 Poster: A snowHead
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Snowheads, aseeemmmmble!
My pals and I go on a ski holiday every year around jan-feb time.
The last 3 years we have been out to Japan and Canada for 2 years previous to that.
This year due to various reasons we are only going to manage a cheap as possible week in Europe, where only one of us has skied before.
One of the guys girlfriends has offered us the use of their family chalet which is in Anzere, Switzerland so we were thinking about driving over in 2 cars from the London area and was wondering if anyone had any experience in the drive, the resort, resorts near by etc.
From the little digging I’ve done I know its not a big resort and not at the highest altitude - though we were thinking that the chalet could be a good base and we could drive to the bigger resorts or where the snow is on any given day.
I thought instead of trawling the internet I’d just ask people that might have done it before and are passionate about skiing. I don’t know if there are resorts near by, if they are worth the visit or if we should just forget this idea and look in to getting our own accommodation in a resort elsewhere.
We are looking at going the first or 2nd week in feb and any information you could give me would be great!
Cheers
Steve
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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smclean0, can't advise on that area of Switzerland, but the drive itself would be no problem.
However, the accommodation element of a ski holiday need not be a major part of the cost - if a group of you share a self-catering apartment, and can travel outside peak times, it need not cost more than around £100 per head, maybe a little more if you want something more comfortable.
Everything else, other than your free accommodation, will be expensive in Switzerland, because of the exchange rate.
If you went the first week of February (before the French school holidays start) you might find it better value to rent an apartment in a French resort. If you cook for yourselves, and buy booze in a supermarket, rather than a bar, it need not cost you too much.
But you'd need to go week beginning 4 February at the latest, before the school holidays start, when the cost of accommodation will go up a lot.
What kind of skiing do you like?
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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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pam w, thanks for your reply.
Thanks for the suggestion of the self catered chalets, what websites are the best for finding these chalets with out flight and transfers etc?
Will also keep in mind the school holidays - would be a nightmare going during them.
I love offpiste deep powder skiing, hence why we have been to japan the last few years but for this trip we would idealy be looking for somewhere with easy to find off-piste and a large ski area, or somewhere that has a lot of resorts near by so we can go to a new resort ever day/couple of days.
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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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smclean0, I know Anzere well. It’s worth going to if you have a free chalet. The resort itself has some interesting terrain – get over to Les Rousses to the mad restaurant in the woods, near the Barrage du Tsuzier. It has a lot of accessible off piste – but you’ll need to make friends with the pisteurs and locals (ask in the Les Rousses lift access point and the restaurant) to understand where it is.
From Anzere you can visit Crans Montana (our domain) (30 mins drive) which has 130km of runs, a lot of accessible off piste (go off the back of Bella Lui and Col du Pochet), great bump fields under the Barmaz lift and at the top of La Toula, and one of the longest continuous runs in the area (18km from Plaine Morte – try that non-stop…). Montana village has SMS – Swiss Mountain Sports – run by our family friend Yves Caillet (son of 1960’s F1 driver Maurice Caillet) and they do excellent guiding as well as group instruction in groups typically between 4-7 people rather than the huge groups found at the other schools. Yves will organise off-piste guiding, private or group instruction or heli-skiing. And his guys are good.
www.sms04.ch
You can visit the Val D’Anniviers (50 min drive) – one of the best kept secrets in the Rhone Alps – resorts there include St Luc, Grimentz and the free ride are at Zinal – check it out on Youtube etc – a really cool NE facing free ride zone – bleep in at the top gate and then the pisteurs know you’re in there, blast around, and then bleep out. Again, hidden off piste, just ask the locals and they should be open about where it is.
You can also readily access the 4 Valleys system (Verbier etc) simply by driving across to the ‘backdoor’ to the system – Haute Nendaz – 40 mins from Anzere.
The great thing about these places is that there will be no queues at the time your planning to go. Yes, food will be a bit – not a huge amount – more than mountain prices in France, but the lift passes are around the same price and you’ll spend a lot more of your days skiing.
Would I recommend Anzere as a base – yes, for sure. I’ve skied these places for years (and keep getting inducted into new off piste), and my kids (6 and  have skied them since they could walk, so this is good inside info. They don’t have the ‘buzz’ of the 3 Vallee, but they sure have the right vertical.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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valais2, beep in.out, when did they introduce that to Zinal?? Don't recall seeing anything like that last January!!
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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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valais2, Written in 2002 & 2003!!! You can just enter the free ride area now without any beep in/ out.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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kitenski, ...well it was there last time I went into the freeride zone and I think that was 2007...so it's gone now...I ought to get over there again. Thanks.
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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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pam w and valais2, Thanks a lot for taking the time to go over the options - has given us a lot to think about. We are going to meet up on Saturday and discuss over a few beers so might have some more questions for you next week!
Cheers
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smclean0, ...no problem...just post to this thread if you need any more details...if you need advice on guiding and lessons just email Yves at SMS Montana...
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