 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi Snowheads,
Planning our annual ski trip for 8 or so 40-55 year old intermediate male piste bashers in late January or early Feb. By intermediate I mean we have all skied one or two weeks for plenty of years and like to be challenged, but prefer the comfort of a piste.
We have skied the 3-Valleys out of Meribel for the past three years and are looking for something with a bit more soul. The area needs to be extensive enough to keep us interested for a week, have good atmosphere and decent mountain restaurants. We like to be catered having left our wives at home for the week.
Nightlife is not essential, we ski from 9 to 5 with a lunchbreak, and a bottle of wine in front of a fire is quite enough nightlife for us!
I am thinking about St Anton or Selva, but I would welcome any other suggestions of what should be on our shortlist.
Thanks for your ideas in anticipation...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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St Anton would be a great choice but Zermatt would be top of my list.
Great skiing, incredible scenery and fantastic mountain restaurants.
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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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We like to be catered having left our wives at home for the week.
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Zermatt sounds terrific. Infinitely preferable to Meribel, I'd say!
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Portes du soleil, Rachel and Dean at www.mountainhighs.co.uk or try PMing Dallypaul for outstanding accommodation both are great
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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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Our boys trip is to Les Arcs every year for past 5 years: decided on La Tania / 3V in 2010 ( albeit familys continued in Arcs).
How about a role reversal for you guys?
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DavidYacht, Zermatt will score right at the top for "soul", extensive area and decent mountain restaurants. It also has fabulous scenery. Cost and range/availability of chalets will not score so highly - some friends stayed in a VIP chalet there which was good.
As per under a new name you will surely be able to find some great chalets in the PdS and it is a huge ski area. Not sure about soul (Morzine maybe?) and we've not found any great mountain restaurants although there must be some in area that big. The main downside for PdS in my opinion, is that it is pretty low, although Avoriaz seems to get decent snow depths and end Jan/start Feb should be pretty reliable.
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Espace Killy would seem an obvious choice, base yourself in ValD has more soul than Tignes imho
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DavidYacht,
Sounds like you are wanting a break from France. St Anton is great but in saying you ski pistes this would have to mean 'High alpine ski route' which are the St Anton equivalent of Itinaires, well marked but not pisted or covered by piste only insurance. Otherwise St Anton diminishes considerably in its attraction.
Would agree with Zerrmatt. Ischgl and Verbier are both pretty good though if nightlife is not your bag Verbier can be done considerably cheaper and just as pleasantly from Nendaz.
A personal opinion is that the skiing holiday experience in Espace Killy and les Arcs is not that different from 3V if you are loking for a change.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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DavidYacht I have been part of a similar group, travelling at a similar time for many years (we never seem to get any better at skiing and definitely get worse at staying out all night drinking) and have done all of the big 3 resorts a number of times (Verbier, Val D'Isere, and St Anton). IMHO the on piste skiing is best in Val (and Tignes of course), Apres ski in St Anton is legendary and has to be seen to be believed but I personally prefer Verbier for the all round package of great piste skiing, reasonable apres ski (live bands in the Farinet and dancing on the bar is enough to entertain us these days along with a couple of pool tables in Big Ben's) and some raltively easy challenges to push yourselves a bit (Mont Fort, Tortin etc).
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St Anton is great but in saying you ski pistes this would have to mean 'High alpine ski route' which are the St Anton equivalent of Itinaires, well marked but not pisted or covered by piste only insurance
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I'm a bt confused. 285km of pistes and 180km of ski routes = a lot of skiing to keep most folks amused for at least a week (not even taking into account the off piste). Even the ski routes are more often than not pisted, with the exception of the black routes. In fact I would argue that SOME of the ski routes are easier than some of the pistes.
Love St Anton and have been going on boys trip there every year since 2003. Cracking area to explore and apres is fantastic. Have you thought of adding Saalbach or Ishcgl to the list?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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DavidYacht, Forgot to add that if nightlife not your thing but decent meal etc is, you could try eithetr Hotel Mondschein or Hotel Hubertushof in Stuben. Part of the Arlberg circuit but cheaper base than St Anton and deserted slopes on your doorstep
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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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boabski,
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I'm a bt confused. 285km of pistes and 180km of ski routes = a lot of skiing to keep most folks amused for at least a week (not even taking into account the off piste). Even the ski routes are more often than not pisted, with the exception of the black routes. In fact I would argue that SOME of the ski routes are easier than some of the pistes.
