Now sorted - thank you - Looking for self-catering cabin in January somewhere with good XC ski-ing

A snowHead

Right.

So far I have a group with two experienced XC skiers, one advanced telemarker, one intermediate alpine/telemarker, and one never-skied who would need access to instruction (alpine) and ski-hire. My little herd of cats and I would like to share a self-catering log cabin with a fireplace, a sauna and hot-tub.

I know I can find what we want in Scandinavia in terms of skiing, log cabins, etc. but the only time they can go is sometime in early January 2012. Up North is awfully dark then and can be very cold, so I would rather go somewhere a bit sunnier.

I am struggling to find any similar accommodation in the Alps (it doesn't have to be made of logs). I am happy to DIY, but we are looking for somewhere with a good snow record, interesting XC and downhill (off-piste a plus) and with facilities for the beginner. We don't need miles of piste. Nice scenery and good beer would be welcome.

All ideas for places to stay gratefully received.

Thanks

A snowHead

nordicfan, Maybe try Gerlos or Koenigsleiten? They are part of the Zillertal Arena www.zillertalarena.com
They claim that they have 200km of langlauf piste. I have no idea if you would classify it as interesting. The alpine skiing around there is quite interesting.
Koenigsleiten looks like it has log cabin style accommodation (never stayed there, just skied past and looked from the outside)

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

nordicfan, Have a look at Ramsau in Austria. There's hundreds of miles of xc tracks in Ramsau and nearby areas. Ramsau is around 1100m, a large plateau area, stuning views. Very good snow record. Towering above Ramsau is the Dachstein mountains, peaking a fraction under 3000m. There's also xc skiing up on the glacier. In terms of alpine skiing Ramsau offers several pleasant and quiet nursery slopes and a small but nice ski area called Rittisberg. Again at the Dachstein there's lift served skiing (quite limited) but also some serious ski touring and off piste options. You are also in the heart of the ski amade area, so endless options for alpine skiing. There are also extensive xc trails down in the valleys, for instance you can xc from schladming to radstadt and on up to Obertauern, around 40-50kms, or the Unteral & Obertal areas near Schladming, amazing quiet avlleys with long xc routes. As for wood cabins, not sure but there's huge range of accommodation in the area so i'm sure you'd find something suitable. I've stayed in a wooden chalet in Schladming that was very good, http://www.talbachschenke.at/cms/ For general info on the area have a look at http://www.ramsau.com/en/winter-holidays.html
xc page http://www.ramsau.com/en/winter-holidays/cross-country-skiing.html

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The Alpe Di Siusi plateau http://www.alpedisiusi.info/en/winter-active.html would also be an option for you. 60 km of downhill slopes and 60km of X country trails. There are definitely huts/rifugios with accommodation on the plateau. There are more X country trails nearby in Selva, though you will probably want a car to access them. Great scenery and lots of great mountain huts for lunch/drinks.

Another option not yet mentioned would be Seefeld in Austria. Big centre for X country, lovely village, pretty good snow record, easy to get to from Innsbruck and Munich. Not too sure about log cabins though.

Shame you have to go early January though. As the ideal area for you would be Yllas in Finish Lapland. The days are much longer in late February and March, scenery on many of the X country trails is amazing, many of the cabins are made of or look like log and nearly all will have at least a sauna, guaranteed snow especially in February and March, you also have downhill slopes which are ideal for a beginner.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

La Cluasz has the Lac des Confins trails for XC which can be reached from this campsite that has "log-style" cabins - http://www.plandufernuy.com/gb.html. It's part of the Annecy Olympic bid. The chalets are basic and functional (no open fire or sauna I'm afraid) but the campsite has a heated indoor pool that you should have pretty much to yourselves in Jan. The site is served by 3 different bus routes (one of which gets you to the XC area - but I think you can do it under your own steam as well). It's only about 20 min walk (off road) to town or a downhill ish ski (small bit of shoving required).

I suppose the main downside is what are the conditions going to be like in Jan? We've been there twice in Jan and been fine but last year was probably another matter...

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A few more suggestions to the good ones listed above are Oberstdorf (Germany) which has fantastic x country with some good alpine skiing as well. I've come across small (& rustic) holiday houses for rent when I've looked for accommodation in the past. Another area which could be of interest is the Montafon (Austria) which has lots of wooden farmhouses/cabins but for both these areas I don't know whether you'll find a place with a hot tub? http://www.montafon.at/ViewPage.asp?Site=MONTAFON2&PageID=306&Lang=199 . Click on accommodation providers list and it should take you through to some examples...

Pralognan (France) has awesome x country with some very nice but limited piste skiing but I don't know about the availability of log cabins.

Might be wise to head somewhere with higher level tracks as well as the valley ones if next season is anything like last year!

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

Dear All,

Many thanks for taking the time to post all your great suggestions. Off to do some more research now. I will let you know if we ever manage to agree on anything.

After all it is free

The Gastein Valley has plenty of loipe tracks plus plenty of off piste too.

Loipe Track info: http://www.gastein.com/mmdb/1/2/2110.pdf
General Ski info: www.skigastein.com

Cheers
Kersh

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Try Sovereign Lake nordic center in BC and the next door ski resort of Silver Star.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Is North America out of the question ? We've been to Mazama 4 times now (from London) and love it. We always stay at www.mazamacountryinn.com and I know they have cabins but wee've never stayed in one http://www.mazamacountryinn.com/cabins.html. Here is the ski area http://www.mvsta.com/winter/index.html

Ping me if you need more info.

snow reports

You need both Nordic and Alpine skiing at the same time or "different times?"

