 Poster: A snowHead
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mine is Tignes / Val d'sere - huge amount of accessible off piste - sprawling and can do mileage without repeating yourself (can't remember the name of the piste - but i think it is enchanted valley or something - that is worth a go)
followed closely by
La Plagne - off piste good and ski in /out (was disappointed by les arcs though)
Verbier - good pistes, moguls and apres ski
St Anton - lift system excellent, but often bottom or top of lift not directly ski on/off, can get icy
Disappointing resorts
Whistler - samey samey tree lined runs, with little off piste lower down, top part of mountain often closed, snowed constantly for 2 weeks with no bluebird sky at all, but I admit there was good snow conditions
Alpe D'Huez - pistes and resort neglected, alot of pistes closed during xmas week, very expensive restaurants, potential areas of off piste not accessible due to cliffs/exposed rocks, wondered what the person was on when they graded the runs, most runs in close proximity of town, i personally like to go off for the day, this place felt like you were one lift or one slope away from the town wherever you were. really good for learning, but most of the learner slopes were poma lifts which is very tiring
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Fernie - Great snow and hill, cat-boarding, friendly and quiet. Can be very cold though
Lake Tahoe - Great snow, so much terrain to choose. So beautiful. SLT and the casino's are awful.
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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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Oberlech/St Anton - the whole area has pretty much everything you could want (apart from a lot of tree skiing), oh and the MOOSERWIRT
Second fave would be Val d'Isere
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Glencoe - Scotland.
Its home base
Plus the best scenery & atmosphere 
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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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Zell am See, it it beautiful, has good shopping and loads for non-skiers, if the snow is a bit dodgy early in the season you can pop up to Kaprun. The skiing suits all, my 67year old dad took his first run there! The apes ski is wild, the Hexenkessel in the evening and Schnapps Hans in the afternoon has to be seen to be believed! There is also in nearby Brück a night Sledging track, where you are taken up to a hut in a tractor(!!!) have a meal and a few jars to prepare yourself for the journey down. Again, took my dad who managed to lose his sledge en route, but pick up some monumental bruising 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Tignes. Serious mileage of quality slopes, plenty of challenges. Shame it looks like a council estate on the moon.
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Having been around a bit now, it's probably Morzine for me. Lovely real little town feel, market on Wednesdays, a river and a beautiful little catholic church lit up at night, a couple of bars serving Mutzig, and the surrounding hills covered in stunning forestry. Did I mention the giant ski area with a day trip over the border to Chatel and back encompassing the excellent Abricotine on the way back? Or the big runs at the top of Avoriaz, all within a half hour's ski from the top of Super Morzine. Then you've got the spectacular stuff in the forest near Pointe de Nyon, running down to the fabulous Les Gets bowl. Morzine for me.
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Very difficult as I haven't been to that many. But I can rate everywhere I've been in order of preference (in reverse order):
Tamworth Snowdome (!)
Niederau
Andalo
Passo Tonale
Pas De La Casa
Val Thorens
La Plagne
Tignes
Avoriaz
Kitzbühel
Méribel
Val D'Isère
The things I like: good snow conditions, lots of pistes, good lift links, comfortable and affordable chalets/hotels, great scenery, pleasant villages, nightlife. Not keen on: very family-orientated resorts, restaurant-only nightlife (prefer to go catered), small skiing areas, ugly 80s architecture...
Last edited by After all it is free  on Mon 29-12-08 19:48; edited 1 time in total
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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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That's a reallyt tough one because almost anywhere in good snow can rock. Lech, Verbier and La Grave would have to be up there but they are all completely different and that's why out sport is so cool there's somewhere and something for everyone....
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Val D'Isere - great lifts, great off piste, loads of guides. But at £1:€1, much less attractive...
Morzine - very pretty, great on mountain food, but v. easy skiing
On the other side of the pond, Aspen for quality of snow, steeps and customer service - 'free' hot cider at the bottom of the mountain at the end of the day - yum. Plus very quiet as too far from Denver for weekenders. And if you hunt around it can be done on at (reasonable-ish) cost.
Alpine Meadows and Squaw are also fantastic when the spring snow is good, although Squaw gets v. busy on Saturdays
Agree with innerspace services re. Whistler - grey, damp, samey terrain, too busy, too 'Intrawest-everything', thinks it's way better than it is...
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Three Valleys specifically Mottaret for a vast array of skiing on your chalet step and a variety of terrain slopes and off piste to suit anybody. Been there at least a dozen times and never disappointed. I actually like Courchevel valley the best but this is just as easily reached from Mottaret as from the Courchevel villages.
If I was gonna own a place in the Alps or live there though it would be Chamonix for the ultimate mountain town with epic skiing possibilities.
Val d'Isere and Tignes are OK but have never caught my imagination like the 3Vs. Went to PdS once and hated it - loads of short pistes with slow drags and chairlifts, no big cable cars serving dramatic peaks (personal opinion only - I am sure it has its virtues!).
Experience of North America limited but the area around Lake Tahoe is pretty good, Squaw Valley is my favourite there. Would not personally bother to go all the way to Western US or Canada just to go skiing.
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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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Tignes for me too. have been there three times over a period of time, and every time i come away thinking it's the best. always had good conditions, great area, good lift infrastructure, great off piste, good piste care, not too expensive - perfect for racking up miles without repeating yourself.
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You know it makes sense.
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Saas Fee - its always been good to me.
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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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Meribel definitely my no. 1. Fantastic long pistes for cruising, so much terrain to cover in 3V (still amazes me when I stumble on areas I've never seen), picturesque and not bad apres. Love it so much that we sold our house and bought a little place there!
