 Poster: A snowHead
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has anyone got any info on levi,struggling to find any historical snow reports etc,has anyone been in early feb
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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My son went there last year with his g/f's family. He found it icy and a bit limited from the skiing point of view. The place was interesting and they did other stuff like snowmobile, but not a top place to ski unless you are quite early on in your ski career would be his verdict.
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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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Went 2 years ago in March, mainly for my wife to do cross country. Ski area is a bit limited T bars everywhere. The FIS black is very steep in one section and very icy, it is right next to the only gondola, but is very short and has a large run off so lots of people just straight lined it!
The rest of the area, the blacks would be reds and reds would be blues in most other places. Proper off piste does not really exist as the runs jump fields! Grooming is very good and the snow was excellent, but i suppose it was a little hard. It can be very very cold, i took my really dreadful nevica all in one suit as a just in case and was glad i did. It was really quiet most of the time, and the skiing does not start until 10am! but goes on to 10pm. Be carefull where you stay as the bus service....well what bus service, the place is organised around the car. There are 3 or 4 bases, one where the gondola is, one near the main hotel, crossroads area and one up the hill, you can drive up to the top! plus a childrens base area with virtually flat runs.
There are little tents everywhere were you can cook things and warm up.
The childrens area near the hotel base is fantastic with free sledges and drag lifts, plus reindeer rides etc, my daughter loved it.
The northern lights were amazing, and there is lots and lots to do, not just skiing, go for an allround winter holiday and you will enjoy it. Friends organised lots of things through the tourist office and found them very helpful, better than the tour operator, it was also cheaper.
Yllas is the better ski area, went for one day, greater vertical and a bit more variety, but not much and when i was there T bars and more t bars.
The people are really friendly, the nightlife was strange to say the least
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we are still early on in are skiing so variety of runs isnt an issue,looking at the piste map it looks like the only way back to the village is a red run,is that correct?also with the very cold temps does that mean that any fresh snow quickly goes icy until the next dump(possibly a stupid question,feel free to tell me)
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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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The "red" into the village is massively wide, it is really one very wide huge slope so it is easy to traverse. They over groom everything, (there are no bumps anywhere!) and the snow can be a bit hard and compacted as a result, but its not very icy, the snow in fact it very light as it so cold.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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carroz, have you any recommendations on where to stay and would you recommend levi over the more popular resorts of europe? and what do you mean about the night life?
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We stayed in some cabins that were a bit of a walk from the lifts, all the cabins seemed ok, but the bedrooms are really small, seems to be a scandanivian thing. Can't remember the name, but its in neilsons brochure. If you want an alround winter holiday that is different then levi is excellent, if you want to do lots of skiing then its not. The nightlife is generally rather sedate, (although the crazy reindeer is not!) there seemed to be a sort of easy listening band on most nights in the main hotels night club!
If you want a quiet resort, that is not that expensive with very good intermediate terrain then La thuile in Italy is excellent and better (IMO) than the large factory resorts. Levi was good to visit once for the winter wonderland experience, but not sure if I would go back to finland as the skiing is limited, but early in your skiing it would be ok, the ski school also seemed to speak very good english.
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how come not many people from here go to levi,its pretty much snow sure,is it because there is limited runs? has any1 stayed in the hotel called levitunturi?
thanx.
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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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Levi is a snow sure place and there are certainly enough snow in February. The only actual problem is that there might be really cold at that time (-20- -30 celsius). That is one reason why even Finns (me included) like to visit Levi and other Northern resorts later in the spring. But the slopes are good for beginners and as Carroz already wrote they are mostly overrated. The red piste back to the Village is really wide and only one part of it is red so it can be skied down as a blue slope if needed.
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musashicarroz, thanx for the advise,my girlfriend is very nervous,do you think the red run would be to much for a nervous skier,if so is there another route for her? (cold is my friend,cold is my friend,cold is my friend,repeat until warm)
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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notverygoodatskiing, I think the levitunturi? is the main large hotel at the crossroads, its the one with the easy listening nightclub. It seem ok, all the rep welcome stuff was there. Your girlfriend should be fine with the "red" slope, just traverse it., it is also shallower in places, it really is very very wide. How will she cope with t bars as there are lots of them? I think there is a bus service to the other bases, and one of them is the beginner area, which has very easy slopes.
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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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I went begging of this year over new year.
Levi is ok for a weekend ski, the rest of the time I would do Dog Sledding, Snowmobile, Raindeer ride etc etc.
It's cold -5 to -15 when I was there, But one plus is that it's flood lit and open till 9pm if I remember rightly. (day time light is only 10am-3pm ish)
Skiing is limited.
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| notverygoodatskiing wrote: |
| musashicarroz, thanx for the advise,my girlfriend is very nervous,do you think the red run would be to much for a nervous skier,if so is there another route for her? (cold is my friend,cold is my friend,cold is my friend,repeat until warm) |
You have probably seen the piste map. They have drawn 2 separate pistes (2.1 and N.1) to ski down to the village. In reality the whole area between lifts 2 and N is one really wide piste. The only steeper part which really can be seen as a red piste is the end of N.1. So it is actually blue piste if you look at the top and ski down the right side or middle of the piste.
