 Poster: A snowHead
|
In the spirit of the where should I go threads - I'm up for broadening my mind.
Criteria
Snowfall- high
Terrain - challenging
Minimal lift queues
Doesn't have to have miles of pistes
Grooming quality largely irrelevant but early avy control welcome
Trees are always nice for when the snow is falling
Don't care about slopeside accomodation & will willingly drive
Not bothered about on slope eateries
Nightlife not a priority
For Europe long weekend accessible from a well served airport so that 3 days away means 3 days skiing.
I'd like to consider Scandinavia but a bit suspicious as to why the traditional "big mountain" resorts elsewhere have huge Nordic populations. Poland? Slovenia? Maybe the hidden French gems the hordes drive past?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
| fatbob wrote: |
I'd like to consider Scandinavia but a bit suspicious as to why the traditional "big mountain" resorts elsewhere have huge Nordic populations. |
cheap booze, fags and women.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
At some point I'd like to check out:
Krippenstein
Warth (both Austria)
Glacier 3000
Les Sept Laux
Seen some good reports about Bovec in Slovenia. Not sure whether this was all down to the masses of snow they had early last season or whether the terrain is very good too
All on a powder day of course 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
My list of places to try/have tried is as follows:
Val d'anniviers
Andermatt
Alagna - done
Sainte Foy
La Grave - done
Kicking horse - canada
Big sky - usa
Powder king resort - bc
Shames mountain bc
La Norma
Stuben
Les sybelles
Www.baldface.net - BC
Andorra pas de la casa & soldeu (free cat skiing)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
fatbob, Stay in Bourg d'Oisans. You can then ski both ADH and LDA, or La Grave of course - or a day at each in a 3 day hol. Travel time (normally) From Grenoble airport 1.5 hours drive - 2 max. Bourg should be cheap and has several little hotels etc. If the flight times are right and you avoid Saturdays, you should really be able to pile in the miles etc. NB: LG isn't usually much good early in the season - too many rocks to be covered up!
You should PM Arno I won't tell you why.....
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
Bourg St Maurice might be suitable. Easy access from Chambery, Geneva or Lyon airports or overnight train to BSM itself. You'll have the choice of Les Arcs/La Plagne, St Foy or La Rosiere/La Thuile all of which are just a short drive or funicular ride away. A slightly longer drive will get you to Val d'Isere/Tignes. In one way or another all your criteria are met
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yeah I know BSM is central for many places but they are, with the possible exception of St Foy hardly the up & coming places I would quite like to check out. I suspect I'm on the same sort of wavelength as gregh been a few of those places and enjoyed them & would love to go to some of the others -Shames & Powder King for instance come with big "local secret" reputations
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
fatbob, why would you want to go to Ste Foy where there are so many better places nearby? It's only good when there's fresh powder and now it's been developed to death it's even losing that appeal.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
| fatbob wrote: |
| Yeah I know BSM is central for many places but they are, with the possible exception of St Foy hardly the up & coming places I would quite like to check out. I suspect I'm on the same sort of wavelength as gregh been a few of those places and enjoyed them & would love to go to some of the others -Shames & Powder King for instance come with big "local secret" reputations |
That's a fair point, although if you were to hire a decent guide for a day or two I'd guess that using any of the resorts near BSM as a base you'd get you to terrain that only a very small percentage of the punters get to. That would give you lots of "local secrets", but with the convenience and infrastructure of a big resort.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
fatbob, It's quite clear from talking to Arno that there are amazing "undiscovered" stashes all over the ADH side of the Oisans. Same here, and I gather no different in Serre Chevalier. You need a local guide to show you though. Puts the price up, but what a difference. i now regret the couple of wasted days in ADH thinking it was dull - it's clearly anything but ... object lesson to all of us!!! Snowangel has clearly had the same sort of experience here. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
I plan to do as rob@rar.org.uk says from BSM. I'd love to get upto the NF for example and have been thwarted previously.
But the area is huge you just have to outrun punters territory..
As with all these places, its probably more important who you go with as opposed to where you go, so I'd go cheaper lodging and travel, guided. There is only so much you can spot from your own efforts and the mountains are so big virtually every resort will have a 'hidden' valley whch will mean a taxi back.
