 Poster: A snowHead
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I have booked flights to Geneva for a sneaky weekend on the 22nd-24th January. Arrive at 9.45 am on the Friday - will have own ski gear renting a car. Depart 14.10 pm on the Sunday.
I am hoping for maximum ski time which means an afternoon on the Friday, full day on the Saturday and a morning on the Sunday and I am looking for advise on which resorts to head to.
Thanks in advance.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Ischgl or Obergurgl
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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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@gazzaredcruiser, from Geneva?
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@JoyZipper, Welcome to snowHeads!
if slope time is a priority then perhaps Ischgl or Obergurgl might be a poor choice. Maybe try smaller resorts (Les Brasses, Saint-Cergue, Montriond) on the half-days, then a larger resort (Les Houches?) on the fullday - as you are renting a car, stay in the valley on the way between 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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opps, sorry didn't read it properly! it's only a 5.5 hour drive! 
How about La Plagne, lots of good snow there and still 1m due in the 7 days! only 2.5 hour transfer or Tignes or Sainte-Foy-Tarentaise, all about 2.5 hours.
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@gazzaredcruiser, 2.5 hours is still a LONG way for a weekend. for a half day skiing, ideally you want a one hour transfer
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@JoyZipper, welcome to snowheads, if your criteria is maximum slope time then I would think that Grand Massif would be hard to beat.
Closer to GVA than Portes du Soleil and Chamonix, your timings could be;
Arrive GVA - 0945
Exit Customs - 10:45 (allow the hour as you have skis)
Leave GVA - 11:30 (allow 3/4s of an horu to sort hire car as it always takes longer than you think.
Arrive Les Carroz Main car Park - 12:30
1st Lift - 13:00.
1st Descent - 13:10
SO, 4 hours skiing Friday.
My guestimate on reduced piste times for other "Northern French Alpes" are;
- Avoriaz 75mins less
- Morzine 45mins less
- Les Contamines 45mins less
- Les Gets 30mins less
- Megeve / St Gervais 30mins less
- Chamonix 30mins less
- Morillon 15mins less
- Samoens 15 mins less
Cue hard hat on for those in Chamonix/PdS to say they're closer than the GM etc etc etc.
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Er, from Geneva? What is wrong with you people?!!
Chamonix. 1 hr
Megeve - 1 hr
Portes du Soleil 1 hr 15
etc.
Chamonix a great shout as a) you need a car there anyway, b) if the weather is awful, you don't have any twisty mountain roads/snow chains to negotiate en route - it's all motorway so you should avoid significant bad weather delays, c) loads of accommodation options, especially if you have the car, and d) Grand Montets alone has enough to amuse you for 2 days. So I'd go to Chamonix.
La Plagne/Ishgl. Honestly. 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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La Plagne/Ishgl. Honestly. Very Happy
Fair play, yeah i just haven't skied close to GVA and didn't want to recommend where I hadn't skied.
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Seems barely worth the effort and expense.
It will be a stretch to get even 2-3hrs skiing on the Fri and 1-2hrs on the Sun.
Looking at roughly 10 hours of total skiing for about £200-500. Book in advance and it is possible to get a whole week for that.
If it must be done, Megeve is the closest major resort to Geneva. About 1hr on a good day. Lots of beds available. Chamonix good, too.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Assuming flights on time, hit Cham. Assume 60 mins to get luggage and car. If you are more than one send someone for car while you wait luggage. So you could reach les Houches by, say, 11:45. A 4 hour pass might work? Have you got passes you could charge in advance? Ski Grands Montets Saturday and Les Houches again Sunday.
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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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Accommodation was always the problem I found when trying to go for a weekend. Most ski accom is booked out a week at a time with a Saturday changeover, so your trip cuts into two weeks. It may be easier now but last time I tried to get a room from Thursday to Sunday (admittedly it was in, I think, 2006) it was a 'mare.
I suppose you could always sleep in your car.
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Lots of threads on this at the moment but one very clear winner - flights Stansted Treviso - Friday evening flights, very early Saturday morning flights and a very late sunday evening flight.
Very small airport - no queues for bagges or car hire.
Folgaria 1hr 15minutes or Civetta 80 mins away. - skiing at Civetta until 10.30 at night on Fridy and Saturday at Civetta. Lots of other resorts not too far
Cheapest flights to the Alps
Chapedt car hire in Europe in Italy at the mo
Best snow making in the world - best conditions in Europe of disasterous New Year.
Lots of great value accomodation on Booking.com
No brain really.....
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You know it makes sense.
