 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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Rob. If you're skiing after the New Year rush, I'd seriously recommend waiting until you know where the snow's lying. Then see what deals are available.
Mayrhofen, or countless other places, can be great in January when temperatures can be bitter in the high resorts. But you need the assurance that the snow has fallen.
The point is that accommodation for most of January is sold at low-season rates, and often discounted for late booking, because demand is low.
You might enjoy the skiing in Italy, too. The Dolomites have lots of easy skiing.
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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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rob and sharon, welcome to snowHeads 
I learnt in Serre Chevalier (southern French Alps). Apart from the charm of some French villages, there are some superb runs ideal for all levels of skiers. I'd recommend Le Monetier Les Bains for your group as there are runs down to resort that should suit you all. There are plenty of DIY options and quite a few operators also go there. Here's a link to one of the sites for the region.
Andorra is probably a livelier place, but there's still plenty of Apres. If the snow is good, it's a great region.
There are some good flights into Turin with transfers taking about an hour and a half to 2 hours.
As David said, wait for the snow at that time of year before booking, wherever you decide to go.
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Welcome to snowHeads Rob & Sharon!
You'll certainly get lots of advice here, though most of it conflicting!
I wouldn't necessarily agree with David that you should leave it so late before booking. With 10 in your group you're likely to find yourselves very limited with regard to availability (or else have to accept different accommodation to be in the same resort).
When in January are you thinking of going? As long as you go high, you shouldn't have any problems with snow cover, particularly if you go later in the month.
Finally, what are your priorities (price/apres/charm/convenience/size etc.)? If you don't want to get a hundred different suggestions from a hundered different snowHeads as to where is right for you, it would be best to give us as much info as possible about yourselves and what you want to get out of your trip!
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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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rob and sharon, welcome to snowheads. I think you are the 1st 'coupled' username. Sorry I can't comment on your proposed resort choices but I'm sure others will. As DG says high resorts can be very cold in January but you do have a better chance of good snow. Have you considered any of the purpose built French places ? I'd guess with a group of <10 it might be risky going for a late-booking.
Not sure if you know of the SCGB Resorts Guide which you can access from here. It has loads of info and for some has 10 year historical snow records through the season. Bear in mind that in Austria they usually need less depth on the lower slopes for reasonable skiing because the terrain is less rocky than in other countries' ski areas. And if you are new to snowHeads, take a look in snowBase on the right of the picture on the index page. Over 1200 links to the resorts official web sites. Should find one to suit. 
Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Mon 12-07-04 14:48; edited 1 time in total
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I agree with kuwait_ian, I would book sooner rather than later and just hope for good snow. Getting 10 spaces on flights late on can be a issue - as I've found out to my detriment! I think you may have stumbled onto a good idea with Mayrhofen. I have skied there twice, once in great conditions and one not. Even when there was little snow, the Hintertux glacier is only a relatively short drive away, thus ensuring at least some snow. Could be quite nippy in Jan, however.
Or perhaps Saalbach-Hinterglem? Good intermediate skiing and snow sure skiing over at Zell am See, half an hour down the road.
You could go on for hours with suggestions but other factors come in aswell - quiet sleepy resort or something perhaps on the wilder side!?
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rob and sharon, should imagine late January will be pretty good. Haven't been to Andorra myself, but frinds have and they go then .
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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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Pas is the place for you if you're young and into lots of drinking (think Torremolinos on snow).
If you prefer things (slightly) more sedate, then stick with Soldeu - with the link now open (is it?) you can ski Pas whenever you like. As you know, the tuition there is excellent (certainly the best I have ever had, anywhere), and you'll get nothing like the same standard of teaching if you head for France and sign up with ESF, the tour operators' preferred ski school (though of course if you're prepared to pay for it you can always arrange your own tuition with the smaller schools in resort, many British run, which are invariably much better - plenty of snowHeads can give recomendations on these).
30th January you'll have no problems with snow cover (though never go too low!).
If you're thinking Austria, you might want to have a look at somewhere like Obergurgl.
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remember that Pas and Soldeu are linked on the Grand Valira lift pass now. Pas de La casa is EXTREMELY lively ( I love the place) but if you want something a bit more relaxed then maybe staying in Soldeu and skiing the whole area would be a better idea?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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rob and sharon, greetings! I wonder which of you two actually types.
