 Poster: A snowHead
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This is from 'The Sydney Morning Herald Blogs':
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Well, tight-wads unite, the world is filled with super cheap ski and snowboard resorts where you can spend your well saved ski dollars on fifty cent beers and fifteen dollar lift passes.
Here's my top ten ski resorts for those of us born without a silver ski in our mouths.
1. Poiana Brasov, Romania. Ok, so the terrain won't challenge the advanced but you can't beat skiing past Dracula's castle in the Carpathian mountains of Transylvania. A six day ski pass costs about $160, private lessons $10 an hour, a bottle of wine $7 and a bottle of beer $2.
2. Bansko, Bulgaria. Hailed as the new Aspen of the East without the Colorado prices. There's not many places you can get lift passes for $40 a day, a sixteen kilometer run, no lift queues thanks to computer data lift passes and $2 bottled beers all served up in a World Heritage listed town.
3. Cheget, Russia. Ski with your comrades on the volcanic cone of Mt Elbrus. Don't tell the French, Swiss and Italians but it's the tallest mountain in Europe (5642metres) and once used by Russian astronauts for high altitude training. Now home to Russia's new rich, there's loads of both groomed and off piste for a mere $15 day lift pass. Then there's the vodka, try $5 for a bottle.
4. Zakopane, Poland. This seventeenth century town is the hub for a series of ski resorts. Kasprowy Weirch cablecar costs $7, add another $10 for lunch with beer and you can afford to shout your instructor and his mates.
5. Jasna, Slovakia. Lift passes cost a mere $21 for four resorts on the one mountain with 17 lifts, one gondola and four chairlifts. Be warned, advanced skiers won't necessarily be sweating and lift queues can take a while. Beer's $1.50 so that will restore the smile when you sup on a bottle in the Besenova hot springs. Take your own spices, Slovakian food can be bland with a capital B.
6. Shemshak, Iran. What do you call a skier impaled upon their ski pole in Iran? Skibab (groan). There's enough steeps and undulating hills to make Shemshak perfect for all levels. Add some youthful Persians with trust funds on holiday and prepare to party. Ski passes are $12 and gals, wear a beanie and cover that hair for cultural purposes on the slopes. Can't tell you the real price of beer as there's not supposed to be any but where there's a will...
7. Yabuli, China. Host to the 3rd Asian Winter games and home to the world's longest toboggan run. Prices start from $42 for a full day including equipment hire on weekdays.
8. Nakafurano, Japan. Ok, it's small, very small and the longest, and only, run is 400metres but it's a mere 1030 Yen or $9.60 for a lift pass. Or try Shiga Kogen's 21 linked ski resorts and 71 lifts with a $45 lift pass. Chu Hai alcoholic rice liquor soda pop is $1.40 a can in vending machines and crumbed chicken curry a mere $7 on the mountain.
9. Loveland, Colorado. What, infamous Colorado powder and bluebird days for under $100? Impossible! Think again. An hour from Denver, Loveland's day pass is $45 and the snow in abundance.
10. Mt Dobson, New Zealand Four hundred hectares on the south island for $54. The New Zealand clubfields offer the best snow value for money in Australasia. If you stay on mountain and pitch in with chores at Canterbury's Mt Olympus then dinner, bed, breakfast and lunch will only cost you $80 a day. Bring your own booze. |
http://blogs.smh.com.au/travel/archives/2007/07/mountains_of_cash_the_worlds_c.html
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Not sure these resorts would stack up on a '£'s per km of piste' ratio. I'm also guessing that it would cost rather a lot of pennies to get there, as I don't think they're served by the orange ones or many other budget airlines. As a Bansko propoery owner I know that it's cheap once you get there but getting there is much more expensive than getting to the Alps.
There is a clear difference between 'cheap' and 'value for money'. Our cheapest (and best value) ski trip to date has been La Clusaz, with piste-side accomodation you don't need to eat (or drink!) out as much. There's nothing like homemade Vin Chaud!
Discuss...
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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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| marmalade wrote: |
There is a clear difference between 'cheap' and 'value for money'. Our cheapest (and best value) ski trip to date has been La Clusaz, with piste-side accomodation you don't need to eat (or drink!) out as much. There's nothing like homemade Vin Chaud!
Discuss... |
Agreed. It's an important distinction between cheap and value-for-money and in my limited experience I've never felt that our cheapest ski experiences were very good value for money. I also like piste-side accommodation as it saves us a fair amount of money being able to pop back to the apartment for lunch. We still have the option of eating on the mountain, but it's nice to have the option of self-catering as well.
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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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| marmalade wrote: |
| Not sure these resorts would stack up on a '£'s per km of piste' ratio. |
I guess MK is the the most expensive "resort" on that basis. 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I struggle to employ those two words in the same sentence and make any sense of it......cheap and skiing?
It's almost an oxymoron!
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rob@rar, definitely. There's a reason these places are "cheap".
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Bansko, Bulgaria. Hailed as the new Aspen of the East without the Colorado prices. There's not many places you can get lift passes for $40 a day
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Presumably this is Oz dollars? I think there are probably quite a lot of places you can get lift passes for $40 a day. And how do "computer data lift passes" prevent lift queues?
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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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Item (6) is right. Think I paid GBP 5 for a ski pass so it is aboyt US$10 to 12.
Love to do them all, just for the variety.
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