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Your key criteria is nearness to the airport, especially given the earliness of your return flight (we usually aim for the latest possible flight back) - accommodation that week should not be a real issue. A call/email to the local tourist office usually comes up with something unless you are a big group. No harm in leaving to last minute and seeing how the snow is closer to the time and then making a decision - hoteliers may be more willing to accept you closer to the time as they give up on getting a longer booking. For a weekend, the size of the resort is not so important, so a good opportunity to explore some smaller areas you might not otherwise bother with for a longer trip.
J2ski gives a good list of resorts near to Geneva (and indeed to other Alpine airports - a useful resource for planning this kind of trip: https://www.j2ski.com/ski_resorts/Airports/Geneva.html
I think their timings are slightly conservative (ie too long). Ones I have done for a quick weekend from GVA are: Villars (would recommend this - easy to get to, nice skiing, links to Les Diabelerets and Glacier 3000), Les Gets, Champery, Chamonix/Argentiere, Verbier, Courmayeur. Others to consider: Megeve/St Gervais/Les Contamines, Gstaad, Crans Montana, Flaine, but there are quite a few others within 90 mins of GVA.
Another time, I would echo the recommendation of flights to Treviso (or Innsbruck) and w/e in dolomites - done this several times and really enjoyed.
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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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arriving that time of day you could fit an afternoon skiing st jean d'aulps before relocating somewhere to access elsewhere in PDS (morzine/les gets?).
I have done this twice and been skiing by midday
p.s. with a 1410 flight don't think your sunday morning is particularly realistic.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| marcellus wrote: |
@JoyZipper, welcome to snowheads, if your criteria is maximum slope time then I would think that Grand Massif would be hard to beat.
Closer to GVA than Portes du Soleil and Chamonix, your timings could be;
Arrive GVA - 0945
Exit Customs - 10:45 (allow the hour as you have skis)
Leave GVA - 11:30 (allow 3/4s of an horu to sort hire car as it always takes longer than you think.
Arrive Les Carroz Main car Park - 12:30
1st Lift - 13:00.
1st Descent - 13:10
SO, 4 hours skiing Friday.
My guestimate on reduced piste times for other "Northern French Alpes" are;
- Avoriaz 75mins less
- Morzine 45mins less
- Les Contamines 45mins less
- Les Gets 30mins less
- Megeve / St Gervais 30mins less
- Chamonix 30mins less
- Morillon 15mins less
- Samoens 15 mins less
Cue hard hat on for those in Chamonix/PdS to say they're closer than the GM etc etc etc. |
This seems like a good plan. Thank you for your input.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Whitegold wrote: |
Seems barely worth the effort and expense.
It will be a stretch to get even 2-3hrs skiing on the Fri and 1-2hrs on the Sun.
Looking at roughly 10 hours of total skiing for about £200-500. Book in advance and it is possible to get a whole week for that.
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Cash rich, time poor I'm afraid.
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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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| sanman wrote: |
Accommodation was always the problem I found when trying to go for a weekend. Most ski accom is booked out a week at a time with a Saturday changeover, so your trip cuts into two weeks. It may be easier now but last time I tried to get a room from Thursday to Sunday (admittedly it was in, I think, 2006) it was a 'mare.
I suppose you could always sleep in your car. |
Quite happy to sleep in the valley and drive up the mountain so accommodation shouldn't be a problem. Booking.com has lots available at most resorts within a 30 minute drive.
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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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I have made a typo with the return flight time - it is 4.30 pm not 1430.
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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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| rg1 wrote: |
Your key criteria is nearness to the airport, especially given the earliness of your return flight (we usually aim for the latest possible flight back) - accommodation that week should not be a real issue. A call/email to the local tourist office usually comes up with something unless you are a big group. No harm in leaving to last minute and seeing how the snow is closer to the time and then making a decision - hoteliers may be more willing to accept you closer to the time as they give up on getting a longer booking. For a weekend, the size of the resort is not so important, so a good opportunity to explore some smaller areas you might not otherwise bother with for a longer trip.
J2ski gives a good list of resorts near to Geneva (and indeed to other Alpine airports - a useful resource for planning this kind of trip: https://www.j2ski.com/ski_resorts/Airports/Geneva.html
I think their timings are slightly conservative (ie too long). Ones I have done for a quick weekend from GVA are: Villars (would recommend this - easy to get to, nice skiing, links to Les Diabelerets and Glacier 3000), Les Gets, Champery, Chamonix/Argentiere, Verbier, Courmayeur. Others to consider: Megeve/St Gervais/Les Contamines, Gstaad, Crans Montana, Flaine, but there are quite a few others within 90 mins of GVA.
