 Poster: A snowHead
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Hey,
Me and my brother are looking to ski somewhere in the alps from about dec. 15-january 5th....on a tight budget.
We are both advanced skiers and want a place that will be guaranteed to have a decent amount a snow for that time of year.
I'm willing to pay a little more if it means more terrain and more snow. We're both students, but i dont know if we would really save that much more money by staying at youth hostels...
The whole apres-ski scene isnt really important. im not up for a hangover when skiing.
I've been to Lech and Zuers before and I absolutely loved the area, but it costs us a fortune!!! im looking for cheaper ideas.
Anybody have some recommendations???
Thanks!!
Rachel 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Avoriaz in self catering would be reasonable. Good snow record, and would be relatively cheap. However if on a tight budget, dont go when you are thinking of, as its pretty much (along with Feb half term), the most expensive time to go. Book flights to either Geneva or Salzburg from Jan 5th if you can and wait untill a couple of weeks before to book a hotel and resort based upon snow. A much cheaper time. If you are students and like my kids all your lectures are video'd and on-line, and with Seminars not worth their salt at most places these days, - take a laptop, and spend a bit of time in a wi fi free area keeping up with work. I can only assume thats why you want to go over new year if on a tight budget.
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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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Welcome to Snowheads
It could even be cheaper to do 2x week trips, one from 12-19th Dec and one from 3rd-10th Jan. You could book last minute with a tour operator (i.e. discounted prices) and then you've got a good idea of your costs/snow conditions. I would imagine that New Year week is probably the 2nd most expensive week of the season, and therefore you'll struggle to find anywhere that's cheap for that week.
But if you're really committed to those dates and assuming the student connection then look at a 'private hostel' type place such as chalet chardons in tignes or chaletarc.co.uk in les arcs (well Peisey-Nancoix) which is well cheap. Ok so then you need to get there but there's coaches running from London to Bourg or Tignes - for example http://www.skibusuk.com/journey.php - this would get you 20 nights stay, transport there and back for under £550 which is a pretty good price. OTOH You're looking at possibly 20 days worth of lift pass - thats going to be close to 750 euro for most big places I'd imagine e./g. Paradiski which pushes the cost right back up
If you use the forum search (under the mountains at the top left of the page) you will find lots of other threads on 'cheap skiing' or skiing on a budget.
good luck.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Innsbruck Austria.
Cheap easyjet flight,
big city = plenty of choice of cheap accommodation,
Cheap food, big mac 99 cents. or pizza 3 euros.
University city = cheap booze,
Free ski buses to six local ski areas.
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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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Stay in a hostel in Zermatt.
Scuzzy but cheap.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
a place that will be guaranteed to have a decent amount a snow for that time of year.
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There's probably nowhere "guaranteed" to have a decent amount of snow, especially if by that you mean enough to be going off piste. Even high areas in the Espace Killy, for example, can have loads of rocks at that time of year.
If you're young, you could do worse than look at UCPA - maybe the Chamonix centre; you should be able to get up the Grand Montets even if, overall, the snow cover at lower altitudes is not so great. You've also got the chance of some real mountain challenges there - and good guides/instructors.
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rbills2, 3 weeks in the Alps, you're lucky kids!
To keep your costs down I think you need to find something self-catering (an efficiency) somewhere that is a free bus-ride away from the mountain.
What are your gateway airport options? That will help narrow it down.
Which country do you prefer? You could even do two in 3 weeks. Austria and Italy tend to be cheaper than France and Switzerland, there's also Germany and Slovenia.
Lift pass needs thinking about, at 3 weeks it could be cheaper to get a season pass, particularly if you buy it pre-season at a discount. You will need to find a big area or lift pass union to keep you occupied.
Will you be skiing every day? Are there any other activities that you want to do? Visit any cities?
Anything you can tell about your preferences will help narrow down the 1000's of options available to you.
bertie bassett, check out the OP's location, I think it equates to Tennessee, so 2 trips won't be feasible.
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Something what many won't agree, but it's pretty much only option. Forget about plane and go with car. Getting to Austria is not all that expensive (ok I have no idea about ferry/tunnel thing, but otherwise you don't need much more then 100-150eur for gas to get from UK to Austria, and few euros for sandwich on way down. All together it might be a bit more expensive then plane, but once you are down here, things are completely different with car, then without it. You have thousands of small B&B or even tourist farms around, where paying 30eur/day for bed with breakfast is considered already expensive. But most of these places is kilometer or two out of center, so they are almost out of question if you are without car.
During my WC "chase" we are normally sleeping in places like this, and until now I have been sleeping in Schladming, Soelden, Zauchensee, Garmisch etc. for 20-30eur/day. Pretty much every at least kinda normal hotel is normally is range of 100+eur/day in those places. So do some search and you will find, it's perfectly possible to ski in Austria for quite little money.... if you don't count quite expensive few weeks ski pass. 
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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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primoz, if the OP is indeed in Tennessee, then driving is not really an option...
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the suggestion of a season lift pass is a good one - there was a thread on this a few weeks ago. They need to find a big area with a promotional season pass - they mostly need to be bought before the end of November, so they have some time to research. Hiring a car for that long is not really a "budget" option.
