 Poster: A snowHead
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I'm getting to the point where I would like to start making hotel reservations but am not totally sure of the current situation.
I can see what conditions are like on webcams, but you know webcams can be a little deceiving.
Currently all I have reserved is a flight in to Munich on Jan. 13, departing on Jan. 22.
My plan is/was to rent a car and visit, in rough order:
1. Zillertal
2. Sella Ronda/Madonna
3. Ischgl
4. S/Fiss/Ladis
5. Chur (Davos, Flims, Arosa)
My goal is to piste bash from first chair to last chair. I'd like to be in sprawling connected resorts where I can cover a lot of territory.
I'm obviously fine with machine made snow but would prefer something more atmospheric and photogenic than the white ribbon of death.
It seems that the most snow at the moment is on the Italian/French border, but that's at least an 8 hour drive from Munich and I think that's maybe too far. With my itinerary above, the longest stretch would be like Chur to Munich -- 5 hours or so. I also don't want to purchase an additional fight, so where ever I go has to be drivable to/from Munich.
So, based on what you all have seen, does my itinerary seem sensible? It seems like the Dolomites have the least snow now, so in theory I could sub Sella Ronda for something like Saalbach-Leogang or Oberatuern or Solden.
I know this is kinda vague, but I have not done a trip like this before and obviously the snow situation is leaving a lot of questions unanswered. Any input would be valuable to me. Thanks!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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It's a driving holiday right?, clearly not a skiing holiday.
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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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@cloud cult, You have 8 days skiing by the looks of it. Frankly you could spend that in just the Zillertal and not run out of options. I reckon your itinerary has about 16-18 hours of driving in good conditions. Add a dump of snow and a few incidents and you could easily be well over that.
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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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Yeah -- I'm fine with the driving. But based on snow, what would you cut or where would you focus instead?
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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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@cloud cult, I guess it depends what you are looking for. Out of your list I'd just do Zillertal and Sella Ronda.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@cloud cult, your itinerary looks like something I'd want at least 6 weeks to do. Just seems like you will lose half your ski days in transit to the next place, when you have barely had a chance to ski even a small proportion of the previous location.
Given snow conditions in Europe at the moment and the ease of getting accommodation in mid-January, I'd wait still to book. See if and where the snow comes, then go there.
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Cloud Cult: have you skied in Europe before? I ask because I get the impression you don't understand the scale of some of the areas. You can spend many days in some of the larger areas and not cover the whole thing. I recommend cutting your stops to 2 or 3 areas at most.
Also, don't totally rule out another flight if conditions dictate it. Sometimes you can get really cheap inter-european flights. They don't necessarily show up on commonly used North American focused travel websites because they are budget airlines. So, you have to dig a little to find them, but you might find that you can get from Munich to another European city closer to better snow for 100 bucks or so.
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@cloud cult, just get yourself a Salzburg Superski, Kitzbuhel Alpen or Tiroler Snow Card. Don't bother with Italy or Switzerland. We're in Saalbach at the moment and covered just over 100km today, you can do that or similar each day in a lot of places on the Salzburg pass.
Schladming, Flachau/Wagrain/Alpendorf, Kleinarl/Flachauwinkl/Zauchensee, Hochkonig, Saalbach, Gasteins should see you happy enough in your 8 days. You could stay in the same accommodation and ski all of those!
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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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The fewer people in the valley (Val Gardena) using words like 'critique' the better. WTF happened to opinion or view? 
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| cloud cult wrote: |
1. Zillertal
2. Sella Ronda/Madonna
3. Ischgl
4. S/Fiss/Ladis
5. Chur (Davos, Flims, Arosa)
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In the Zillertal both Mayrhofen and Zillertal Arena probably offer a days skiing (no repeat runs) even with a limited km piste open.
In the Sella Ronda connected area you probably have 3 days plus of skiing (no repeat runs) with the current open pistes.
In Ischgl you probably have a day or two (no repeat runs).
In Serfaus you probably have a day.
From Chur you probably have a day or two at Lenzerheide/Arosa, a day or two at Flims. Davos is separate unconnected areas so the largest area there is probably less than a days worth with current conditions.
My advice from Munich would be 2 days in Ski Welt, 2 days in Kitzbuhel, 2 at Saalbach from Fieberbrunn, then the couple of areas I mentioned above in the Zillertal and supplement with some other areas nearby as required. You could drive a loop over the Gerlos pass.
Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads  on Sat 24-12-16 22:36; edited 3 times in total
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Regarding snow conditions there isn't a lot to choose at the moment so I wouldn't base the decision on that criteria.
