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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Hello all

Want to go on a skiing holiday with about 10-15 mates (mixed group, inc some couples, all late 20's). Prob thinking Jan/Feb

Some of us havent ski'd before at all (but will do a few dry slope/snowdome lessons before), couple of the group pretty decent.

Can anyone suggest a good ski resort to go? Key things we are looking for......

- Snow (:laugh

- Good value

- Good blend of beginner/advanced slopes

- Great nightlife (apres-ski or whatever its called)

- decent transport links, Flights in (no 20 hour coach drives from UK)

- would like to get shared accommodation with the group. would consider catered or self catered.

Ive heard France/Switzerland are meant to be pricey and also v difficult so that prob rules those out.

Over to you guys....

Any help would be much appreciated

p.s if this is in the wrong sub-forum please move mods
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
cheap - 4th Jan until 21 Jan
Nearly guaranteed snow, huge variety of runs and good Apres - Val Thorens (I think 4 hour transfer)

cheap apres, usually good snow, not great for more advanced skiiers - Andorra (4 hour transfer)

decent transport links - Chamonix and surrounding area. 1 hour transfer, great Apres, but you would all be skiing in different areas.

Plenty of cheap places in France with great skiing and no Apres....but for a group of 15, I think Val Thorens would offer most of what you want.


p.s. - Welcome to snowHeads.
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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?
For good apres it's always Austria! The resorts that spring to mind for your group are: Soelden Saalbach, Mayhofen. Soell would probably be cheaper, though you'd have to take a short free bus ride to th slopes, which are around 1km from the resort.
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Catered chalet in Morzine or Avoriaz would be good for a group like that, probably be able to find a chalet you could book on exclusive use.

Stay no later than the first week in Feb though as with school hols it gets expensive. We stayed this year in 1st week of feb and the snow was epic. Lots of ski schools, bars, easy runs, off piste, intermediate progression slopes etc etc.
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internetjef, Welcome to snowHeads snowHead

Best value week starts the week following New Year ie when everyone has gone back to work! Even the expensive French resorts have bargains, so the normally (slightly) cheaper Italy and Austria will be even cheaper so shop around. If you find somewhere that's looking good always check back here.

For example Brides Le Bains is a brilliantly cheap option to ski the 3 valleys has short transfer times from airports and connects directly into Meribel

BUT it's a 40 minute Gondola ride each morning and again in the evening and the gondola doesn't run very late.

Thornyhill,'s suggestion of Val Thorens is a good one especially so if you can find a cheap catered deal.
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I think you can get shorter transfer time for Val Thorens if you fly to Chambery rather than Geneva
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FWIW I immediately thought VT too.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
In January????? Val Thorens?

Would be better some where lower and less Siberian.

One of the "touristy" destinations would be best.

Morzine/Meribel would make more sense.
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In January????????? Morzine?

Would be better some where higher and more snow.

and yes I have seen Morzine with no snow in January in the past! and Meribel was an icy mudhole
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boredsurfin, But only once in the last few years, and at least Morzine will have other distractions, for what in essence is newby party group. I believe they may have a snow canon or two as well, things have moved on
Lifts open from just before Christmas, so January 11th should be fine. This is a cheap week.
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Cough...... Austria.....Cough.

Fun, cheaper than France, despite the doom & gloom merchants Innsbruck Airport is pretty handy, TOs do catered chalets.

Val Thorens is a horrible idea for newbies, someone will get altitude sick, the rest will get pissed off skiing in a whiteout at least part of the time, it's like teh moon rather than Alpine charm, beginner slopes are also the main commute through village etc etc.
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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.
Quote:

Ive heard France/Switzerland are meant to be pricey and also v difficult so that prob rules those out.

Not sure what you mean by "very difficult". If you mean the skiing, there are slopes of every possible degree of difficulty in both Austria and France - some French resorts have mostly easy/intermediate skiing and some Austrian resorts are probably best suited to more experienced skiers. As for the cost, France has a huge range of resorts and the big, well-known ones are indeed very expensive for eating and drinking on the slopes but others are much cheaper.

Personally I wouldn't recommend Val Thorens in mid January - it does score for late (or early) holidays but there are loads of better places and I really like some trees in my mix of Alpine scenery. If the boozing is as important as the skiing, you'd probably find a wider choice of suitable spots in Austria (though, there again, although there are some big name resorts with legendary amounts of booziness, there are also beautiful, quiet, spots oozing alpine charm where the majority of folk will be in bed early). You need to be looking at specific resorts, rather than entire countries.

Budget?
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Go to Mayrhoffen.

