 Poster: A snowHead
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stevo_the_saddler, flights seem to be much more expensive on Easyjet to Geneva than are available on Ryanair to Milan at present.
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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 have (3 or 4 times now) fot returns for £41-46 on Mon-Thur flight - usually a few weeks in advance. Luton is usually much cheaper than other UK airports as they have about 5 or 6 flights a day to fill.
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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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Ian that’s an interesting question. I think so, but I didn’t actually bother going to bed last night because of other pressures on me, so am probably not in the best position to comment at the moment. (Feeling a tad jaded) My daughter loved it and wants us to go again, but I can’t see that happening this season as weekends would be too expensive now.
johnboy, the snow was fine. Not sure where Passo tonale is in relation to Foppolo though. Some areas were a little windswept and consequently the remaining snow was very hardpacked and a little thin in patches. Mostly it was good and still soft. I don’t think this part of Italy has had as much snow as other parts of the Alps.
Dave Burt, part of me would love to do that. I have done quite a few weekends and hope to do more. However this trip was much, much easier to get accepted by Mrs Z. Being out on Saturday (or any other day of the week) somehow sounds a lot less than going for the weekend. The big advantage is that it hasn’t really dug into my time too much.
On another thread slikedges asked about taking stuff as hand luggage or hold luggage. The problem is with boots being so heavy, my stuff, just for a day came to about 13 kg, and the limit for hand luggage is 10kg. Fortunately my daughter hasn’t got her own boots, so I just put both our bags on the belt together and we were well under the limit, so could use hand luggage only. I guess the other answer would be to put stuff in the hold and get one person to sort out the car while the other(s) collect the baggage. That shouldn’t cause too much of a delay.
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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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I reckon we could launch a new competition to find the cheapest weekend ski-ing possible! Just need to find a sponsor 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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slikedges, Right, see if I can answer your questions. You should bear in mind that although I have given the prices per person, I was obviously paying for both, so keeping costs low was quite a high consideration for me on this trip
No I didn't exhaust all flying options I am sure. I mainly looked at Ryanair, (I find Easyjet to generally be more expensive in comparison) they have very early flights to Turin, Salzburg and Bergamo. In my experience I have found that flights to Salzburg are more expensive than Turin. Bergamo, in general is the cheapest. I should look at Easyjet, they may well work, but I would expect that most of the other carriers wouldn't have the early start that is required.
For car hire, I used these http://www.sbc.it/en/prenotazioni/index.asp I was given a 4 door smart car, which was fine.
When I got to Foppolo I didn't have a clue on the layout of the town, so just kept driving upwards. People had been parking beside the road, but you don't know whether to stop or not. I got to the car park at the top where the chiarlift/ticket office etc were, but it was full and they directed you through it and down the hill again on a different road to the one I entered it. Cars were parked both sides all down this road. Eventually you get to the end of the parked cars and find a space. As you can imagine, by 11:15 ish, I was probably one of the last to arrive and hence ended up the furthest away - 5/10min walk maybe back to centre of action I would guess. It could easily be that it would have been quicker to have stopped earlier. With more adults, time could be saved by dropping people off, and those then getting kitted out and then getting the lift passes etc, while the other parks the car and follows on behind. We moved slower being a father/daughter combination.
There was a hire shop by the car park that was easy to find, just up the stairs, but I waited to get served and then found that I should have prepaid in the shop next door, these things lose valuable minutes. Also we hoped to change in the hire shop, but it was too small, so we had to retrace our steps to the toilets in the car park. The up and down stairs in ski boots again takes time. To have done things in the right order and gone from car to toilets to change, then to shop to pay for skis, then get skis and then go to chair lift (where ski pass ticket office was), would have saved 10/15 minutes at least. A group of clued up adults operating together could save probably up to 20mins on what we did.
