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Ski Season Advice

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
First topic so Hello to all.

We are a couple aged 52 and 42 and first went skiing 3 years ago.

We really enjoyed it and have been thinking it would be a great way to spend a winter , being active and learning to ski and living an outdoors lifestyle.
Also keeps us healthy to do new experiences and feel alive and the connections that come with that.

We have no idea on doing this , we have no friends who ski never mind have spent a season skiing Smile all our information will be reliant on the interwebs.

So im asking for any advice or help anyone can give.
Firstly i would appreciate if anyone can give an appraisal of our initial ideas Smile and if they make sense or seem feasible , we need an area to go!! so main object is to find a destination.

We think Italy would be a great place to go and would prefer that over the obvious areas such as France etc.
is £3000 reasonable for a seasons accommodation in a 2 bed place? ( hope to have kids visit)
We would rather source our own digs and work rather than an agency package , we think we could get weekend work when the resorts are busiest and have a few days midweek to ourselves.
is that a realistic expectation? work 3/4 days a week?

Main question would an area in Italy?

we have looked at Livingo , Madonna Di and Sauze but really havent a clue about any of them.

what we would like is ambience and affordability but also lively enough to make friends and have some sort of nightlife and also for work opportunities.
Ski conditions arent important , we are both beginners so as long as there is a bit of variety im sure the majority of resorts will suit.

im going to do one of these blog things to document this if we pull it off

http://irelandtoitaly.wordpress.com/


many thanks
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
reread and in case its confusing , the £3000 for accommodation only , not for the whole season.
We are thinking £8000 in total.
Is that realistic for everything? hoping that getting work would be cover beer tokens and eats
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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?
I hope you manage to do it but the accommodation budget is far too low for a season. Hopefully marcellus will be along to advise as season rental is his business. You could search for his posts..I think his website is in his signature.he has also posted examples from time to time


Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Sat 11-10-14 22:15; edited 1 time in total
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Hi hawkwind, £3,000 to rent a 2 bedroom is pushing it for a 2 bedroom, off the top of my head i think the cheapest 2bedroom i know of anywhere is €5,500.

Drop me an email (marcellus@livetheseason.com) and we can discuss your options.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
8k is fine. I rent out my london pad to cover uk expences, and never dip in to savings and actually go back to a few grand. Tried working for others and last season self employed. Was great but you will ned a car to be flexible.
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thanks all for the advice.
Marcellus thats very kind to offer advice and ill take you up on that and send an email in the morning.

Has anyone any suggestions for a resort/town?
We were thinking that if we rented out of the town on a bus route things would work out cheaper but this is excellent and the type of help we need.
I may have to adjust the budget , to be fair we honestly havent a clue and £3000 was a guess with marcellus lowest quote coming it at £4400 i may be in bother already!

2 bedrooms isnt a deal breaker but we do need the kids to visit , its one of the hardest things to leave them for so long so it cant be compromised but maybe a larger one bedroom or the likes.
im a positive sort of guy and am confident it will work out Smile

Any suggestions on favourite resorts , towns in Italy?
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Quote:

but we do need the kids to visit


How old are the kids? If they are old enough to be in an apt by themselves, and aren't tied to school holiday dates then by far your cheapest option will be to rent a one-bedroom place for yourselves in a block which also does holiday lets and then rent somewhere seperate for them when they come out.
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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!
hawkwind,

Can't advise on the accommodation side of things, but you may want to consider Aosta if you don't mind driving busing around the valley to the ski areas. There is a gondola up to Pila, but Courmayeur, La Thuile, Cervinia, Gressoeny etc are all reachable. It's a city-well a town by UK standards with a population of ~35K. Quite an interesting place for those non ski days.
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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.
hawkwind, Courmayeur or Champoluc worth considering.

Check out http://www.tecnocasa.it/site/it/immobiliare/tecnocasa.html
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
thanks ,
ill do a bit of googling and check the links

kids are aged 19 16 and 12.
yeah thats maybe an idea to rent somewhere seperate when they visit although it will be on holiday times which may make it expensive but these are the sort of things i need to search.
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Aosta is a good shout!
looks a lovely town and im sure we could source accommodation around the budget.
Good work prospects there too.

whats people ideas on being away from the slopes?

the italian site for rentals is excellent , had real trouble finding one online , had a bit of a scot around it and the prices are excellent

also seen a few properties on holidaylettings , seems to be connected to tripadvisor.

what im seeing for this season is all the main holidays booked and then empty for the rest of the season , so my thinking is that if i owned a property id rather it rented for the whole season to a mature couple. Saves on all the hassle of weekly lets and cleaning charges and service charges.
Do you think a lot of properties are only rented on main holiday times?

