 Poster: A snowHead
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OK - this is going to seem crazy as most people probably haven't yet done their 2009 season yet, but we are just back from a week in Arabba in the Dolomites, so we are now planning the 2010 trip!
I'm looking for destination tips. But first let me explain what was good and what was bad about Arabba:
Good:
Massive range of skiing. You don't ever need to ski the same piste twice
Relatively easy to get to from the North East of UK - although flying to Italy is a pain from the North East (are you listening Stelios?)
Cheap! OK so its not THAT cheap and the current Euro situation makes it a joke. BUT for those of you off to France to Pay EUR9 for a coke on the piste - I got pasta and a coffee for that in one of the best Piste Side Restaurants I've ever eaten in...
Quiet - We aren't party animals so we don't need a night club. The pistes were fairly quiet out of season
Unbelievable snow - but of course you takes your chances.
Good instruction. Although we could have been in groups of up to 10 - we were never in more than 5
We were staying fairly close to the lifts
Bad:
The dolomites are really steep! Seriously there are blues there that I think should be hard red! And I went down a red that is absolutely a black - even the instructor agreed! We aren't into major rapid descents so the dolomites were probably not the right choice of destination for us. What we really like the idea of is a sort of gentle cruise from the top to the bottom stopping for a few coffees on the way. (Speed freaks need not reply!). For anyone who knows Arabba - the type of stuff we like is the Saas De La Vegla and Mesola runs. For speed freaks they are the strips of snow that connect the blacks and reds together!
The Selaronda route makes certain pistes a bit like a motorway at times. Shouldn't complain too much as if I ever get good enough I might well fancy doing it!
OK so now you get an idea of the sort of skiing we fancy... anyone got any suggestions for a venue for 2010?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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polc1410, how about Corvara just round the Sella Ronda from Arabba, there are a lot of easier blues in that sector. Arabba has some of the steepest terrain in the whole area, no wonder you were struggling to find runs to progress onto.
By the end of your next week, you'll be able to do the Sella Ronda, the steepest run is the first pitch off the top of Arabba, which it sounds like you did this time (the red that should be black?).
Hope the negatives didn't put you off the Dolomites, I think you'll struggle to find somewhere else that has all the positives you mention, maybe somewhere in Austria, but the lift-linked ski area won't be as extensive as the Sella Ronda area.
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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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polc1410, While (as Luigi says) Arabba has some of the steepest runs, the dolomites (and in particular the Sella Ronda area) as a whole really don't have very much in the way of steep stuff.
The steepest run I found on the actual circuit (which is all red or blue runs) was in that area - the one down from the top of the gondola out of Arabba going clockwise, but even that wasn't exceptionally steep for a red - just rather busy and therefore mogulled late in the day.
I would again suggest another Dolomites resort, or alternatively somewhere nice in Austria - Schladming would probably suit you fairly well, or somewhere in the Ski Welt such as Westendorf.
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I am having the same dilemma myself, Corvora looks good but the accommodation is expensive (unless you want to be miles away from the lifts!) or Selva which has slightly cheaper accommodation. What about Cervinia, went there with a group of 18 three years ago and it is motorway cruising at it's best, also link to Zermatt if you want more of a challenge. We flew to Turin which is well serviced by the cheap airlines.
As we prefer Austria we are looking at, Flachau, Wagrain, Alpendorf, Zauchensee (all Ski Amade), Westendorf and Maria Alm/Hinterthal, all flight to Salzburg. You can fly Doncaster to Salzburg with Thomsonfly.
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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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| luigi wrote: |
| polc1410, how about Corvara just round the Sella Ronda from Arabba, there are a lot of easier blues in that sector. Arabba has some of the steepest terrain in the whole area, no wonder you were struggling to find runs to progress onto. |
Wasn't sure if their blues were as tough going as Arabba's. Thought we might head there in 2011! Having headed someplace flatter in between... ...but certainly not ruling it out. We didn't do Corvara this year because we wanted to Self Cater (cheaper) and Colletts didn't have SC in Corvara. So the choice was Arabba or Pedraces and Pedraces seemed a bit out of the way...
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By the end of your next week, you'll be able to do the Sella Ronda, the steepest run is the first pitch off the top of Arabba, which it sounds like you did this time (the red that should be black?).
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Think you are more optomistic than me!!
The Red that should be black I was talking about I don't think is where you were talking... I was talking about Savine which comes down the left hand side of Bec De Roces Chair Lift. (Left hand side is not so bad).
Suspect you are talking about Salere which comes from the PortoVesco Gondola.
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Hope the negatives didn't put you off the Dolomites, I think you'll struggle to find somewhere else that has all the positives you mention, maybe somewhere in Austria, but the lift-linked ski area won't be as extensive as the Sella Ronda area. |
Its not put me off forever. Just maybe need to take a break someplace not so tough... perhaps having ski boots that actually fit will help! I guess the lift-linked areas only matter if you pluck up the courage to do the routes...
Alex - thanks for the suggestions in Austria - will investigate.
Kaiser, Cervinia looks interesting. Like the idea of skiing into another country! And I guess as its Italy its probably reasonably priced on the slopes unlike France?
Thanks for the pointers...
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Hi ya, Glad to see you went skiing, sorry to hear the runs were steep. I've just got back from Courchevel all the ski runs there are good to ski, but lift passes are jsut so expensive.
I normally ski USA and Canada, there is a brilliant resort called Sun Peaks in Canada, your kind of skiing.
For 2010 a small group of us are thinking of going to Sunday River in Maine, USA. It has 8 mountians and good ski routes that will do for any type of skier.
If you get a chance to look at the resort and fancy maybe going there, then pm me.
