 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi guys
We have 2 children who will be 4 and 5/6 with 2 weeks ski school under their belts already, and are looking for a long stay ski for a whole month in January 2012.
I have found places suitable in the following resorts and wondered what your vote would be and why? Priorities for us are good ski schools for children, accessibility for ski area and food shops/restaurants, affordability in resort, and good snow conditions. Obviously horrendous minus 20+ conditions would not be fun either, but as we're planning on a month extended stay we can be flexible and not ski every day! One other thing would be good lifts to suitable green or friendly blues, so we can take them out ourselves too. We both board, but I can ski easy stuff on skis to help with the lifts with them.
So our shortlist with accommodation so far is:
Europe - Tignes
Canada - Tremblant, Sun Peaks, Kimberley and Panorama.
Any inside info which would be useful to us would be fantastic!
Thanks in advance...
SBM x
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Can only really speak to Kimberley which probably meets your spec for kids but the grown -ups might get a bit bored. Doesn't really get too cold except in freakish conditions as its quite low. For Canada I'd say Big White and Silver Star would also meet your needs. Don't know how cold Sun Peaks gets but as its not in the Rockies/Purcells I'd guess its not as severe as Banff/LL/KH.
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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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Courchevel 1850.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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 not that affordable - though if you could get suitable accommodation, it'd be excellent. 1650 would be OK too.
Tignes would have the snow, and there's plenty of good tuition, but it can be pretty bleak in January and town-wise doesn't have a whole heap going for it, for a month's stay for a family. Somewhere a bit lower, with a couple of trees here and there, might be more enjoyable.
Do you want to be "ski in/out" - that obviously limits choice. But if not, then a town such as Morzine or St Gervais, along with a car to take yourself to the slopes/lifts, might make for a more interesting all-round stay.
Personally, if I were looking to do exactly that right now I'd try to find somewhere in Italy - but I know nothing about Italian resorts, to make any suggestions, I've only been to Cortina which probably isn't suitable. But the Dolomites are fantastically beautiful and it's easy to learn enough Italian to for shopping, ski school setc, if you don't speak it already.
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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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Thanks for replies so far. To be honest the last few times we've been in Europe the snow has been ropey. Hence I'm leaning towards the US or Canada. The other thing is I want to steer clear of resorts I've visited in the past, as most of my boarding was done across the US, Canada and Europe with my ex, we went at least twice a year for ten years. So 3 valleys is out, as is whistler (though my hubby and I did go there - my 3rd visit - 2 yrs back. I love it but want a change ESP for a month). Kimberley I know from 10 yrs ago when it was a locals hill on visiting for a day from Fernie, but I know it's changed a lot since then.
Silver Star I do have an option on interestingly. The trouble with SS and SP is the long journey, with 2 flights, but we have family in Calgary and can always stop over a night there I suppose, it's just hard only staying 1 iykwim! Hmmm I'm leaning towards these two at the moment though. The flights are pricey for the two too. Hmmmm.....
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Hi, I can really recommend Tremblant, I went there three years ago, the schools were great and schooling tended to last for a whole day, with lunch included. The food was good too and the runs were mainly blues and reds with a few blacks on the other side of the mountain. These grades are the European equivalents of the American grades. However Tremblant was quite pricey, I would also recommend Mammoth Mountain in California, check out http://www.greatskiholidays.co.uk/search/resort-families%20food As the exchange rate for the USA is quite good, if it stays the same, then Mammoth may be the better option.
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I wouldn't do Tremblant for a week though, especially in Janurary.
Not knowing where you have been and wish to avoid, I'd say the Summit county of Colorado would be quite perfect. You can get a multi-resort season's pass for not too much. And January being low season, you should have no trouble finding a good size aparment without pawning your children.
The area is well known for good ski schools. And the hills have enough variety from easy to challenging.
Only thing is, if you've done 10 years skiing, you probably have been there and don't want to go back...
Last edited by After all it is free  on Mon 11-04-11 2:58; edited 1 time in total
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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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snowboardingmum, Tignes always a good choice due to it's size, height and glacier. Other Euro ideas... Nendaz might be worth a look. It's a cheaper way to access the Verbier/4V area than staying in Verbier. Portes du Soleil another big area where snow should be ok in January. Maybe St Anton if you've not been to Austria? Assuming you'll want somewhere pretty big to keep you interested for a month. Whistler's great and Aspen's ok if expensive. Are the other NA resorts big enough?
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I think you'd actually really like Sainte Foy.
Good ski school, mostly ski-in/ski-out, resort prices not too bad, good snow record, plenty of trees, village feel, etc.
Fairly small area (but given the Canadian resorts you're looking at then I guess you're not too fussed about that) but easy access to a collossal amount of skiing around the valley (Tignes, Val, Les Arcs, La Plagne, La Rosiere, La Thuile).