Another time, I would echo the recommendation of flights to Treviso (or Innsbruck) and w/e in dolomites - done this several times and really enjoyed. |
Picking up a hire car on the Swiss side and heading to Villars was my first thought. Saturday in Verbier and Sunday morning back in Villars ? Is there much difference timewise (and exiting the airport) in renting on the French/Swiss side ?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Did just this to Grand Massif last year staying in Morillon and it worked very well. I don't think you will get much in on the last day though, half day at most. We stayed up at 1100 but it might have been better to stay in the town to shorten the transfer. (gondola is much quicker than the mountain road) same applies to staying in Flaine, it adds to the drive.
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I have only ever rented car from Swiss side - usually pretty quick to get through, and you are straight onto the main road, and very quick and easy to find on the return. Can't comment on the French side, other than you might take a while trying to find it on the return journey.
A couple of tips to speed up the pick-up process:
1 If there are two or more of you, driver goes straight through customs to sort out car hire whilst other collects bags
2 Don't use the car hire recommended by the airline you are travelling on - everyone else does that, so the queue is usually the longest - use one of the others and you can usually go straight to the desk without queuing
3 Sign up for the regular renter service (if they have one) so that your keys are waiting and you can avoid all the endless repetitive paperwork
For such a short trip, I would simply head for the resort you are staying in and ski there - not much point in travelling between Villars and Verbier - there is plenty of skiing in Villars to keep you well occupied for the period you are there for, with Les Diabelerets as well - why waste time driving (and also restricts your ability to have a beer or two on the slopes at the end of the day!).
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| rg1 wrote: |
I have only ever rented car from Swiss side - usually pretty quick to get through, and you are straight onto the main road, and very quick and easy to find on the return. Can't comment on the French side, other than you might take a while trying to find it on the return journey.
A couple of tips to speed up the pick-up process:
1 If there are two or more of you, driver goes straight through customs to sort out car hire whilst other collects bags
2 Don't use the car hire recommended by the airline you are travelling on - everyone else does that, so the queue is usually the longest - use one of the others and you can usually go straight to the desk without queuing
3 Sign up for the regular renter service (if they have one) so that your keys are waiting and you can avoid all the endless repetitive paperwork
For such a short trip, I would simply head for the resort you are staying in and ski there - not much point in travelling between Villars and Verbier - there is plenty of skiing in Villars to keep you well occupied for the period you are there for, with Les Diabelerets as well - why waste time driving (and also restricts your ability to have a beer or two on the slopes at the end of the day!). |
Thanks for the info. RG1.
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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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@cameronphillips2000, yeah hut you have to endure Stansdeath and Ryanunfair.
Any OP already has flights to GVA.
Chamonix works but budget accommodation in Morzine much cheaper per Booking.com
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| JoyZipper wrote: |
| rg1 wrote: |
Your key criteria is nearness to the airport, especially given the earliness of your return flight (we usually aim for the latest possible flight back) - accommodation that week should not be a real issue. A call/email to the local tourist office usually comes up with something unless you are a big group. No harm in leaving to last minute and seeing how the snow is closer to the time and then making a decision - hoteliers may be more willing to accept you closer to the time as they give up on getting a longer booking. For a weekend, the size of the resort is not so important, so a good opportunity to explore some smaller areas you might not otherwise bother with for a longer trip.
J2ski gives a good list of resorts near to Geneva (and indeed to other Alpine airports - a useful resource for planning this kind of trip: https://www.j2ski.com/ski_resorts/Airports/Geneva.html
I think their timings are slightly conservative (ie too long). Ones I have done for a quick weekend from GVA are: Villars (would recommend this - easy to get to, nice skiing, links to Les Diabelerets and Glacier 3000), Les Gets, Champery, Chamonix/Argentiere, Verbier, Courmayeur. Others to consider: Megeve/St Gervais/Les Contamines, Gstaad, Crans Montana, Flaine, but there are quite a few others within 90 mins of GVA.
