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Solo Skier to - how to save costs

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Im looking at a solo trip to Austria this winter, low season, outside school holiday times. Im a poor intermediate, used to ski regularly but only done it once in last 10 years, want to get back into it. Would like a resort with enough runs for me to stay interested for a week, dont need a huge area as im not one for hour upon hour of piste bashing. I would need to hire ski's and boots and probably do a few days of lessons to get me back up to speed. Looked at the standard tour operators but there is little choice for a solo skier and once I add packs for ski and boot hire and lift passes the costs come to around £1000. Ideally I want to do it all in including the ski hire, lift passes etc, half board for about £700
Any tips or advice on how I could reduce the costs yet still get a decent holiday, im not prepared to really rough it in hostels etc. I have chosen Austria as I like the place, the efficiency, cleanliness, food, welcome etc all suit me. However I am happy to consider other places if it will save me money! Although im not too keen on the Eastern Europe and balkan resorts, want it to be in the Alps. Any advice welcome, i know its a bit of a how long is a peace of string question but any advice most welcome!
ski holidays
 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
leave it till the last minute and get a cheap deal would be my opening suggestion. Book the week off work and start looking for the best deals near the planned departure time. Sure there are risks with that approach but it would be my choice if I were lucky enough to be that flexible.
ski holidays
 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?
snowheads ski bash? the one in italy is like being in Austria, and a rough guesstimation in my head suggests mine is coming in close to that budget plus food-n-beer. one in france should be cheaper.

http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=52715
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
DRHOSKING, you could get an all-in holiday including full board, ski pass, tuition and equipment hire going with Action-Outdoors to UCPA centres in France, at or very close to your budget.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
DRHOSKING, Depends when you want to go but pricing up. Say St Anton. Fri 10th Jan - Fri 17th Jan
BA Flights from Gatwick - £157 or Sat to Sat £226 EDIT Easyjet Flight £86
BB Single Room with Ensuite: Haus Battisti - €245 http://www.haus-battisti.com/en/
Just used: http://www.stantonamarlberg.com/en/winter/ to search choose the nearest one to the slopes.
Lift Pass - €235
Ski & Boot Hire - €162
Bus to and from Airport to Railway Station - €3.40
Return Train fare to St Anton (Station is in the town) - €31.80
Food/Drink for a week €700 Very Happy Very Happy

Total £721 using €1.2 rate.
or £790 for BA flights on Saturday

EASY Jet Flight instead (includes checked bag): £650

St Anton has some great varied skiing, great people watching places, then you can get the bus to Zurs and ski the white ring always a laugh Very Happy Very Happy
St Anton has the Rendl ski area often overlooked. Evenings in St Anton can go from the sedate/posh hotel restaurant, to silly drinking falling over times. Very Happy

All that said I would still recommend a Snowheads bash, Bashes will bring your skiing on, nothing like watching other people ski, then being able to ask them in a friendly beer induced way later in the hotel. How do you ski like that wink wink
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You'll need to Register first of course.
Sounds good! Didn't think about the train, where are those flights too? Will look into the Bashes too.
Cheers
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
blytht, are you sure your arithmetic is correct? I make those holidays more than you've said without eating or drinking a thing. And they don't include any lessons, either.

I was thinking a SH bash would be a good idea, 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!
pam w, agreed.

DRHOSKING, seriously £700 for a week of skiing is super cheap when you want hire and lessons. A ski holiday (even with UCPA!) is always about £1k by the time you've had one or two beers. You actually are in 'rough it in hostels' price range. However many hostels are actually really nice!
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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.
DRHOSKING, if you want a single room then you need to book early, these tend to get snapped up. But I have heard of people getting lucky with cheap TO deals including a twin room for sole use when booking last minute. I normally budget around £800 for flights, transfers, half board hotel (single room), lift pass through a TO but I have my own equipment and don't have lessons. You might be able to source it all cheaper yourself but bear in mind you will be on your own and will need to organise everything yourself whereas a TO will organise your equipment hire, lessons and give you your lift pass on your transfer coach. Some TOs have a room-share option where they put singles together, that's not my thing at all, but if you don't mind that it would save you a bit. Skiing is not a cheap hobby, but worth every penny.
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
I'm in the same boat as you, this year going to Finland with Inghams certain hotels don't have any supplement for sole use not bad prices also. Not great challenges but lots of other things to do.
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
I wish someone could explain how the snow head bash pages work as they are utterly incomprehensible.

Normally the best way of solo skiing is to go through some of the local tourist offices in Austria - have had good success in Westendorf that way - as they have a load of local B&Bs on their books - if you do not mind a 5-10 minute tramp into town to search for food in the evening as some of them may be on ski bus routes but are a little out of town. Also found a good B&B in Kirchberg last year through either bookings or hotels.com - apart from a local excellent pizza place about a 5 minute walk into town for an evening meal.

Generally I prefer Austria and Switzerland due to the excellent pubic transport systems keeping transfer costs down and the integration of bus and train timetables.

Do not, as other threads refer to, rule out looking at Munich flights as well for Austria as it is metro from airport to a rail station and then there are through trains to Salzburg where a change might be required.

Never yet had the luck to find a TO offering free use of twins for late booking and certainly never found a travel agent prepared to search them out.
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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.
If you look at package holidays in general, not just skiing, a week in Europe travelling solo is generally £600 upwards. So in my opinion to expect to find a decent activity holiday including tuition, equipment hire and lift pass for £700 is unrealistic.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
DRHOSKING, have a look at http://www.friendshiptravel.com/ski-and-snowboard.html, we have come across them a couple of times when on ski holidays, including St Anton, its a mix of single people and those who's partners don't ski, not sure what the costs are.

