 Poster: A snowHead
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Hey,
My GF and I live in Chamonix and usually join friends for their weeks ski holiday wherever they go. They last few times have been big French resorts 3V/Espace Killy so no problem for us to get to or find accom.
This time we'd all like a change from France and so I'm after some advice. I love the dolomites for the scenery but its a real schlep from Chamonix and it isn't known for off-piste. I've only skied Austria once but again, its a long drive and the travel restrictions are likely to be much more stringent France>Austria than France>Italy. We were thinking Cervinia as it's an easy drive for us but does it have enough skiing for an advanced group? I personally would also like a good level of lift served off-piste if possible (my friends don't have touring kit) and not sure Cervinia is known for this? I'm happy to hire a guide for a day though.
does anyone have other suggestions that fit criteria of:
Reasonable to get to from Chamonix by car
Large area/good skiing for advanced skiers.
Probs not Switzerland as we're not millionaires, otherwise Verbier would obviously fit the bill. Also, we can ski Verbier during the season anyway from Chamonix so would like somewhere different.
Thats pretty much it!
We haven't taken travel restrictions into account as yet as no one has a crystal ball (other than thinking Italy would be easier than Austria as suggested above) so will cross that bridge when we come to it.
Any suggestions gratefully received.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Gressoney/Champlouc?
Or some of the lesser know Swiss areas might be more economic - Zinal/Grimentz for example
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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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Resort X
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@Meltus, In the right conditions, you can have really quite a nice time in the Indren bowl above Gressoney. While the "better" skiing is above Gressoney and Alagna, I'd suggest staying in Champoluc though, just as there's a bit more going on (Although not that much!), and it's not too terrible to warm up zipping across and back. If there's enough snow, there's at least enough side piste for a week.
Big advantage is the food, on hill generally basic but so much better and better VFM than Cham on hill. Dinner, well, it's a whole different ball game. Discounting the fun and fusion of e.g. Mumma and Munchie ... there really is little in CHX to compare until you're hitting Albert 1re, Matafan, etc.
Le Sapin - Possibly the best steaks in the world, ever - ignore the slightly Italian lighting, they like to see what they're eating
Lo Bistrot - terrific pizza, generally excellent all round, steaks nearly as good
L'Essential - (Haven't managed to get in for a couple of years, due poor planning) - very Italian, e.g. we have prawn carpaccio starters one night.
Plus great wines at excellent value ...
What's not to like?
A guide chum likes Grimentz/Zinal/the other one... never made it across
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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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I'm with @Arno, in thinking Zinal Grimentz. Enchanting valley, a lot to fit your ski specs, favourable cost level compared to Verbier, a day trip to Zermatt midweek if you wanted to vary itinerary. Z is within an hour drive, parking at Tasch, straight onto tram and then on up the mountain, it's very slick and easy to visit for the day and gives a good day out with reasonable cost too.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Meltus, when I was seasoning in cham we did Gressonay a couple of times. Great skiing (maybe the best in the Alps) but nightlife best summed up by “you can hear a garage door slam 2 miles away”. Skiing wise its got the lot, but mainly without those pesky glaciers. Another place which is more expensive but has a nice vib is Andermatt. I definitely wouldn’t bother with Cervinia.
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Cheers guys. Staying in champoluc and skiing monterosa/gressoney sounds like a good shout, I'll float the idea. We don't need much in the way of nightlife but *A* bar might be nice.
We go to Italy quite a lot (just got my tunnel du mont blanc resident card! No more buying 20 runs and trying to flog them to mates!) so would very much be looking forward to the food  Interested to see how one might carpaccio a prawn...
We're actually planning to visit some other friends in gressoney in January anyway for a day or two so can check it out.
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@Meltus, we drove to Champoluc with gear in a rucksack and skied over to and stayed in Alagna for a weekend. Lovely village and nice adventure. Great off piste options but gets baked by the sun.
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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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@Meltus, and if you’re in Verbier mid-week out of holiday season I can probably help you out with accommodation for the cleaning fee if you want to stay over a few days.
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Disentis. Accommodation wise, Nangijala is cheap and you have the choice of self catering or eating in the bar. There is (very) good lift accessed off piste, although touring gear will open up many more options for you. You can also reach Andermatt by train if you start early. And it is quiet.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@gorilla, Disentis, good call ski wise, isn't it a bit of a chore to get to?
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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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@under a new name, yes. It's about as far as you can get from Zurich or Geneva in a car without actually leaving Switzerland. That said, it's only about two hours from Zurich. If it were less of a pain to get to it would be a lot busier.
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That area gets a lot of snow. This was a couple of days ago...
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You know it makes sense.
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@BobinCH, yeah. I had the best single ski day of my life in Andermatt. But it gets weekend and storm chasing traffic from Zurich.
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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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@gorilla, I know, I have driven it!
