 Poster: A snowHead
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Hey Everyone,
I am planning a last minute ski trip with friends, ideally in mid March and after. I am not as knowledgeable about European mountains during this time of the year and am looking for a place that has a great apres ski vibe (great slopes are a plus as well  ). Any recommendations? We are in our mid-20s, are pretty good skiers, and are flying from New York so ideally somewhere near an international airport. Open to anywhere - just looking for a fun time!
Thanks!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@TheCommish, Verbier, St Anton or Val d’Isere all have great skiing and après
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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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Depending on date in mid-march, then lots of places in austria may be dutch week, so should be apres available almost anywhere!
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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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St Anton or Val D would both be top choices with slightly different vibes.
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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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Ischgl also has great apres ski, and excellent piste skiing too. St Anton is more famous for it's off-piste but the piste skiing is great too, especially if you like sking slopes that are not pisted so flat it's like skiing on carpet, they usually get quite cut up by the afternoon which makes for more fun.
That said, I've been to St Anton a lot more times so I agree with the other posters you can't go wrong there. It's not as rowdy as it once was, especially now some of the downtown bars have closed but on the mountain you've got two of the most famous places, the moose and KK, plus the griabli, Sennehutte, and Heustadtl all of which have music and are lively.
There is also murmell bar and basecamp for downtown early apres-ski.
If you like late night apres Ischgl is probably a better option, it's quite a few years since I've been there but some of the bars used to stay open till 5am. Not sure if that's still the case though.
There isn't that much late night apres in St Anton since the Piccadilly closed but that's ok with me now I'm a bit older, I like to get my apres-ski drinking done early so I'm ready for skiing first thing in the morning.
You can fly direct to ZRH from JFK, then train directly to the very centre of St Anton, no other transport required. (one change of train at the main station in Zurich)
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Ischgl gets my vote, Apres is either in the town or you can start at Paznauner Taja, and then ski down. Train direct from Zurich to Landeck-Zams, then hop a bus or get a taxi. True it's not as raucous as it used to be. That said St. Anton should be tried, the on slope apres is safer, depending on how hardcore you are gonna be of course. Maybe do both Ischgl and St Anton.
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We were in Ischgl late March last year, and the Apres wasn't all that to be honest, because the resort wasn't that busy and most of the apres venues are massive, so lack atmosphere if they're half empty.
Shatzi's was busy, but it was unpleasant. It honked, the girls looked bored, and everyone else looked as if they were trying too hard.
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Val D'Isere would be my choice (but I've never been to Ischgl)
You have La Folie Douce on the mountain (not my scene) Cocorico at the bottom of the slopes ( very much my scene!) Bannas, The Underground Bar, Victors & Le Petit Danois in town plus Dicks Teabar & Doudoune for late night clubbing.
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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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European apres is losing its magic.
But you can still find pockets of spark in the usual haunts.
Verbier, Val d'Isere, St Anton, Sauze d'Oulx, and so on.
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@TheCommish,
Are you looking for apres straight off the pistes, post evening meal or both? Live bands, DJs, drinking yourself to death or combination of all three?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Thanks all. Looking for both / combination of all three (or at least the option)!
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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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@TheCommish,
Val d'Isere or Tignes - if the latter one of Lavachet, le Lac or Val Claret.
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Mayrhofen beats all the above suggestions for a mid 20 year old, the skiing is good also
Iscghl fat middle aged lecherous men.
St Anton = St Manton.
Val disere= Instagram wannabes and stuck up rich kids
Verbier can't comment but probably above
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You know it makes sense.
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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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@TheCommish, Fly to Zürich and then easy transfer to either St Anton or (a bit further) Ischgl. There has been a fair amount of discussion recently about the number of over 50s in St Anton (myself included!). Whilst its true that the average age of visitors does seem to have gone up there is still very active apres even if not quite as in the tales from years ago. Still folk staggering down Dorfstrasse in ski boots at 8pm. The Mooserwirt is an experience not to be missed, others too like the original Krazy Kangaruh, Senn Hutte & Heustadl. The skiing is up with the best anywhere. I am not a great fan of the "village" in Ischgl, it has an unpleasant atmosphere, not everyone agrees and many love it, the skiing is excellent. Long time since I was in Val d'Isere, no doubt top skiing, access is not as easy as western Austria (fly into Geneva than a fair length transfer) and not sure the French "get" apres like the Austrian's do (skiing down from a hut after the pistes close is a no no!).
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Poster: A snowHead
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@munich_irish comment about ski boots reminded me of something else worth mentioning, a lot of places in St Anton Dorfstrasse will not let you in wearing ski boots after 8/9pm so bear that in mind if you are looking for continuous apres ski from 4:30-late !
There are also the local Polizei who roam the high street looking for troublemakers so don't be too rowdy in a big group if you see them around, they look a bit intimidating compared to the UK police but they don't hassle you unless it's well deserved so it's not a problem for most people.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@TheCommish, can you define your idea of 'apres ski' for us? For every apres skier who thinks huge, piste side bars pumping out dance music while people try to show everyone else how much money they have (AKA Folie Douce) are apres heaven there's another who prefers to come straight off the mountain and party in ski gear till 7pm drinking beer/schnapps and 'singing' along to Euro Pop songs that have upper-body only dance routines. And for each of those there's one who doesn't think apres ski starts until after dinner/doesn't end till 3am.
