 Poster: A snowHead
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I realize the title is a bit of a oxymoron. Mid-February is the busiest time of the year for skiing in Europe, and I have always previously avoided it like the plague. I've heard many stories of people queueing for an hour or more for the lifts, during the UK half term and winter school breaks of France and spring break of Austria etc.
But this year I have friends visiting from abroad on that weekend and am planning to take them skiing to Europe and I am therefore stuck with that date. Fortunately, we are quite flexible, do not need huge amounts of ski miles, and money is not a huge restriction (within reason). One of the families has young children skiing for the first time too.
So I am looking for somewhere in Europe that is not too busy during the middle weekend of February. I am thinking, even with the slightly staggered holidays of France and Austria, the weekend 13/14th Feb is bang in the middle and so I should avoid anywhere in France and Austria? I have even been thinking about Bulgaria, since their schools do not have a long break in February. Any more views and suggestions gladly appreciated.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Try Andorra or perhaps Kranska Gora in Slovinia, the French don't usually look any further than the French alps but you may find lots of British skiers there.
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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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Check the European School Holidays thread.
Austria should be pretty good this year as only one small german region and 2/3 austrian regions are on their hols.
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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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I'm not particularly knowledgeable about when their school holidays are, but how about Norway?
It's a bit of a road-less-traveled for UK skiers, so you would only be subject to the Scandinavian school holidays then.
There are also some cheap flights to be had out to Oslo from Gatwick I think I saw on another thread, and there are small ski resorts within a train's distance of the capital.
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@Kingofthec, you are right - there are lots of small resorts dotted around Oslo - saw loads on my drive up to Hemsedal last year. The larger Norwegian resorts of Hemsedal and Trysil are going to be pretty rammed that weekend/week - it was very difficult to find anywhere to stay in those resorts for the week following the OP's weekend, so I expect it's going to be busy.
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Thanks for the ideas chaps. I'm certainly up for trying something a bit different, and Kranska Gora looks good. I'll find the European School Holidays thread too, and make sure Slovenians aren't on school break that week too!
As for Norway, again a good idea although dobby thinks it will be busy too, and personally I'm a bit hesitant to go their during winter as it gets dark so soon after lunch!
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Actually looking at the Sunrise/ Sunset calendar, mid Feb doesn't seem a huge problem for Norway, with a latitude around Oslo having daylight from 8 to 5.
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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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@bum, it'll be plenty light enough in Norway if you fancy it.
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@bum, the Saturday won't be too busy in France as it's changeover day. But accommodation slopeside would be difficult. You could stay somewhere like Sallanches (short and easy drive from Geneva - the Auberge de l'Orangerie comes highly recommended). On Saturday, driving up to somewhere like Combloux you'd be contra-flow. Sunday would be more problematical in terms of queues but some local advice might point you in the right direction. My suggestion would be Praz sur Arly, where there is (as in Combloux) a big free car park at the front de neige. But there might be better ideas - though two days in Combloux, where you shouldn't have problems getting private lessons for your beginner kids - might be good. Beautiful views across to the (very close) Mont Blanc.
Flights wouldn't be cheap, though.
Norway sounds like fun - though not if your friends want to see typical alpine skiing, obviously.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Italy is always much quieter during that period than France or Austria - no school holidays then for the Italians. If it's a sunny weekend you'll get Italian weekenders up from Milan & Turin but if if it's snowing it'll be really quiet. Try Gressoney or Courmayeur.
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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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Yes, I thought of Italy but weekends within easy reach of an international airport can be very busy.
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@bum, Fugen in the Zillertal could tick your boxes? Redpoint (http://redpoint.co.uk/) are a terrific small operator (run by Greg and Nina) who would look after you all I'm sure. Bout a 45 min drive from Innsbruck so should be ideal for a weekend.
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You know it makes sense.
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| jellemr wrote: |
| @bum, Fugen in the Zillertal could tick your boxes? Redpoint (http://redpoint.co.uk/) are a terrific small operator (run by Greg and Nina) who would look after you all I'm sure. Bout a 45 min drive from Innsbruck so should be ideal for a weekend. |
check out hochfugen also , just 12k up the valley from fugen , with great access to ski in ski out skiing
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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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Re. Scandinavian daylight: I once skied inside the Arctic Circle in the last week of February (at Riksgransen) - and was surprised to find more daylight at that time than at home in the UK.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@bum, shouldn't be stupid busy in e.g. Champoluc
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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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@HoneyBunny, the Daily Mail article includes a hotel near Flachau in Austria run by an English family that closed 2 seasons ago! It is now turned into apartments and these are being sold at rather inflated prices too (I looked because I was looking to move to the area). And anyone who thinks Flachau is a good choice in high season as a "quiet resort" has obviously never been there, in high or low season. I stayed in said hotel about 4 years ago - never ever again, and that was the response of others staying there at the same time.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Last year bookings were apparently quite dramatically down in Switzerland because of the strength of the franc and it hasn't weakened a lot. Neither has it quite had the big February influx that France has in my experience.
Plenty of very pleasant smaller resorts.
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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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@Samerberg Sue, Well, the article is from 2013. It was just for some general ideas/areas to look at, hence why I posted several links.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
I skied three resorts in Bavaria one Feb half-term.
Didn't queue once. Great snow, great skiing and very good value for money.
