 Poster: A snowHead
|
| plectrum wrote: |
| nessy, Salivating at the thought of life in Zurich, only minor issue is personally I feel the food is far inferior in Switz to any of its' neighbours. |
you need a map, it's neighbors include Austria and Germany.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
Elizabeth B, you would have to hate public transport not to get a half fare card. It also gives a discount on snow'n'rail. Although it does like GA holders can get a discounted lift ticket if they buy it from the station.
Anyway, the vast majority of adults who go daytrip skiing go by car.
plectrum, probably can't argue against that although the only thing we miss from the UK is a curry.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
ise, Austria has good sausage and Germany has good beer!
Ise it is just a general observation from ski holidays, I have never been overly impressed with the supermarket standard in Switz in comparison especially to France which gets 10/10
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
nessy, Do you need a full time curry chef? 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
| boyo wrote: |
| How much and how long would it take to get to the pointy end from anywhere south of Birmingham compared to the Alps? |
Did it from Bristol a few weeks back - around 7 hours to Nevis (and that included around an hours detour as a result of missing a motorway turn off).
| Quote: |
| Seems to me that the best way to increase the number od days skiing in one year - excluding moving - is to overnight it by car and share the driving. |
Yup, that's about right and it was a quicker and easier drive than heading to the Alps, or so I was told 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
I do trips of about 2-week duration to the Alps.
Have to waste 3 days driving; one day forward and two for the return journey assuming sleeping on a ferry overnight doesn't count.
That does allow me get about 10 to 13 skiing days each time. In that I can ski up to 12 resorts by choosing to stay at strategic locations. I usually change accommodation once or twice in a trip can can hoop from country to country. Last March I went round Verbier, Crans Montana, Cervinia, Zermatt, Serre Chavalier, Milky Way (Montgenvre, Claviere, Cesana, Sanicario, Sestriere and Sauze D'Oulx), L'Alpe d'Heuz and Les Deux Alpes in one trip. I am the only one who drives as the wife dislikes the fast European traffic.
After a few years I no longer have the previous feeling that I have missed out because most of the time I know what resorts others are talking about and in which countries. I even know where to get there and have memories of how they were like when I skied them.
Thus even if we in UK are not as lucky as the European in the continent who are able to ski each weekend in winter (if they want) we still have more luck than the rest of the world. European resorts are also the biggest, more in number, more affordable, more in variety and among the best if not already the best for everybody.
I would spend my energy in planning the skiing trips than ranting about it. To me the going doesn't get any better.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| saikee wrote: |
| Thus even if we in UK are not as lucky as the European in the continent who are able to ski each weekend in winter |
UK?!?
Can we get it straight we're talking England here please (and, for that matter, perhaps just southern England 'coz I know of at least one person in County Durham who skis Scotland most weekends he can)!?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
roga, yeah, but there's skiing, and there's skiing. This thread is about skiing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
roga, and Northern Ireland and Wales. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| roga wrote: |
| saikee wrote: |
| Thus even if we in UK are not as lucky as the European in the continent who are able to ski each weekend in winter |
UK?!?
Can we get it straight we're talking England here please (and, for that matter, perhaps just southern England 'coz I know of at least one person in County Durham who skis Scotland most weekends he can)!? |
No we can't get that "straight" at all.
You can say that we are talking about the UK excluding Scotland if you like. But the rest of the UK is NOT only England.
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
| roga wrote: |
| I know of at least one person in County Durham who skis Scotland most weekends he can)!? |
Have you been to Co. Durham? I used to 'live' there, and I'd have gone to Scotland every weekend if I could have. It proves nothing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
roga,
I have been skiing Scotland most weekends I could too but didn't in the last two years. Not much point driving 4 hours up a resorts when there were only two lifts declared "expected to open". Scotland did have odd days of good snow but I didn't manage to catch them. If I could drop everything whenever there is snow then it is another matter.
The problem with Scotland in recent years is when there was excellent snow the roads were closed. The following weekend when the roads were clear most of the snow disappeared too.
Yad Moss near Alston is closest to me but no luck in the last two years.
In continental Europe I might have run into an odd run or two that turned watery or had some gritting gravel in them but snow had never been in shortage in the last 6 to 7 seasons as far as I could remember, but then again one shouldn't if one is prepared to drive to wherever resort.