GENERALLY if you want a dance music soundtrack and either piste side or late night apres you should look at France, but if you want the ski/apres/diner/bed model and a soundtrack that has you saying "This music is terrible" when you walk in...but joining in even though you have no idea what the lyrics are after your second beer you should look at Austria. Maybe I've been unlucky/with boring people but none of the Italian resorts I've visited have anything I'd call apres ski, with more hotel bar drinking than anything else.
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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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| Baron von chippy wrote: |
Verbier can't comment but probably above |
This is where you went wrong in life 
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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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@JohnS4, A place I stayed recently was literally looking out onto the Galzig lift station I was surprised to see that the queue of taxis was still scooping up folk who had just skied down in the dark until 9pm. I suspect many of these folk would not have been capable of stumbling down Dorfstrasse to find more beer!
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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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IME sometimes the paradox is that the resorts that aren't known for apres ski can have the best apres ski locations.
This is because in the well known resorts every location is competing to be the best. In the quieter resorts there tend to be one or two locations where everyone who is looking to party tends to congregate and so it kicks off.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Kramer wrote: |
| This is because in the well known resorts every location is competing to be the best. In the quieter resorts there tend to be one or two locations where everyone who is looking to party tends to congregate and so it kicks off. |
Go to Ischgl upto mid-March at least and everyone's there to party so all the apres ski bars kick off, each tending to attract a different slice of the crowd. The U25 crowd generally head to the Kuhstall or Trofanna Alm, their parents one of Hexenkuche, the bar next door to that, or on the other side of town in Nick's Stadle or the Kitzloch. Men only groups looking for mild tittilation head to Schatzi while the seedy ones head to FreeRide.
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| munich_irish wrote: |
| @JohnS4, A place I stayed recently was literally looking out onto the Galzig lift station I was surprised to see that the queue of taxis was still scooping up folk who had just skied down in the dark until 9pm. I suspect many of these folk would not have been capable of stumbling down Dorfstrasse to find more beer! |
Yeah that's very true. I've also seen almost full glasses of beer (and it was beer !) that have the KK logo on them left on walls on Dorfstrasse. I'm not sure if that means they skied down while drinking a big glass of beer, or if they walked down (as you know it's quite a distance from the KK to town), but they were obviously not in a state that they could find their precious beer after transporting it half way down the mountain and leaving it somewhere.
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@TheCommish,
Not in the Alps, but should have added Pas de la Casa in Andorra.
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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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| Mjit wrote: |
| @TheCommish, can you define your idea of 'apres ski' for us? |
Come on! These are 20 something who are probably skiing Europe for the first time! What do they know they like or dislike until they actually try it?
I went to ski in Europe for the first time in my late 20’s. I had no idea what to expect. Found myself drinking Schnapps and dancing in my ski boots on a picnic table! It felt like fun at the time. But never felt like repeating again. (Well, not the dancing on picnic table part, but still enjoy a drink and watching others dancing in their ski boots). I’ve also done the skiing down in torch light since.
Point is, they don’t know what they like until they try it. So probably best at a location with a good variety, so they can hit something at random and get a good sampling of the different varieties.
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| abc wrote: |
| Mjit wrote: |
| @TheCommish, can you define your idea of 'apres ski' for us? |
Come on! These are 20 something who are probably skiing Europe for the first time! What do they know they like or dislike until they actually try it?
I went to ski in Europe for the first time in my late 20’s. I had no idea what to expect. Found myself drinking Schnapps and dancing in my ski boots on a picnic table! It felt like fun at the time. But never felt like repeating again. (Well, not the dancing on picnic table part, but still enjoy a drink and watching others dancing in their ski boots). I’ve also done the skiing down in torch light since.
Point is, they don’t know what they like until they try it. So probably best at a location with a good variety, so they can hit something at random and get a good sampling of the different varieties. |
Look at last 2 posts on Thursday for what they are looking for.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Apres being a big part of my resort criteria I felt I might share my expereinces. Verbier, becoming even more expensive than ever thanks to the strong CHF, I've been going every year for a decade now, and its changed from an all week mad Apres, to a great vibe on Friday and Saturdays mostly due to the influx of Geneva workers and rich people just flying into their second homes for a long weekend. During the week Apres is quite, but you can always find live bands somewhere, just not going off like the weekend.
IMO St.Anton (St.Manton) holds great memories (must have been there 20+ times) but haven't been for 3 years now. My recommendation is that if you're doing the moose, then my advice is get really stuck in and sink a couple at lunch time, it softens the WTF is this music upon your arrival. Basecamp is probably more my vibe though, modern feel good beats with a sax player. Even so, its nothing like it use to be. KKK use to be a party, dancing on the bar and just crazy, but this is a distant memory now.
Ischgl (my early March break of recent years) seems to be a resort of two halfs, and a different vibe between the two. Its fair to say its very different to St Anton in as much as you don't get so many crazy dutch, but they're replaced with crazy Germans. I don't know which are worse, but they all seem to have fun. I've never seen any trouble in Ischgl, where I can't say the same about St Anton. PS, I read somewhere that Ischgl has poor freeride, but thats not my experience at all. What I do know is it doesn't get completely tracked in 1/2 a day.
Tignes/Val, my end of season trip these days as the snow is kept so well April May, visited many times during my 'seasons' years, great party, live bands (although like most, it helps to be entirly drunk), but whilst the party is there, its particularly heavy on the seasonaires and just doesn't do Apres the same as Austrian resorts. IMO!
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