 Poster: A snowHead
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| ClareA wrote: |
Zermatt tempting but expensive I believe?
Just been checking out easiski - looks good 
Anyone ever been with a TO called 'Ski 2'? Small company doing trips to one destination only which is Champoluc in the Monte Rosa. They have a British-run ski school in Champoluc, but it's for Ski 2 clients only! |
You can fly into Grenoble - or Lyon, or Geneva, or Paris or train the whole way from UK I think.
Lyon and Grenoble are easy by train or bus. Geneva - hire a car.
Paris - take the TGV
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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Thank you for the clarification juliad, I’d guessed that was probably what you meant but thought I’d best double check
I had a summer holiday in Garmisch as a child and remember absolutely loving it – I can only imagine that in the snow it would be even better!
Thanks for the link and pictures BobinCH – awesome!
Zermatt is somewhere else I was taken on a summer holiday as a child, as well as Briancon, Lauterbrunnen, Kitzbuhel, Alpe D’Huez, Chamonix, La Clusaz, Zell am See, Innsbruck - that’s just what I can remember of the top off my head. Hmm seems to be a pattern 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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Brilliant!!  Thanks juliad!
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| ClareA wrote: |
| I'm beginning to lean towards the Arlberg from 26 March-2 April. One week after UK school holidays, one week before Fasching! School holidays in France but nowhere else in Europe it would seem. |
Ooops! I meant 26 Feb - 5 March! 
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Sounds a perfect time to get away and probably have some fabulous snow! Good luck
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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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Cheers! 
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ClareA, the Arlberg is awesome and it is a good time to go. I'm sure you'll have a fantastic time. If your budget stretches to accommodation in Lech then this would be the best place to base yourself for easy access to the best intermediate terrain IMHO.
The other two villages are much smaller than the resort of Lech and whilst their own skiing areas link into the St Anton area, you still need to catch a bus to get up to Zurs and Lech. Stuben is a very small village on one end of the St Anton circuit but has its own ski area with intermediate skiing and access to some of the best off piste and touring there is! St Christoph is another small "settlement" at the top of a pass. The main chair out of the village takes you straight up and onto the St Anton ski area. These three location options are different so you need to decide what the most important factors are in influencing where you stay. Hope this helps.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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St Christoph is very exclusive and costs an arm and a leg to stay there! Lech is expensive as well but there is a wide range of accommodation available. The best choices are in the St Anton/Nasserain villages, where every single option is probably covered.
I remember going on skis from Lech to St Anton, via Stuben/Zurs - up the Rosskopf and then a long boring drag across towards Zurs. The bus was easier and quicker (sometimes) but I rather liked the warm-up that the cable car route gave me. Is it no longer possible to do this for some reason? I know we always got the bus back but that was mostly because we were too knackered and did not want to risk the long run back from the Madloch(sp) from zurs to Lech.
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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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St.Anton: the best for apre-ski and night life,may become pretty crowded on piste especially in the end of a day.
Stuben-very small but cheaper and nicely connected to St.Anton.
St.Christoph: not a Village,but cluster of very expensive hotels.
Lech: the best for intermediate skiing and snow,but a little bit more expensive.
In general Arlberg is fantastic!
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Samerberg Sue, Lech to St Anton without a bus sounds quite tricky? How did you get up Rosskopf? Without some serious hiking and a steely run down I think you'd be wanting to catch the bus from Zurs to Stuben or Rauz...
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You know it makes sense.
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nozawaonsen, Cable car from the centre of Lech up in the other direction to the main pistes (& Oberlech)- haven't got the piste map in work so I can't check it (Rüfikopf maybe?) Then a very long boring piste which mostly had to be done in a schuß if I remember properly and you come in at the top of Zurs somewhere - where the real fun begins. The only way back on skis was to go up the other side of Zurs and use the long route round from the Madloch (not sure of the spelling) to bring you in at the far end of Lech via Zug. I did it once and had the blisters to prove it as we had to take our skis off and hike the last bit up from Zug to Lech. I think we lost the route and drop too far over to Zug to be honest, the visibility was very iffy as I remember.
I was just trying to point out that you can get around on skis - whether you want to all the time or not is another matter! 
