 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi
Sorry for my question in advance . Really , really want to go on a skiing holiday! Its knawing away at my soul and wont let go but I am terrified. (I suffer from anxiety anyway ) .
Can anyone recommend anywhere with green runs ? Sorry for the idiot question, I just cant seem to find any on the piste maps ?
I dont care about the price , dont care about time of year , or hotels, will pay any price ...just need easy nice slopes for us. We dont even want to progress onto anywhere ...happy as larry podding about on the easiest slopes there are , all week!
We have taken lessons at chill factor manchester and Tamworth , so we can ski a bit , but we still want the very easiest slopes because i have a heart condition following a heart attack , so have to stay away from anxiety and slopes higher than 2000 meters.
Ahy ideas anyone ....also needs to have excellent hospitals , just in case , as i do have some complexed medical issues .
Thank you 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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welcome to SHs, @scaredtoski,  Essentials for your first holiday are:
a. a top class ski school where you can have lessons in small groups
b. comprehensive insurance which covers your pre-existing conditions
just "plodding around" on your own without lessons is probably a recipe for misery, frankly.
Anywhere in France or Austria will have excellent hospitals.
When are you wanting to go? That affects the recommendations.
And who is "us"? Apart from easy ski slopes, what are you looking for in a 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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Welcome to snowHeads.
Killington is low...500m. Loads of snow. Huge beginner area, their blue runs are like European greens. Stay off the green runs.....basically flat....your ticker won't be happy of you don't have gravity assist.  Not sure about the hospitals.
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@scaredtoski, as far as I know, only France uses green in their classifications. That doesn't mean other places don't have easy runs, it's just that they will be coloured blue instead.
So that means essentially you are looking for a resort that has plenty of easy runs accessible to beginners, that tops out at 2000m or lower. I would add "quiet" to your list, as hordes of people can be far more scary than a bit of gradient. There must be something over in the Salzburg region, or Scandinavia, or one of the smaller French resorts (Les Saises? Valloire? Valmorel? Les Sybelles?).
However, you are likely to find it difficult to get around if you can only ski very easy runs as they don't always connect up. It is very rare to find an unavoidable black run (there is normally an alternative route, or a lift you can download on), but reds and certainly blues are the main routes of travel and without them you are very limited. May I suggest some one-to-one lessons with a recommended instructor to help you get over your fears.
Good luck with the search.
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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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Trysil, Norway which is an easy drive from Oslo. You can virtually get around the whole mountain on greens if you want. Look at the skistar website.
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Sat 18-02-17 21:18; edited 1 time in total
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Thanks Scarlet ...just saw your reply
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If money is no object then go for private lessons then you can dictate what you do or don't do. If you are in group lessons you won't be able to.
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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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Trysil, Norway which is an easy drive from Oslo. You can virtually get around the whole mountain on greens if you want. Look at the skistar website.
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If you have had lessons at a snow dome then when you get to a real ski resort and get on a nice blue you'll be fine. The quality of the snow is (usually) vastly superior to anything artificial. Greens are very rare, the longest I know of is the one down to La Daille in Val d'Isere but this isn't what you should base a holiday off. The colour of a piste only really tells you the maximum steepness. The actual steepness of any slope is something that you decide, you go down it at your own "steepness" by traversing at an angle that feels comfortable. Skiing is about moving outside of your comfort zone, that's when it's at its best.
Having said that Val Morel is mostly blues and a very pretty place and Avoriaz is perfect to move from nursery slopes to slightly more difficult slopes and so on until you want to take on a red.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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I am a GREEEN skier....nothing wrong with that! I loved Hemsedal, Geilo and Trysil in NOrway but also think Alp Dhuez is great for green runs and much more going on after the slopes if you want to eat out.
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I really like St Gervais / Les Houches for people learning to ski. It lies quite low, and the general steepness of the mountain is much less than the surrounding ones in Chamonix. From what I can remember there's only a handful of greens, but there's lots of long windy blues in both areas which really are no harder than a green, they just seem to qualify for blue because of their length.
I love to ski at Les Houches because it's a lovely area, the trees hug the sides so it's easy in low vis, and you can really focus on your technique because it's such an easy place to ski.
As a holiday destination, it's also a bit cheaper than Cham itself and very close to Geneva so quite convenient to get an extra days skiing in if you arrive early and leave late.
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You know it makes sense.
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Trysil has loads of easy runs (and big wide friendly blues through the forests if you get fed up with those.)
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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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| SkiTsar wrote: |
| the longest I know of is the one down to La Daille in Val d'Isere |
Someone correct me if I am remembering it wrong but that so called green down to LA Daille is misleading. It's been over ten years since I was there but I'm pretty sure it felt undergraded at the time. More of a blue.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@paddyDT, you are correct. Piste verte is anything but
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Ruka, Finland. Great terrain for you, plus non-skiing experiences for a broader type of holiday. Downsides: potentially very cold; lots of surface lifts so you need to be happy on t-bars or pomas.