thanks everyone so far

My main objective for now is to get a shortlist of about 10 resorts/areas to research and whittle down to around 3/4

so far we have

Aosta which takes in the areas under a new name also posted.
Sauze
Trento region

so any others post them up

needs are nice ambience and lively enough to make friends and find a bit of work for beer tokens
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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.
hawkwind, yes, a lot of owners rent out eg school holiday periods and then use it themselves the rest of the time, or vice versa. Your point about season rentals is valid but only to those owners who don't want to use it themselves - the running costs would be saved and could be passed to the seasonal renter

Do you speak Italian?
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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
holidayloverxx, or in the Aosta valley, hawkwind, do you speak French?
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
under a new name, oops - well, the idea was the same wink
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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 only Spanish and my partner is learning Polish Smile
We are starting Italian ( or maybe French) lessons in January , we checked last week and nothing till then.
with a couple of years we should have the basics mastered and hopefully advance when there
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
hawkwind, If you have to choose one language, consider French it will widen your options. Oh and the very best of luck....well done for taking the plunge
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Thanks ,
Have elementary French from school , cant say i ever enjoyed the adventures of Marie-Claude and Jean Philippe or was it Marcus and Sextus and some Romulus character , all i remember was it all being a drag
take heed kids and listen and learn , you never know when you might need these things!
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?
For accommodation in Aosta try http://property-italy.immobiliare.it/ but bear in mind that although most of them say they're available for short term leases (3+2/4+4), few want to let for less than a year. Search all the areas above the valley on both sides (Gignod, Pollein etc)

You'll probably need Italian to work there. They all speak French too
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
Have you consider Austria? You'd get a 2 bed apartment in a smaller resort for that price or even less (Soll/Ellmau), go a little out of town and you'd get a farmhouse that's between resorts.

Austria's answer to Daft.ie is here:
http://www.immodirekt.at/

Apartment example @490e a month beside Ellmau lifts:
http://www.immodirekt.at/immobilien/detail?id=1874821&search=543bddb6afc2b8.22914376&item=6

Farmhouse example @500e a month between Kitzbuhel/Soll:
http://www.immodirekt.at/immobilien/detail?id=1896726&search=543bde1753e442.61468406&item=25
ski holidays
 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
thanks again for all the help.
Austria looks a lot cheaper!! thats for sure , but its all becoming a bit complicated as ive now France and all sorts added to the mix.
So we have decided to keep it simple for now , its a couple of years away and we are visiting Italy in March so we can make a better informed judgement then.

been proving hard enough to find an area in Italy and it was getting out of hand as we going halfway round the world.

For now its the Dolomites which i can find no fault with , flights to Ireland from Verona and Innsbruck and looks a beautiful place , bit on the pricey side from what i can make out , the Ferrari team and all hang out there but im sure away from all the glitz there is down to earth prices Smile

So far been looking at Madonna Di Campiglio , Pinzolo and a few other spots on the other side of that mountain , Andalo and Paganella.
We are booked to Andalo for a trip in March so that should help , maybe try get a spin round to Madonna as well then.

anyone have any ideas on the plans so far?
Are we making a glaring mistake in that area? it looks busy and popular so should find an excess of accomodation and a job

gonna sit on it for a few weeks and see what happens , maybe scout about a bit at properties online and get a flavour of what my euros can get me.
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
Just noticed this thread i started last year Smile
Sadly the season did not materialise , the costs were just too much for poor church mice like us!
It will be done , just not this year , maybe in a few years time for sure.
Thanks for all the advice and for sure when closer to achieving this ill reread thread and think over the advice again.

What tips i did find were
Use AirBnB for long term accommodation , was some value on a month to month basis.
Bring a car and stay away from the resort , everything was miles cheaper and you have the option to try loads of different resorts well in Italy anyways which was where i was researching.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Try the Val d aran in the Spanish Pyrenees. For aosta be sure to check the 'local' agencies, 12 months can be as cheap as s winter.
snow conditions
 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
If you are wanting to come to Aosta send me a message. You can easily find a 2 bedroom apartment for £3000 for the whole season. I live there and used to rent a beautiful 3 bedroom (huge) apartment which cost €3250 from December - end of April. Best of luck, hopefully you will manage to do a season next year if not this! Smile
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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.
I have a suggestion which you might be interested in if you are interested in helping us out.
Message me if you are interested and I will tell you all about it. snowHead
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Morning @nixmap, seeing your post made me smile.

(Brings back memories of last years thread discussion) Very Happy Very Happy


Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads on Sun 9-08-15 20:06; edited 1 time in total
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Everyone in the Aosta valley speaks French unless they've just made a mess of replacing your clutch and really don't want to discuss it. The guy in question just said "No" when I asked if he spoke French. rolling eyes Laughing Che cazzo.
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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.
@hawkwind, we're still thinking about it. The advice will come in handy. And we have the same situation: not enough pennies. However I look at it, it's going to cost more than I can make. I almost worked out a way of doing British archaeology from a French mountain!! It's worth having a look at nixmap's past posts. It's a very intriguing proposition.

@nixmap, does you proposition accommodate families?
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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
The op stated a couple. Forgive me for being short but I don want to hijack the op
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