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Yep not explained very well by me. should have said 'would have to include high alpine routes'. Don't think St Anton would be very interesting without these.
I would agree that some of the ski routes are easier than some of the pistes but from memory they make a distinction between two different types of ski route one of which is sometimes pisted and usually pretty easy.
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T Bar, must be the heat. Pretty sure the red routes are pisted (not daily) and the black routes are left alone, which I can testify to this year 
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You know it makes sense.
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Thanks Snowheads, and please keep the suggestions coming.
T-Bar is right that we are probably looking for a break from France.
So if we follow the advice we are looking at St Anton, Zermatt or Verbier all of which look like interesting prospects ...
So my next question has to be, can any Snowheads recommend and Catered Chalet operators in these resort, or specific Catered Chalets for around 8, convenience to the main slopes is probably more important to us than proximity to night life?
As a trade I can thoroughly recommend Chalet Sorbier in Meribel operated by Ski Cuisine.
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brian
brian
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For intermediate piste bashers wouldn't the Skiwelt or Amade or Dolmiti superski be more appropriate?
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Poster: A snowHead
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8 or so 40-55 year old intermediate male piste bashers
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Ischgl fits the bill.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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DavidYacht, If you're restricting yourselves to catered chalets near the piste, you'll need to dig around for St Anton (although there will possibly be some at the Nasserein part of town - try this site http://www.stantonchalets.co.uk/search_results.asp ). We've never done the catered chalet thing for St Anton as we tend to book independently. Flight to Innsbruck, private transfer to resort and an hour later you're there - no messing about waiting for coaches or other flights. Some of the guys regularly stay at the Hotel Post. A couple of us stayed at Haus Angelika this year which is probably best location in St Anton - only b&b though. Plenty opf eating options in St Anton from cheap pizza joints/tex mex to fine dining (restaurants in the ski museum and the wellness centre get fantastic reputaions). Can't help on the catered chalet thing though
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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.
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brian
brian
Guest
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kitenski, whatever he means about soul, I'll wager Cervinia doesn't have it. 
Zermatt is wonderful but for someone used to the 3Vs could fail on the piste-bashing-linkage (although I haven't been since the Furi-Gornergrat link was put in which should make things a lot better in that regard).
I'm surprised some of the regular Austriophiles haven't arrived here.
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I don't think that the "piste bashing linkage" is the be all and end all ... looking at the Zermatt piste map there appear to be two or three discrete areas, presumably each of these would keep us busy for a day or so, especially if we checked out Cervinia for a day.
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brian
brian
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DavidYacht, undoubtedly.
Definitely scores max on the mountain restaurants front. Be picky about location, the village is big and spread out, some of it a long way from the lifts. Everybody should go there at least once though, so might as well be now.
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I'm going to be slightly heretical and say that I wasn't that impressed with the piste skiing in Zermatt. The village is amazing and beautiful, the scenery astonishing and apparently the mountain restaurants are excellent (I suspect I didn't chose well for the 3 places I sampled during the week). But for a world class resort I thought the piste skiing was decidedly average. Disjointed and a bit samey, served by a lift network which had some very dated bottlenecks. I was also sick of clumping around the village in ski boots by the end of the week as ski-convenient it understandably isn't.
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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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brian, Cervinia may not have soul but it does have Chalet Etoile, the best mountain restaurant in the Alps! One of the pleasures of Zermatt is being able to pop across the border and enjoy a fabulous hot chocolate, Osso Bucco and bottle of Chianti on the Cervinia side. The pistes on the Italian side are also great for cruising in the sunshine.
With the new link all the areas are now linked together and can be accessed from the Kleine Matterhorn gondola. For piste skiing it's much better than Verbier, where once past Siviez its just a procession of drag lifts.