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+1 for that. i have skied them at weekends when working in Munich. Add Lenggries to the list in the same area. I think there is a joint skipass as well. They are well linked by the BoB railway so you can easily go from one to another.
If you go to Spitzingzee check out Taubenstein. It is a second area, only opened at weekends, it is a bit like a Bavarian Glencoe with old lifts, minimal grooming so on a Saturday you can get fresh snow everywhere if it has snowed during the week. I skied there one day after a fresh fall and there were literally 10 people on the whole hill.
Your ultimate experience for a weekend would be to stay up the mountain e.g. www.stie-alm.de/gaeste.php. The accommodation is shared and hostelly but the food is good Bavarian mountain and you get to start the day on top of the mountain. Not sure how a family with young children would do with it? Our kids would have loved the whole thing but we did a lot of camping/ sailing etc as a family.
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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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| Quote: |
They are well linked by the BoB railway so you can easily go from one to another.
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That is a little misleading as it is nothing like the Zillertal trains or those in the Wegen-Mürren area. You really do need a car to get from one place to another. to get from Lengreis to Bayerischzell for example you have to go back towards Munich and change trains at Holzkirchen. The BOB (Bayerische Oberland Bahn) is primarily used to get to and from Munich not to link the Alpine Foreland towns and villages.
Bayersichzell is a good base or Oberaudorf in the Inntal which would also give you the option of skiing in the Wilder Kaiser area too (Ski Welt). The lift out of Bayerischzell to sudelfeld has not been open in years either because of lack of snow &/or because it is as ancient as the Tiger Chairlift at Glensee (the one that was taken out and replaced this summer). A friend who is part of the consortium of landowners who also own lifts at Sudelfeld thinks it will never open again but they cannot afford to remove it.
The combined ski pass @Col the Yeti refers to covers Bayerischzell, Schliersee, Spitzingsee, Oberaudorf, Kössen and a couple of other places (see here: http://www.sudelfeld.de/skipaesse-preise/alpen-plus-holiday-card/) Lengreis/Tölz/Bromberg are not included on this.
This is my backyard so to speak as I can see the Sudelfeld slopes from my side of the Inntal - I'm further east towards Salzburg in the Chiemgau, where we also have a fair number of smallish but interesting ski resorts.
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Alpen plus does include Lenggries, it is called Brauneck/Wegschied which are the two base stations.
I suppose it is not that easy to get between the resorts, coming from Munich on day trips it looks OK but I was starting from the right end.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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The 14th is my wife's birthday and she likes to spend her birthdays skiing. Last year we had a week in Lech which was excellent and not stupidly busy. This year we've not got scope for a whole week so we're doing a slightly shorter break - flying out on the Thursday and home on the Tuesday. We like Austria. The resorts that are well known in Britain all had fairly limited availability and high prices, but the smaller or less well known places were much more reasonable. We're flying into Munich, picking up a hire car and driving to Nauders. It's only little but there's options to ski over the border in Italy.
I'd recommend that you find the best price flight you can get to an Alpine area and then work from there. Nauders is about as far from Munich as it's possible to get in the Austrian Alps but it's still only about 3 hours drive.
Another option would be to check out Ski-2 website at http://www.ski-2.com/ski-holidays/ski-weekends/
They'll pick you up from a range of airports and Champoluc looks like a good place to ski (I'll know for sure after I've been there for Christmas/New Year!)
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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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Ischgl is not really know for being quiet 
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sorry - you're right. was more thinking in terms of proximity to airport and not being in France where half term lasts for a month !
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You know it makes sense.
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| Samerberg Sue wrote: |
| Quote: |
They are well linked by the BoB railway so you can easily go from one to another.
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That is a little misleading as it is nothing like the Zillertal trains or those in the Wegen-Mürren area. You really do need a car to get from one place to another... |
I used a combination of train and bus.
Free bus from practically outside the Alpenrose Hotel to Sudenfeld.
Train one stop back to Munich, then click in beside the platform and ski the tunnel under the train tracks to get to the Wendelsteinbahn.
Train four stops to Fischhausen-Neuhaus (20 mins), where a bus was waiting to go up to the Spitzingsee ski area (20 mins).
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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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Axamer Lizum or Götzens are both within a few minutes of Innsbruck by taxi. You could be skiing before others on transfer coaches have even left the airport. Neither place is massive, however a good bus service links the two. You can also ski Stubai Gletscher from there too.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@Mike Pow, that is the Schliersee/Bayrischzell line, to get to the Brauneck (Lengreis area) you have to go back as far a Holzkirchen and pick up the Tölz line, then take a bus I think as the train does not go up the valley to Lengreis.
And the BOB is running on a shoe string now mainly serving the morning and afternoon traffic to and from Munich. It is not financially viable on its own, so gets some hefty subs from the Oberbayern local council as well as the Bavarian and federal pots!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@bum, I have been in Norway at Halfterm and it was fine both busy wise and daylight. Not to mention they had floodlight skiing if you were really hard core - strangely we were eating Dinner 
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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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We have been to Bad Gastein Austria for the last 2 years during Feb half term hols and found lift queues to be virtually non existent.
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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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We have been to Bad Gastein Austria for the last 2 years during Feb half term hols and found lift queues to be virtually non existent.
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