Good Apres.
Relatively cheap.
Great range of slopes in the Ziller valley (six or seven resorts linked by bus/train and a glacier if it's a poor start to the season for snow).
An hour or so transfer time.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
pam w wrote:
Quote:

Ive heard France/Switzerland are meant to be pricey and also v difficult so that prob rules those out.

Not sure what you mean by "very difficult". If you mean the skiing, there are slopes of every possible degree of difficulty in both Austria and France - some French resorts have mostly easy/intermediate skiing and some Austrian resorts are probably best suited to more experienced skiers. As for the cost, France has a huge range of resorts and the big, well-known ones are indeed very expensive for eating and drinking on the slopes but others are much cheaper.

Personally I wouldn't recommend Val Thorens in mid January - it does score for late (or early) holidays but there are loads of better places and I really like some trees in my mix of Alpine scenery. If the boozing is as important as the skiing, you'd probably find a wider choice of suitable spots in Austria (though, there again, although there are some big name resorts with legendary amounts of booziness, there are also beautiful, quiet, spots oozing alpine charm where the majority of folk will be in bed early). You need to be looking at specific resorts, rather than entire countries.

Budget?


Very informative Pam, but the quote is France/Switzerland and you go on to talk about France and Austria. Is Switzerland "pricey and also v difficult". Are you confusing your alpine nations?

Puzzled snowHead
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
No, Switzerland has easy and difficult slopes too. And is generally fairly pricey all over, I think. I was responding to the wider discussion about the relative merits of Austrian and French resorts; few British package tourists go to Switzerland.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Wow thanks for all the responses guys

i was kind of expecting people to settle around one or two particular resorts but looks like everyone has there own opinion lol

Although we are looking for a decent apres, skiing will be the priority this time rather than partying

Can i have some of the Alpine charm, but with a half decent apres ski, and without scaring people off on the price front?
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internetjef, what's your budget?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Hmmmmm budget. good question.

There is no budget as such, but every time we go up £100-200 from a basic 'value resort'' i will probably lose a mate from the trip lol.
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internetjef wrote:


i was kind of expecting people to settle around one or two particular resorts but looks like everyone has there own opinion lol




There are 4 skiers in our house. Takes us about 11 months to decide where to go each year. Every time we go somewhere new the debate gets more heated........and you thought 36000 snowHead's would agree. Laughing Laughing


Budget is probably the first part of the plan though
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Can you go skiing anywhere for £1500 all in for a week (travel, accomodation, lift pass, food, extras) or is that unrealistically low
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You can definitely go lots of places for £1500 for a week all in unless you've a really bad booze/crack/hookers/strippers/raclette habit.
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internetjef,

http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=101068#2314001
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
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£1500 is a very generous budget. I spend that on annual trips to Ischgl, one of Austria's most expensive resorts and don't skimp on anything.
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Oh thats good news then, perhaps i will pitch it to the group at closer to a £1000

lets work with that lower budget
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There are deals to be had pretty much anywhere for that amount outside of half term and Switzerland.
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fatbob wrote:
You can definitely go lots of places for £1500 for a week all in unless you've a really bad booze/crack/hookers/strippers/raclette habit.


Great, without the crack then I can budget at 1400 Toofy Grin
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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pam w, i don't think Switzerland is pricey, if you work in Switzerland, on a Swiss salary. It is however an interesting comparitive lesson in national wealth management and quasi-communism...

My postman eats his lunch with his colleagues every day in a nice restaurant. I don't think many "on a walk" in the UK would afford the same.
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In terms of cost, I would have said an Austrian and French resort of similar stature/size is similar in prices for eating out/on mountain etc. (and even similar in Canada), but this is based on my limited experience of Kitzbuhel and Morzine/Les Gets.

I found a book called 'Europes Best 50 resorts' or something a while ago that had a great comparison section for all types of requirements including 'best for beginners', 'best apres' etc etc. Might be worth hunting that down as its a good read anyway.

Also try j2ski as there is plenty of info, and you can search by distance from airports too. Try chalets direct maybe for some catered chalets in the mid to large sized resorts as you will get good apres on most cases if you arent in a small stand alone village (of course in a small village type, you can make your own apres by filling the only bar in town with all your mates!).

Personally, I found the amount of attractive tree skiing in the PDS more enjoyable than the skiing in Kitz, and oddly found Morzine nicer than Kitz (apart from the VERY center of Kitz which gets all the reviews) - as said my only experiences. The on mountain bars/restaurants in Austria cannot be beaten though!
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Have a scan through this list of resorts gives an indication of slopes, transferes, and apres ski

http://www.ski-finder.co.uk/search-resorts.html
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
J2ski has some dodgy statistics and judgements. Might be OK on the biggest resorts but becomes very flakey at the edges. Always worth checking against other sources.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
internetjef, let's just start by drawing your immediate constraints. N.b. Your original question was about as well defined as "suggest me a decent pub in central London that sells beer".