Another factor that would be worth trying is that before you get to Foppolo there is a turn off to Carona, which accesses the same ski area. I could have saved 10/15 minutes driving by going there instead, possibly more. On the map it looks a smaller town though, but I would have thought that ski hire and parking wouldn't be a problem there. I would seriously consider doing that another time. However, you cannot ski back to this place, so would need to catch the last chair down, which may mean finishing earlier. On reflection, and thinking as I type, it probably wouldn't be worth going to Carona
Bringing skis. Questionable I don't have them so the choice was easy for me. Positives would be that you save time getting kitted out and that you have your own equipment, negatives would be that they would have to go in the hold (so you would need to wait for the plane to be unloaded), you would have to add in the cost of carrying them each way and that you may need a bigger hire car (more expensive) to carry them to the resort. I guess whether you do it depends on your primary criteria. The time factors would possibly cancel each other out (especially if someone else was doing the car hire business while you were waiting to collect your kit), the costs are £30(?) to transport your own against 10 euros to hire.
I think I would do it again, but because I am going away on Thursday, I can't give it much thought at the moment. I am also hoping to do a 2/3 day break and would also quite like to go to one of the bashes at the end of the season, neither of which would appeal to Mrs Z, so I don't want to use up all my brownie points too soon on day trips.
I think that is it. Good luck.
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Ray Zorro, great stuff and well done. I have a few questions for you and will PM you if that's okay, but immediate thought - did you need a photo for the lift pass?
boredsurfin, Ray and I have been liaising a lot about Foppolo via Beragmo and I am doing a one dayer next month. However I am going this weekend flying out Friday evening and returning Subnday evening from Luton. Costings to date are as follows:
Flights £55
Transfers, accomodation/half board, lift pass £125 (already confirmed)
Lunch x 2 say £15
Liquid refereshments (!) say £20
Incidentals £10
Total £225 for around 15 hours on the slopes being £15 per hour.
How does that rate?
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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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Peter Leuzzi, £15.00 per hour! Better than I thought possible! I will be very interested in your post event costing analysis 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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slikedges, I can see this catching on as a new sH meet-up event 
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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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I've been following this thread with interest. We are going to Foppolo with our daughter's ski club for a weekend at the beginning of February, taking the 0630 Ryanair flight from Luton to Bergamo and returning on the 1900 from Bergamo (the youngsters at least have to go back to school on Monday morning). Since there will be 50 or so of us the club has hired a coach for the transfer - I have no idea what the cost will be. We will be staying at (rather taking over) the Hotel Pinetta which I believe is close to the lifts - again I have no idea of the cost, except that it is not very much. I can let you know after the trip if anyone is interested.
Since this is a club trip there will be lots of luggage, with almost everyone taking boots and skis. I booked the flights at the beginning of November for the three of us. Nominal cost each £12.99 out and £16.99 back. By the time taxes, skis for three and credit card charges have been added the total is £290!
I would be interested to know what the skiing is like there.
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slikedges, Best deals seem to be Mon-Thur or Thur-Mon, recently looked at Luton-Geneva Fri 18th-Tue24th and flights were only £50 inc taxes (may have gone up now). 3 of us have booked Sat-Weds (Bham - Geneva with BMI) for £98 inc taxes - gets in nice and early so we get Sat pm, Sun, Mon skiing and back on Weds. Whole trip for less than £200 for 3.5 days - helps that we have our apartment to stay in for the cost of cleaning/linen only! But if anyone wants short breaks late in the season I will do cheap deals
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You know it makes sense.
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Derek Jackson, I took this from the Ryanair site
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Foppolo is certainly the most famous resort in Bergamo if not in all of Lombardy. A resort of international calibre, it was built in the basin of the Bremba Valley so as not to obstruct any of the slopes. It has a wide selection of quality hotels, ample parking, a large shopping area, an ice rink and a nightclub. There are 23 pistes covering 47km of mountain including 10 blue runs, 7 red runs and 5 blacks.
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In truth, I wouldn't have said that there was anything like that skiing wise - or certainly not open this Saturday. There were three lifts not working and two of them that were closed meant that a reasonable quantitiy of skiing was missing off to the left. Apart from the 2 chairs up from the village, the rest is buttons (which I found to be quite tiring). It looked quite a tricky resort from the piste map, but the only black we found was fairly tame, scenic rather than technical. Saying that, we covered a lot of ground in the time we were there and I would go there again. Please also bear in mind that as I was only being there for 5 hours, it means that you may find that there was other skiing that we missed.
Hope you have a great weekend.
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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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Poster: A snowHead
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Derek Jackson, Reading back my comments above, I think it reads a little worse than it actually was. I'm sure that you'll have a great time. I did see the website, but agree it isn't much help.