It is funny that I didn't go round resorts like this at the beginning as I used to go to Chamonix each year. However I was skiing in a sunshine in Megeve one day. The next day it rained and took away the piste forcing us to drive to 3 Vallees. Since then I never looked back.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| saikee wrote: |
After a few years I no longer have the previous feeling that I have missed out because most of the time I know what resorts others are talking about and in which countries. I even know where to get there and have memories of how they were like when I skied them.
|
I'm surprised, it sounds much more like a case of "if it's Thursday it must be Verbier"
People come here for a week or two, we've only a handful of lifts and I can guarantee they see only a tiny fraction of the terrain we have.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
On our recent Ski Amade trip a bunch of us skied the Radstadt hill for a day and a half (some for longer), It only had 4 runs, but it also had so much more to offer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
ise,
I am sure Verbier has more to offer than the few times I was able to ski there. It is a nice resort that I would go back to.
However Verbier is not the only resort in Switzerland. Switzerland is not the only country we can ski in the Alps and the Alps is not the only mountain range that has resorts in the world ...........
To see and enjoy the skiing resorts available to us it can be a life time task for skiers from UK.
In every skiing trip I never pre-decide which resort I would ski each day. The decision is often made on the day after breakfast depending on the weather condition, the mood of the company and the data we have at the time about the neighbouring facilities.
After a skiing day we often drive to various points of the same resort or the neighbouring resorts to check out the snow condition and facilities.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
| saikee wrote: |
To see and enjoy the skiing resorts available to us it can be a life time task for skiers from UK. |
That's rather my point, I thought it was supposed to be fun not a task
There's good reasons why the majority of us would poke fun at the coach load of foreign tourists doing Europe for example, a couple of hours at each destination and then back on the coach. We know they never really see anything or experience it.
Your itinerary above seems to have just taken you round a few stations that are pretty much variations on the same theme anyway to my taste at least so as a sample of Swiss skiing it didn't work, in fact to be honest even as a sample of skiing in the Vaud/Valais you missed most of it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
ise,
In my last trip to Vaud/Valais I stayed 3 days in Sion. I have skied both Crans Montana and Verbier several times before when I ran a mobile home in Chamonix for 8 years. Thus it was not the first time I tried Crans Montana and Verbier.
My choice is either to spend 2 to 3 weeks in Verbier to explore it fully and spend a similar time in each other resort in turn or go round to try as many resorts as I could find while I am staying in one location. In that trip Vaud/Valais had the poorest snow. Cervinia/Zermatt was significantly better due to high altitude and has glaciers but the link at Breuil Cervinia to Valtourmenche was close due to lack of snow. Snow condition in Milky Way, Serre Chevalier and LDH/LDA, on the other hand, was nearly perfect. My last memory with Verbier was that the last couple of runs we did in Siviez we had to ski on pools of "water" because it was hot in mid Mar 2007 and there was a general snow shortage across the Alps.
I know many SH are sensitive with Verbier and some may have properties and business there but in that trip I skied three Swiss resorts and it would be hard for me to trade my days in Zermatt with those in Verbier, with all due respect. Had I spent all my two weeks in Verbier I probably would not know there was no water on the runs in the resorts that I skied after Verbier. In the several trips I have been to Verbier wet and soft snow seemed to be more frequent than other resorts.
Being mobile with a car one can afford to be selective on resorts to visit. Although I skied Serre Chavalier first I subsequently found its next door neighbour Milky Way much more interesting and spent the rest of the time there.
With good snow even places like Scottland can be a paradise for skiing. I just want to see and try as many resorts as I could. Driving around to ski more than one resort in a trip is one of the ways to enjoy skiing in the Alps because it does have an enormous amount of choices. UK skiers are reasonably lucky that we are within the driving distance from the Alps.
You may be able to confirm my observation that the majority of the Europeans do not book a resort for a week and fly to there to stay in a ski-in/ski-out accommodation. Most of them drive to the resorts. With a car they can stay in cheaper alternatives at a short distance from the resort. They can ski more by doing weekend trips. Thus there are a huge number of resorts, not big enough for a week's skiing, do not have a huge number of accommodations for the international skiers, can be very quiet and nice to spend skiing days and virtually unknow to UK skiers who only do skiing packages with tour operators.
|
|
|
|
|
|
brian
brian
Guest
|
saikee, I remember this from comments you made at the time. I'm presuming you didn't zoom between Verbier and Zermatt on the same day ? Therefore, how on earth do you know what the snow was like in Zermatt when you encountered the pools of water at Siviez ?
