Suggestions: Alpine touring towns for year round living

A snowHead

I'm currently living in Rossland, BC but looking for places in the alps that I might want to move to year round. Rossland has been amazing but with most of my family and friends in the UK I want to settle somewhere closer to home. Looking for:

- Great ski touring either lift accessed or walking. A small lift bump into a touring location would be ideal but don't need a massive resort. A short drive to a mountain pass is also fine.
- Fun but not necessarily the wildest terrain locally so long as there is more adventurous alpine terrain not too far away.
- Not too busy, but a steady throughput of internationals, new people to meet and ride with.
- Don't need any après but one local drinking hole will do.
- A livable year round place so more a real town, opportunities for work locally and people that live there year round.
- Reasonably priced long term rental accommodation.
- Good summer activities, MTBing, climbing etc.

So in short a Rossland of the Alps, a place that is overshadowed by more known places but quietly good.

I'd like to look around some places this March/April, maybe someone has suggestions for towns and month long accommodation? Maybe you have a spare room and need a touring partner?

Cheers

A snowHead

Modane:

https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=148316

Real town with its own life. High speed rail connection to elsewhere in France - and Italy.

Short bus ride to Valfrejus to access Mont Thabor area and much easy, safe touring.
https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?p=2027068

Slightly longer ride to Les Karellis, ski bum heaven:
https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?p=2649230

A longer on the bus and we can reach Termignon to access the Vanoise National Park and loads of touring options:
https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?p=2527044

Stay on a while longer and we can reach Bonneval and much high-level touring of the Haute-Maurienne.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@nomadengineer,

To meet your Rossland-like criteria, does it also need to be completely in the middle of nowhere? wink

(I'm heading to Rossland tomorrow as it happens snowHead

)

You need to Login to know who's really who.

- Chamonix if you can afford it, or Saint Gervais for better value and still access to Mont Blanc area
- Pila in the Aosta Valley in Italy offers excellent value

Both real towns with year-round communities

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@stuarth

I find been a little further away than most people can be bothered to travel is a good thing although I'm starting to find the lack of public transport and unreliable flights tiring.

Thinking about going to the Kootenay Pass tomorrow, what you doing in town?

@ianm
Chamonix is far too busy for me now after been in rural BC all this time. If there's any que for the lift I think its a busy day. Aosta crossed by mind, I toured from the Orestes Hütte a few years ago and had a great time.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Briancon?

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

@nomadengineer,

Yeah can see that being tough, especially in winter. Guess it's a tricky balance; convenience of big city vs quietness of remote places. Not sure anywhere in Europe can be as remote as some places in BC though given it's only 10 times bigger but with 150 times the population! North Van has a good balance, but Whistler feels like it has 150 times longer lift lines than Red! wink

We're in town for the Junior Freeride comp.

@nomadengineer, have a look at some of the funky little places in Piedmont near the French border eg Maira Valley. There are other places but they are super secret (actually not that secret these days) powder stashes when you get a Retour de l’Est

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Actually you could do a lot worse than La Grave and Le Monetier or one of the communities nearby

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Praz de Lys / Sommand, very subtle, little outlyer, not far though for general communication etc.

Modane and Maurienne Valley has much to offer, as noted above.

snow reports

@stuarth,
Haven't been to Whistler in the winter, I've heard too many lift que horror stories from escapees in Rossland. Red has no lift ques and its normal to be the only person on the mountain.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, keep them coming, I'm pinning them all on a map to see what areas are trending. So far the France/Italy border seems to be winning. Any places in Austria or Switzerland? Finding work there would be easier for me I recon, English speaker only I'm afraid. Norway is another possibility, a bit more akin to BC for wilderness.

Areches-Beaufort. But you'd need to speak French and it's not exactly cosmopolitan.

You know it makes sense.

Briancon. All year round, access to Serre Che, Queyras, Montgenevre/Claviere, Vallee de la Claree. Proper (little) town, hospital, etc.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Actually, Beaufort rather than Areches.

A snowHead

@nomadengineer, Switzerland, Val d'Anniviers for Zinal, Grimentz is a pretty cool valley. Sitting above valley floor, Rhone, with access along so many swiss ski mountain domain, plus industry and comms efficient.

