 Poster: A snowHead
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Hunting for that elusive combination of good skiing and a quaint/busy enough village to keep non-skiers (and elderly at that) happy. Heading out over Xmas and New Year and narrowed it down to Verbier/Veysonnaz. Anyone out there Veysonnaz experts? Interested in how easy it is to access 4 Vallees region from the village lift - we're all advanced skiers who love skiing long distances and I'm aware that it is a bit of a hike over to Verbier. How is the local skiing if we don't want to go over there every day? Is there anything in the village at all in the way of shops?
And as for Verbier, if we stay near Medran lifts, how easy is it for non-skiers to get into centre of things? And is there anything other than bars and pubs and bars? Grateful all advice - many thanks.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Going from Veysonnaz into the Verbier lift system will take over an hour at full speed. Being mainly cat tracks, it is also not an interesting hour and neither is going back the other way from Siviez. If you are intending to ski mainly in Verbier then stay in Verbier. That said, Verbier's piste skiing is not especially interesting and the pistes over in the Printze section of the area are actually much better, especially if steeper groomed runs are your thing. Piste de l'ours is much more fun than almost anything over the Verbier side. If on the other hand you are mainly intending to ski off piste then Verbier is a better place to be based. There is much less interesting stuff over the Printze side, although there is still more than in many other resorts.
Can't help with Veysonnaz town, I'm afraid.
Have you considered Nendaz - better skiing access to Verbier and Veysonnaz? Much cheaper than Verbier as well.
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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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drumreagh,
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Heading out over Xmas and New Year and narrowed it down to Verbier/Veysonnaz
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Have you checked availability for what you're looking for in Verbier for Christmas New Year - there may not be many options left this late, which will help your decision making.
Stay near the Medran and you can get to shops, pubs, bars and restos easily. There's a super swimming pool and a little museumy place that can all be reached by the free bus service. How elderly are the elderly? - I think if they're over 75 they get a FREE lift pass, and there's a number of places they could meet you for lunch - they can even get to the top of Mt Fort without skis.
There is good off piste over towards Veysonnaz, i.e. Greppon Blanc, Col d'Etygeon, some of it you will need to be shown though.
Nendaz does sound like it's worth a look for you.
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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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Oh! and welcome to Snowheads!
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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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drumreagh, Veysonnaz is very quiet. I'd say Verbier wins easily on everything except cost. If your non skiers are active they can relatively easily come up to some of the best mountain restaurants (Chez Dany, Marmotte) to join you for lunch.
Be careful with Nendaz. If you don't have a car it's a painful ski to siviez or the bus every morning.
Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Tue 12-10-10 21:13; edited 1 time in total
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Many thanks all of you for your advice - just can't get that kind of feedback from a ski map! Looks like I'm going to have to suffer with the party animals in Verbier - although what they'll make of my 80-yr old Irish mother, heavens know. Really appreciate tip on mountain restaurants - sort of thing that goes down very well.
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Have you considered La Tzoumas as an alternative to Verbier? Much quieter then Verbier and while the skiing in the immediate area is not too challenging, you can ski home daily down the Vallon d'Arby which is slightly more fun...
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drumreagh,
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although what they'll make of my 80-yr old Irish mother
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she'll fit in perfectly in Le Pub Mont Fort - happy hour from 1600-1700 half price beer and wine!
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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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Be careful with Nendaz. If you don't have a car it's a painful ski to siviez or the bus every morning.
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If you do Nendaz then the early bus is your friend on holiday weeks. Either ski back from Siviez or sit in the restaurant by the bus stop and drink heavily until the queue goes down in the evening.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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This
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If you do Nendaz then the early bus is your friend on holiday weeks. Either ski back from Siviez or sit in the restaurant by the bus stop and drink heavily until the queue goes down in the evening.
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is possibly the best advice you will ever hear concerning staying in Nendaz in a peak week. Even if you have a car you will have to leave Nendaz early otherwise you'll be parking so far from the lift you'll still need to catch the bus.
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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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| geepee wrote: |
| and only did the ski back to Nendaz the first day, with some nasty brown stuff to get back to Nendaz. |
On this topic, there have been rumours about them installing snow making on the Prarion slopes for a few years now - apparently it was agreed subject to some agreement from the WWF (not the Wrestlers...  ) but they haven't been able to sort it out? Anyone know if this is ever going to happen?
The link out of Nendaz ain't great so the sooner they put in place snow making on Prarion and replace the long drag to the Plan du Fou cable car the better!
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The Veysonnaz area has some good on-piste skiing - better than most in the Verbier bowl. However it is served by a lot of drag lifts so if you're like me and prefer a good sit down between runs it isn't necessarily the best choice.
It is a lot quieter than Verbier on-piste, with non-existent queues the day I was there, which compared to my experience of Verbier on a sunny weekend day was world's apart - I had the best part of an hour queue to get up the Medran.
Verbier however wins hands down as 'a place to stay' - Veysonnaz is very quiet and there really didn't seem to be much there from memory.
As others have said, it is a bit of a long, reasonably uninteresting journey over to Verbier (or , but it's not too bad.
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FAQ
If I hadn't been driving I would be with you with staying in a bar till the queues went down. 
