 Poster: A snowHead
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| Latchigo wrote: |
| Austrian hotel resorts also appeal. My lack of German is a bit of nuisance though. |
It's getting better the nazi soldiers now only give you 50 whips for not speaking "hoch" (posh) German.
Seriously I speak German but in the resorts they are more interested in using their English on me which embarassingly is often much better than my German.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Arno wrote: |
| TexMurphy, I would like to try Fernie (and quite a few other places in western Canada) but it does fall down on the "easy access" aspect! I can leave London after work and get to Bourg d'Oisans somewhere around midnight. Can't quite do that with Fernie! |
Well if you leave london by lunch you are in fernie by midnight local time.  But yeah I do hear you. I thought you ment easy access in terms of easy access to good skiing.
Tex
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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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I'm with TexMurphy, that my skiing is part of the overall scheme of my yearly vacation, both in time and money. And other aspects too.
So, there's usually some "limiting factors" that would narrow down the "regions" for skiing. Example:
* if the time frame is outside of Feb/April, I'll wait for snow pattern to develope before choosing where to go, and then go where the snow is -- that should take care of the "snow sure" part.
* if it's in mid-season, I still have to avoid all the school holidays. So that narrows down to region that aren't having school holiday during the particular time -- I guess that takes care of the un-crowded lift/piste part.
* And if it's a short trip of less than a week, obviously easy access and short transfer goes into the equation. -- I do have the nearly ideal base location that most of the world's skiing is within half day of transfer (3-4 hours to the Rockies, 6-7 to Pacific west coast, 7-8 to the Alps, Door-to-lift)
Once the "list of regions" is narrowed, the choice of resort will be based on terrain, scenary, price, probably in that order.
A lot of that is very personal. As an example, I personally don't pay that much attention to the size of the resort as long as the snow is good, because I'm happy to ski different lines on the same run multiple times. But a good variety of terrain is important to me. It's no use to ski 5 different piste that has the EXACT same pitch facing the exact same direction! I call that ONE piste, not five.
Food and lodging choice is never high on my priority. So I pick the resort base on "other" factors and then look for lodging. Eat whatever is there. If the food good, it makes a nice trip even better. But not the other way around. I don't travel for food and then hope to find adequate skiing along the way.
Since I live in the US and done much skiing here. I don't go for the big name resort much any more. Looking mostly for the little gens with good snow and scenery without breaking the bank. But I hadn't ski Europe enough to even "cover" the more famous ones, so that's what I choose whenever I cross the pond.
Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Wed 29-08-07 19:29; edited 1 time in total
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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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Latchigo,
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It is bleedin obvious I am not a terrorist
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In what way is it obvious?
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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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| Hurtle wrote: |
Latchigo,
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It is bleedin obvious I am not a terrorist
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In what way is it obvious? |
I thought the US VISIT initiative was more about reducing illegal immigration than terrorism (and therefore Latchigo would be quite in favour of it).
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brian
brian
Guest
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| Hurtle wrote: |
Latchigo,
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It is bleedin obvious I am not a terrorist
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In what way is it obvious? |
Isn't he from an Irish Catholic background ?
Isn't irony* great ?
* it's like goldy and bronzey, only it's made of iron.
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| TexMurphy wrote: |
| Arno wrote: |
well, this year my trips booked so far are as follows:
1. Whistler + maybe Mt Baker - Christmas and New Year in Vancouver seeing wife's family and friends so it would be rude not to
2. Oisans (ie La Grave, Alpe d'Huez and Les Deux Alpes) because every year I sit down and ask myself where offers a better combination of skiing which fits my taste, low key atmosphere, lack of crowds and fairly easy access. Haven't come up with anywhere yet.
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To answer nr2 have you considered Fernie. Only crowded on friday afternoon and saturday, defines layed back and offers skiing that I think you would enjoy if you consider Mt Baker.
Tex |
Not got the vert for Arno I suspect though he could demonstrate his exemplary touring fitness by running a few laps up Polar Peak.
My criteria - snow and terrain. Life's too short to spend on manmade cruisers (hark at me who's been to MK a few times this year )
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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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1. can we get there by 1pm..
