health insurance.

You know it makes sense.

@Alastair, In Austria you would have to go for residency

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@Charliegolf, I've sent you a PM.

A snowHead

@Charliegolf,
If being by the slopes is not an issue, try 'down the mountain' - eg Moutiers, Bourg St Maurice - and use the car to visit different ski areas as the whim takes you/snow & weather conditions dictate. Accommodation would be cheaper too. Search for multi-resort skipass options and early bird discounts (Note - this season's offers may not be the same as next season's offers).
Regarding budgeting - don't forget insurance, including unaccompanied off-piste insurance.

A snowHead

@RedandWhiteFlachau, Seen, thanks will chat that through. @Kenzie, Yes, open to that, all the more cos it gets one (possibly) into a more authentic setting.

Thank you all who are worried about my immigration status! I think our plan adds up to 86 days Froggie/Sausage-side, so not a worry at the mo.

We're also onto the early-bird offers on passes, our GM passes are half-price at cE500pp. For 5 weeks this year, the full season pass was the cheapest option.

Someone suggested 3V offers a discount... Not anywhere I can find it. (It is a fave area of ours).

Feel free to keep em coming. Thanks

CG

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@Charliegolf, have a think about what you might want to do to improve - perhaps look at resorts (like3v) that have good independent ski schools like new gen, or BASS in PdS or similar.

Doing a week with them early on and then perhaps a refresher or some limited private sessions to work on a few things a couple of weeks later, would I believer stand you in really good stead. Some of these schools will offer seasonaires discounts, so don't be afraid to ask.

Although having said that I'd be really tempted by the salzburger superski card - especially if you like 'cruising around from place to place' as some of the areas e.g. Saalbach, Ski Welt are just made for that..

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if you are happy to pooter around, then maybe innsbruck? you can easily get to lots of resorts as well dipping into Italy. Dont even need to drive with the decent rail links.
You can chase the snow, rather than being somewhere in the will it or wont scenario

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

you could do it for free snowHead

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Not lost on me. I suspect we can't ski well enough: I seem to recall it was an essential. But I do do a mean chocolate fondant. Very Happy

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

When my kids were young yes, we had some snowheads as their personal ski instructors.
And of course some guests liked having live in ski guides and gave some pretty generous tips as i seem to recall.

However, after seeing them ski 50 days a year for 15 years, somehow you might imagine they are full on snow Jedi.
Good luck if you ski with them. I don't even dare entertain the idea personally.
Its a bit early yet but you can message me any time after the snow melts

After all it is free

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Unfortunately the 3V doesn’t do a significant discount for season passes, save about €30 per head if you buy 2 season passes at the same time. There’s no early bird discount. You qualify for a senior rate at 65 or over.
You do get some passes for a few days in other resorts, which vary from year to year, but tend to be some distance away. This season-Shiga Kogan Japan, Vail resorts (2 days in any 3 of their resorts), Zermatt 3 days and Mt Buller Australia.
You could take advantage of the North American deal and do a road trip...Fellow SH and 3V season pass holder Bergmeister does that during the Feb french half term holidays.

Help!!

Where to do a season, 2021

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