Come in January and you'll have whole pistes to yourselves at times - same applies to the powder! 
Not self-promoting here as we don't do anything suitable for a month-long stay, but I think you'd find accommodation to suit - lots of nice, spacious, 2-bedroom apartments.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Panorama - your kids will have skied out all they can do by midday on day 1. The move from nursery slopes is to a choice of the World Cup slalom piste, to an ungroomed run or to a huge advanced 'funpark'. From here you have the very few red runs, then to diamond and dd. These are interesting. Take cliff glades for instance, in the middle of the resort, you enter the run then find you are on cliffs in trees - pretty obvious once you think about it, but it's still a surprise to find yourself in this situation. There were no tracks when we did it, challenging isn't quite the best description, but I can't find a polite way that's better. Cliffs and trees are a feature of this resort, so it's not the most child friendly.
Add to this the slowness of the lifts, top to bottom is 1200m, but 5 top to bottom runs are a challenge for a full day. The village has one shop, which doesn't sell meat or fish and has a delivery once a week, so many other essentials sell out quickly. The restaurants don't cope, kids have to be out by 8:30, service was about 2 hours wait for food.
Have a look at Kappl or Galtur, small villages near Ischgl. Snow is good, there's the option of skiing in Ischgl some days, but both villages are child friendly and more protected from the elements in January.
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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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snowboardingmum, if you wanted to do an interior BC hill you could fly to Calgary and drive in checking out a couple of places en route rather than dealing with a second flight.
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Saalbach, or Ischgl/Kitzbuehel if you want more of a 'town' feel, although accomm might be too expensive in the latter too. The extra cost of accomm in St Anton would be well worth it if you like offpiste, but I reckon Saalbach and Ischgl have better on piste skiing. Saalbach has the advantage of Kohlmais, a whole area of easy skiing which would be great for the progression.
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You know it makes sense.
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snowboardingmum, a whole month sounds idyllic but cabin fever can set in if you're in one of those ski in/out locations - I predict (without knowing you of course) that you may end up craving or needing a bit of "normality" not too far away. So, I'd suggest somewhere that fits your needs and is within striking distance of a big town or even in a big town. Resorts like Les Houches, Morzine, Les Gets might fit the bill for France or there are almost too many places in Austria to mention within short distances of Salzburg, Innsbruck, Bregenz.
Tremblant in January? I went there once and my eyeballs froze. Further west better but this is January you're talking about so you might just hit a really cold patch.
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To be honest the last few times we've been in Europe the snow has been ropey
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don't know when you went but I'd say, based on say the last 5 years, unusual in Jan.
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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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Jane L, I don't know Panorama well but your description sounds OTT -there are no Reds in Canada AIUI and its one of the places in Eastern BC with a reputation for fairly mellow skiing. I just checked the lift map and Cliff Glades is marked as a double black which means in most places its pretty damn serious - check some of the double black terrain at other BC resorts for comparison. I don't doubt that in resort catering options are limited and I've never seen a positive review of this aspect but to suggest its all ultra extremo is bizzare are best. Not the best place to stay for a month for cabin fever reasons though anyway.
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Poster: A snowHead
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I can only speak for Panorama, and it would be perfect for the kids. Between us all in the family, we've had more than 50 days in the ski school and every one of those has been brilliant. It's been consistently the best ski school that I've used. There are plenty of beginner and improver runs on the front of the mountain to keep young kids occupied, but unless you're prepared to do the gnarly double-black stuff, the adults might get bored.
Whichever resort you choose, check the minimum age for skiing very carefully, though, as many start ski school at 5. And you might want to check non-skiing childcare if you need to use it - most 4 year olds won't ski all day.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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snowboardingmum, Why not US and Mammoth mountain? http://www.mammothmountain.com/ a great skiresort in California about 6 hours driving from San Francisco, there is ski in/ ski out chalets, and very snow sure, todays snow deep is 700cm, and they use to close at mid june, this season they will close at 4th july
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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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freeheelskier, Not sure how relevant this year's snow depth is to a trip in January 2012. Other than that its a fair point - California can be quite warm even in January and has lots of resorts that would tick multiple boxes including great kids' ski schools and provided you have a hire car plenty of other stuff to do and relatively affordable accomodation i.e. don't rent an appartment slopeside but the towns have plenty of options.
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| freeheelskier wrote: |
| snowboardingmum, Why not US and Mammoth mountain? http://www.mammothmountain.com/ a great skiresort in California about 6 hours driving from San Francisco, there is ski in/ ski out chalets, and very snow sure, todays snow deep is 700cm, and they use to close at mid june, this season they will close at 4th july |
Mammoth can be a good choice. But...
it's a lot more than 6 hrs from San Francisco!!!
You'll be much better off to use Los Angeles as a gateway city. 
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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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Sun Peaks and Silver Star.
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FAQ
