 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi everyone,
How many days skiing would you normally accept/expect on a short weekender?
Many thanks,
Stuart
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I would expect two days and would look to fly out late on Friday and return late on Sunday to maximise those two days so that I don't have to take leave / take children out of school. This appears to be somewhat challeninging to achieve on flights.
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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 ski plans for next winter include multiple ski weekends, and I've done many in the past.
So for me:
0 days off work - Fri eve (after work flights) out, Sunday eve back (latest flight possible, which is annoyingly earlier from Brum than it was from Manc or London  ) means 1.5 days skiing.
Extending the above by an extra day or two:
1 day off work - 2.5 days skiing
2 days off work - 3.5 days skiing
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I'm retired so no need to do this now but previously, take Friday off work for early flight and get 2.5 days skiing. I'm not sure families with school age kids are the target market for weekends. Too much faff!
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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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That's great, thank you. Do you think most people are totally focused on just going skiing? We're thinking for doing two little tours, of Verona (walking) and Peschiera del Garda (minibus) etc, to fatten out trip Saturday to Tuesday, flying Ryanair Brum to Verona. Effectively, if you work M>F, you'd just need to take two days off, plus we're honing a 'family trip'.
Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Tue 22-08-17 15:53; edited 1 time in total
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I think if people are booking a weekend ski break, then they expect it to be focused on maximising ski time.
If you wanted to do anything else, you would need to be very clear in your advertising i.e. it's not ski weekend, it's a sightseeing + ski weekend.
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Hear you, guessing there's a market for those not wanting to dash around, and for it to be a little more relaxing ), especially if it's really good value for money!
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Are we going to be subject to a series of fairly banal questions so that you can keep plugging your Facebook page? Just checking, because there are rates for advertising on the site.
I just booked a ski weekend through Action Outdoors. Unbeatable, 4 days skiing over Easter weekend for £400 including lift pass, food and accommodation. Loads of other offers on there, we tend to get in a couple of UCPA trips each season to top up the week long trips.
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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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Thanks for the info, we're just gathering views really. £400 sounds good (flight extra?), you have done well, where exactly are you going? Be great to compare i.e. not just on price but standard of accommodation, transfer times, door step skiing or not etc ).
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| ValueSkiBreaks wrote: |
| That's great, thank you. Do you think most people are totally focused on just going skiing? We're thinking for doing two little tours, of Verona (walking) and Peschiera del Garda (minibus) etc, to fatten out trip Saturday to Tuesday, flying Ryanair Brum to Verona. Effectively, if you work M>F, you'd just need to take two days off, plus we're honing a 'family trip'. |
I would imagine that nearly everyone going away for a ski weekend would be looking for maximum time on piste.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Digger the dinosaur wrote: |
| Are we going to be subject to a series of fairly banal questions so that you can keep plugging your Facebook page? |
I didn't actually notice the Facebook page link. I just thought that as lots of people on here are interested in ski weekends, someone asking for views on what exactly people are looking for is relevant and would interest a lot of people. It's not as if he/she's hiding behind an anonymous user name.
@ValueSkiBreaks, not sure if anyone on here would want anything other than maximum ski on snow time!
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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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Bunk off work 17:00 Friday, at hotel in resort around midnight-ish. Ski all day Sat/Sun, skis off about 4pm Sunday, then go home with ETA also midnight-ish.
I don't have any interest in any other activities to "bulk out" a short trip. I might if it were a week long trip with an extra day spare at one end or the other. eg if it were a Sat-Sun week long trip rather than Sat-Sat or Sun-Sun.
And I don't use Ryanair or Facebook.
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| maggi wrote: |
| I didn't actually notice the Facebook page link. I just thought that as lots of people on here are interested in ski weekends, someone asking for views on what exactly people are looking for is relevant and would interest a lot of people. It's not as if he/she's hiding behind an anonymous user name. |
Kind words thank you. Guess we need to design a shorter trip for the more 'frequent/experienced' adult only skiers. May be Saturday > Monday, ski Saturday pm and Monday am, plus Sunday. Again, all this info is invaluable, many thanks.
