 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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How about Grimentz or Nendaz ? There's a fair amount of self-catering options in either, including chalets, and Switzerland doesn't suffer as much as France during half-term. Some downsides:
Nendaz is not that well linked into the 4 vallees ski area, especially for beginners / intermediates
Grimentz is linked to Zinal by cable-car, but for the rest of Val d'Anniviers (St Luc, Chandolin) you'd need to drive or take a bus
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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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Northern Austria sounds like the best bet I reckon (or northwest to shorten the drive), if you can find chalets.
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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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@viv, Thx for this... We looked at Mendez last year and opted against it for the very reasons you mentioned...
@denfinella, Austria is an option for us but I've never been so would love some help with resorts etc. Also, I think S/C chalets are poss not really as popular in Austria...?
Thx again
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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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@AlpineAddict, Most of the Austrian resorts (and I think Swiss ones) have accommodation searches on their tourist office websites. An example is St Anton, I looked for "Ferienhaus" (everything else is in English, maybe this doesnt translate well but would broadly mean chalet in the sense of complete building available for rent) and found a number of places which would seem to match your description see https://www.stantonamarlberg.com/en/accommodations/accommodation-search?categories=bdf7e267-43f2-4a63-9c35-8aeaf7c18bb8 . Whether any would suit and would have availability ? I would suggest the Arlberg, Ischgl, Serfaus / Fiss amongst other places might be suitable, large areas about the same driving time from Calais as the main French resorts with the added advantage if you go via Belgium / Germany of no road tolls until you get to Austria (no speed limits on many of the Autobahns either).
If you are struggling with any of the websites emailing the relevant tourist office will inevitably bring a helpful reply
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| munich_irish wrote: |
@AlpineAddict I would suggest the Arlberg, Ischgl, Serfaus / Fiss amongst other places might be suitable, large areas about the same driving time from Calais as the main French resorts with the added advantage if you go via Belgium / Germany of no road tolls until you get to Austria (no speed limits on many of the Autobahns either).
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A couple of years ago drove to Kitzbuhel while some friends drove to Les Arcs at HT, having got on the same eurotunnel crossing. We arrived at roughly the same time as there's no queuing to get up mountain to get to the resort, or queues at payages.
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Look at Grindelwald, huge variety of chalets & at huge range of prices. Reasonable drive down as well.
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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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@Drammeister, Does depend on when you go, high season, busy weekends the queues, on a Saturday morning south or Sunday evenings north, can be pretty big between Munich and the resorts in the more easterly and central part of the Tirol or Salzburgerland . Could easily add an hour or two to the journey.
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@BobinCH, @munich_irish, @Drammeister, @Rogerdodger, Hi guys, thx for these suggestions... Will check them all out... Would def love to try somewhere out fo the France 'comfort zone'...
Ischgl has always been on my radar but it's difficult to find accommodation for us all in the centre of town. @Rogerdodger, Also considered this entire area, lot... Have always wanted t venture to Wengen, but again, Ive always perceived this area as being slightly disjointed.. Have I got that wrong...
One of the biggest hurdles we face is the fact that we have 2 families that will need to ski school, so the area needs to be able to cope with being able to travel different areas, and then back again, in that 2 hour 'ski school' period... As opposed to dropping the kids off, spending 30 mins getting out of wherever and then having to make 30 mins to get back down to wherever, via the same lifts runs etc. every day...
Thx again all 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@AlpineAddict, when we went to Gressoney the ski school (through Esprit but pretty sure the lesson format was driven by the ski school) was all day including lunch on the mountain for all lessons above Beginners (due to this we put our youngest into Beginners again as we felt she wasn’t upto a full day skiing when we went).
Ski 2 also operate in tht ski area.
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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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| AlpineAddict wrote: |
One of the biggest hurdles we face is the fact that we have 2 families that will need to ski school, so the area needs to be able to cope with being able to travel different areas, and then back again, in that 2 hour 'ski school' period... As opposed to dropping the kids off, spending 30 mins getting out of wherever and then having to make 30 mins to get back down to wherever, via the same lifts runs etc. every day...
Thx again all |
Austria, generally, does all day lessons and can include lunchtime supervision. We stayed in St Johann in Tirol a couple of times and drove to SkiWelt or Kitzbuhel for the day while the kids were in ski school from 9:30 to 3:30. It's pretty nice to spend 5 days skiing with your OH.
| munich_irish wrote: |
@Drammeister, Does depend on when you go, high season, busy weekends the queues, on a Saturday morning south or Sunday evenings north, can be pretty big between Munich and the resorts in the more easterly and central part of the Tirol or Salzburgerland . Could easily add an hour or two to the journey.
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Yes, but even with that, we arrived in resort in just about the same time. I think it was a particularly bad day in the french alps!
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I'm not sure that al day ski school will suit, as one family like skiing with their boys of an afternoon, and the other family has a 4 and 6 year old so all day would be too much for the little lady and again, the eldest likes riding around with dad and co, in the afternoon... I will palm that on to them to investigate though... Step too far in my search that is... 
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You know it makes sense.
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| AlpineAddict wrote: |
| I'm not sure that al day ski school will suit, as one family like skiing with their boys of an afternoon, and the other family has a 4 and 6 year old so all day would be too much for the little lady and again, the eldest likes riding around with dad and co, in the afternoon... I will palm that on to them to investigate though... Step too far in my search that is... |
Fair enough but we certainly loved the Monterosa ski ar a and hope to go back there soon. I have seen a number of apartments, and the ones via Ski 2 looked nice.
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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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@BobinCH, How far out of town is this place... I think I might have looked at this for this Feb's trip, but discounted ti because of location and access to T4V form Nendez... Be interested in some first hand account of how accessible everything is form Nendez...?
Thx
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Poster: A snowHead
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@AlpineAddict, it’s 3km up the hill above Haute Nendaz so you have to drive (which only takes 5 mins). When we stay we actually drive to Siviez and ski from there - 15 mins from the chalet and large free car park. This has much better access to the 4V than the centre of Nendaz, a great kids ski school (Arc-en-ciel), one of the best beginners slopes and IMHO the best red run in the 4V, and means you don’t have to worry about missing last lifts - as it’s accessible from all directions. Obviously if driving’s a big no no for you it’s no good, but if someone’s willing to drive it is a great chalet! Hope that helps
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@BobinCH, Thx again for this info... It's going in the pot as a 'possible' however, I think we'd rather, this time, to be more central (walking distance) to things...
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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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| AlpineAddict wrote: |
| I'm not sure that al day ski school will suit, as one family like skiing with their boys of an afternoon, and the other family has a 4 and 6 year old so all day would be too much for the little lady and again, the eldest likes riding around with dad and co, in the afternoon... I will palm that on to them to investigate though... Step too far in my search that is... |
The Scuola italiano Sci in Champoluc were offering half day lessons when I was there In March. Presumably the equivalent in Gressoney would offer the same.
They are not the same outfit as Ski 2 (obvioulsy!).
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