Siviez is just above the height of the altitude of the village at Zermatt and is pretty close as the crow flies. The 4Vs has glacier skiing and loads of skiing above 2000m and right up to 3300 (?), ie. Mont Fort.
I am sorry but "In the several trips I have been to Verbier wet and soft snow seemed to be more frequent than other resorts" is just rubbish or a strange coincidence or bad luck on your part.
Oh, and Zermatt is in the Valais as well.
|
|
|
|
|
|
brian
brian
Guest
|
| saikee wrote: |
| Thus there are a huge number of resorts, not big enough for a week's skiing, do not have a huge number of accommodations for the international skiers, can be very quiet and nice to spend skiing days and virtually unknow to UK skiers who only do skiing packages with tour operators. |
There are indeed. Although strange as it may seem to you, extremely accomplished skiers manage to spend up to a lifetime in them and still find skiing to enjoy.
I think ise may have been alluding to the fact that you managed to miss dozens of them in the Valais in favour of a trip through the Crystal brochure !
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
| richmond wrote: |
| roga, yeah, but there's skiing, and there's skiing. This thread is about skiing. |
I'm sorry please explain what, in your opinion, is the difference and how you define these - I have some idea of what you mean and I've a mix of both in the Alps, North America and Scotland. True that Scotland can be the most challenging but these days I enjoy that challenge and don't get put off when I don't have sunny skies and heated chairlift seats etc. 
| laundryman wrote: |
| roga, and Northern Ireland and Wales. |
Yup, but I was making the point to the people here who are suggesting things about the whole of the UK that are IMHO inaccurate based on their experience in England and, surprise, the south east where the world stops at Watford I believe 
| alex_heney wrote: |
| No we can't get that "straight" at all. |
Handbags at dawn Alex?
| Quote: |
| You can say that we are talking about the UK excluding Scotland if you like. But the rest of the UK is NOT only England. |
Being fully aware of that I was, as explained above, responding to people in the south of England. I thought the full geography lesson was unnecessary but obviously you disagree 
| richmond wrote: |
| Have you been to Co. Durham? |
My wife's family live there and I visit it often.
| Quote: |
| I used to 'live' there, and I'd have gone to Scotland every weekend if I could have. |
I've also driven from there to Edinburgh and all points north (including Aviemore) a number of times - easily doable IMHO.
| Quote: |
| It proves nothing. |
What proves nothing? 
| saikee wrote: |
| I have been skiing Scotland most weekends I could too but didn't in the last two years. Not much point driving 4 hours up a resorts when there were only two lifts declared "expected to open". Scotland did have odd days of good snow but I didn't manage to catch them. |
Scotland, like some/many lower areas of the Alps had a bit of a rubbish season last year but Cairngorm was open from Late November right through to the 22nd of April, often limited terrain but some decent days too. In the previous season, from March 2006 until the second week of May, there was some epic skiing in Scotland so I don't know where you get the idea that there were 'odd days of good snow' - all you need to do is see all the photographic evidence on Winterhighland.
This season has been excellent so far and I myself, along with a number of other Snowheads, had a great weekend up there a few weeks ago. Unfortunately I'll be in Mammoth for the couple of weekends after this one so won't have a chance for another Scottish trip until March but there we go
| Quote: |
| If I could drop everything whenever there is snow then it is another matter.. |
As I say, there was plenty in March/April 2006 and there's been plenty this year too - last year not so good.
| Quote: |
| The problem with Scotland in recent years is when there was excellent snow the roads were closed. The following weekend when the roads were clear most of the snow disappeared too.. |
There was excellent snow when we were up and the roads were clear too!
| Quote: |
| Yad Moss near Alston is closest to me but no luck in the last two years.. |
I believe there have been 10 days of decent riding at Yad Moss so far this year - you rather seem to be missing what's going on because what you assert just don’t bear any comparison with the facts - and if you doubt them they are available for all to see on Winterhighland!
