Ski Club 2.0 Home
Snow Reports
FAQFAQ

Mail for help.Help!!
Log in to snowHeads to make it MUCH better! Registration's totally free, of course, and makes snowHeads easier to use and to understand, gives better searching, filtering etc. as well as access to 'members only' forums, discounts and deals that U don't even know exist as a 'guest' user. (btw. 50,000+ snowHeads already know all this, making snowHeads the biggest, most active community of snow-heads in the UK, so you'll be in good company)..... When you register, you get our free weekly(-ish) snow report by email. It's rather good and not made up by tourist offices (or people that love the tourist office and want to marry it either)... We don't share your email address with anyone and we never send out any of those cheesy 'message from our partners' emails either. Anyway, snowHeads really is MUCH better when you're logged in - not least because you get to post your own messages complaining about things that annoy you like perhaps this banner which, incidentally, disappears when you log in :-)
Username:-
 Password:
Remember me:
👁 durr, I forgot...
Or: Register
(to be a proper snow-head, all official-like!)

Ski resort dilemna for 4 friends with varying abilities.
 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead

I would agree that Arc 2000 is far better for beginners/early intermediates than Arc 1600. The new part of Arc 2000 closest to the piste is quite attractive in my opinion.

However I think Montgenevre would be a really good option. It has a green slope from top to bottom on the north side. At the top there is the Gondrons area with green, blue and red slopes running side by side. Therefore a group of mixed abilities can take the chairlift up together take their pick of slope colour at the top each time and meet up at the bottom of the run where the different coloured pistes converge right next to a café. On the south facing side there is a decent long blue to move onto. It has two really good ski schools. Apeak and the ESF. The Napoleon residence is well located..I would recommend staying there.

Les Saisies would also be good.

If you can avoid the four French holiday weeks you will get a cheaper deal on accommodation. I would suggest going mid March.
snow report
snow report
 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person

gfmozart wrote:
Was hoping to consider a resort where there is a possibility of a beginner area that is next to an advanced green or blue slope rather than have everybody separated far away.

This is muddled thinking. A "beginner area" is only going to be used for a really short time if it all. Your friends 1 and 2 would I suspect only use them for half a day at most. I am assuming here we are talking about a short shallow slope serviced by a moving carpet or short drag lift. Your friends 1 and 2 who will definitely be taking lessons will be taken on to standard slopes very soon into the week by their instructor as "beginner areas" are by their nature very limited. In addition green slopes period are almost useless were they exist being so shallow as to barely be schussable. Beginners often have as much trouble with flat areas/slopes as they do with steep ones IME as they don't have the confidence to straight line them. And when it comes to piste gradings in general, it's really just a guide. There is no standard and resorts will set them as they see fit - for example resorts with a lot of steeper slopes will have stiffer blues than say a resort that as an abundance of shallower pistes. And, on top of that, the prevailing conditions of the day, can turn the grading on it's head also. All of which means you have to get to know understand the weather, the snow and the resorts you ski in. It's nothing to worry about, it's part of the challenge and fun of skiing. But in your case looking for some sort of specific line up or grouping of slopes doesn't really make any sense. Go to any ski area with 100km+ of pistes and you will find a good variety of runs, some of which you will grow to love, some of which you have less fondness for. Some which you find are good to ski in the morning, some which are better when it warms up a bit. Some are just a route to anything part of the ski area. So your friends 1 and 2 will be bombing around with their instructor and group all morning. You and friend 4 can either ski together and find your own way around the slopes or book yourselves into lessons too.

You then have a decision to make on the afternoons skiing. Friends 1 and 2 will end up back at base around lunchtime (assuming they take morning lessons which is highly preferable IMO). 3 & 4 can either return to base also and the whole group ski together you stick with the 2 x 2. You can chop and change this through the week.

So having discounted these thoughts about beginner areas or nearby greens and blues... where to go? Folks are right that at this stage of your skiing you don't have to go the big domains. It's not necessarily a problem if you do as you will still have a great trip but you will just save yourself a bit of cash going to somewhere a bit more understated. As I say above anything with 100k should be good enough. A bigger priority in your case is easy access to good ski schools.

You don't really say if you going to do DIY/TO or fly/drive or self cater/chalet/Hotel or whether apres matters?

Personally I wouldn't worry about the newbies not taking to it. If they don't no amount of other activities is going to soften the blow. They will just have to sit and suffer. Trying to cater for that just confuses matters. It's a bit different if you have a confirmed non-skier who has an idea of how they want to spend their time. And the odds are they won't hate it and will probably enjoy it.

As others have said unless you are forced to for childcare/work reasons go out of peak season.
latest report
latest report
 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?

thanks for the opinions. I'll have to convince them about kitzbuhel or 3V. but it seems like the clash with the french school holidays would worsen things.

one of the participants is keen on tourism, or tourism around the ski resort. chamonix or zermatt would fulfil this purpose as there are non-skiing touristic stuff to do.
ski holidays
ski holidays



Terms and conditions  Privacy Policy