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You know it makes sense.
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| ValueSkiBreaks wrote: |
| Thanks for the info, we're just gathering views really. £400 sounds good (flight extra?), you have done well, where exactly are you going? Be great to compare i.e. not just on price but standard of accommodation, transfer times, door step skiing or not etc ). |
Action Outdoors are very easy to find on the web. I'm sure as a competitor you will have researched their offerings across various resorts. We're going to Chamonix, transfer time will be an hour. I've found the standard of their accommodation very good, that's why we keep going back. That, really, will be your benchmark to compete with - a Rolls Royce seems expensive when you put it next to a Mondeo, even though they are very different products, both get you from A to B. You will have to justify every pound over the £400 that UCPA charge for weekend trips where price and convenience is important.
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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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Late transfers from late evening flights Thursady and Friday. Late retns to airport post skiing Sun and Mon. Verona is a shocker for lack of late flights. You can sick your leisurely filler up the darkest orifice.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| ValueSkiBreaks wrote: |
| Hear you, guessing there's a market for those not wanting to dash around, and for it to be a little more relaxing ), especially if it's really good value for money! |
If there is a market then it's not on Snowheads so you're asking the wrong people  Personally I look to maximise skiing on a ski trip, don't get the point in paying ££££s to go skiing and then not skiing much...although I admit that there have been times when I get carried away with apres and my plan goes out the window.
Maybe the City/ski break thing would be popular but I can't see people searching for it, more likely that they will book a city break and then independently book the skiing. Put yourself in the shoes of someone looking for that type of thing, what would you Google? "city break schladming"? "city break ski"?
But I'm not your market, due to my location a ski weekend just doesn't work because it takes 3 hours to get to a London airport, so even a Friday evening flight means that I have to take a whole day off work. Far easier for me to plan full weeks and go Sat-Sat.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Dave of the Marmottes,
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Verona is a shocker for lack of late flights.
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Venice is OK, though, at least for London flights. That's the way I spend a full day in Venice on the way back from the Birthday Bash, leaving Arabba extremely early, dumping my luggage at the airport and footslogging all day, until a flight back at around 8pm. However, I'm not sure I would do that after just a couple of days or so skiing: then I'd want to maximise the skiing time.
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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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| maggi wrote: |
| I'm retired so no need to do this now but previously, take Friday off work for early flight and get 2.5 days skiing. I'm not sure families with school age kids are the target market for weekends. Too much faff! |
It is precisely because our kids are school age we have been looking at doing a couple of weekends due to how stupidly expensive school holiday weeks are, have been considering doing a weekend to supplement a school holiday week. When we didn't have kids two off peak weeks were easy to fit in.
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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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| Quote: |
I think if people are booking a weekend ski break, then they expect it to be focused on maximising ski time.
If you wanted to do anything else, you would need to be very clear in your advertising i.e. it's not ski weekend, it's a sightseeing + ski weekend.
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This.
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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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| ValueSkiBreaks wrote: |
| Kind words thank you. Guess we need to design a shorter trip for the more 'frequent/experienced' adult only skiers. May be Saturday > Monday, ski Saturday pm and Monday am, plus Sunday. Again, all this info is invaluable, many thanks. |
I'd have thought that would be better Fri evening to Monday. People won't want to travel Sat A.M if there's any chance of travelling on the Fri evening instead.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@NickyJ, OK, it would have been too much faff for me! But I have 4 kids and fines for term-time absences hadn't been invented when they were school age. So maybe there is a market now, I don't know 
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| maggi wrote: |
| @NickyJ, OK, it would have been too much faff for me! But I have 4 kids and fines for term-time absences hadn't been invented when they were school age. So maybe there is a market now, I don't know |
I would have found it too much faff when they were younger but now they are turning 8 and 11, and can both ski competently, I have been looking at trying it. It could just be me that is looking at this... however know of other families who do it but they have their own apartment in the mountains to go to.
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@ValueSkiBreaks, problem is you are competing with anything out of Geneva (significantly more flights than Verona) and from 1hr transfer upwards...
So it's dead easy (from London anyway) to construct a 2 full ski day weekend with no time off work.