We are looking to go Jan / Feb 2010 for 12 to 14 days. Hotel, some lessons, lift passes, some food and possibly ski equip hire for about £950
Take care. 
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we have booke Montgenevre for Easter 2010, its 22 years since i have been and i'm looking forward to it
as there have been major improvements, such as the road through the village now goes under it in a tunnel, and there has been good expansion of the pistes with new lifts etc, the apts we have booked are also new and having spoken to someone that has been are quite well fitted out.
But basically for £335 each(flight, transfer and apt) a weeks skiing at high altitude 1850m mimimum from the apt door cannot be sniffed at
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The dolomites are really steep! Seriously there are blues there that I think should be hard red! And I went down a red that is absolutely a black - even the instructor agreed!
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I've heard a number of people say this and I've never found it so. In fact personally I would have said the dolomites were tame compared to some of the runs in the larger French resorts. The main reason being that they are always beautifully pisted. There are the odd runs that are undergraded - the red from the cable car at Porto Vescova is steep and intimidating - particularly when its full of punters - but its the only run down till it splits into the red that goes to Passo Pordoi (and the Sella Ronda) and the blacks back to Arabba and I guess they couldn't have a black only option on the sella ronda. But you see the same sort of thing in french resorts, where a blue or even green is 'needed' so a steep pitch that might otherwise boot it up a grade is ignored (or alternatively obliterated with a bulldozer).
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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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Dave Horsley, What I did feel in the dolomites is that there are quite a few runs which look harder from the top than they actually turn out to be when you are on them.
And that includes the very first run you will usually ski if you stay in Campitello - the one from the Col Rodella cable car.
But I agree that generally they are not too steep - the one you mention at Porto Vescova is the one I was referring to in my previous post, and is definitely the hardest red I found all week from Campitello.
Even that though, I have seen steeper reds - such as the Larmach run down from the top of Konigsleitenspitze in the Zillertal Arena.
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But I agree that generally they are not too steep - the one you mention at Porto Vescova is the one I was referring to in my previous post, and is definitely the hardest red I found all week from Campitello.
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I guesed it was, and assumed (wrongly) it was the one the OP was refering to. I have friends that have commented that maybe it should be a black. I've not found it particularly bad, other than it is on a busy section of the Sella Ronda and can be intimidating in the afternoon when its full of people and starting to bump up. I tend to head right over to the left hand side (as you look down) in that situation, try and ski a tight line, outside the marked piste if necessary and keep out of peoples way.
Bar a few bottlenecks I think the dolomites have a lot of nice wide cruisy reds and blues - I love the red down into Corvara from Arabba for example
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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OK I have to fess that I did a blue with my instructor down to Campolongo. It never even featured in my brain - it was just a slope that got me to Campolongo... so I cam back the next day with the other half who is newer to this business of strapping planks of carbo fibre to our feet than me... and we made it down the first bit and then walked back up. It suddenly seemed much harder.
Perhaps I spent too much time looking at my instructor's a*se (!).. oops I meant tracks... ...and less time worrying about thow steep the slope was. But it felt seriously steep - enough to be hard for me and too hard for the other half. Is this normal? To do something with an instructor and find it a piece of cake and then try it 'alone' and bottle it?
Maybe I'm just too scared!
I have to say its very scary seeing 5 year olds ski past you when you are thinking "if I get this wrong, I'm gonna go down 300m head first"
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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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polc1410, it will get better with more practice, slopes that once looked impossible will become doable, even easy, all part of the learning curve that all of us have been through.
It's important that you have instruction to iron out bad technique and that your equipment is right (snug-fitting boots, shorter, easier to turn skis) and that you know how to side-slip down a slope you can't ski down. All this will give you more confidence, stick with it.
As has been said, the Dolomites are considered quite tame and lacking real challenge by most advanced skiers, there aren't many places that are going to have easy blues all over the resort, maybe a few easy runs here and there.
As I said before, Corvara has the easiest terrain in the Sella Ronda area, quite a lot of blue runs all together in one spot with no reds in between. Another place I've been that had a really nice 5km long green run (named Marvel) is Morillon in France, part of the Grand Massif area shared with Flaine, might be a good place for a confidence building week, the beginners I was with loved it, as it gave them their first real sensation of skiing away from the boring nursery slopes.
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polc1410, I would second Corvara as being easy in the Dolomiti Superski area. I would also say that Selva could be a good bet (there is an area in Selva called "Nives" which are basically nursery slopes which are very very easy). Selva also has a bit more "life" than Corvara.
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You know it makes sense.
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its probably reasonably priced on the slopes unlike France?
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whoever have you been listening to? France needn't be ridiculously expensive - and as for a 9 euro coke......  Magnificent, world beating, prize-winning, choice of patisserie and excellent coffee or hot chocolate - 6 euros, more like, along with loads of blues and some quite gentle reds- with harder runs to progress to if you wish. Try Les Saisies, though unless you speak French you'd need to take private lessons (51 euros for two hours for two people).
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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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Morillon is a good shout, but the village really is very quiet. This neck of the woods (St Gervais, Combloux) would also be a good choice Usual caveats about lowish and snow guarantees etc etc. (it's been flipping marvellous since before Xmas this year) Combloux particularly is not that pricy on the mountain and there are bargain venues here in St Gervais and St Nicolas as well as the ridiculously overpriced ones. Very good 'branch' of ESF here too. (not usually a fan, but the ladies and gents in St Gervais are slowly changing my view) 450km of piste about 250 of which is lift linked. There IS truly challenging but the vast majority...and especially the stuff you just stumble across is confidence building and flattering.
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