| Quote: |
| In continental Europe I might have run into an odd run or two that turned watery or had some gritting gravel in them but snow had never been in shortage in the last 6 to 7 seasons as far as I could remember, but then again one shouldn't if one is prepared to drive to wherever resort. |
Again you're ignoring the fact that last season was very poor in some areas, fine in others but not great. Yes Scotland is more marginal but you are completely inaccurate in your assertions about the conditions. If they don't happen to suit you, or the times you wish to head into the mountains, fine but please don't make inaccurate comments that'll give the wrong impression to others.
| Quote: |
| It is funny that I didn't go round resorts like this at the beginning as I used to go to Chamonix each year. However I was skiing in a sunshine in Megeve one day. The next day it rained and took away the piste forcing us to drive to 3 Vallees. Since then I never looked back. |
Which is precisely what you can do in Scotland, drive to the best snow, although of course you have more choice in the Alps, it is less marginal, and there are heated seats on the chairlifts too 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
brian,
Zermatt can be skied from the Italian side. Zermatt has two links with Cervinia. One can't ski from Verbier to Zermatt. There are 150km piste in Zermatt and 180 km in Cervinia. The 4 valleys of Verbier claims to have 180km.
I don't go round resorts with a Crystal brochure because I have never done a packaged skiing holiday.
Milky Way, Serre Chevalier, LDH and LDA are all inside the same valley of about 66 miles between the two extreme ends. I stayed in Briancon and then in Bourg D' Osian to ski them, driving no a maximum of 22 miles in a day. I have already skied L'Alps D'Heuz and Les Deux Alpes before but saw it fit for a revisit when I exit the valley.
There has been other SH complaining about the wet and soft snow in Verbier and I have experienced it on runs down to the bottom level on Verbier side too. It is common for snow to get soft, wet, watery and even missing in runs to the bottom stations. The other watery runs I have come across in my skiing experience was in Megeve, which started my touring expeditions with car. I remeber those in Verbier well because they were alright the day before. It is not my intention to paint a bad picture of Verbier. I just reported my experience. Everybody know Verbier is a preimum grade Swiss resort. I could be very unlucky to hit is bad times.
roga,
I am sure if I can drop everything when the snow hit Scotland I would have a field day to ski. I was referring the opportunity of going there in weekends that I could conveniently fit in with my work. I am luckier than many SH residing in the South for being able to hit Glenshee in 4 hours with a car From Newcastle upon Tyne and have skied Caingorm and Nevis Range, though snow had not been in good condition whenever I passed Lecht. Scotland does not appear to have the same accurate and wideaspred of web cams to tell us its present condition. Many Alpine resorts have many different sets of web cams monitoring the same resort continuously, with historical shots available too. The depth of snow at the bottom and the top of the resorts are updated daily, so are the number of lifts open and the length of piste available. A skier can get more accurate and up to date data from the resorts in Europe than in the Scotland.
Every time I clip my skis on to commence my first skiing day in the Alps I always have Scotland in my mind and wonder why can't we have their condition too. The fact remains that we could ski runs in the Alps easily with 0.3m to 1m depth of snow. If we have 0.1m average snow depth in Scotland everybody will be mad and out there. The Scottish skiing experience is not the same as in the Alps.
We do enjoy whatever we could get from Scotland but to many, especially in the South, Alps is easier, quicker and cheaper to get to.
Mind you I do feel proud for my Scottish skiing experience as I had to learn to crave my skis into pure ice on the slope. When I saw bald patches or isolated green sections on the piste in the Alps they don't wet may pants.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
brian
brian
Guest
|
| saikee wrote: |
Zermatt can be skied from the Italian side. Zermatt has two links with Cervinia. One can't ski from Verbier to Zermatt. There are 150km piste in Zermatt and 180 km in Cervinia. The 4 valleys of Verbier claims to have 180km.
. |
Yes I am well aware of the geography thanks. 4Vs claims over 400km in fact.
Anyway, I'm afraid I just can't relate to your km-age obsession at all but if it's your bag, go for it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
| roga wrote: |
BTW, most amused by the thread title change: 'EDIT> apart from Scotland where life is brilliant!' |
I'm glad you are satisfied!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
|
Snow
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
brian,
You are right the 4-Valleys does have 400km. My recorded information from previous trips showed 180 and 206km for Verbier but it should really be treated as the 4V as the areas are fully linked.