As for your trip: late Jan/early Feb you should be OK almost anywhere. So the main criteria seems to be Good Ski School and Suitable for Beginners. Nadenoodlee is our Andorra expert. Any comments on ski schools, Nade?
Last year I learnt to snowboard in Morzine. Great place, excellent beginner slopes, but the real clincher was the British Alpine Ski & Snowboard School . Have a look.
As Dave Burt said: lots of advice, but lots of different opinions as well. Good luck.
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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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Hi Rob and Sharon
You wouldn't be the same Rob I directed here from the BBC 'Holiday' message board would you?
I'll just add that if you go for Mayrhofen and the snow is a little unreliable in late January, the Hintertux glacier is just down the road so make sure you add this resort to your lift pass. Also, rumour has it that Mayrhofen has some excellent ski schools!
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You know it makes sense.
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Cervinia's pretty snow sure (can be cold in winter), the experienced ones can pile over to Zermatt, the beginners will find a real confidence boost and the absolute beginners will likely be learning on the nursery slopes up the mountain so don't miss out on the stunning views.
Nearby airports: Geneva, Turin and Milan.
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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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I'll second Cervinia in the circumstances. Plenty on offer for all experience levels and lots you can ski together too. Going over to Zermatt for middle Intermediates and above is one of the great ski experiences.
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Poster: A snowHead
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skanky, 2 superb shots - did you take them ?
OT - when do we get the wedding photos ?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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kuwait_ian, yes I did, thanks. The first was from my hotel window, the second was the top of the chair that's on the far left as you look from the bottom (you're pretty much on the lower slopes of Monte Cervinia - the Matterhorn) after getting the last chair up, at the end of the day (it did literally stop when I got off it), there were just six of us up there - the liftie, me, two mates and a young, local couple watching the view. It was at half term in 2003 as we had a teacher in the party.
Soon, I hope. The "official" photographer will be putting a site up this week, and I should be posting unofficial ones up when I've been sent them. The latter will probably be over the next week or so.
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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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Do we get photos of the stag night as well? 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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PG, possibly, but there's nothing very exciting on those. It was a relatively tame affair (though very enjoyable). 12 pubs in 12 hours in the West End of London.
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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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| hayley t wrote: |
Hi Rob and Sharon
You wouldn't be the same Rob I directed here from the BBC 'Holiday' message board would you?
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yep the same
took your advice and here we are
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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rob and sharon, BTW sorry for the OT bit there, welcome to Snowheads and hopefully it'll be back on track from now on.
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Rob & Sharon - self-promotion, I admit, but have a look at www.plan-peisey-accommodation.co.uk
Peisey-Vallandry has loads of varied skiing within Les Arcs and La Plagne, its genuinely a lot cheaper accommodation, and has really nice atmos.
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I've been in Pas once & there were 3 beginners in our group. They found Pas very restrictive in that any of the more 'interesting' skiing required the ability to ski red runs, therefore they spent the whole week on the nursery slopes. I also found the ski-school there the worst I ever attended. I was a third week skier at the time & stopped going after 2 days as the instruction was so poor. I appreciate that much depends on the individual instructor but I would find it hard to recommend Pas to anyone - sorry Nadenoodlee - it's very firmly anchored to the bottom of my list.
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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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I'd agree with RichardB. The BIG down side to Mayrhofen is the fact that you can't ski back to the village.
This means in the morning, the ENTIRE resort is trying bash there way onto the gondola at the same time. We had people in our group missing ski school, as it took almost 2 hours to queue and get up the gondola to the meeting point.
And in the evening, when you ski the last run of the day, rather than heading straight a little bar over looking the slopes, you have to get a gondola back down. So you have to be sure you get back to the main gondola in the evening in time.
Although Mayrhofen is lively, we had bad experiences of the ski school, and APPALLING experience of the lifts. So I would say to avoid Mayhofen.
Austria a fabulous country to ski though overall, but a lot of the resorts are quite low and have mixed snow reliability, so as was mentioned earlier you might want to either book a late deal, or alternatively pick a higher resort in Austria.
I haven't skiied Cervinia, but I have great reports from there.