I've visited few resorts in Austria and France. There are steeper and more difficult blue runs in those resorts than this red run in Levi. In genaral the pistes in Levi and also other resorts in Finland are really well groomed which means that for beginners they are great but more advanced skiers normally want more challenges.
If you want to come to Finland then one option is also Yllas. Yllas was elected the best skiing resort in Finland last season and personally I like it much more than Levi.
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You know it makes sense.
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thanx again,im looking into yllas and its looking good but struggling on info,what time do the runs close there,the villa armas cabins look good,has anyone stayed there?are the runs nice and confident building?
thanx.
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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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| notverygoodatskiing wrote: |
thanx again,im looking into yllas and its looking good but struggling on info,what time do the runs close there,the villa armas cabins look good,has anyone stayed there?are the runs nice and confident building?
thanx. |
The lifts are open 10-17 between 6.1-15.2.2008 and 10-19 between 16.2-18.4.
The pistes are really nice, quite broad and well groomed every day. Yllas is a great place from beginner to upper intermediate. Even experts are quite satisfied if they want to carve fast on pistes. There are also parks and lot's of places to ski off-piste but no real powder skiing. Also the ski schools are really good and probably all of the instructors speak fluent english.
All the hotels are good. So you can safely choose your accomodation. Also the cottages are warm and tidy so no dissapointments should be expected. I'm not familiar with Villa Armas but it is near Akashotel which is a good hotel and there is even a mini-spa. The skibus services are quite good so no problem to go to the slopes and back.
If you compere Levi and Yllas then you need to decide which is more important; skiing or night life. If skiing is what you want then Yllas is much better. There is night life also in Yllas but nothig compared to Levi. Levi center is more compact so you can easily walk from hotel to restaurant to dancing place to hotel etc.
Personally I've been in Yllas 6 times and going again next March. I've only been once (5 days) in Levi and not going again for longer than few days coz the skiing area is not good enough for my needs.
And final note: It takes only 1 hour to drive from Yllas to Levi so you can visit both places at the same trip. If you use some travel agency then they might arrange transportation. I don't remember if there is a public transportation between those resorts. I can check it if your agency can't help you.
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Poster: A snowHead
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excellant,what are the prices like,how much for things like beer and a meal out
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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We went to Levi two years ago and stayed at the Crazy Reindeer. We thoroughly enjoyed our week with our 7 yr old and found the place charming. The local people were very friendly and food/drink very reasonably priced. I particularly liked having our own sauna in the apartment, great with a chilled glass of wine after a days skiing!!! There are some good shops for buying food although we had to remember to take carrier bags with us!!
We were half board though, so didnt have a meal out.
The red back to resort was not too bad....
We also went ice fishing, took a reindeer safari and visited Santa...we were there the first week of March 2005. It was great and cold!!!!!! We also were very lucky and saw the northern lights one night (it was the right atmospherics apparently, bloody cold and very still).
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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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it looks like its snowing on the webcams.
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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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musashi, so out of the 2 you obviously prefer yllas,we are not interested in nightlife,just want my girlfriend to get some confidence on some really easy slopes,which one has the most easiest runs for her,and which one has the best skiidoing for me,thanx.
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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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They both have lots of easy slopes, Yllas had a bigger drop, and seemed less busy and even less commercial. The only thing that was a pain was the T bars. Also most people seemd to arrive on a bus, that did not seem to be a feature of levi. No idea aboyt skidoo, they seemed to be everywhere thare are special tracks for them. Yllas also has huge amounts of cross country, lots of it lit at night.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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The nursery area is a short bus ride away from the main resort...but the buses are rarely full and frequent. The runs on the other side (where the nursery slopes are) are lovely for beginners NVG. We will be going back to Lapland for sure.
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I went to Levi in 1999. We stayed in the Immel Mokkit Log cabins (Inghams). My brother and I had a fantastic time and we still talk about it being the best conditions we've ever experienced. The main run back down to the town may or may not be a red run but as previoulsy mention it's so wide it should be fine for anyone. We also did the skidoo(ing) and had a great time.
Although the size of the area may not be as big as many resorts, we didn't have a problem keeping ourselves amused. The night skiing is cool too.
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| notverygoodatskiing wrote: |
| musashi, so out of the 2 you obviously prefer yllas,we are not interested in nightlife,just want my girlfriend to get some confidence on some really easy slopes,which one has the most easiest runs for her,and which one has the best skiidoing for me,thanx. |
Concerning skiing (both downhill and cross country) Yllas is much better than Levi. There are also new lifts so not all are t-bars anymore. Year ago they opened a new area which should be perfect for beginners but even before that it was much better. Basically all the pistes in Yllas are very wide so they are easy to ski. You can start your week with the easiest beginner slopes and in the end of week even a beginner can use the whole area. There are only few quite difficult pistes and the best part is that there is always option to come down either easier or more difficult piste.
There are also lots of skidoo routes and at least few companys to rent one. I don't know which resort is better for that but all the resorts in Lapland are great if you want to skidoo.
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