 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all
This forum seems like a good place to seek some advice.
I currently live in Glasgow, and have been enjoying the best ski season for years (35 days so far and counting!) in the Highlands. However, I have recently been offered a very good job in London, and the only thing that stops me accepting is the (perceived) lack of access to skiing.
Is there anyone in London who skis Scotland regularly? With advance booking available on the sleeper, I would have thought weekend trips were quite do-able?
Or is it possible to get over to France for the weekend on a regular basis for not that much money?
Any advice recevied really rather gratefully. Have to provide potential new employers with an answer next week!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Barclay, well done you both on the job front and in getting in 35 days on the hill.
If your new job is adequately remunerated then France/Italy/Swiss (and possibly Austria) weekends are potentially easier to do (from London) than Scotland.
Possibly cheaper, probably more snow sure, arguably sunnier and you get to enjoy some foreign culture as well.
Not that I'm detracting from Scotland of course, being Scottish myself and an alumni of the Scottish-Norwegian ski school in Cairngorm - but given the choice between (say) 2 days in the Portes du Soleil vs 2 days on Cairngorm...I know what I'd go for.
You probably want to plan ahead and book flights as soon as they're released. Also check out alternative departure points (London City does consistently cheap flights into Geneva) and remember that low cost airlines refers to low costs of operation, not necessarily low fares. We use BA/Swiss and Air france from Geneva to London much more often than Easyjet - Easyjet are frequently more expensive and less convenient.
My best ever season out of London was 57 days skiing and (I think) only 10 "holiday" days taken.
Now of course I live in Geneva and only ski when it's sunny 
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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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Barclay, Welcome to Snowheads. Driving it's about the same amount of time to get to the Alps as it is to Scotland..in fact from me (Tunbridge Wells), Chamonix is nearer than Cairngorm (10 hours vs 12). There are plenty of flights to Geneva from London but you do need to book early.. as you would with the train/plane to Scotland.
For a weekend, you would need to fly or train (20hrs in a car in 3 days ?)..so the prices for Scotland or Chamonix are likely to work out the same...what you can't (IMV) easily/economically do is drop everything and get to the 'gorm 'cos the webcam looks good.
Mrs Ski and me regularly talk about living somewhere else - we enjoy mountains as much as anyone one this forum, and, although weekends in the Highlands are a bit of a stretch, they payoff is much easier access to the Alps. 
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Barclay, though I don't live in London, most of David Murdoch's advice makes sense to me. I am less convinced about his airline advice - but you can do your own internet checks and come to your own conclusions on that. I find it frustrating - but I can't see that planning on skiing much in Scotland is viable when living darn Sarf.
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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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Thanks chaps, good advice so far.
Couple of points worth mentioning - the new London job is very interesting but the pay isn't spectacular. Not too bad, but I'll not be buying the Chalet in Klosters just yet.
Also, I don't like flying much. I really dislike the impersonal faff of airports and would much rather use a train. I have a campervan which I guess I won't use in London, so I could consider leaving that in either Scotland or France, take the train out to it and use it for kipping in.
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Barclay, take the job down here. I guess after some time up North you have plenty of like-minded friends who'll put you up when you want to return, so you'll save on accom costs, and you'll have much better access to flights all over Europe from London. I've very recently heard the same about EZ becoming uncompetitive and Swiss & AF out of City Airport being amongst the cheaper options. I went up to Scotland in April for a weekend - the return seated sleeper fare was about £20 more than my return flight to GVA 3 weeks later!
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Ah, just read what you wrote about flying. The ski train to France is doable for a w/e, AIUI, and about the same price as a saver return on the Caledonian sleeper.
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Barclay, even without factoring skiing into the equation you need a big pay rise to move from Glasgow to London without seeing a drop in purchasing power; I've done both directions in the past!
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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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Overnight from London on Friday by sleeper train and get scheduled back on the monday. You'll likely take long weekends, fly out thurs and back late Sun or Monday morning. But if you do that, then make sure you can connect with the resort. Local post buses do not run late, IME.
Personally, I wouldn't want to live in London but if the job is worth it, then the skiing is doable. Even if you use up a days leave to extend the weekend, that would take the rush out of a 2 day weekend trip to the Alpes. Having said that..it would be a crammed weekend anyway..!!
If you live 1000kms away from the hills you can expect to take the day ( 10 hours ) getting there IME.
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Barclay, if flying isn't so attractive then you can also Eurostar into Paris (much faster now I understand...) and if you're not fussy about where you're going it's easy to get a train from Paris to Bourg St Maurice I think. Or even a sleeper? the train option possibly makes it an even call betwixt Scotland and the Alps. For train advice you can do worse than check out http://www.seat61.com/France.htm#Alps
achilles, why less convinced about my airline advice? It's just my experience...certainly for the airports/times/dates I want to fly...
The most outstanding example was Easter 2005 when it was cheaper to fly Club Class BA than Easyjet (for the dates and times I wanted when I booked - I had left the booking a little late...).