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Thanks again for all the advice and suggested locations, must say it's been a real help, got all the brochures out again last night
Sonya and RichardB thanks for the comments on Mayrhofen scum for gondola. I can image it being a real pain at the end of the day :?
One of the reason we were thinking of Andorr and Soldeu was that this year we had a really good time. despite one injury and a tummy bug (Never drink the water !!)
Like Jonpim said With so many of us being new to skiing we wanted a good ski school and our instructors at Soldue we pretty good and that is one thing we are considering as a main priority.
the only down side were the group sizes of 10-14 is this normal ?
the night life wasn't too bad with plenty to do (and drink) :mrgreen:
though we are thinking of going for the Sport Hotel Village rather than the Poilets this time as we weren't too sure on some of the food. (if anyones got experience of this please let me know.)
thanks again to everyone.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Quote: |
the only down side were the group sizes of 10-14 is this normal ?
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That's big. I'd be wary of anywhere that had groups larger than about 8. You'll spend a lot of time standing around (esp. if you're above the average in the group) in big groups. I've not seen groups sizes that big outside of kids lessons.
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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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| skanky wrote: |
| Quote: |
the only down side were the group sizes of 10-14 is this normal ?
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That's big. I'd be wary of anywhere that had groups larger than about 8. You'll spend a lot of time standing around . |
that's what we thought
My group had 8 -9 in ,but I know a couple of the lower groups had over 10
It did seem to change over the week, but I guess that is due to people moving groups or dropping out
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rob and sharon, some places start off with big groups and split them up after a day or two. Normally in this case, they have two instructors at the start. They may have been working on the premise of people dropping out etc., also, it could be the way the numbers and abilities worked out (or some instructors may have been ill). Hopefully someone will be able to say whether it's normal for Soldeu.
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You know it makes sense.
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| skanky wrote: |
| rob and sharon, some places start off with big groups and split them up after a day or two. Normally in this case, they have two instructors at the start. |
speaking to a few people in the bars (as you do) the impression we got was that normally the groups are smaller, (10 or less) but the low to mid groups ended up being large that week guess it was just due to people moving etc.
Don't have any complaints about the ski school in general. Though we did learn it's worth going for the early morning lessons if at all possible as it gives you afternoon to practise or just chill out in the bars
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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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When I was in Arinsal we had 12- our instructor was great tho, and I was in a group of 26 in Serre CHe and 14 in Alpe D'huez! Food in Andorra tends to be buffet and not great- tho the restaurants outside the hotel are great!!
Think about Arinsal- similar to Soldeu, excellent prices, good nightlife, not wild, good ski area- im in the Princesa this March- great hotel!
PS Arinsal Ski School is like 3 hrs in the morning and 2 in the afternoon- but dont feel dictated to- doesnt matter if you only go to one!
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Poster: A snowHead
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I did Cervinia this year and found it awful. For one, most of the accommodation is a good walk from the gondola... and for a beginner this can be extremely daunting carrying all your boots/skis etc. My mother hated it - however she was happy with the lessons and terrain (her first ski holiday). To get up to the main lift area it's either 2/3 drags from town (too difficult for absolute beginners) or a real slop UP HILL AND ICY steps to gondola!
For experienced skiiers - crap. I wasn't too impressed with Zermatt either... except the on slope restaurant I went to was nice. Remember that if you're intending to ski Zermatt you'll have to buy a lift ticket for Cervinia AND Zermatt which personally I think is a bit pricey for the limited challenges. Watch out for the top of Plateau Rosa in a white-out else you'll end up in Zermatt like I did... 6 hour taxi ride, night in a hotel or a 4km drag lift... 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Alexandra, there are hotels and apartments above those steps, ther are also plenty on the edge of the slopes and other hotels do shuttle trips to the gondola. Once you know of the existence of the steps, finding accommodation that avoids them is not that difficult.
Won't comment on the skiing as such as that's merely personal preference. 
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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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Try www.ski2.com and discover Monterosa (Champlouc, Gressoney ans Alagna). Fly to Turin, 1 hr 20 mins to resort. Great for all abilities.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I would advise going to Austria if you're beginners - the resorts are pretty, apres ski & food is good and the standard of tuition is generally good. The only thing you have to worry about is the snow.
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