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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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primoz, it's a good idea to stay a few miles away from the lifts, as you say, prices reduce dramatically, maybe if it was somewhere with a good ski-bus service along a valley to various lift stations it might work for the OP.
Somewhere like Kappl in Austria with buses to See, Ischgl and Galtur. All on the Silvretta liftpass too, €630 for a season pass or €365 for 10-out-of-14-days-pass and move off to Innsbruck for the last week for a bit of culture and more skiing.
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Isn't the US supposed to have much better early season snow and a lot more for advanced skiers ?
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You know it makes sense.
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Yea, I think we will probably be best off buying a season pass. I am from Tennessee so splitting up the trip is a good idea, but isn't really an option. After having a look at what you all have said, I think we will probably end up in Austria and might head to Italy for a day or two. Has anyone skied in Slovenia? If so, how does it compare? We will probably fly into Munich or Geneva, depending on where we go, and take a train from there.
As far as days off go, we will probably not ski about 2 or maybe 3 days. The only other thing we had possibly considered doing was catching a cheap flight to Greece for some climbing. Big cities and sight seeing aren't really our thing. we do likes most things outdoors though. any recommendations of local activities besides cross country skiing or snow shoeing?
truffaut, you are correct about early season snow in the US...some resorts in colorado have already opened. we typically go to Alta, UT or Whistler, BC, but it is definitely time to get off of this continent and see some new sights.
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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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A guy we worked with in La Tania about 10 years ago came back the following season for a weeks holiday. He slept one night in the public toilet before crashing on a sofa for the remainder of the week. That was pretty cheap.
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Poster: A snowHead
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rbills2, what sort of climbing will you do in the winter in Greece? It gets it fair share of snow in the mountains, there are a few ski resorts there too, north of Athens.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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rbills2, what sort of climbing will you do in the winter in Greece? It gets it fair share of snow in the mountains, there are a few ski resorts there too, north of Athens.
For the Alps, you really need to book some time soon as Christmas and New Year is really busy and anywhere vaguely desirable and good value will get booked up, if not already.
Apologies for the duplicate post.
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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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If nightlife not a priority have a look at Le Chable which has direct access to Verbier and the rest of the 4 valleys.
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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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rbills2, If you were keen to go back to the Arlberg - Stuben is a much cheaper base. Quiet at night - Hotel Post and Willy Pils Stubl have good atmosphere though. Another option would be to base youurselves in Landeck which is around 15 mins from St Anton and at the start of the valley for Ischgl/Kappl etc and not too far from the start of valley to Obergurg/Soelden. That whole part of Austria does seem blessed with good snow records. All have decent train links to Innsbruck and Zurich
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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It looks like we'll probably be heading to either St. Anton or Stuben. I've narrowed it down to 2 different B&B's. Thank you all for the information. I really appreciate. Pray for some powder!!
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rbills2, good choice, you won't be disappointed, easy to head over to your favourite Lech and Zurs for a fix too.
Enjoy your vacation! 
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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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boabski, did you find it pretty easy to take the bus up to lech/zuers?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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rbills2, Did not use the bus that often. From memory there is a Post bus (cheap)from Stuben roughly every hour or so but we tended to take the 2 man chair from Stuben and ski to Alpe Rauz and get the bus (free) to Lech/Zurs there, which were very frequent and we never had much waiting around. Taxis are usually fairly easy to come by too if you're stuck. Just to whet your appetite
http://www.stuben.com/index.php?id=729 official tourist office nicey nicey and this one which was filmed around Stuben last year and some of which around some resort in France which completely escapes me for now - Montgenevre I think???- awesome
http://www.candidekamera.com/cinemaroom/cinemaroom.html
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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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rbills2, check out this trip report from a guy in NC who spent 17 days in Austria two years ago. It might give you some ideas. http://www.snowjournal.com/page.php?cid=topic12839
His travels ranged from Schladming to St. Anton, with many fine ski areas in between, many considered relative bargains. Just about all of this is reachable by train/bus from Munich, Frankfort or Innsbruck. This area also has some high elevation and glacier ski areas which could be good fall back for you in case December snowpack is not optimal on regular/lower slopes.
You sound like you have the right attitude for a Yank to have a great time in Europe.
OOPS, sorry missed the post where you said you're going to focus on St. Anton. Serious skiing there. Maybe some stoke in the above trip report anyway 
More stoke from same source/trip: http://www.snowjournal.com/page.php?cid=topic13054
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im too psyched for the trip to still be 6 weeks away. those pics from the guy in NC didn't help one bit 
ill be sure to leave a trip report with some pics when we get back. looks like we're going to put off climbing in crete till the summer. is 3 weeks too long for just the arlberg area?
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You know it makes sense.
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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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| rbills2 wrote: |
| is 3 weeks too long for just the arlberg area? |
There's not enough groomed terrain to mean that you won't be retracing your steps quite a bit in 3 weeks, but if the conditions are right and you can exploit the extensive backcountry routes and enjoy that, there'll be enough to keep you busy.
I'd be tempted to mix it up a bit with a different ski area or country, visit a beautiful city like Venice, Prague or Salzburg if I had that amount of time.
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FAQ
Sorry I obviously missed this info. I was thinking he is somewhere in UK, as most of people on Snowheads are 