The total length of piste in a resort is just an indication of its size. Once above 150km the rest is not terribly significant for a week's skiing in my view. Bigger resorts of course are able to provide more runs/varieties for skiing.
If I visit Austria Galtur, that has 40km and 6 miles away from Iscghl I can plan a half day trip if I want to ski it. On the other hand Serfaus/Fiss/Ladis has 185km and is 36 miles from Ischgl then I have to decide on giving up a skiing day in Ischgl if I want to do a day trip to try it out.
This is not an obsession with the km-age but a practical approach to sample the skiing resorts. I would have driven same 38 miles from Ischgl to try out St Anton had I not skied it before.
I didn't zoomed between Verbier and Zermatt. I actually stayed in a business grade hotel in Sion, drove 5 to 8 miles to Nendaz/Siviez to access Verbier from the opposite end, as in my previous trips I always entered Verbier from E27 side, the main road to Grand St Bernard Pass. After finishing a day’s skiing in Verbier I drove 80 miles from Sion to St Vicent in Aosta Valley to change to another hotel. I did have to drive 20 miles to Cervina each because I was late in booking and could only get less-than-a-week accommodations at St Vicent. The road from St Vicent to Cervinia was nearly deserted as I seldom met more than 20 cars in the journey.
It can be quite relaxing to visit several resorts with a car and the cost doesn’t get much higher than skiing a single resort. The extra cost is usually the ski pass which can get cheaper if one skis more number days in the same resort. To spread it out in several resorts the discount in the ski passes is definitely less. There is no change to the food and accommodation cost to us when changing the skiing venues.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I think anyone who lives in the area bounded by say Munich, Vienna, Turin and Nice is pretty well off for skiing. Equally there are Major N American cities where you live as a weekend warrior very successfully including San Francisco, Denver, Seattle as well as the obvious Vancouver, Calgary, SLC etc
So compared to this the English (& indeed the Scots if they are honest) ar poorly served but if you live reasonably near a airport you can still be a weekend warrior. I'd guess there are at least 20 flight possibilities from London airports to CH on a Friday afternoon/evening for instance but its ususally the UK end of the transit process that is the biggest pain/most unreliable.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
| saikee wrote: |
Being mobile with a car one can afford to be selective on resorts to visit. |
That's why I'm curious why you weren't more selective, Crans or Verbier are just run of the mill big resorts and little different from their counterparts in France. Zermatt's great but for all this mobility you saw nothing of the vast majority of the skiing we have in the Valais or Vaud. In fact you just went exactly where the package tour crowd went.
| saikee wrote: |
| You may be able to confirm my observation that the majority of the Europeans do not book a resort for a week and fly to there to stay in a ski-in/ski-out accommodation. Most of them drive to the resorts. With a car they can stay in cheaper alternatives at a short distance from the resort. |
Sorry but they don't, I think most people don't want to go on holiday to drive, not commuting is the point of the holiday for most people, I won't even get the car out to go to the next village, I just can't be bothered.
| saikee wrote: |
| They can ski more by doing weekend trips. Thus there are a huge number of resorts, not big enough for a week's skiing, do not have a huge number of accommodations for the international skiers, can be very quiet and nice to spend skiing days and virtually unknow to UK skiers who only do skiing packages with tour operators. |
Again not really, keen skiers take weekend trips just like people from the UK do, the only difference is that a UK guy might do that twice in the season, a guy here might make 3 or 4 trips. Either way it's still a minority.
I guess what I don't understand is why you're guessing all of this and passing up the chance to go and check, if you think that's how a small station operates then from Sion why not go to Evolene or Ovronnaz and see for yourself?
It's probably also the case that your idea of what's big enough for a weeks skiing and mine are rather different For example, Brian's been here a lot but I bet I could take him somewhere next week he'd not been (*)(**)(***)(****)
(*) if he fancies it.
(**) at his own risk
(***) some uphill may be required
(****) routes may be up to 50% steeper than I first suggest.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
| saikee wrote: |
brian,
Zermatt can be skied from the Italian side. . |
Not really, you can get to a place you see the town, even ski into it but practically you ski about 10% of what's on offer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
| brian wrote: |
| saikee wrote: |
Zermatt can be skied from the Italian side. Zermatt has two links with Cervinia. One can't ski from Verbier to Zermatt. There are 150km piste in Zermatt and 180 km in Cervinia. The 4 valleys of Verbier claims to have 180km.