Another time, I would echo the recommendation of flights to Treviso (or Innsbruck) and w/e in dolomites - done this several times and really enjoyed. |
Picking up a hire car on the Swiss side and heading to Villars was my first thought. Saturday in Verbier and Sunday morning back in Villars ? Is there much difference timewise (and exiting the airport) in renting on the French/Swiss side ? |
From Geneva airport it's about 1hr 30 to Villars, 1hr 40 to Le Chable (for Verbier) which has a free car park and is right by the lift to take you up to Les Ruinettes (2200m). Unless you specifically want to go to Villars probably easiest just going straight to Le Chable.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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In theory it should only be another 5-10 mins driving to rent from the French side, assuming you're still going to use the Swiss motorways. But you run the risk of queues at the border to buy the Swiss vignette, which you'll have to buy (cost ~40 CHF), and your car probably won't have snow tyres if you rent in France, but it will in Switzerland.
La Clusaz is also an hour's drive from GVA, and I'm pretty sure there's a decent amount of parking by the slopes
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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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La clusaz. Gotta be closest to gva. Possibly the jura range North of gva??
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Chamonix, Chamonix, Chamonix. 1 hr from GVA> Motorway all the way to the resort and loads of choice. If you're cash rich then go to Club Med which is right on the slopes.
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You know it makes sense.
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| cameronphillips2000 wrote: |
Lots of threads on this at the moment but one very clear winner - flights Stansted Treviso - Friday evening flights, very early Saturday morning flights and a very late sunday evening flight.
Very small airport - no queues for bagges or car hire.
Folgaria 1hr 15minutes or Civetta 80 mins away. - skiing at Civetta until 10.30 at night on Fridy and Saturday at Civetta. Lots of other resorts not too far
Cheapest flights to the Alps
Chapedt car hire in Europe in Italy at the mo
Best snow making in the world - best conditions in Europe of disasterous New Year.
Lots of great value accomodation on Booking.com
No brain really..... |
Would be winner indeed.
Had the OP not already booked his flights to Geneva. In which case it no longer looks like much of a winner.
Add the fact that you also have to fly Ryanair, which is like being violated in the rear by Satan and all his hellspawn.
Last edited by You know it makes sense. on Tue 12-01-16 18:25; edited 1 time in total
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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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Lelex - Crozet Friday, Les Rousses full day Saturday, half day Sunday Lelex -Crozet again. 25 mins to the lift from GVA once you have your car. Drive from Crozet over the Jura to Les Rousses or environs thereof, ski les rousses, drive back via Crozet for your sunday ski.....you could also stop in La Faucille as well, same range. Snow should be pretty good by then but in the event of poor snow, pick one of the higher options listed above.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| under a new name wrote: |
@cameronphillips2000, yeah hut you have to endure Stansdeath and Ryanunfair.
Any OP already has flights to GVA.
Chamonix works but budget accommodation in Morzine much cheaper per Booking.com |
very true but The standeth Ryanunfair are still the cheapest way of getting to the Alps and the flght times are perfect for a winter break. Also Treviso is empty and easy. Geneva is not. It's swings and roundabouts. Gatwick is worse than Stansted so there's no gret way to fly really is there?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@cameronphillips2000, i like Gatwick. At least North terminal is OK.
What's up with Geneva?
The problem (the only one I haven't mentioned) is I guess one flight a day if that, so if anything schedule wise goes wrong...
But if I was in London, yep, would be seriously looking at that option
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| under a new name wrote: |
@cameronphillips2000, i like Gatwick. At least North terminal is OK.
What's up with Geneva?
The problem (the only one I haven't mentioned) is I guess one flight a day if that, so if anything schedule wise goes wrong...
But if I was in London, yep, would be seriously looking at that option |
It's all abot timing really - friday eve flight to Treviso. cheap overnighter in Belluno Friday night. Up early and on slopes by 9am. Ski all day then 3 hrs night skiing at Zoldo on Sat eve. Ski all day sunday, drive back Sunday evening, get very late flight back to Stansted, All for about £200 quid including lift pass. No queus at Treviso, no busy roads, no lift queues. Got to be the best weekend ski from the UK.
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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We were indeed on the 06:30. The decision to go to Tignes was made a few weeks before our trip as the conditions elsewhere were looking suspect. It was the right decision.
Given the recent heavy snow you won't have to go as far as we did. If you did, then it's unlikely you'd get much skiing on Sunday.
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| Gaza wrote: |
We were indeed on the 06:30. The decision to go to Tignes was made a few weeks before our trip as the conditions elsewhere were looking suspect. It was the right decision.
Given the recent heavy snow you won't have to go as far as we did. If you did, then it's unlikely you'd get much skiing on Sunday. |
Given that it's snowing in central Edinburgh now, I may have to go up to Hillend tomorrow morning 
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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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I'm going that weekend. I chose Samoens based on 1h20 drive, room availability and being part of a big ski area so there will be skiing somewhere that is lift connected.
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FAQ
