 Poster: A snowHead
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I live in the US, but will be spending most of next winter in London. I want to know if there are any ski areas within a driving distance from London. Those in Scotland seem to be about a six hour drive, a little too much for a regular weekend trip. I hope to ski the Alps as well while there, but I don't think I would be able to make that trip every weekend. I ski at least 25 days a season here, and want to come at least close to that while living in England.
Thanks for your help.
TomS
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Let the plane / train take the strain........... Having grown up in a Scottish Ski resort I can tell you that between reading the ski conditions and arriving at the resort, the conditions will / can have changed dramatically. It's generaly cheaper to fly to a european resort. If you plan ahead then flying / train is cheaper than the petrol cost and the snow conditions are generaly more stable.
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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!
That's my little geography joke, sorry.
You could try Hemel Hempstead, it's around an hour from London, depending on how you define London. Plenty of people here racking up more than 25 days per season at Hemel.
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Not sure what you would be driving to get to Scottish resorts in 6 hours - I'd say you would be looking at more like 8 - 10 hours depending on time / traffic.
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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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It's a 2-hour flight from East Midlands to Salzburg, so I would assume that London to Innsbruck/Grenoble or somewhere within an hour from a choice of ski resorts would be less than that. OK so not quite within the 2-4 hour window but as near as the OP is going to get. Door to door for me from home to Kitzbuhel was well under 6 hours, far less than driving or train to Scotland.
Just depends how deep the OP's pockets are if he can manage 25 days during the season on this basis.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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You can fly with very nice price from London to Chambéry, and from there U have alot of choice for skiing in the french alps, 
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TomS, depending on where you are working, you can leave after work on a Friday night, fly to Geneva or Zurich, rent a car and be in a ski resort by a sort-of reasonable hour that evening. you can usually ski all day on your last day and get an evening flight back to london and be back in work the following day
you can use this just to do a Saturday and Sunday, although that works out pretty expensive. i generally try to get a 3 or 4 day weekend in every month, plus a week-long trip at some point. haven't managed that this year but mainly because the snow hasn't really been conducive in the latter part of the season
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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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If snow and traffic conditions are right, you might be able to make the tow up at Yadmoss.
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Assuming the flights are still going to be running Sky Work airlines fly from London City to Bern airport, From Bern it's just a 45 min drive to the Jungfrau Region, In theory you could fly out Friday night after work and Fly Back Sunday evening after skiing no problem, because the flights get in fairly late I'd suggest a hire car and drive to Lauterbrunnen or Grindelwald, cost wise this is probably one of the cheapest options even easier and cheaper would be going to Interlaken, from Bern airport, only 30 mins by car or you could take the train, biggest advantage of using Bern airport are the quick throughput times, I've been off the plane and out of the airport having collected bagage and checked passport in under 10 mins, check in wise you only need an hour or so at Bern
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Chamonix is only just over an hour drive from Geneva airport.. and that has a total ski area that could take weeks to ski.
If you dont mind flying late then you can pick up silly deals with Easyjet into Geneva and then its just a car journey...
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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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TomS, the sad answer is that there are no reliable resorts as you might get, say, in a 2-4 hour drive from NYC 
All of the above are feasible, but it won't be quite the same experience as you're used to...
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Just to make things clear there are no ski resorts in Britain except in Scotland, other than tiny single lift fields in the north which open occasionally. Even in Scotland the highest mountains don't get much above 1,200metres and the resorts are very small by Alpine standards and the snow is unreliable (it is better to go, if you want to try, when you hear the snow is good, rather than planning in advance). But since you will be over here anyway it is worth giving them a try once as some wierdos like me do somehow enjoy it.
The Alps, however, are cheap to get to and in general cheaper to ski in than the USA (but Swiss exchange rate is so bad now you'd be better going elsewhere.
If you travel out Friday late afternoon you could have a weekend skiing in some resorts and return by a late flight Friday night without missing work. That would be tight, though, and most hotels prefer to book Saturday to Saturday unless you book at the last minute. Most people here ski a week at a time (if you plan carefully rather than accepting a readymade package you can easily do 7 1/2 or 8 days for 7 nights).
If you like skiing off piste it is not avalanche patrolled over here but is much more extensive than the USA (and we don't have out of bounds). But in that case you would do well to hire a guide and many places you can join a group of your own standard if you don't have lots of money or 4 or 5 friends to make up your own group.
In any case it will be worth coming on this website as you will get lots of friendly advice and perhaps find people to ski with.
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You know it makes sense.
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$$$
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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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Looks like TomS hasn't been back. 
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Poster: A snowHead
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snowball, Often happens. It's really irritating when folk have given their time to answer
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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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holidayloverxx, Maybe he's read the posts and thought shuck it, I'll find another job.
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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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The Beckton Alps?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Sorry for the delayed response. I've been swamped with work. Thanks for all the replies. It looks like my best bet is a few trips to the Alps. That's going to be bit tough. because I am going to be on a tight budget,
Best,
Tom
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TomS, time it right and your flights could be cheap as chips
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TomS, Thanks for coming back!
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