What about Canada if you don't mind travelling a bit. Here are some slightly off-beat ideas (compared to the usual Alpine DH resort)

Skoki Lodge for a couple of days would fit the bill and is very remote (not self catering mind but a wonderful location)
Nipika lodge has some nice log cabins - no Alpine near by though.
Mistaya lodge is very good for back country touring.

There is a stack of Nordic skiing in Kananaskis - Nakiska ski resort would be okay for a beginner (bit pricy perhaps) and plenty of Nordic trails near by.

Thanks for all the North American suggestions. Some sound really nice and we'll keep them in mind. However, it's too much travelling for a one week break. Insurance is likely to be a problem too, as a couple of the party have pre-existing medical conditions. So we are sticking to Europe and reciprocal health agreements.

You know it makes sense.

This is a topic I face every year, minus the log cabin.

In most cases, either the alpine skiing suffers or the nordic does. But some ideas (many already mentioned):

Davos/Klosters: Actually great for both disciplines, but expensive.

La Clusasz: Very good nordic, alpine also good. Nice village, too.

Seefeld: Premier nordic resort, alpine skiing underwhelming. However, 15 minutes by train gets you to Mittenwald, which as a single cable car accessing a large free-ride area. There is also a small beginners resort there.

Gastein: There is a lot of nordic skiing, but the trails are largely not connected. I wasn't very impressed. The alpine skiing is good, though. It's a good compromise.

Galtür: We were booked to go last winter but had to cancel because of work. The nordic looked like it would be very good, and Ischgl is just down the road for alpine skiing. Worth considering, I'd say.

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

Sorry if I'm sort of hijacking the thread but does anyone know much about x-c in the Jura. It seems, according to the website, to be very extensive and also reasonably high. With regards to what Nordicfan says about 1 week trips and North America being too far, my wife and I were considering a 1 week x-c trip in Europe and the Jura come up in searches but we know nothing about it.

A snowHead

If you can find a few more people to go with you, you may be able to fill a chalet in Champagny le Haut which has a sauna, hamman, log fire, billiard room and has easy access to 25 kms of cross country skiing, you are also close to the largest ice climbing wall in Europe if that takes your fancy. The chalet is chalet st Bernard and you can see details of it at http://www.merandon.com/index.php?id_page=195&.

It is in a picturesque, rustic village (a classified site of natural beauty according to the Champagny website) and has relatively easy access to alpine skiing. For alpine skiing it is a 5 to 10 minute drive or a free shuttle bus ride to Champagny en vanoise which gives you access to La Plagne / Paradiski or you could carry on for another 20 minutes to access Courchevel and the 3 valleys.

I don't know the people who own it but have seen their accommodation advertised in the village in recent years. We have the son of the owner of one of the hotels in Champagny staying with us to improve his English so we could find out more local knowledge from him if you are interested.

A snowHead

Another area you could consider would be the Pillerseetal (http://www.pillerseetal.at/en/winter/). Hochfilzen is the Austrian biathlon centre, so there are plenty of cross-country tracks round about. The Alpine skiing there is only good for a day but you can travel pretty quickly by train or bus to Fieberbrunn, for example, or Leogang (for Saalbach-Hinterglemm), or even to Kitzbühel a bit further away (just over half an hour by train).

What accommodation is available, I don't know but I'm sure you could find something.

In this area there must also be other possibilities, for example in the SkiWelt, (maybe Westendorf).

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

Hi everyone and thanks for all the ideas. I think I may ditch the hot tub idea, and just look for some handy self-catered accommodation. Plenty of food for thought here. I just need to think about travel and then I can narrow it down.

ami in berlin, I know what you mean. The cross-country skiing in a lot of alpine resorts is not worth travelling for. It can just be a very dull flat loop round a meadow, and if that meadow is at low altitude, the snow can be poor too. A lot of resorts will also exaggerate the distance available, by counting a lot of adjacent loops as separate.

abc, You are right - anything under about 60 km and I would be feeling like a hamster on a wheel - OK for exercise but not for a holiday.

waynos, Thanks for the suggestion about Ramsau - I have been there to cross-country ski, but hadn't appreciated there was so much good alpine nearby. I know it's great for total beginners, although they might have to have private lessons outside school holidays.

dsoutar, Hijack away - but you may get more answers if start a new thread. I haven't been to the Jura, but i know it used to be very popular with a lot of skiers in the South-east of England back in the 80's because it was so accessible (and availability of French food and wine were a factor). I think it fell out of favour after a few poor winters, and because of cheap flights to Scandinavia.

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nordicfan, there's a reasonable amount of XC in Serre Chevalier for an alpine resort , and plenty for the telemarkers. If XC wants to go further afield there is more in the Nevache area. Beginner skier has a huge amount of options.
My apartment would be too small for 5 of you, but I do have contacts with larger apartments in the residence/ . Can do a sauna , heated pool and hot-tub. Drop me a PM if you want more info.

http://www.serrechevalier.com/cross_country/info.htm

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Hells Bells, sorry not to reply sooner. Thanks for the idea - it looks fab. I will have a word with the others and get back to you if interested.

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Hi All,

Thanks again for all the help. snowHead

I am just reporting back. We (now a larger party) have gone with Waynos's suggestion of Ramsau am Dachstein. Austria was chosen partly because it fits in with a business trip.

The cross-country skiers and the beginners should be happy with the local ski-ing in Ramsau. The others are going to warm up in the village and then use the ski bus / taxi to travel 5k to Schladming when they get bored. Ramsau accomodation is cheaper than Schladming too.

I really appreciate all the tips and they have all been noted for future trips. I just hope we get some snow now, or I will never hear the last of it. There is always the glacier but it's a bit limited.

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

nordicfan, glad you're sorted out. Have a great time !! snowHead

Help!!

Now sorted - thank you - Looking for self-catering cabin in January somewhere with good XC ski-ing

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