Finding a chalet/sc property that will accommodate a party of 10-15 is going to close down many options and will often restrict you to Saturday-Saturday transfers. And you probably don't want to leave it too late to book.

The week after New Year's week is no longer always the cheapest week of the season as it is Russian New Year.

January otherwise fine, but as you move into February you will probably want to avoid Uk or French school holidays, particularly the French.

Generalising on difficulty, cost and quality of apres ski is possible, but not really helpful. I know lovely cheap Swiss accommodation and terribly expensive Italian, for example.

You almost certainly need somewhere accessing a reasonably big area in order to satisfy the range of claimed abilities. (I wager you discover that the spread is not as wide as you are being led to believe Evil or Very Mad ).
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For example, Mountain Highs (declaration of interest, we're old friends) have Chalet Rasera sleeping 15/16 available for Jan 11 for a week for Eur 3,000 for the week, self catered. That's pretty reasonable and it really is in the centre of town.

Ski area will definitely suit everyone. MHs can arrange full or partial catering if required. Whoever commented in resort height above does not understand the local climate and snowfall.

You need to add your flights, transfers and liftpasses but if you do your own cooking and buy in food and drink even locally, I don't see it being terribly expensive.
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under a new name raises a good side note, in that with being 15 of you, proximity to a lift that takes you to a variety of terrain will certainly help such a large group, to save having to all queue at the bus stop or drive cars etc. Also means that the group can come and go if some are taking lessons, spending all day on piste, half days etc.

As said, a full chalet for Euro3,000 split 15 ways would mean a lot of eating and drinking before even scaring the GBP1500pp budget even including say 250 for lift passes. Remember as well you probably want 3 days, rest day, 3 days so that saves a little on the passes too. 7 days straight skiing is brutal. I did 5 half days this year and it was great!

Also, as the very smart under a new name says, dont take everyones ability too much to heart as a deal breaker. TBH, I would look at resorts that are great for begginners, and good for intermediates, as generally if someone is REALLY good and needs a lot of blacks, most large resorts can satisfy those guys with off piste excursions, and most just appreciate being out in the mountains with a load of mates that are progressing, rather than worrying too much about mileage. Maybe.

Good luck!
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dennisp, the problem is often people who think they are "experts" but in reality are slightly advanced intermediates who want their egos fluffing with mile after mile of tedious groomer as repeating the same run is "boring" but covering 30 miles of exactly the same types of run in moderately different places is somehow heroic. IMV obviously.



& it's obviously a formula that sells - see 3V, Espace Killy, Paradiski etc etc.
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fatbob wrote:
dennisp, the problem is often people who think they are "experts" but in reality are slightly advanced intermediates who want their egos fluffing with mile after mile of tedious groomer as repeating the same run is "boring" but covering 30 miles of exactly the same types of run in moderately different places is somehow heroic. IMV obviously.



& it's obviously a formula that sells - see 3V, Espace Killy, Paradiski etc etc.


Indeed, totally agree. But when you have a group of mates, and find some great runs with a few beer stops on the way, mileage seems to become less important if like you say they arent 'heroes'). Personally I love being able to find pistes I really enjoy and repeat them a couple of times. Linderets is a great example near Avoriaz - blue runs that I could do all day with the wife and never get bored.
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Ah, dennisp, you have not even begun to think about maybe even scratching the surface of the deep delights of Lindarets.
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With the sort of group described, even though this was not listed as a criteria in the OP, I would strongly recommend thinking about tuition in coming to a decision on where to go. Some places better than others - price, availability of fluent English speaking instructors, timing , etc. If there are a few absolute beginners who you want to encourage to go again, then finding a really good ski school with a private instructor shared between them would give you more bang for the buck than an extra 100k of piste in the domaine.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
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Making this way to difficult!

Decide what type of accomodation you want (would say catered chalet, exclusive use), dates (last 3 weeks in Jan for cheap?) and budget for flights, transfers and catered chalet accomodation and ask some tour ops to quote.

From the given options, pick a nice chalet, close to the slopes and bars in a half decent resort and bobs your uncle.
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under a new name wrote:
Ah, dennisp, you have not even begun to think about maybe even scratching the surface of the deep delights of Lindarets.


I realise this of course, and look forward to you giving me a good tour guiding Cool saw plenty of tree skiing options, and some between the piste stuff, but guessing there is some very good off piste above broucheax and from rochassons down to the goat village??

Look forward to you sharing the info wink
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fatbob, Very Happy . Couldn't agree more
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