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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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Oh and some greens are actually pretty horrible runs so be careful! The Demoiselles green in Les 2 Alpes has to be one of the all together nastiest runs on the planet! Narrow and overcrowded most of the time.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I am someone who thinks that quality 1:1 instruction is more important than worrying about the number of Green runs....and this is where I would put my money. If you can get high quality instruction along with benign terrain, then that is better again.
I am not going to recommend a resort, but if in the unlikely event you end up in Val D'Isere (too high), I can personally recommend quite a few outstanding instructors.
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Sat 18-02-17 22:39; edited 2 times in total
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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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Mayrhofen should suit, up on the Ahorn. Normally quiet, with very gentle, wide slopes. Couple of nice restaurants up there as well as an ice hotel which is interesting to see. Nice town too.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Megeve (Rochebrune in particular) has some nice long, wide cruisy greens. Also there is a hospital down the valley in Sallanches.
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Alpe d huez has nice bowl of green runs but is fairly high. Think those runs would be 2200 down to 1800. If you want to reduce the altitude I would suggest Austria perhaps at the beginning of February and pick a resort that is beginner friendly. Equally importantly think about lessons and private lessons until you gain your confidence
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| Old Fartbag wrote: |
| I am someone who thinks that quality 1:1 instruction is more important than worrying about the number of Green runs....... |
When the 5h1te is running down your leg and your heart has stopped, I honestly don't think a high quality instructor is going to help.... (Unless he has bog roll and knows CPR )
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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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Possibly scandinavian resorts have more 'green' type runs than alpine resorts.
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Thank you so much everyone . Will read through all of your answers and look up all the recommendations .
To be honest . i think the ski lifts up in the sky scare me more than the skiing down .
We did a couple of days skiing in Scotland Glencoe and on the second day i managed to missed the exit platform and fall flat on my chest off the ski lift .
Needless to say i am terrified of the lifts now . ( fine with the ground ones that drag you ) , just scared of the up in the sky ones that can kill you lol
I soo appreciate all your answers , and thank you so much . It means a lot
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| dan100 wrote: |
| Alpe d huez has nice bowl of green runs but is fairly high. Think those runs would be 2200 down to 1800. If you want to reduce the altitude I would suggest Austria perhaps at the beginning of February and pick a resort that is beginner friendly. Equally importantly think about lessons and private lessons until you gain your confidence |
It also has the excellent ski school Masterclass, run by Stuart Adamson. I'm confident Stuart would understand and work within your requirements.
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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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| Thornyhill wrote: |
| Old Fartbag wrote: |
| I am someone who thinks that quality 1:1 instruction is more important than worrying about the number of Green runs....... |
When the 5h1te is running down your leg and your heart has stopped, I honestly don't think a high quality instructor is going to help.... (Unless he has bog roll and knows CPR ) |
I take your point, but most resorts have enough gentle runs to find your mojo....and imo, it takes the right instructor to give confidence and lay the foundation to improve and so alleviate the need for a bung and/or Imodium. 
EDIT.
That was a lazy answer, but I was tired yesterday evening and so took the easy way out.
I'm now sitting, with Laptop on knee, coffee in hand and hoping that Rocket Ryding will do the business....and hoping for inspiration to strike, so I can write another "Fartbag Fable".
You may think that my view was based on some nebulous whim, plucked from thin air; but it wasn't. It was from hard fought, up close and personal experience.
Lady F - or should I say, the future Lady F, as this was the mid 80s and she hadn't yet inserted the ring into my nose - had all the same nervous issues as the OP, though TBF, she was probably younger, with no serious medical problems. I chose 2 weeks in Les Arcs (1800) for her debut skiing experience, as they used "Ski Evolutif" as the preferred learning system. I felt this would have a greater likelihood of success than her first effort being on long, old-school straight skis.
The first week, stuck in a class, was a disaster. She hated every single second of it, with lots of tears and tantrums. There was even talk of a divorce...and we weren't even married!! The problem was that she wasn't prepared to let the skis run (at all), until she could turn and stop....but you can't learn to turn and stop until you let the skis run (a bit). Stalemate!
The only ray of light was the excellent young (and good looking) Aussie instructor, who seemed to have infinite patience and who the future Lady F actually liked.....so we booked him every day on the following week for private lessons, in the vein hope that she would make it up the beginner chair and down the learner slope, while remaining on her feet for more than 10 seconds.
After another full week of monumental effort, she finally made it without falling (either off the chair or down the slope). Hallelujah! There is no doubt in my mind, that without the intervention of this instructor and his private lessons, Mrs F's skiing career would have been over before it began.
She was so bad and struggled so much, that my family were amazed that she stuck at it....but stick at it she did. Over the following years, we had a series of 2 week holidays, mostly at Les Arcs and La Plagne, but also Montgenevre, Ellmau and even Alta. In each resort, she took private lessons with kindly, patient instructors and gradually, bit by bit, she got better and better as her confidence grew. The small fortune I spent on private lessons could have bought me a luxury chalet in the Jardin Alpin area of Courchevel, beside Villeneuve....but I don't begrudge any of it, as Lady F became a very competent advanced skier.
