 Poster: A snowHead
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Why are Brits so obsessed with it?
Yes it is potentially convenient and I'm sure it reduces the faff factor when you have kids to marshall. But often it's not true slope access immediately to/from the boot room, it might put you on runs you'd otherwise avoid at beginning or end of the day and it often means you're in a property which is inconveniently located for other amenities or up sh:t creek when snow cover fails. Oh and you probably pay a significant premium for it and may be in a monstrosity of a building so good luck with that wish list of "charming, cheap and ski in/out".
I can think of places where you might be suckered into paying a fortune for a ski in/out place and find you're a very long walk or a taxi ride from the nearest bar or restaurant.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Der, walking in ski boots is really hard.
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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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| Quote: |
and find you're a very long walk or a taxi ride from the nearest bar or restaurant.
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well there's plenty of information available now to prevent people getting nasty shocks of that kind, if they take the trouble to do their homework. It may not matter to some people, being a long walk from other facilities, either because they're not interested in the other facilities or because they enjoy a walk of an evening, comfortably shod in walking boots.
Brits are obsessed with ski in/out because they are often in resort without their cars. If you can drive to the lifts - and if the resort provides convenient and inexpensive parking - that's probably ideal.
Getting on and off ski buses with kids and skis can be horrendous. Queuing for busy valley-floor uplift can be horrendous too, especially with kids who then have to stand in over-crowded gondolas crammed with eye-level crotches.
With kids who might need an extended, warm, cheap, nourishing mid-day break, slopeside accommodation can be a godsend. Sure, you need to check how easy the access is - some property advertised as ski in/out is only suitable for good skiers and/or only feasible with good snow cover. As with everything else, people need to decide on their priorities and do their homework.
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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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I only consider it for many trips - I am there to ski, so being right on the slope means less time on buses and walking, plus I hate being hot and bothered before I even start skiing.
Plus we don't pay a premium for it, we just have to buy clever to get the same deals on these locations.
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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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Well for a start you can ski home for lunch which (depending on your arrangements) is infinitly better value than most of the food offerings on mountain.
Also means you can do you apres ski on slope, at the top of the mountain where the sun lasts longer, and have an epic ski down at sunset or dusk.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Not so sure it's an obsession....
But once you've tried it it's nice to have.
It's certainly not the be all and end all IMHO but it usually beats tramping around in ski boots and/or lugging gear on and off buses.
Having said that, when the public transport is well organised, frequent, free and serves a ski area like Val D'Isere buses are something we can put up with.
So it all depends really....
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Never appeal to me as I always drive to ski. I like to walk on ordinary shoes around a resort, hand free and with the skis locked up in the car. When choosing a resort carefully I normally can park the car right next to the quietest lift station.
Skiing with a car does allow the skier to ski the expensive resorts at the normal price by choosing off-resort accommodations.
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Everything else being equal (quality of accommodation, access to resort amenities etc, etc.) why wouldn't you want to be ski in/out? In fact it always surprises me that the Europeans are so indifferent to it!
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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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| fatbob wrote: |
Why are Brits so obsessed with it?
Yes it is potentially convenient and I'm sure it reduces the faff factor when you have kids to marshall. But often it's not true slope access immediately to/from the boot room, it might put you on runs you'd otherwise avoid at beginning or end of the day and it often means you're in a property which is inconveniently located for other amenities or up sh:t creek when snow cover fails. Oh and you probably pay a significant premium for it and may be in a monstrosity of a building so good luck with that wish list of "charming, cheap and ski in/out".
I can think of places where you might be suckered into paying a fortune for a ski in/out place and find you're a very long walk or a taxi ride from the nearest bar or restaurant. |
try the cinderella in obertauern .. if there is a more convienent hotel in the alps ill be surprised..
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Waiting for crowded buses is no fun. Saves time and gets instant slope time, sorry what is the down side?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Downside is that by making it an absolute requirement you are cutting yourself off from lots of potential resorts e.g. many places in Switzerland I can think of have no real ski in/out but great and efficient ski buses or accomodation only a short stroll from the base lifts. Elsewhere e.g. in Canada you might be condemning yourself to dull evenings in a frankly underwhelming environment whereas a few miles down the road there's a (more) vibrant town with lots more going on.
I get the upsides but find it curious that it's so often a major requirement.
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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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having spent my first ski holiday in a hotel in Sauze Doulx town centre, and because of bad snow, not only did i need the bus to the first chair lift, but then need to go and down up that everyday to get to the mid point ski area, i have always ranked ski in/out high on my priority list, and on my last 2 trips have only compromised on this issue on cost issues.
i guess the new Obelisque area in Montgenevre is a good spot to have both cakes and eat them, it is cheap ski in/out in the new apts, and is only 200m to the town centre down snow a clear road! 
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If people want to pay more to avoid numerous Austrian resorts where it may be a 100m trek to catch a gondola up on to the mountain, so that they can have a French 100m trek to catch a chair lift for the first uplift of the day then it's fine with me 
Sure it's nice being able to stop in the hut half way down the last run in to Arabba for a beer/glühwein/bombardino, but it wouldn't be a dealbreaker if it were missing. Although it would seemingly totally ruin some people's holidays and they'd be grumpy all week. Doesn't matter where you ski, you're gonna need an uplift pretty much as soon as you're kitted up ready to ski, and you're still gonna have to make sure you get to the last lift, regardless of whether it's an up or down lift, before closing time.
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You know it makes sense.
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can i be cheeky, i didn't use the ski in facility at Montgenevre
ok in the mornings it was out the apt 10m over the road and skis on, then ski down about 500m to a choice of first lifts, these were away from the village so never busy.
But at end of day we would finish skiing the village and wals the 30m from where we stopped to the nearest bar for cheesy chips and a Kronanburg, and then we would hop on the free bus back the to the apts 
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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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lightningdan & 1556garyt, +1
fatbob, it's very easy to create an argument using an extreme view. I like slope-side accommodation, so do all the people I've been skiing with. We also like easy access to nightlife, hot tub on the terrace etc etc. They're all requirements that go into the mix and get balanced against each other.
I don't recognise this "obsession" you speak of.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Dr John, Lots of people post here looking for their ideal ski holiday. Very often ski/in out is high up their list of requirements. This immediately can cut down a lot of options in favour of e.g. French purpose built resorts. I'd like it too, of course I would, everything else being equal but I've so rarely found that I've ended up ski in/out that I wonder what people who always go ski in/out miss out on.
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