One thing that you should note if you are going with kids is that my daughter had a little trouble on the draglift marked O on the piste map. On one of the 3 occasions that we did it, it lifted her off the ground and spun her round before dumping her back down again facing the wrong way. She is small for her age and weighs only 4.5 stone. It may be worth making a mental note.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Ray Zorro, thanks for the warning
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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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Ray Zorro, sounds like you've worked out most things. You've done all the hard work (thanks! )and I've got a great idea of how it'll all work from all the info you've posted here and will definitely be doing this or similar sometime soon. Thanks again, mate.
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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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Cant wait to discover Foppolo myself on the same deal as Peter Leuzzi this w/e
Ray Zorro, which runs/areas did you find the best? Also any food places to head to or avoid?
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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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I really wish I hadn't read this thread because it's got me thinking and planning now.
Skive a day (maybe even 2 off work) Early flight and a poss over nighter a full day/day and half skiing. mmmm....sounds too good to miss.
Just checked flights for midweek in Feb £26 incl taxes, that is just too tempting.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Roger C, we only ate in one place - the self service Terre Rosse over by the area near the top of the chair from Carona. That was good and very reasonable. To be honest, you'll ski all the areas in a couple of hours. Any kids at heart will enjoy the bumps by the blue under the first chair, but the snow was probably best over on the side nearest Carona, but of course this may well be different by the time you go.
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Ray Zorro, thanks for the thought. Probably going to miss the post now, so instead will have that beer and toast you and your pioneering on Saturday night! By the way, how bumpy is bumpy?
b]boredsurfin[/b], will post detailed spreadsheet and copies of receipts....or maybe just let you know! I actually havent taken ski hire into account, so will add that.
slikedges, ski in ski out apparently next to chairlift, but will confirm it. It wasnt difficult to do - just emailed the tourist office and let them know what I wanted to do. They were remarkably efficient (even for Italians) and did the deal for us. Bear in mind this was booked in November, I think although that may not matter.
Roger C, see you Friday. Have you checked the temps? Sun is forecast and -4 to -9 plus windchill.
Pete1909, I have a Ray Zorro-style one dayer booked for next month, but will assess when I am there this weekend whether I should think about an overnight stay and buy a flight back.
Interestingly, I have been looking at other places in Europe to do the shortest of short trips and Austria is looking pretty good too and varied skiing.
If anyone wants further details just PM me, but I am sure Roger and/or I will be posting on Monday.
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Peter Leuzzi - Let me know how you get on and I'm always interested to hear any other short breaks. Getting away from the wife & kids for a week is always risking divorce.
On another note how about this for my best ever Ski Deal
A couple of years back I booked a late deal in March to Montegenevre. £199
Included BA return Flights to Manchester (inc Ski's) - Transfer - Catered Chalet, including Free Berr & Wine with your Meal (Although they told us to help ourselves whenever we wanted and there was always a full crate in our room) and Lift Pass.
Managed to get in 6 and a half days skiing due to flight times. So I reckon the cost was less than £4 per hour.
Just wish I could find another one like that.
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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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Pete1909, are there any slopes in Goa? Only way to get it cheaper than that I reckon.
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Peter Leuzzi, Roger C, I am away from tomorrow, so I hope that the w/e goes really well. I'd be very interested in reading your thoughts/comments when I get back.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Peter Leuzzi, I think that would have to be waterskiing. Although I have a friend who tried Boarding on Sand Dunes in Dubai which was supposed to be good fun.
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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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Pete1909, watching Robots yesterday with my children (honest, it was their choice) there is a spectacular scene surfing on a wave of dominoes.
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My son tried to Board on his guitar (one foot on it, pushing with the other saying skiing) over Christmas after seeing some dodgy film with a snowboarding chimp.
You know you enjoy those films really, it's no good trying to deny it.
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You know it makes sense.
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Pete1909, Talking of cheap deals a few years ago I got half board for one week to Andorra in March for £99! 
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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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Peter Leuzzi, best of luck, I await your report with just as much anticipation as I did Ray's. I've now found someone loony enough to come with me for a day tripper so am in process of sorting a date!
Ray Zorro, have great snow and an even better slide
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Poster: A snowHead
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slikedges, good for you. Whats your plan?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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FAQ