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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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I was skiing different resorts the first week in March last year - Megeve, Les Houches, Portes de Soleil and Flaine, and these were all absolutely fine, no queues at all to speak of, although Les Houches on a sunday was a tactical move to avoid everyone's first day of their hols in Chamonix.
Verbier on the Saturday on the other hand was a nightmare - but it was a fantastic day weather wise and it had just dumped it down with snow the whole of the day before. However the queue for the Medran was about an hour, and only slightly better higher up.
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Poster: A snowHead
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It is still possible to ski between Lech (using the Rüfikopfbahn cablecar) and Zürs and from Zürs back to Lech via Zug (a famous circuit called the White Ring) but it depends on the skier ability level.
I was trying to make the point that if the OP stayed in Stuben or St Christoph, or even St Anton that they would need to get the bus up to Zürs as a minimum. For some intermediates it might be preferable to take the bus all the way to Lech. The Madloch ski route might be too tricky for some intermediates.
To ski from Zürs to Stuben you need to be a pretty decent off piste skier and able to jump the road tunnel! There is no connecting piste and you have to bus back down from Zürs to Stuben or Rauz.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Sorry think I might have been being a bit awkward! Yes White Ring (or Der Weisse Ring- check out those sounds... ) is great fun... Trying to beat out a path from Lech or Zurs to St Anton on skis would be quite core... I'm not saying you couldn't, I'd catch the bus though... And then slope into The Underground for early evening...
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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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nozawaonsen, you weren't being awkward. I just wanted to make it clear for anyone reading that the bus is the only option to and from Zürs if you are staying in Stuben, St Christoph or St Anton. The combat route down is for the hardcore bunch only.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| ClareA wrote: |
pamw,
I am wondering about:
26 Feb-5 Mar in either Austria or Dolomites (hols for 2 French Zones, Switzerland & Czech Republic) or;
5-12 Mar in Dolomites (hols for 1 French Zone, Austria, parts of Germany, Czech Republic, Holland and Belgium).
Switzerland is a possibility, though I'm wondering if Swiss resorts get crowds going over from France and understand it can be pretty pricey? |
Dolomites are amazing, especially the Sella Ronda resorts, I keep going back, even after trying out lots of other places (including Zermatt, Lech, Lake Louise). IMHO it's got an unbeatable combination of ambience, good food, reasonable prices, jaw-dropping scenery and a sense of travelling on skis from village to village. The only downside would be unreliable off-piste, but that's not a problem for me.
Good time to go for snow conditions, but I don't think it will be empty those weeks, local Italian holidays fall in the 5-12 March week, and the area is also popular with Germans on their Fasching break. Maybe the end of Feb week would be quieter.
Switzerland is nice but really pricey, esp as the Swiss Franc has appreciated hugely vs most currencies recently, not so much a problem if you've got Aussie Dollars, but your money will go further in Italy, Austria and smaller French resorts.
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Wed 15-09-10 16:32; edited 1 time in total
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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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Swiss is not known to be crowded but they are generally not large by Alpine standard. Some top Swiss resorts, like Zermatt, St Moritz and Davos, do have unique charm of their own.
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Thanks heaps everyone, lots of food for thought! We're pretty much settled on the Arlberg (although Luigi's Sella Ronda post had me tempted!).
I’ve been researching accommodation in the Lech area, and Zug and Oberlech have come out on top. I've read with interest some of the other Snowheads topics that talk about Zug. It sounds a very appealing place to stay, but I have reservations about the realism of ‘ski in’ for me, given the return options. I’m an early intermediate skier. I’m not nervous, but I am inexperienced - 14 days total skiing experience so far! So if the red route is beyond me that’s trips home on the bus for a week..
I've also read about a return trail to Zug that is described as "a long, switchbacked riverbed-run with a lot of flats and a 300 meter hoof at the end" - the red itinerary??
I’ve been wondering if travelling downhill on chairlifts is permitted, as in that case we/I could always travel back down to Zug on the Zugerberg, although I realise there would then be a walk from the bottom of the chairlift to wherever we’re staying (which if we go to Zug would probably be Chalet Alpenland with Skiworld).
So maybe logic says Oberlech - far better connected both on skis and by lift than Zug. We're not chasing a big apres-scene, but obviously from Oberlech it would be easier to have a look around in the evenings and try to get to know Lech a bit.
Thing is, I’ve read enough about Zug’s charms to become rather biased towards it!
Tricky! 
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