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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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For me 2 full days skiing over a weekend, no interest in doing anything else on such a short trip. Where I ski depends on flight times from Scotland in that particular year but Italy(Milan-Aosta) and Andorra(Barcelona) have worked well for weekends in previous years. Usually book two nights hotel with ski pass included to make it a very good value trip.
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@ValueSkiBreaks, I think there is a market for short breaks, but as everyone else has said, this market wants to maximise ski time. I have done weekend trips to Chamonix from London with no time off work and 2 full days skiing. Things people struggle with when looking at booking ski weekends are:
- flights that leave late enough on the Friday/Sunday;
- getting a transfer to resort when they get to the airport late at night;
- getting accommodation for just a Friday/Saturday night.
If you could put a package together that incorporated all that, with a choice of ski hire or ski carriage included (and a lift pass), I think there would be demand.
BUT: I don't think people want their skiing bulked out with other stuff if they are motivated enough to want to go for a weekend from the UK. And two half days is just annoying. Lots of hassle and limited time to get anywhere. Plus the lift passes work out more expensive. And then at least Monday morning off work.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| alasdair.graham@hotmail.c wrote: |
| For me 2 full days skiing over a weekend, no interest in doing anything else on such a short trip. Where I ski depends on flight times from Scotland in that particular year but Italy(Milan-Aosta) and Andorra(Barcelona) have worked well for weekends in previous years. Usually book two nights hotel with ski pass included to make it a very good value trip. |
I'm trying to work out how you can do two full days skiiing over a weekend going to Andorra, given that the last bus leaves the station in Andorra la Vella at 5pm. That means you are are looking to find a flight around 10pm out of BCN back to wherever you are in Scotland. It also means that you have to get from a ski station to a place where the bus will pick you up. I guess if you look to finish around 3pm. it can be done, but it's pushing it.
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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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Yeah, I can't see how Andorra is a two full day weekend with no time off work from anywhere. Let alone Scotland
I can't easily see how Verona works as a destination airport either.
Nope, per Skyscanner, out Friday 12.1, return Sunday 14.1, requires at least whole Friday off, and most of Monday.
Does not compute.
Last edited by And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports. on Tue 22-08-17 21:25; edited 1 time in total
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rental car?
Andorra would't have been on my list for a short break. But Innsbruck, Morzine, Chamonix, etc. are.
Although I'm not the OPs target market either. I could be though if I move back to my previous residence.
For me the key things are being able to leave after work, and for the hotel reception to be open at midnight at least. I think 2am was the latest arrival, when the snow was carnage. Typical in-resort ski hotels and chalets don't support that. edit: and with 24hr bar and hot food snacks, the chilli at 2:30am was ace.
If I book time off work for a Fri/Mon, then it's a long weekend break, not a short weekend break. But then maybe that's just a matter of interpretation of the OP.
I do lots of short weekend breaks. I only book time off work for week long ski holidays.
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You know it makes sense.
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@ysb33r,
Rental car with our own ski's, I think the Sunday night flight back was 21.50(Pretwick) this year but as I said before these trips only work if the flights are there.
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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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I used to do a lot of short breaks when the kids were little.
Fly early Thursday morning (usually on the snow by 2.00ish). Return home as late as we could on Sunday night.
2 days off work, about 3 1/2 days skiing.
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Poster: A snowHead
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I've done a few weekends (long or short). Away from work a bit early (say 16.00) and at any of LHR, LGW, LCY, LTN or STN within about an hour. Flight around 1900, car hire in GVA about 22.00, in bed in Chatel about midnight (or 02.00 if beers/heavy snow involved).
Ski Sat/Sun/Mon until last lift.
Pack up at apartment, down to GVA for a flight around 20.00 and home about midnight. Into work the next day tired but with a big grin.
We have occasionally done the 0700 Tuesday GVA flight but the 0400 alarm call is a bit brutal.
3 days skiing, 1 day holiday.