. |
Yes I am well aware of the geography thanks. 4Vs claims over 400km in fact.
Anyway, I'm afraid I just can't relate to your km-age obsession at all but if it's your bag, go for it. |
I'm delighted to say I don't even know how many km we've got, I'm fairly sure I've skied as much 3 or 4 km of them this week so there must be plenty more to go at, I've done at least 1km today in fact and half of that was downhill
|
|
|
|
|
|
brian
brian
Guest
|
| ise wrote: |
For example, Brian's been here a lot but I bet I could take him somewhere next week he'd not been (*)(**)(***)(****)
(*) if he fancies it.
(**) at his own risk
(***) some uphill may be required
(****) routes may be up to 50% steeper than I first suggest. |
Are you getting into ascii art or something ? What's it supposed to be ?
I'll drop you a line notwithstanding the uphill (!).
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
| ise wrote: |
holiday time, dire warnings in the newspaper about crowds, so anything that gets away from the crowds |
Damn the papers ... Gstaad was like Clapham Junction today ....and St Stephan link closed due lift failure .... could you take a few thousand more tomorrow as well as Brian ?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
ise,
There is a difference between the residents in UK and those in the continent. Europeans living around the Alps can access most of the resorts in weekends. They don't have a strong desire to know what is available as the UK skiers who can only ski in a arranged holiday package or a DIY scheme., necessitating often a week or more.
For a UK skier who has not been to say Verbier and Zermatt and is now have a chance to do so would he/she rather go to small little relatively unknown resorts elsewhere in the same valleys?
I did not set out to choose Cran Montana and Verbier. My intention was to try out Cervinia and Zermatt but they are just a bit too far for me to strike from Amsterdam when the ferry docks at 10am. Thus I chose Sion really for overnight stay but thought it would be worthwhile to spend a few days to revise my memory of these two places before I went to Cervinia/Zermatt. It added up a relaxing tour.
I could try places like Gstaad or Leysin instead may be in the next trip. In one year when I spent two weeks trawling the Tarentaise Valley I stopped first at Monthley and spent a couple of days on Swiss side of PDS. In another year I stopped at Interlaken to sample the Jungfrau resorts. This was just for convenience to try out resorts at my own pace and my own time.
I found after finishing a day's skiing, say at 5pm, one can drive lesisurely, as allowing the two legs to rest, for two hours and comfortably in another hotel in any of the resorts within a circle of 100miles radius of the resort just skied. The choice of resorts is up to the individual's taste and previous experience. May be one makes a bad choice or a good choice that doesn't really matter as long as a new experience is gained.
This thread is raised by a SH who thought due to limited funds and holidaying opportunities UK skiers are losing out in skiing. My post is that it is possible to drive to ski as many resorts as one can find. It is one of the ways to close the gap.
When I said
| Quote: |
| Zermatt can be skied from the Italian side. |
I meant skiers can stayed in Zermatt to ski it. Alternatively one can go to the Italian side, pays less for the accommodation and able to ski Zermatt by taking 3 lifts up to the top of the link. My guess many SH may not know that it is possible to avoid the expensive Swiss side this way.
On the skiing distance you are obviously having us on. Many gondolas are over 4 km long and even a drag lift can be more than 2km in length. Thus if you put on a pair of skis you will have to do at least the length of the lift in order to come back to the point of origin. The actual length of a piste is about twice of the distance of the "lifted" distance.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
What about the places available to rent via auction sites like ebay? Most of them are owned by Brits and seem to offer good value. We rent a house from a trio of british families and the whole thing is incredibly civilised and reasonable in price. and of course there is Snowheads doesn't this give you faith in the Brisitsh ski scene???
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| saikee wrote: |
roga,
Yad Moss near Alston is closest to me but no luck in the last two years.
|
Well I've certainly skied there a few times in the last 2-3 years so there must have been some snow.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
How many people here have just upped and left from a job ?
thatski season, but i know it wouldn't be enough, I'd want to stay forever.
All i want to do is ski, pretty sad really, - my boyfriend thinks i'd even go insane if there weren't snow reports every day (i would).
I really want to relocate to the alps....what stops everyone, I reckon thats what everyone on this forum wants? Is it ridiculously expensive - more pricey that buying in London?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