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Meltus wrote: |
Hey,
My GF and I live in Chamonix and usually join friends for their weeks ski holiday wherever they go. They last few times have been big French resorts 3V/Espace Killy so no problem for us to get to or find accom.
This time we'd all like a change from France and so I'm after some advice. I love the dolomites for the scenery but its a real schlep from Chamonix and it isn't known for off-piste. I've only skied Austria once but again, its a long drive and the travel restrictions are likely to be much more stringent France>Austria than France>Italy. We were thinking Cervinia as it's an easy drive for us but does it have enough skiing for an advanced group? I personally would also like a good level of lift served off-piste if possible (my friends don't have touring kit) and not sure Cervinia is known for this? I'm happy to hire a guide for a day though.
does anyone have other suggestions that fit criteria of:
Reasonable to get to from Chamonix by car
Large area/good skiing for advanced skiers.
Probs not Switzerland as we're not millionaires, otherwise Verbier would obviously fit the bill. Also, we can ski Verbier during the season anyway from Chamonix so would like somewhere different.
Thats pretty much it!
We haven't taken travel restrictions into account as yet as no one has a crystal ball (other than thinking Italy would be easier than Austria as suggested above) so will cross that bridge when we come to it.
Any suggestions gratefully received. |
"A real schlep". 
I'm from sub tropical Brisbane Australia. The closest skiing to us is 14 hours drive away.
We actually skied in the Dolomites and Chamonix a couple of winters ago. We flew into Munich (a twenty four hour flight) and traveled from there.
Make the effort to take the short drive across the north of Italy. The scenery of the Dolomites will be worth it.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@sbooker, yeah, because as you well know, the scenery around Mont Blanc is just, well, frankly, a tad disappointing.
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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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I think Disentis would be a bit of a nightmare for friends flying in from the UK. Also, coming from pretty big classic resorts, it might be a bit toooooo niche/small. I've been sending videos of the Indren freeride area to the group chat so hopefully this has affected opinion.
I do love the scenery in the dollies as I said, and have been there to climb and ski many times. It is so different to Chamonix which is nice for a change. I'm just not keen on an 8 hour drive, if a 3 hour drive is an equally good option. I'm sure I'll get over my loss in the "travel time" willy waving contest...
@BobinCH - I may take you up on that Verbier offer! Very generous thanks.
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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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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: |
| @sbooker, yeah, because as you well know, the scenery around Mont Blanc is just, well, frankly, a tad disappointing. |
No one is suggesting Cham isn’t spectacular. The OP mentioned he liked the Dolomites for the scenery. It’s not that far really.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Meltus wrote: |
I do love the scenery in the dollies as I said, and have been there to climb and ski many times. It is so different to Chamonix which is nice for a change. I'm just not keen on an 8 hour drive, if a 3 hour drive is an equally good option. I'm sure I'll get over my loss in the "travel time" willy waving contest... |
Not that I'm saying you should necessarily go to Austria or the Dolomites, but I've down to the Journey from Innsbruck to Morzine once by public transport and once by car (via a stop off at Sole Boot Lab in Cham). Was a pretty straightforward drive, and somewhere in Vorarlberg (Montafon? Lech?) would cut 1.5 hours off the drive time.
I would have thought exploring a few of the smaller Pyrenees resorts could be fun - probably a totally differnt vibe and much less powder competition - but that also looks like an 8 hour drive for you.
One area that surprised me, that's a bit closer to you, is Laax. Lots of easily accessible offpiste (maybe lacking in steeps and gnar, but lots of mellow fun type stuff) and I think relativley low competition - 30 mins hiking would be enough to reach stuff that the freestyle kids on park skis will never ski. Also easy day trips to nearby small gems, like Splügen. We scored a mid-week sleeper pow day there; literally maybe 10-15 people on the mountain and fresh tracks all day.
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I’ve lived part time in Zinal for the last 15 years or so and ski most years in Zermatt or Saas Fee for a day or so. The journey from Zinal is closer to two hours as it is down to the Rhone valley/Sierre/Siders along and then back up. I’m always happy to return to the Val d’Anniviers.
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Having skied in the MonteRosa ski area thé Annivers ski area is livelier at night, but not by much on most nights!
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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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Roughly 5,5 h from Cham to Madonna. No problem. If the point is «something very different from cham». Mostly for scenery, and wide expanses for piste skiing, not so Much for the offpiste. Where Champoluc and Monterosa is closer and far better offpist wise. Dolomiti resorts slike Val Gardena or Canazei a bit longer. But all of these dolomiti or brenta resorts Are very different experience from Cham offpiste. Depends on if that is what you want as a break from Cham ? Aosta Valley has possibilities, and Cervinia is the short cut to Zermatt if wind is permitting - which is hard to predict. Bring Stuck in Cervinia is not the same. Go for somewhere in the Dolomites for the change
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St Anton.
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FAQ