2. no crowds
3. decent lifts
4. not france
5. decent slopeside hotel
6. good boozers
7. boozers that are good
8. can we ski on a last day till 3 pm and still get home and have enough kip to get into work the next day without crying
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| fatbob wrote: |
| Not got the vert for Arno I suspect though he could demonstrate his exemplary touring fitness by running a few laps up Polar Peak. |
if only 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Very simple in my case - book where we went last year.
Every 5-years or so we fancy a change and then the trouble starts
Then ok for the next few years
Worked for us so far
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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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| firebug wrote: |
Other than that, it's quite difficult to say - we have always tended to wait until the absolute last minute and go where the snow's good at the time - the best place in the world can be spoilt by bad conditions, and I've had great times in places which would be nothing special normally, because the snow's been superb.
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Sage advise, I'd say. Rely on the snow gods ...
This is exactly what we'll be doing for a 3 week late Jan 2008 Europe trip. Will book flight to somewhere convenient soon, and start thinking seriously about where to go in early January when at least there's some snow around to guide decisions. Had depressing weeks many years ago staring at fields in AdH, Sestriere, Trois Vallee to ever repeat that again.
It's all very possible and often cheaper as long as you're a little flexible and avoid the busy weeks. Worked wonderfully in 2005 - 2 epic weeks in Arlberg and one tripping around Innsbruck - all booked a week before we got on plane 
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| rob@rar wrote: |
| easiski, I also like knowing a resort well. It's better for building up a good relationship with instructors and guides; knowing off-piste opportunities that are out of sight of lifts and pistes; first hand knowledge of good restaurants/bars; knowing where and when lift queues and busy pistes will be at their worst as well as getting to know the locals and regular saisonnaires. |
I am beginning to come round to that way of thinking.
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You know it makes sense.
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gortonator, Don't you find, though, booking last minute can be tricky because you can't always go where you want?
I think I'm going to try a group holiday  The ski club are doing one to Les Deux Alps and one to Cortina that might be good.
Also, I like going back to resorts too. I do like Lech. I have to say I didn't much care for Winter Park - boring, too pisted. Learning on the bumps was good.
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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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| erica2004 wrote: |
gortonator, Don't you find, though, booking last minute can be tricky because you can't always go where you want?
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not at all. I want to go where the snow is good and the terrain interesting - I've never had just one alternative to choose from. I just let the snow gods and availability/price make the decision.
For example, in 2005, snow was looking good in St Anton, so tried to get somewhere to stay there 2 weeks before leaving. It was essentially full, but Lech had many options, some much less expensive than the scant offerings in St Anton. We went there, had a ball, and after getting snowed in at Lech for 3 days and skiing waist deep all day long one day in a huge storm, it was the perfect decision. In hindsight I think Lech was a better place for us to stay - enjoy vigorous apres, but we're there to ski, and getting over to St Anton was very easy with buses. And in 2 weeks, we just scraped the surface of the available skiing in the Arlberg. Great place. May pop back next Feb fo a few days - depends on the snow and availability tho. If not, there's Ischgl, La Rosiere, Sestriere, Gressoney, etc. - so much choice, but no point in being somewhere to ski when there's no snow or a million people fighting for 3 pistes on a flat glacier.
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Poster: A snowHead
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gortonator, how many people typically in your group ? I guess with just a couple or maybe 4 people this is possible, but with larger groups of 8 or so it may be too much of a gamble ?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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We've only once failed to go where we want - and that was Zermatt for Christmas. With great conditions all over the Alps, we tried to book 3 days before, serves us right! We couldn't even get a car, or reservations on the train  So we went to Chamonix instead. In fact that's the trip when we first saw the chalet, so it all worked out well in the end.
But it's not for everyone, especially if you have kids, or have to book your time off well in advance, or there's a lot of you.
I'm actually the other way - I get jumpy if we have to book the accomodation too far in advance, in case the conditions aren't so good. But so much depends on your personal situation...
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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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| masmith wrote: |
| gortonator, how many people typically in your group ? I guess with just a couple or maybe 4 people this is possible, but with larger groups of 8 or so it may be too much of a gamble ? |
agreed - we're usually 2-4 folks. and avoid busy periods, so this makes it all more feasible. there's limits, but if you want good snow, it's the way to go ...
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FAQ