Also Champèry Morgins area seems to have a mix, attractive over all seasons, ski, mtb etc going on. Possibly in good direction for the interesting international aspect.

A snowHead

Are you entitled to spend as long as you like in the European Union @nomadengineer? Or will you have a visa? If not, you'll only be able to spend a maximum of 90 days in every 180 days in the EU area.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@mountainaddict,
Unfortunately not currently. I might be able to get a visa with my current employer if I transfer to their EU operation but more likely I would be looking at getting a new job. That's why Switzerland or Austria would be better. Right now I'm looking for places I can go visit and if I fall in love with a place, look for employment. My work has me moving around sites in other countries too so there's scope for me to adopt a 50/50 site home split.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I would have thought that in Switzerland you’re more likely to find an employer based in somewhere like Lausanne or Montreux or one of the places on the shore of Lake Geneva, or even Geneva itself. If that’s the case then you will have the usual choice to make around commute distance, even if you’re WFH a lot of the time.

So for example, BobInCH’s recommendation of Le Châble puts you near the resort end of the equation, with a local train to Martigny and then a regional commute train to one of the above, and in the other direction, a Télécabine link directly up the mountain into central Verbier. Conversely, if you could afford it, Lausanne suburbs might put you within a short bus/local train ride of your employer, but an hour or more away from a resort. The very extreme would be Verbier itself at one end, or Lausanne (or wherever) centre at the other - both of which are going to be to be relatively expensive.

The choices are going to be easier to resolve once you know where your employer is and how many days/month on average you will need to be in the office. This topic has come up before in various guises, and my recollection is that feedback from etrangers working in CH is that it’s not as easy as you might think to ‘break in’ to apparently open NGOs and multi-nationals based in Geneva and it’s environs. Even if you’re responding to an external advertisement inviting international applicants. You might find a transfer via your existing employer was a more viable option than starting from scratch with a hunt for a new employer. A transfer will involve much less effort for you and once you’re there, you could look to change employer at leisure (although I dare say that you might have to agree to contractual obligations to your existing employer precisely because of this possibility).

Just be careful around the political impact of going for a transfer. I did this with an opportunity to move from London to Geneva. The Swiss division was keen for me to move and I even went for an interview. But UK management were miffed I even considered it and my Director was rather put out by the whole exercise. It was made clear as well it’d be a one-way street: if I moved, I couldn’t expect to be welcomed back if it didn’t pan out. Mind you, it did stop the UK division taking me for granted!

You'll need to Register first of course.

If it’s Europe/mountains you’re after rather than specifically the Alps, then you could look at Andorra. The work situation may be a sticking point. It would be difficult to find a job here but there are options for wfh/digital nomads. They all require a level of investment in Andorra though.

There’s certainly plenty of touring going on and then plenty of summer activities. All the villages have bars and restaurants and Andorra La Vella gives the impression of being a city in places even though it’s pretty small.

Getting back to the U.K. can be a PITA though. A former colleague moved from Abu Dhabi to Andorra so he could be closer to family in the U.K. but he soon realised that it took just as long to travel back from as Abu Dhabi did!

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

@nomadengineer, Austria! Anywhere in the Ski Amade is great, that's why we moved here. Altenmarkt/Radstadt has a small Anglo community and most of us are kept busy through the Summer months. Zell/Saalbach is another good option, or the Innsbruck area.

After all it is free

I give a vote for Radstadt.
Relativ big, many resorts around
However the work/language is a little bit tricky.
I dont know what job are you looking for and if you speak Germans or something like this.

Probably Innsbruck (or around I) will be the best. However it is probably the most expensive place after Wien.

You could also check out Feldberg (AUT) or maybe Freiburg (GERM)

My husband and I did a couple of months in Aosta last year and it was a very pleasant town to live in, has everything you need but not very busy except at festival times - if you wanted to be somewhere quieter you could look at places like Pre-St Didier (nearer Mont Blanc) or at the other end of the valley Chatillon or Verres (nearer Monte Rosa or Cervina)?

Also Trento and surroundings might be a place to consider. Uni city, felt like a more international community so may be easier to find jobs?

