Which Resort ?

A snowHead

Hello

I would be really grateful for some advice.

The two girls we ski with require easy slopes, and I would like a snow sure resort. We have been to Valdesare, Tignes and Corcheval. Corcheval was really good and by far the best as the girls could ski the easy slopes and had a lot of variety.

Question:- Where else could we go which is as good as Corcheval for the girls i.e. lots of easy slopes and is a snow sure high altitude resort.

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks John

A snowHead

Hi John,

I can only recommend France or Canada I'm afraid. But they'll be a SH or two along soon who can talk about other destinations.

As always, it depends on the time of year but...

France :

Alpe d'Huez would be brilliant for your group as the resort itself is surrounded by greens & very easy blues but is bathed in sunlight later in the season so the snow gets eaten up.
Avoriaz is great, high enough, lots of easy stuff.
La Plagne also great for your group, high & snowsure although somewhat lifeless in the evenings. It is almost all blues & easy reds.
Les Arcs great for easy cruising.
La Tania - great place to stay, easy slopes to & from and access to Courch & Meribel which your group are already comfortable in.

Canada :

Whistler awesome
Tremblant great for early intermediates.

Let me know if you want specifics.

SnowMonkey69

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

bit confused as a similar thread/post in the Resort forum

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Louis, the OP had cross posted to two forums, I've removed the other post

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

johnbushrod, Alpe D'Huez would tick the box as far as the skiing is concerned. Not so good for posing, though, as Courchevel, if that is important.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Livigno might suit. Or Flaine

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

PeteMan's queries were:

Some questions for you.
Does it have to be France?
Do you have a budget?
What time of year?
Do you mind skiing the same slopes twice or more?
Any other requirements like ski in/out, transfer time, village charm, board type, etc?

Pete

PeteMan, sorry about that. As you can see though, achilles has fished them out of the bin. Hope you don't find them too smelly Wink

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Nice one! It did occur to me afterwards to ask if the OP cares much after about After Ski?

FWIW I spent a lot of time looking at easy snowsure, intermediary, ski in / out resorts outside of France. Obergurgl was looking favourite for Austria and Cervinia for Italy (which is where we are heading for New Year). St Anton / Lech also looked good (slightly dodgy run down to resort) and obviously a higher price tag.

Pete

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Hi Thanks for advice so far, France is not essentila, probably January no specific budget within reason, ski in ot would be good.

Any comparrison with Corcheval i.e easier or harder as fare as greens and blues are concerned would be helpful

Thanks
John

snow reports

johnbushrod, a while since I went to Courchevel, haven't been there since the Russians moved in. And it's quite a while since I went to ADH - but IIRC the nature of the ADH bowl meant that there was a nice gradual change from green to blue there - and if anything they were probably easier than Courchevel. That's for the bowl area itself.

Hi
Went to Corcheval last year and it was nice for the ladies as the greens were nice for them and a few blues. The other good thing was that they were long and it meant that they could travel a good way without going up and down same runs, is this true of ADH ?
Also would you have any experience of Cervinia, Livingo or Avoriaz as they have been suggested and I have been looking at them, I know it is difficult to campare but advice would be appreciated as resorts without this easier aspect would be impossible for our parters.

Thanks again

You know it makes sense.

johnbushrod, Alpe D'Huez Piste Map. Note particularly the area immediately above the resort, but there are other areas for gentle skiing, too. In contrast, The Tunnel is probably the toughest black piste I know.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

johnbushrod, No experience of the other resorts recommended but we went to Avoriaz in March. Found a great variety of runs including a good number of easy blues and it was possible to go to a number of different areas on these runs so you got a feeling of travelling around a resort (not just up and down same runs).

The only downside tho was it was busy from late morning onwards. We assume this was because it was a poor snow year and people travelled up to Avoriaz from the lower resorts.

We are going to try La Plagne next ( over New Year) but would love to go back to Avoriaz particularly if the snow conditions were good enough to keep the crowds in their lower resorts Very Happy

A snowHead

johnbushrod, Livigno has much to offer beginner/improvers with plenty of blues (no greens there, but the slope classifications suggest the blues more like greens and the reds more akin to toughish blues IMHO). Can get a good sense of travel, as opposed to just up and down. I'd say Courchevel (from experience) is certainly harder than Livigno. The resort is also two separate, unconnected mountains that one has to link via bus - although that is extremely easy. Long transfer too!! All said, I'd recommend it from what you've suggested you're after. There are many ski-on/out options with hotels and apartments backing onto the slopes. Nice and high, so good snow-reliability. Some great places to go out in the evenings.

You might take a look at Folgarida/Marilleva in Italy (stay in Folgarida) - certainly meets much of your criteria if you take the Madonna di Campiglio pass. Loads of travel, not overly demanding (unless you want it). I've been twice and both times the conditions were stunning (Jan this year when elsewhere wasn't great and 2 years ago in late March. No ski-in/out, but generally easy to get to the slopes. Not the busiest resort for night life, but it is there of a sorts. The search function will bring up more info.

A snowHead

hi, can give another vote for Folgarida/Marilleva. Been there twice and loved it, lots of variety, stunning Brenta Dolomiti scenery, great friendly italians. but don't stay in marilleva, we did and theres NOTHING there!! fine for a few days short break but thats it! as previous said you can get the lift pass that includes Madonna, plus this also means you can do a trip down the valley to Passo Tonale as well, which again is high and very snowsure...... buses run down the valley every day....

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Whistler if possible... would offer everything you need and more... phenomenal place!

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The next door neighbour of 3V (Courchevel, Meribel, Val Thoren) is Valmorel known as one of the few resorts dominated by the green runs. It has 152km piste and very long all the way to St Francis. It is one of the few places where on can cruise all day without the fear of being running into. 3V has 600km piste and Courchevel is about 200km. Valmorel is therefore a decent size resort and is far better a place for early intermediates and for relaxing skiing. Valmorel shares the same junction as Val Thoren.

When it comes to easy resorts for the beginners and early intermediates the French has more choices. The other spring into mind is Risoul/Vars.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

pila in italy is good and you have the option of discovering more of the aosta valley wich is beautiful and varied with courmayeur and la tuille in the valley.
and of course the hot chocolate is the best in the world.

You'll need to Register first of course.

johnbushrod, I would recommend Les Arcs, plenty of nice Blues to keep everyone happy and some more challenging stuff as well. In January it should be pretty snow sure although if you are worried stay in 1950 or 2000

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Hi everyone
Thanks very much for the promt and useful advice.

Help!!

Which Resort ?

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