Ok there seems to be a problem with the link, use this http://www.friendshiptravel.com then go to holiday destinations
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
countryman wrote:
excellent pubic transport systems


LOL.

Very hairy driving though, I hear.



Also, I don't think the bash pages are incomprehensible at all, everyone seems to manage to sign up without too much trouble - the headache is entirely the organisers'.

They are a really great option for solo skiers, and there are fellow skiers of every ability.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
I use to take my nieces skiing. They would pay their share of the driving costs, about £100 each and I would give them free accommodation. The cost each generally worked out at about £700 each. This is how it worked out.

Lift pass £250 (8 days)
Equipment hire £100
Lessons £60
Insurance £30
Travel £100
food and drink £150 (at least but depends on number of drinks bought during the evening).

I imagine that if you did any other form of transport other than a shared car it would work out much more as you added in the cost of transfers, getting to the UK airport or the excessive costs of getting to London to get the train to the resort.

All in all I think a realistic budget, even using hostels will be about £1000
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
You can do a week with Action Outdoors/UCPA in Flaine in January, full time instruction, fully inclusive, full board, for £762. Travelling by coach from London. Only expense on top of that would be some beers.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Make some friends, then share.
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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?
DRHOSKING, Myself and my mate go to Austria each year solo x 2 as I'm in Dublin and he's in Newcastle, we always reckon we're doing alright if we get a week in a reasonable hotel, ski carriage and lift pass for under e1000 or 900£ - no lessons and own gear, I've had a quick look on my usual t/o site (Crystal) and the cheapest I can see for what you want is 930£ to Niederau. You need to allow about £400 for your ski pack which only leaves £300 for you flight,hotel,and transfer - not enough my friend. You could try d.i.y. but the ski pack will cost the same. Very Happy
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
DRHOSKING, Myself and my mate go to Austria each year solo x 2 as I'm in Dublin and he's in Newcastle, we always reckon we're doing alright if we get a week in a reasonable hotel, ski carriage and lift pass for under e1000 or 900£ - no lessons and own gear, I've had a quick look on my usual t/o site (Crystal) and the cheapest I can see for what you want is 930£ to Niederau. You need to allow about £400 for your ski pack which only leaves £300 for you flight,hotel,and transfer - not enough my friend. You could try d.i.y. but the ski pack will cost the same. Very Happy
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
countryman wrote:
I wish someone could explain how the snow head bash pages work as they are utterly incomprehensible.
What do you actually need explaining?
With such an indistinct criticism it's hard to know where to start.
"utterly incomprehensible" ? Well we could begin with "Have you checked whether your monitor is upside down? Set to display Chinese characters? Switched on?"

Seriously though, many hundreds of people have successfully negotiated their way through the system and most seem happy to repeat the process, often frequently.
If we can hone in on the source of confusion a little, I'm sure we can figure something out.

A good start would be finding out when/where the bashes are, by going here: bashes
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
countryman,

Did you call his baby ugly?
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
YES

and what on earth does a page that has bashes which you cannot click on (eg off piste Serre Chevalier) and others which have something called buttons - thought buttons was a character in a pantomime.
ski holidays
 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
countryman, how about asking in a slightly less truculent manner? You never know, people might be more inclined to help.

(Almost exactly what I said to my 3 year old grand-daughter this morning at one point - she's generally a polite girl but forgot herself for a minute).
ski holidays
 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.
countryman wrote:
YES

and what on earth does a page that has bashes which you cannot click on (eg off piste Serre Chevalier) and others which have something called buttons - thought buttons was a character in a pantomime.
"I.T. support? There's something wrong with my computer, I can't read a thing on it?"
"IT'S BEHIND U!"

countryman, sorry it's such a complicated system. I have noted your observations.
Perhaps there needs to be a list of instructions for reading that post. Do remember though, you can always post questions on the topic if you don't understand something. There's always someone happy to advise.

That is a list of this season's bashes and potential bashes. Events which are not certain to happen, have a note accordingly.
Those bashes that are open for sign-up, have links to the 'buttons' that snowHeads love to press to sign up to things.
Those that aren't ready yet, don't have links to them. (So it's just ordinary text you're trying to click there.)


While the bashes are certainly popular and the feedback I get is, almost without exception, very good, it would be silly to assume they'd suit every temperament. Certainly we don't go in for the hand-holding that tour ops tend to do, as snowHeads tend to be a little more independent of thought than most.

Have you looked at what the Ski Club of Great Britain has on offer? There might be something there to suit your needs.
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
"truculent" - good word, pam w!
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Quote:

"truculent" - good word, pam w!

yes, my grand-daughter was delighted with it. She pottered about rolling it around her tongue for a little while.
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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.
It's a new one to Gregory too: I feel quite remiss never having called him that in 18 years!
ski holidays
 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
pam w, he doesn't want to 'rough it' in hostels, so he is hardly going to relish the prospect of an overnight bus journey to Flaine!

Don't recomend UCPA to everyone straight off, its nice to have fun, inclusive and young people on holiday at UCPA not truculent people! <selfish>
ski holidays
 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
kat.ryb, you're right, and perhaps he'd be a pain on a bash, too!
ski holidays
 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
pam w, maybe Very Happy
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