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Barclay wrote: |
| Also, I don't like flying much. I really dislike the impersonal faff of airports and would much rather use a train. I have a campervan which I guess I won't use in London, so I could consider leaving that in either Scotland or France, take the train out to it and use it for kipping in. |
Give London City a try - you only have to check in 30 mins before flying and it definitely has the feel of a bus station on a Friday evening! (In a good way)
Camper van could be workable but you'd need to think about whether you keep it near the airport or at the resort. Would certainly help in that you could keep most of your kit in it and just travel out with hand luggage.
And going for a 2 day weekend from central London is totally do-able.
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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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Most of the above advice is good but make sure your job in London offers a significant uplift in salary if what you really enjoy is being in the hills not just winter but summer. You can ski almost every weekend in Europe As DM outlines but it doesn't come cheap - £100 a day on average is my estimate and you can end up in a cycle of feeling permanetly knackered at work particularly if you have to travel there too.
The more difficult part of living in the poncey effete south TM is the lack of decent hills for walking etc in the summer and while Scotland, Lake District , North Wales are accessible they are certainly more of a pain than from Glasgow (thanks to West Coast mainline permanent Sunday maintenance work)
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| Barclay wrote: |
Thanks chaps, good advice so far.
Couple of points worth mentioning - the new London job is very interesting but the pay isn't spectacular. Not too bad, but I'll not be buying the Chalet in Klosters just yet.
Also, I don't like flying much. I really dislike the impersonal faff of airports and would much rather use a train. I have a campervan which I guess I won't use in London, so I could consider leaving that in either Scotland or France, take the train out to it and use it for kipping in. |
Have a look at holidayloverxx's report of a day trip to Les Arcs done by train.
http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?p=823002
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You know it makes sense.
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Leave Glasgow asap. It is a dump.
Move to East London. Near City Airport and Eurostar.
Job done.
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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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One advantage of train over plane is they're less likely to get delayed by wintery weather. When you're away for only 2-3 days, a delay of 4-5 hrs really cut into your holiday.
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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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| Whitegold wrote: |
| Leave Glasgow asap. It is a dump. |
I suppose it depends on what you constitute a "dump".
I have lived in Glasgow all my life and consider it to be anything but a "dump".
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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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| Arno wrote: |
| Barclay wrote: |
| Also, I don't like flying much. I really dislike the impersonal faff of airports and would much rather use a train. I have a campervan which I guess I won't use in London, so I could consider leaving that in either Scotland or France, take the train out to it and use it for kipping in. |
Give London City a try - you only have to check in 30 mins before flying and it definitely has the feel of a bus station on a Friday evening! (In a good way). |
The sheer ease of using LCY is worth 50 squid to me any day of the week - and it looks like the flight times to there are going to save me a day's car hire to boot in a couple of weeks
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Whitegold, you're full of sh!te.
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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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for short trips to the alps its the plane.. you soon get used to it and the time savings make so much difference as to render the train pointless (excuse the pun  )
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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eng_ch, The only thing about LCY is it can be subject to weather delays..I use it for work..this year I've had an 8hr and 4hr wait .. but it's still better than the alternatives. Given a choice I'd take the train....
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Rossfra8, but quite interesting sh1te ?
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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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ski, more so than Gatwick or Thiefrow? Hadn't noticed myself - but it may have lesser nav/landing systems?
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| ski wrote: |
| Given a choice I'd take the train.... |
Quicker to drive for us - we can get to Calais in about 8 hours. Quickest train is get to Zurich, 5 hours from there to Paris, allow check-in time for Eurostar and the latter's total inability to connect to European train timetables - good 12 hours by the time we're in Kent. Driving's cheaper than the train too, usually
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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stoatsbrother, agreed. Still Glasgow is my home city-got to expect me to be at least a small bit defensive!
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Whichever way I look at this I cant see how youre gonna get anywhere near 35 days skiing (without a massive increase in costs, time, energy and distance travelled) if you move to London.
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You know it makes sense.
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Rossfra8, Agree with you, he's talking shite.
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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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Poster: A snowHead
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Barclay, Sleeper is cool but there is limited availability on cheap berths. I normally take a gamble and book cheap flights to Glasgow in advance (of snow sometimes!)and bum a lift from there. It'll be my 4th weekend this season at the weekend. Zurich is pretty cool for weekends to Engelberg and Andermatt.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Some great advice here - thanks.
I recognise that 35 days skiing is an impossibility on a limited budget next year. No more "working from home" while shredding the slopes of Cairngorm!!
I've decided to accept the London job (against the advice of my bank balance!) and so will be keeping a close eye on release of those cheap tickets. Still going to try and avoid aeroplanes - let's see how long that lasts!
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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another option is the direct eurostar snow train service that runs on friday nights and saturdays out of st pancras. 6 1/2 hours from london to moutier and then 15 -25 minutes to any of the 3 Valleys resorts. doesnt stop in paris and first stop moutier and then onto bourg... very sweet easy journey, i have only used it for week long visits though but worth a look.
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