There's something special about Zermatt - I agree with you, everyone should experience it.
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Supertravel have some fantastic chalets in St Anton and the food and wine is top notch! We've stayed in Rosanna for the past two trips and its great, although a good 5min walk to the piste.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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St Anton's ace, but it's the offpiste which makes it, so you won't be getting the most from it. I'd say Ischgl or Saalbach/Hinterglemm.
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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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BTW I dont like Off Piste as I have a huge fear of DYING and have had plenty to keep me busy on a week long trip in St A
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I'll be keeping an eye on this thread. Several of us hit the big 5 0 next year and so are planning to have a special trip. A week in St. A has been mooted and it is on the bucket list.
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You know it makes sense.
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halfhand, take money and enjoy!
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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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stanton, they are old (50) they want a fire not skirt chasing.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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they are old (50) they want a fire not skirt chasing
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slippers and a pipe!
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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DavidYacht I think you should keep Selva on your shortlist. There aren't many catered chalets there but Ski Total are quite reasonable. The skiing is excellent for intermediates with miles of uncrowded pistes and a huge terrain to cover. The scenery is just brilliant and the food is cheaper than elsewhere. You might also look at Arabba. The famous Sella Ronda is worth doing but is so popular that you may encounter queues. Most of the pistes are not challenging, even those graded black.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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I am in a similar situation where I arrange a ski trip for around ten 37-45 years olds each year. We range in ability from very good skiers and boarders to a few (experienced) but yet not too confident stragglers who don’t seem to get any better.
We love our snow but we also enjoy a good meal and a bottle of vin Rouge in the evening. We do tend to have the odd night where it gets a bit silly and some of us lost a ski day last year because of it
I have started to book apartments in the last few years on the basis that we no longer like sharing rooms because of the snoring. Last years I booked 3 apartments in the same floor of a chalet and we had 8 bedrooms for 8 people (we actually had sleeping for 21 people including the lounges so we had loads of space to put our stuff and put our feet up). The cost of the apartments came to £160 each for a week.
We have gone to chatel in the last few years on the PdS and it has been absolutely brilliant. There are several good restaurants with one (can’t remember the name) being as good as anything I have been to on a ski trip. There are also 2-3 very lively bars if you do decide to be silly.
The skiing is excellent and is one of the biggest areas in the world. Super Chatel is right on the outskirts of the PdS and although you can ski to the main ski areas very quickly not many people make the trip to Chatel so you have one of the emptiest and best ski areas you will ever see. The only thing that works against it is a high % of drag lifts if you are on a board (me, drat) but for skiers is it fantastic.
If you get sick of the drags just ski round to morgine, morzine and avoriaz.
I will definitely be going back next year for the lads ski trip and cant recommend it high enough.
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This is an interesting thread as it fits with what I am looking for.
I love to eat up the mileage and look for challenging Reds/Blacks, so Three Valleys is brilliant for that. I have also been to Les Arcs and La Plagne and both of these are excellent for the same sort of skiing.
However I too am looking for something different. The obvious choice is Espace Killy, but have also considered PdS (too many buses, too low?) or somewhere which isn't France, but I have to admit to being clueless outside of France. St Anton looks good but I've heard it is very expensive.
What does anyone think about Alpe D'Huez, does that fit the criteria?
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kosciosco, I've not been to st Anton but it's hard to believe it could be more expensive than the 3 Valleys!
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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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I started this thread and neglected to mention that we had previously had two boys trips to ADH. I am a great fan of ADH, particularly in late January and early February. The skiing is very varied with some landmark runs, notably the Tunnel and the Sarenne, there are some good mountain restaurants and although the resort is a bit bland there are some decent bars.
It may be heresy but I think I prefer ADH to Meribel so long as the Sarenne is open, I think this to do with the soul thing!
Ref. St Anton, one advantage of boys trips is that the wallet is a little less tight than a family trip! In our case we are unlikely to rule out a venue because of cost.
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St Anton's not as expensive as some of the French resorts from what I've heard other guests saying (having never skiied/boarded in France I can't comment personally).
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FAQ
