 Poster: A snowHead
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So I live in The Netherlands. I'll be coming back to UK over Christmas to see friends/family, but a good week with them will still leave me some time off when my work is closed (reopens 2nd Jan). Given this will just be a short cheap break, I don't want to trek all the way down to the alps. So I asked sunweb what deals it would give me, in Germany - direct bus from just outside my house to Germany, gets there in under and hour and once you're in Germany DB will probably get you somewhere. It suggested Willingen.
Now I can look up historical snow records and I can see that we'll probably be on artificial stuff, but they seem to have quite some snow making if I'm reading the yellow bits on the piste map correctly. (Can anyone confirm this?).
I'm a blue run skier and quite happy repeating runs all day to work on technique. I'll go on a bigger, longer holiday to alps (or equivalent) at least once later in the season. This is just a few days warming up and spending some active time outdoors with a friend. So I know the resort is small - that's fine. I know the resort only has red/blue runs - also fine. I know it has a train station and buses, and we may be able to get to other small resorts which would also be included on our lift pass - great!
So my questions;
1. How busy over new year? Will the entire of Dusseldorf and Amsterdam descend? Or will we have nice quiet pistes as everyone decides to go somewhere more snowsure at that time of year?
2. If there really isn't snow (eg too warm for snowmaking), then will there be some nice walking to be had?
3. The red runs - how do they compare with other resorts - eg. the steeper French blues? (Just wondering if I'm likely to be able to push onto reds or not).
4. Any instructor recommendations?
I realise this is probably all a longshot, as it's such a small/unknown resort, but thought I'd give it a go asking here - afterall if anyone knows, it'll be snowheads! 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Beware - it will be super busy, and many locals. It is an ok place, but very crowded in weekends and Christmas and new year.
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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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Beware - it will be super busy, and many locals. It is an ok place, but very crowded in weekends and Christmas and new year.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Funny 
Another Dutchie asking questions about Willingen on a UK forum.
When there's loads and loads of Dutch skiers going to Winterberg and Willingen.
Actually the number of them is so big, that there is a specific subforum especially for Willingen on the biggest dutch wintersports forum
https://www.wintersport.nl/skigebieden/willingen/forum
In short
-Willingen has less skiable kilometers
-Willingen has considerably longer slopes, I think on average twice as long
-Reason for this is the bottom station is lower, the top station is about the same height
-This means when snow is good, Willingen is better for a serious skier
-This also means going there instead of Winterberg, is more of a last minute decision
-Christmas days and also new year, it is relatively quiet because of the food and the alcohol that must be digested
-The motorway from NL to Sauerland has been considerably improved; a large section was opened after more than 10 years of building
-Make sure you are on the slopes as early as possible on busy days, between 1030-1400 hell breaks loose
-On your last day, stay on the slopes as long as possible, then eat supper, and only then start driving back... unless you like to spend hours in your car looking at the tail lights of your predecessor that is
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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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@Rcav, As it happens I did ski in Willingen once, although it was about 8 years ago so my memory is a bit hazy! We did it as a long weekend last minute thing, also from Holland as it happens. It was a random weekend so not ridiculously busy but it is very popular with Northern Germany/Benelux especially when there's good snow, so I would expect Christmas to be manic. The whole thing is a bit of a catch22 though because if it's mild, which it can be, then no amount of snowmaking will make any difference.. So you'll have a lot of it to yourself if you like green fields! We didn't do much hiking but I imagine there will be plenty of options.
From memory all the slopes are more or less the same and you will need to be able to ski reds to make the most of it. They are not difficult though, probably equivalent to steeper French blues, easy reds. They are probably the best option in that part of the world though if you want reasonable variety (given the obvious limitations).
Absolutely no idea about instructors.
Hope that helps, a bit.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Onnem wrote: |
Funny
Another Dutchie asking questions about Willingen on a UK forum.
When there's loads and loads of Dutch skiers going to Winterberg and Willingen.
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Yup and if I was Dutch that may be weird, but I'm British through and through, just happen to live/work over here, so asking in a British forum isn't so strange, especially when I know there are lots of others in similar positions to me hanging around here.
Thanks for the link and all the advice. As I suspected the pistes could well be packed, and I won't enjoy that at all. Might be better to hold off on ski until a non peak week later in the season.
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@Rcav, Just a thought, is Braunlage in the Harz mountains any good for you?
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| Alastair Pink wrote: |
| @Rcav, Just a thought, is Braunlage in the Harz mountains any good for you? |
Interesting idea, thanks Alastair. It's closer than the Alps, but still a few hours more than Willingen. I'll investigate more. Also looking at Feldberg, we visited in the summer and looks nice.
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