One interesting side-effect of learning through the Ski Evolutif method, was that she had no problem turning Off-Piste - something to do with having her weight slightly back of centre and swiveling her feet - but slowing down Off Piste was another matter entirely. She would get quicker and quicker....before suddenly disappearing in a puff of snow, like she had fallen down a well, or been shot by a sniper. Ironically, as she improved On-Piste (by getting her weight more forward and learning to transfer her weight early and drive the downhill ski), she lost the ability to turn in the soft stuff.
So there you have it. Lady F went from quivering wreck, to competent advanced skier, due to dogged perseverance and many (many) private lessons.
Unfortunately, due to various medical issues, she has been unable to ski for the last 7 years, but I live in hope that my skiing partner will be back with a vengeance in the not too distant future....not least because she provides the story lines for my "Tall Tales", which help fill in the time until the next ski holiday comes round.
Last edited by And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports. on Sun 19-02-17 11:41; edited 5 times in total
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Just back from a week,in La Clusaz. There is a nice area for beginners with green and gentle blue runs in the Beauregard area of the resort. It is served by a gondola so no need to worry about chairlifts.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Quote: |
Greens are very rare, the longest I know of is the one down to La Daille in Val d'Isere
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Greens aren't even remotely rare in France - but as others have said, that particular one is a shocker!
Les Saisies would be a good resort for you - below 2000m. Bags of green runs and gentle blues on which to progress. Second half of March would be an ideal time to go - quiet, very civilised, plenty of older skiers (some of them very good, but controlled, considerate and polite - no boy racers!). Group lessons not suitable for you, unless you speak French, but private lessons - which should suit you well - are cheap. You really shouldn't embark on poodling round a strange place with no guidance if you are worried about scaring yourselves. Really.
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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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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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@scaredtoski, just concentrate on the Beauregard area and there is nothing to worry about in terms of reds, blacks.
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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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Pam thanks for your post .Useful info ....i worded mine badly sorry . I would have only ever had lessons there , would have never done it alone . I just didnt want an instructor bullying me into thinking i want to progress too much.
When i was having lessons at chill factor they kept putting me up into a higher group and i kept refusing . I dont want the anxiety feeling . Thats what is troublesome for me .
Thanks for the useful info
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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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Font-Romeu in the eastern French Pyrenees has lots of excellent, real greens and is very sunny. It's low, but has some of the best snowmaking in the world; they were a pioneer. I've always thought it to be an excellent place for a beginners' or scaredycats' holiday. There are also a number of difficult runs as well, and there's a lift pass which covers 5 or 6 other small resorts too.
| Scarlet wrote: |
| @scaredtoski, as far as I know, only France uses green in their classifications. |
Spain and Andorra do too. What with those three being the only countries that I've skied in to date, it was a surprise when I found out that it wasn't worldwide!
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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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Sounds excellent thanks Pyremaniac
Wasnt in any of our inghams or crystal ski brochures though...did you book direct there ?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Actually, it's not as low as I thought; the greens are apparently between 2000m and 2200m. (A gentle gondola gets you up there from the village.)
I live close enough to the Pyrenees to have never needed to book a package there but it's relatively well known for a low-key resort (both for its snowmaking and it's beginner-friendliness); I'm sure at least one tour operator used to go there. They are definitely geared up for the week-long holiday thing though, and you can find accommodation-plus-liftpass deals for a steal sometimes. Try a search for it. If flying in, Perpignan would be perfect or else it's a middling transfer from Carcassonne or else a fairly long one from Toulouse or Barcelona.
I should say that the other resorts are not lift-linked... You'd need a car if you wanted to visit them. Given your situation though, I think you'd be fine just to stay in the one place. (The closest other resort on the wider lift pass is Les Angles, which is also probably the one which is most appropriate for you.)
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Meribel is worth considering. There is a famous green run called the Trout [ Truite ] from Mottaret and a beginners green area at Mottaret.
I don't remember any nasties on the runs but it is a while since I skied that area. Excellent English speaking instructors available. Private lessons are the way to go. Maybe with one other nervous lady skier.
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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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@scaredtoski, Morillon has a very nice, long (6km IIRC) green run called Marvel - the resort is relatively low and you take the chair from the resort base at Les Esserts ( above Morillon village and with lots of self-catering, a shop and bar/restaurant or two, but not much else). From the top of that chair you ski Marvel back to base. If you go out of peak season, it shouldn't be too busy, plus it's a short transfer from Geneva
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Hello
The area just above Courchevel 1850 is a green paradise. It isn't all shown on the piste map. And when you've skied all that there is wonderful easy skiing in Courchevel 1650. The pistes are always kept in excellent condition with huge amounts of snowmaking if necessary. Lots of places to eat and not all of them are astronomical in price. Big indoor and outdoor picnic area at Verdons. Endless people watching, gorgeous chalets to wonder who owns and the views of the mountains are breathtaking.
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FAQ
