 Poster: A snowHead
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We thinking of coming back from the Alps via the Vosges for the New Year. Has anyone skied there? Stayed there? Hopefully we will already have had a weeks skiing in the Alps so lots of slopes are not a requirement, we just thought it might make a nice change.
Any thoughts?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Skied there quite a lot when living in Strasbourg. Aim for La Bresse near Gérardmer as your best bet, or across the river to Feldberg.
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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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My season ski pass gives me some free days skiing in La Bresse - not got round to trying it out though.
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| CaravanSkier wrote: |
| we just thought it might make a nice change. |
so might dogging but you may want to think again before going that route  .
La Bresse is the biggest area. Imagine you take the wooded bits of la Plagne without all the high mountain crap and that's la Bresse for you. It does get very busy but I'd be happy to spend a week there. There is some pretty good steep couloir skiing off the top (the Fallimont and Hohneck couloirs) but you'd need to tour out. The snowshoeing and cross country/nordic skiing is excellent. It is snow unsure though. The locals are a bit inbred and unfriendly, not very customer oriented; local skiing for local people, quoi!
Maybe my outlook is coloured but I mean, if I wanted inbred bumpkins and poor service I could simply go to the Savoie and that would only be 25km for me!
After that it gets smaller. Gerardmer is possibly the next biggest ski area. Typical low level wooded skiing. Large runs, trees, more trees. As as far as I could see one shallow off piste trail via the Auberge de Grouvelin (could make a lunch stop); skiing past farm houses then praries. Lots of unfriendly and agressive Dutch though. Low lying so ski early, the snow can get soggy after lunch if the sun is out. Gerardmer is a good base, lots of restaurants and hotels. If it were New England people would be raving about it. Gaschney and Hohwald are fairly big too.
After that there are dozens of other resorts, some with less vertical than the snowdome.... la Markstein, la Planche des Belles filles etc but you are really getting into Yokeland. Maybe are just a farm with a tow. It is all a bit Deliverance.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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davidof,
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Maybe my outlook is coloured but I mean, if I wanted inbred bumpkins and poor service I could simply go to the Savoie and that would only be 25km for me!
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What an incredibly snobbish, if not racist, view of the world you have. I skied in the Vosges for 3 seasons on and off and found it to be an excellent area for a few hours slide. I loved living in Alsace and found it a damned sight friendlier than other parts of France that I lived and worked in.
CaravanSkier is looking for a stop over not a main holiday location. I think it will be an interesting time. I enjoyed my days out in the Vosges and the Schwarzwald as much as my longer stays in the Savoie. The only query I would have is that the snow may be disappointing depending on when you are talking about returning. But that is true of all regions these days if last season is anything to go on.
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I am open to any other suggestions
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The Jura? Les Rousses, for example, lies exactly on the direct route between Geneva and Dijon (which I always take in preference to the autoroute if the weather is OK. Misjudged it last year and spent a couple of hours dodging poids lourds sliding round or stopped in the middle of the road trying to put chains on). Not snow-assured - they've had quite a few baddish years recently.
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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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Interesting thought pam w, I looked at the accommodation at the Col De La Faucille but I have seen (and skied) that particular part of the Jura too many times to want to re visit it so early in the season. Apart from skiing you have to drive down to Gex for anything else of interest. And I do not remember much of interest there to be honest! That being said it was a wonderful resort in the right conditions to teach small children how to ski.
Our first experience of putting snow chains on in a blizzard was on that route through the Jura and although we had practiced it at home it was not a fun experience lol
I can cope with somewhere I do not know in cold, wet conditions because of novelty value, and I have not ever stopped off or explored Les Rouses but we have have driven past it many times. I will wander off and do some googling! Thank you for the suggestion.
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CaravanSkier, sorry, didn't know you had already spent lots of time there.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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pam w, Of course you would not. Non the less I had not thought of other Jura resorts so it was a good shout on your part!
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FAQ
We will have been in Morzine for a week with access up to high skiing if need be and are vaguely planning a leisurely drive home, arriving back early in the new year. I, perhaps naively, thought it would be easier to book a small hotel in the Vosges for a few nights rather than in the Alps, with a chance to do a little skiing somewhere different. However initial attempts suggest otherwise!