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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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@Mollerski, Brits using 'critique' like that I'll give you, but it's normal for Americans in this context.
@cloud cult, if you've not done a trip like this before -- including the European mountain driving -- then I'd advise looking again at the advice people who have, or at least keeping your options open. I'm used to hearing Americans on the Underground who are doing every major European city in a fortnight and it always seems like they're ticking off a list of sights and not actually seeing them.
I'd suggesting booking two nights in your first destination for peace of mind and something to write at immigration, and take it from there in terms of snow and how long you want to stay in each place. It really is low season. I'd do three places at most in the time you've got.
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You could definitely do more than 3 resorts based on what you stated as most WILL NOT have more than a couple of days worth of piste skiing (no repeats) if you are a fairly fast skier having limited mountain breaks. That said if there is some off-piste or you're more leisurely, or you're happy doing runs more than once then it's a different story. I think the amount of driving and distance between resorts you mention though is too far for a sensible trip (you don't know what might happen). If you choose a smaller trip like the one I mention then you have options to add smaller resorts to extend the amount you see without having to travel great distances.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Millom wrote: |
In the Zillertal both Mayrhofen and Zillertal Arena probably offer a days skiing (no repeat runs) even with a limited km piste open.
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And the Kaltenbach/Hochfugen area in the Zillertal offers another days skiing. So the OP could stay at least 3 days just in the Zillertal.....
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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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Kaltenbach/Hochfugen is a little smaller but not much so yes that would be one I'd suggest to supplement the larger resorts with as and when required. Obviously if the snow is not greatly improved a day on the Hintertux glacier also probably worthwhile even if it's not a massive area. As someone mentioned above a lot of the areas share lift passes (valleys and regions) so in most cases a couple of smaller areas could be done in a day on the same pass with a small drive in between.
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Poster: A snowHead
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By the way most of the ski areas in the region are mapped on Goole Maps so you can see both their relative size and also the location of the access points (Fieberbrunn is now connected to the Saalbach area but otherwise it's all pretty up-to-date).
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Millom wrote: |
| By the way most of the ski areas in the region are mapped on Goole Maps so you can see both their relative size and also the location of the access points (Fieberbrunn is now connected to the Saalbach area but otherwise it's all pretty up-to-date). |
I tried using Goole maps - it just took me to Hull and back.
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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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One word critique:
Bonkers
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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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| cloud cult wrote: |
Currently all I have reserved is a flight in to Munich on Jan. 13, departing on Jan. 22.
My plan is/was to rent a car and visit, in rough order:
1. Zillertal
2. Sella Ronda/Madonna
3. Ischgl
4. S/Fiss/Ladis
5. Chur (Davos, Flims, Arosa)
I know this is kinda vague, but I have not done a trip like this before and obviously the snow situation is leaving a lot of questions unanswered. Any input would be valuable to me. Thanks! |
Other than this being insane for a 9 day trip (you're not going to ski half of each of the resorts you've listed in that time frame), the order seems the wrong way round in terms of going backwards and forwards rather than maintaining direction.
From Munich I'd head west to Chur, then work your way back east: Ischgl - Serfaus/Fiss - then east and south to Dolomites, then north and east to Zillertal, then north to Munich.
However if I were really you I'd just go to Ischgl. I'm guessing you're American? Driving this distance (time, hassle, and fuel costs) and buying day passes (more expensive per day) is just odd from a European perspective (unless you're chasing a storm or something). You're not going to have time to really see or get the feel of anywhere.
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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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Wot @clarky999 said. And others.
Where are you flying in and out of?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Just spent four fabulous days in Sella Ronda and could easily stay four more. If you want quality skiing, stick to one or two places at most.
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Thanks everyone for the input.
I take it I've planned too much for a short amount of time!
I'm going to cut back on what I've planned, however I'm still struggling to decide, based on current conditions, which areas are best to focus on snow-wise. From the webcams everything looks either poor or simply awful, and heading to the places where snow is best (French-Italian border, currently) seems unfeasible without an additional flight (which I cannot do for a number of reasons).
Any insight?
I really appreciate your help.
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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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@cloud_cult, If the snow doesn't improve before the 13th (it may well do) and you don't like the look of the lower resorts webcams just do a tour of some of the Glacier areas instead (some are not very large). In size order Solden, Stubai, Hintertux, Kaprun/Kitzsteinhorn, Pitztal, and Kaunertal (you also have Flattach and Ramsau/Dachstein in Austria and Zugspitz on the German border). Other very high resorts such as Obergurgl, Obertauern, and Ischgl may also be worth considering.
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