 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi There, Just wanted to see what people prefer?
Change over on a sat, busy airport , Geneva, or change on sunday, not so busy and maybe cheaper flights.
Which would you prefer?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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often depends, turin can be more busy on sundays..
I prefer in saturday out sunday or during the week is even better
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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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I'm voting for Saturday.
It means you can get excited about the trip on Friday at work without having to hang around on Saturday at home and you get the extra day when you come back to dry out! Airports are pretty horrible whatever time and day you get to them (although having said that we flew into GVA on a Wednesday night and were in our private transfer taxi within 20 minutes of landing - shame the flight left an hour late from LHR!).
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There's a benefit to Sunday changeovers in that the pistes are generally emptier on Saturdays... but you do have to balance that against the excitement factor/extra drying day that Tiger2 mentions
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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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Sunday/Sunday for France, if there's a choice. Particularly at busy times. Extra travelling time on Saturday transfers can be considerable and that quiet day's skiing on Saturday is worth a lot. And airports aren't horrible all the time - at quiet times you can be in and out like a dose of salts, especially if you travel with an airline which doesn't demand ridiculous 2 hour check-in times. As someone who drives into Geneva airport pretty frequently I tell any visitors who want to arrive on a Saturday that they can book themselves a hire car - I don't do Saturdays at Geneva except in the most exceptional circumstances. Geneva airport is also pretty busy on a Sunday, actually, but the roads are far quieter. Grenoble, I found once, is particularly quiet on days when French ATC staff have staged a last minute strike. 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Is there any statistical evidence of pistes being quieter on changeover day? I know that logic would suggest it to be the case but my experience is that the influx of locals (all wearing 1970's pastel coloured kit and skiing immaculately on skinny 201cm Dynastars) makes up for it, especially if it is a sunny day. Added to which, all of the TO don't clear the resort out at once leaving some people to ski on their last day while others who arrive in resort at lunchtime hit the slopes for the afternoon.
I'd have to see lift flow figures to be convinced rather than anecdotal observation.
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| Tiger2 wrote: |
I'd have to see lift flow figures to be convinced rather than anecdotal observation. |
This wont convice you then but...
during Feb in Alpe d'Huez it was blatent to see it was quieter on Sat (our changeover being Sun), the other months of the season you prob have a point. However Sat mornings does always seem to be the quietest time on the slopes, I put it down to locals not arriving till 10-11am and new holiday arrivals wont be on the slopes untill 1-2pm!
Anyone got facts?
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well, not statistics, but Les Contamines offers a cheap day pass on Saturdays, presumably because it's a quiet day and they could do with more customers. In our neck of the woods in France it's Sunday, rather than Saturday, which seems to bring out the locals, particularly in quiet weeks. But they are invariably competent skiers who (as Tiger2 notes) generally feel no need to have the latest and coolest gear to make help draw attention from their lack of skills. They don't cause anybody any grief. Sundays are generally the busiest days on the slopes, with big queues for lift passes from early morning - people certainly don't seem to wait till midday to get on the slopes. But Friday afternoons in busy weeks are the scariest - they've done their ski school, and are out to conquer the hill.
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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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Fly out Sunday evening, come back Friday morning. Miss the busy times alltogther 
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Sunday to Sunday works really well for us. Everyone comments on the quiet pistes on Saturdays. I've even converted the French to it.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Sunday also tends to be busier as all the shops in the Switzerland and most of the French Alps are closed on Sunday and many at lunchtime during the week, with little or no evening opening, so everyone who works has to do their shopping on a Saturday. Therefore they can only really go skiing on a Sunday.
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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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Saturday at the end of half term we skied straight onto every lift we came across. By comparison, during the previous sunday through to Friday there were queues of 10-15 minutes at many key lifts. This was the 3Vs.
But the real answer is to travel out Friday, ski 9 days, and then back on sunday night/monday morning. 
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RobW,
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But the real answer is to travel out Friday, ski 9 days, and then back on sunday night/monday morning.
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quite agree drive out overnight friday arrive first thing saturday, ski all day sleep for 14 hours at least then ski right through to following Sunday.
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You know it makes sense.
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Last Saturday morning in Tigne/Val the pistes were almost deserted - lovely skiing SANTONS with no one else on it for one. La Face was superb,
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