We're in Sweden at the moment and it'd suit you down to the ground - going uphill on skis is life here and it's all very relaxed - but it's a little expensive! Less so than Norway however so if that is a factor look at Sweden. We're in Are but there are a ton of smaller, quieter places in the area (Duved is very quiet but next to the bigger area if you need some life occasionally).

Jobs might be more of an issue - husband looked at staff positions in Holland and Germany, seemed to be the easiest places to get away with only speaking English fluently (he does civils and structural CAD) but as it is we're now both contract and working on UK projects remotely. Might be something to think about.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

I think Austria has alot to offer. Great pistes with minimal queues and lots of access to great touring areas and off piste.
I like Mittersill in the Pinzgau Valley just south of Kitzbuhel with great touring in the Kitzbuhel alien. Easy access to the Hohe tour, lots of over 3000 metre peaks, from the lift to Weissee and Rudfolfs hutte.
Easy drive to Ost Tirol and the Dolomites.
Good public transport aswell. Been here 12 yrs and still finding new touring areas.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Sierre or better Sion would be a good shout. Easy access to Val d"Anniviers (where the touring/off-piste is fantastic) also to Crans Montana. If you get the major pass you will have access to a whole load of small and large ski areas reachable from there. Both are towns, I think Sion is a bit bigger but with are pleasant.

snow reports

Not the Alps, but Tromso could be interesting option. Loads of touring, both mellow and gnarliest you could wish for, and great summer options too.

@Inboard, that’s a great shout about Tromso! It’s a lovely city with lots going on. And mind blowing touring. Great fishing too!

You know it makes sense.

@zikomo, indeed! I’d quite happily live there. Almost as good as Newtonmore Laughing

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@nomadengineer,
Bourg St Maurice?

A snowHead

@Inboard, now let’s not get carried away! Newtonmore is in a different league. But takes a different caliber of person to appreciate it.

A snowHead

As others have said Briancon is a good shout for most of what you're after. Or the surrounding areas like Vallouise, it has to be one of the best adventure playgrounds in Europe.

There are some big ski resorts and lots of smaller ones too with options to tour from.

For touring you are on the junction of three massifs the eastern edge of the Écrins a full alpine area with peaks over 4000m. The Cerces and the Queyras both with a huge of ski touring in their own right, buts its not bad to travel between them all. I do a free ski touring guide on my site Écrins collective and will be launch a free mini guide ebook on Monday with fatmap and fall line ski mag. There are many col road leading out the area easy access to early season snow. Plus there is la grave a hour away.

Summer is amazing it gets some of the most settled weather in the alps so you can get out and enjoy it nearly every day.
for climbing its great over 3000 sports routes across 6 different rock types, world class bouldering. and loads of multi pitch and alpine routes. Have look on Line for places like Aliefroide.

There is loads of MTB routes at every level, the lift feed is getting better but not yet on par with other areas.

It has some of the best white water in France, loads of walking and 27 Via Ferrata.

I wont say it cheap as it France and the alps but it is slightly cheaper than the likes of Cham. all the areas are liveable year round with local community's, Briancon and has a good turn over of internationals and Vallouise gets a few.

I live near Vallouise year round, work as a climbing instructor and walking guide, (ski bum in winter). Drop me a message if you want more info.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

You need to Login to know who's really who.

@nomadengineer, this will cause some controversy amongst some people here but if you are under 40 I would give Briancon a strong miss. I think you would struggle to find like minded people your age you can hang/shred with. The demographic here is a lot older, apres places have since closed and as a lone traveller I would not want to spend a month here, I think you'd find it pretty lonely. As an example, there was a post on the seasonaires page from a seasonaire asking if there were any in town because she hadn't found any in months! Think she found 3-4 like-minded people. But compare that to somewhere like Revelstoke or Chamonix and you'd never run into that issue, you'd keep bumping into them.

I would +1 on Chamonix and Tromso, you will find it very easy to meet people there. If you go Tromso-way try to befriend someone with a car or do some hitch-hiking (pretty normal in Norway), and you have near-infinite touring possibilities

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

You'll need to Register first of course.

This is in German but you could google the resort/area names. (10 best ski touring areas in the alps).

https://www.snowplaza.de/weblog/22579-beste-skitourengebiete-alpen/

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Help!!

Suggestions: Alpine touring towns for year round living

snowHeads Forum Index >>> The Piste