Also have fond memories of Val (not so keen on the pistes there but love the apres) and Banff 'cos we got married on Mount Norquay in a blizzard by an ex-park ranger with an icy porn tash. Good times (sigh)!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Ranked in order of preference:
Saalbach
Soll
Zell am See
Lake Louise
Madonna di Campiglio
Livigno
Passo Tonale
Crest Voland
Morzine
Les Carroz
L2A
Alpe D'Huez
Some resorts had crap conditions when I was there, so may be ranked lower than they should. I had rain upto 2800m in ADH in Jan and rain in Morzine in 1993.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Good snow will transform any resort so follow the storm and there is the best resort...IMV.
It helps if you don't have to fight a zillion others for tracks, so that knocks most of the mega resorts off top place....again, IMV 
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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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Chamonix (away from holiday times) - any amount of different skiing, good instructors and guides, brilliant views, real town, good bars (and my pal has a flat there!!)
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Les Arcs - coz of the transfer times from train to hotel.... ohh and coz I met my missus there! 
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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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Panorama, Canada.
I've tried many big-name resorts - eg Courchevel, Tignes, Vail - but the only place I've ever returned to is Panorama. It's taught me that there's much more to skiing than endless motorway pistes and a massive lift system. The terrain in some of the bowls there is so great that you want to keep going down the same trail time after time until you've perfected it. Panorama has no nightlife and no crowds; it's all about the skiing. And that's why I love it.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Chamonix, cos it's outside my back door.
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Jonny Jones, did you go to the Earl Grey Tea Lodge in Panama by any chance?
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Kitz/St. Johann for the enormous range of easily accessible resorts eg., from Pass Thurn through the Ski Welt to Fieberbrunn and Steinplatte.
Kaprun/Zell.
Morzine/Avoriaz and the PdS.
Chamonix valley.
Treble Cone and Cardrona (one off due to visiting daughter who was working at TC).
Yep, love Austria and pretty Alpine resorts, hence Morzine. Never had the money or desire to go to the big French resorts or North America as have always been on a family budget. And we have NEVER found anywhere as welcomingly mad as Austria
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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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Chasseur, No - we travel with kids so a condo is the best solution. But the lodge seems to have a very good reputation.
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Jasper (Alberta, Canada)
There's always snow.
It's always quiet. No lift queues. (in January anyway)
The snow is 'dry', even skiing in thick powder doesn't get you wet.
The January festival in the village is great fun.
The Canadians are really friendly and want you to have a good time.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Jonny Jones, it's been run for the last 3-4 years by Phil and Claire Marshall - Phil's a long-standing friend of nearly 30 years! If you do return to Panama, do pop in and say hi if the chance presents itself. They're good company and I gather the food is terrific.
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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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Les Menuires - 3 Valleys
I know the architecture is ugly and the nightlife limited, but I stay in a chalet half way up the le menuires piste and virtually ski-in ski-out (20m walk). There are 10 of us sharing 5 bed chalet and we cook and entertain ourselves, its great. I have just created my first blog about Les Menuires and would like to invite you to post or just look around. The site is in its infancy and I will be updating it every few days with info such as what runs to do in the mornings, best places to eat etc. Thanks
Iain
http://lesmenuiresski.blogspot.com/
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starmap, welcome  to snowHeads. Glad to hear you're enjoying Les Menuires - there's some great skiing around!
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You know it makes sense.
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Tignes
My first experience on snow. amazing pistes, first red run on day three, Eye of the needle. Brilliant ski school, Evolution 2, cute teacher 
Trying Les Gets this year, keep you posted........
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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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Zermatt
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Poster: A snowHead
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where i am now - becuase there is plenty of snow - Les carroz
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Alta Badia and the most beautiful part of it - Colfosco.
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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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Jasper & Fernie, Canada. Quiet, loads of snow, top notch terrain, polite laid back Canadians, nightlife that suits my current taste. Don't get much better.
John.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Any resort which I'm currently skiing.
I made the choice, so should be happy with it.
If I chose wrong: then who's to blame except me???
That said, I've skied very few "bad" resorts. Okay, I can think of some where the snow wasn't brilliant, the apres-ski limited, but you make the best of what you have - if you beat yourself up about your choice, then you've only yourself to blame.
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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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KHMR, it is all about the skiing and the hill has it all terrain wise. Shame about the lift system but that I can deal with
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Zurs, snow, quality hotels and acces to Der Weisse Ring.
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Zermatt - no explanation needed
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Was about to ask this question and came across this thread so thought I'd resurrect it instead.
Am going for Kitzbuhel - lovely town, great apreas ski if you like that kind of thing, lovely area - got the bus to the far end of the area and boarded back, also has an outlying village where we got a pretty slow old chairlift halfway up the mountain and discovered a snow cat would take us the rest of the way. Looking at the current piste map, it could have been Aurach, but I seem to remember it being further away from Kitzbuhel. Anyway, it was a highlight as I've never know it anywhere else and we had pretty much untracked powder back down when eveywhere else was tracked out. Great holiday, will have to go back there at some point.
Off to St Foy in a week so from what I gather, there could be a new favourite.
Least favourite - Sauze - cr@p snow, cr@p hotel, cr@p holiday.
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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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Ischgl in Austria
- Easy-enough to get to from the UK
- Plenty of skiing for my ability level
- A just superb range of apres ski for all ages, tastes and paces
So far it's the only resort I've been to that I want to go back to - for the 4th time come March.
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Chamonix - the atmosphere of serious skiing and mountaineering
3V - sheer quantum of skiing
Wengen - beauty
Kitzbuhel - probably the best value of the lot and with Skiwelt a huge area of skiing on the doorstep.
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FAQ