Go with someone who knows..!! 
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
| JT wrote: |
| I'd love to get upto the NF for example |
Excuse my ignorance, but what's NF?
|
|
|
|
|
|
brian
brian
Guest
|
rob@rar.org.uk, North Face of the Bellecote I guess 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
Yep, I meant the North Face of the Bellecote
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
|
brian and JT thanks for that. I've only ever looked up at it and dreamt...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
rob@rar.org.uk,
Round up Snowcrazy and BC and we have a gang..
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
I'd definitely be up for a guided 3 day weekend out of a hub next winter but I do prefer to share guide costs with others & recognise it's a bit of an unknown hooking up with strangers from t'internet.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
|
I'd definitely be up for a guided 3 day weekend out of a hub next winter but I do prefer to share guide costs with others & recognise it's a bit of an unknown hooking up with strangers from t'internet.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
| JT wrote: |
rob@rar.org.uk,
Round up Snowcrazy and BC and we have a gang.. |
You're assuming I'd be able to keep up with you and not be a liability!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
| fatbob wrote: |
| I'd definitely be up for a guided 3 day weekend out of a hub next winter but I do prefer to share guide costs with others & recognise it's a bit of an unknown hooking up with strangers from t'internet. |
I can vouch for them all. rob@rar.co.uk has very strange taste in ski wear, but apart from that they're all pretty normal. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
fatbob, where have you tried already? As Easiski says, staying somewhere near Bourg d'Oisans opens up huge amounts of off-piste. La Grave is well known and possibly suffers a bit from it - can be a bit of a feeding frenzy on a powder day. Les Deux Alpes would be my choice on a bad weather day because of the challenging terrain low down the mountain. Lots of other good stuff too though. On a powder day, I'd go to Alpe d'Huez. You can ski there a lot and only notice the iddy-biddy lines. Get a guide or someone who knows their way round and you will discover that it is HUGE. Or, for a budget option, get an off-piste lesson with Vaujany ski school (ask for Ludo or Phillipe). You'll get 2 hours of very high quality skiing for your EUR50.
Click the linky in my signature for a taste 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I've been to most of the ususal suspect French resorts at one time or another - not often paid for a guide though. Last season I hit Engelberg, Andermatt, Chamonix and Morzine for weekends. I take the point that maybe its better to go to a known place and hire a guide to get to the unknown areas but I find its often a bit of a lottery pitching up and trying to get a good guide at short notice if conditions warrant it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
fatbob, not tried it yet myself (too chicken), but I'm told the off-piste at Serre Chevalier is awesome, and it's only a short drive to La Grave.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
fatbob, I've been using the same guide for a few years now. He's based out of Grenoble and what I have started doing is booking him and flights for the days I want, then settling on a venue for skiing much nearer the time. That way you can catch optimal snow conditions and the guide knows how you ski so you don't have to spend a day showing him that you're happy on stuff steeper than red runs...
I hit Engelberg for the first time last season - can't wait to get back there
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Arno,
Interesting way of doing things re the guide, what kind of area does he cover, and does he advise you on where to go based on the snow conditions?
regards,
Greg
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
gregh,
I thinks its ok to tell a guide what you want to do/where to go, but they will have their own faves and stashes so its probably a good idea to let them talk you out of it if they voice strong opinions. Assuming you don't know better, of course...
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
gregh, well he's got to be able to get there in a reasonable time from Grenoble if we're going for the flexible approach. but he's a fast driver so that would cover the French Alps, bits of western Switzerland and Gressoney/Alagna. the decision is down to where is good, what the weather forecast is and so on. in practice, if somewhere near grenoble is decent, it'll have to be stellar elsewhere if you want to go further away. also, he knows the Oisans region, Chamonix, Gressoney/Alagna and Glacier 3000 best so there will always be a bias towards those places
i agree with JT that it's OK to tell a guide what you want to do and expect him to do it (subject to safety considerations of course). and there is an element of horses for courses. i'm not sure i'd think it worthwhile to ship the guy from grenoble over to somewhere he'd never been before. he'd be better at evaluating safety and probably finding the routes than me, but he still wouldn't be as good as a local guide
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