Issues - takes out two weeks conventional Sat-Sat bookings on the apartment, for best cost need exactly 4 participants (one small hire car), we all travel hand luggage only, wouldn't even consider it with kids.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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The thing with Andorra is that flights in to Barcelona are regular from most airports. If you're willing to put the drive in and have a long day then I suppose it's just possible. It's the main thing that makes Geneva, Munich and probably Milan popular for weekend ski trips.
Unfortunately unless you live close to Gatwick, Heathrow, London City and probably Manchester most other ski destination airports suffer from irregular flight times/days.
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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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Barcelona-Andorra is 2.5 hours, so you need really quite late evening flights out and arrive quite late on way in.
And having done it once on biz, admittedly in the summer, a total pain by public transport.
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unless you live close to Gatwick, Heathrow, London City and probably Manchester most other ski destination airports suffer from irregular flight times/days
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True. And heaven forbid a cancellation...
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Has anyone done a short/long weekend in Norway?
I quite like the idea of getting a train up to Edinburgh and flying to Norway for a few days skiing, working some time in Edinburgh city either before or after the flights.
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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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| under a new name wrote: |
| ... and arrive quite late on way in. |
I'd imagine it's a pain finding accommodation where reception is manned 24 hours a day for really late arrivals. I know lots of properties in Austria are family run and often have certain arrival hours. Although some are quite happy to wait up...
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Digger the dinosaur wrote: |
| ValueSkiBreaks wrote: |
| Thanks for the info, we're just gathering views really. £400 sounds good (flight extra?), you have done well, where exactly are you going? Be great to compare i.e. not just on price but standard of accommodation, transfer times, door step skiing or not etc ). |
Action Outdoors are very easy to find on the web. I'm sure as a competitor you will have researched their offerings across various resorts. We're going to Chamonix, transfer time will be an hour. I've found the standard of their accommodation very good, that's why we keep going back. That, really, will be your benchmark to compete with - a Rolls Royce seems expensive when you put it next to a Mondeo, even though they are very different products, both get you from A to B. You will have to justify every pound over the £400 that UCPA charge for weekend trips where price and convenience is important. |
March 28th (Easter 2018 Good Friday 30th March) for 4 days in Chamonix with Action Outdoors is £436 (unless you get a massive discount), it assumes you get yourself there i.e. neither flight (£75+?) nor transfer (airport to resort) +£65 are included! We are very much keen to do research and what you've provided here is invaluable ). Ours with flights is £360 (if flights book today) but £100 less for the lead (who finds 7 mates), but only 2 days skiing. We will certainly look into Friday > Monday trips, but as this will mean two nights in resort, it will put costs up i.e. we own a house near Verona for people to stay in. Luckily we're a small company with just 8 available places every weekend Jan 20th to Mar 24th, so for these 10 weeks we only need 80 nice easy-going people, happy to fit in with us, so we're not looking to please everyone. We're all different, and that's OK  . In 2019 we'll launch mid-week ski break too. 
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@ValueSkiBreaks, if you want to offer value then my first week skiing (in 2014) cost £455 for everything except food/drink.
From the sounds of it you're in a situation where you have a house and are looking for a bit of extra cash over the winter so are adding skiing to the portfolio. That should be fine, but if you're trying to operate a business on it's own then you're in a dangerous place when you start expecting customers to bend to your demands rather than the other way round.
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| SnoodlesMcFlude wrote: |
@ValueSkiBreaks, if you want to offer value then my first week skiing (in 2014) cost £455 for everything except food/drink.
From the sounds of it you're in a situation where you have a house and are looking for a bit of extra cash over the winter so are adding skiing to the portfolio. That should be fine, but if you're trying to operate a business on it's own then you're in a dangerous place when you start expecting customers to bend to your demands rather than the other way round. |
Thanks, yes don't need the money ), so no danger here!
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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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ValueSkiBreaks - which resort. I like convenience for short breaks
Also prefer Sun - Thurs so I can join an ESF/Snoworks group for off-piste. Cheaper too
Do Action outdoors take skiers over forty now as I imagine that is a sizeable group of us Snowheads. Last time I called was given short thrift. I was 50
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@hawkesbaynz, I believe 40+ is acceptable, from other threads on here.
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FAQ
