 Poster: A snowHead
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We have had threads on ....
Places to Go
Places not to Go
Places to go back to.
I wonder if anybody has had a ski holiday that was really inexpensive?
To kick off I went to Pertisau by the Achensee in about 1963 for £50 with the school.
Great time I learnt .... to ski, drink beer & smoke.
There wasn't a lift in the village then that took you up any higher than Hemmel Fridge beginners slope.
So we didn't have lift passes.
We spent all our pocket money on flick knifes on the day trip to Innsbruck.
The skis were about 7 foot long and the laces in the ski boots were about the same.
Anyway who's next?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Last year catered chalet and flight in La Tania £259 lift pass £200
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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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4 of us got a last minute deal to Zermatt about 6 yrs ago - €299, which was about £200 then. Half board with a chef on a year out from a posh country club in the south of Eng. And it snowed all week! The lift pass was extra though. Or last year - stayed with DallyPal in Morzine a week before Christmas, total cost (flights, transfers, accom, meals, pass) not much over £400. Snowed all week then too!
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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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| Quote: |
To kick off I went to Pertisau by the Achensee in about 1963 for £50 with the school.
Great time I learnt .... to ski, drink beer & smoke.
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Dear Doc, was this the last time you skied? 
Think a major constraint to be applied is timescale. Can't compare last year to 50 years ago. So how about 5 year timebands going backwards (obv) from 2011?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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halfhand,
| Quote: |
Dear Doc, was this the last time you skied?
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Naa! I lied about learning to ski .. I learnt to "snow plough".
OK ... ( I started making a list ... but it just looked a big listy )
The best cheap one of all time was 1972
My girlfriend and I stayed up on the mountain in Damuuls (Bregenzerwald) for three weeks with a bunch of young friends from Germany.
We hitch hiked down to Darmstadt and joined the crew and went by train & bus down there.
We didn't bother with a lift pass we could walk up to our own piste behind the house its at
47.288968, 9.899514 if you want to check it out on Google maps.
The cows downstairs provided the heating and with 14 of us in each room it didn't need much heating.
We borrowed skis and boots ... I didn't realise at that time that it was quite important to still have the edges screwed on, so I didn't make great progress on the skiing front.
Learnt a bit more about smoking.
Total cost was £115 for both of us.
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PS:
I was on very good money at the time .. nearly £30 per week with lots of overtime.
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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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I've just managed the impossible - New Year 9 day trip to Val D'Isere for next to nothing....
Working for SnowExpress on the overnight bus to Val
Flat sitting for a friend who is working on a Superyacht in Brazil
Ski a la carte daily ski pass prices
Altibus to Geneva €63
BA Club Class flight on Avios points + £20
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Scampi Dellahanti, Excellent! 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Only had one properly cheap ski trip - L2A about £350 for flights and sc accommodation & liftpass. Accommodation was really well located, could ski back the first few days until it all got a bit mealty (last week of the season). I'd had a small budgeting error (end of 2nd term at uni!) and only had about £50 left of my overdraft and so I ate bread and nuttella for breakfast, bread and goats cheese for lunch and tomato salad with either paste, bread or something else cheap for tea!
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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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First ever ski trip cost £330 for flights, transfers, accommodation and lift pass. That was at the start of 2007 to La Plagne with Crystal. Think we booked about three weeks prior to flying, so relatively late booking. Also, that was back when you got €1.50 to the pound and the lift pass (La Plagne only) worked out at about £130.
Granted, it was self-catering but we were frugal as hell - real basic, hearty food (stews, curries, pasta) and between the five of us we probably only spent about £30 each on food for the week. We spent a hell of a lot more on beer 
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First ski trip ever was to Kaprun, in Jan 2009, TO catered chalet for
£250 each. Chalet a bit rough, people brilliant, start of an expensive
addiction . . .
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You know it makes sense.
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2006 1 week in Rogla in Slovenia, accommodation was £60, lift pass for the week was about the same, flights about £100, spent about another £100. lessons very cheap
2007 2 weeks in Jasna Slovakia, accommodation £120/ week, lift pass £70 for 10 days, flights about £120, food and drink dirt cheap and lessons pretty cheap as well
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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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My best deal was a '4*' Catered Chalet package (flights LGW-GVA, coach transfers, room with Jacuzzi bath, food & wine) in the Balcons de Belle Plagne building for £119pp in Jan 2003, lift pass & ski hire extra.
Some of the best food I've ever had in a Chalet too, as the Host had actually had professional Chef training and experience, not just a days food safety course. I was very disappointed to hear that not long after Airtours ceased their Ski operation...shame!!
In the last 3 years it's been difficult to beat £300pp on these last-minute Chalet deals though...I'm keeping my fingers crossed though!!
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Poster: A snowHead
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last year to la thuile family of 4 cost us £1440 with crystal inc lift passes (self catering but we took a load of food) got change from £1600 oh and it was xmas week
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Half Board 3* F & T in Folgarida in 2009 for £339. Late March with Rocketski. Some of the best conditions I've seen for skiing, too.
Catered chalet in La Tania in late Jan 2008 for £329 inc F & T with Crystal.
Not astounding deals, but still pretty good IMO and the accommodation/food were good both times.
Just seen Rocketski offering fully inclusive (hotel, HB, F & T, lift pass and ski hire) for Christmas week for £499! Could have been LDH and based on 4 sharing.
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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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My first ski holiday was in Bulgaria. Just before the fall of the iron curtain. Every time we got in a lift, a local black marketeer offered to exchange sterling to Roubles at around 10 times the official 1:1 official exchange rate, an offer which needless to say we were happy to accept; so ..... A group of 17 year olds scouts were transformed into millionaires & lived off bulgarian pink champaign for a week on pin money. Happy 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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The EoSB that was my second week in the mountains as it was the only one (well till next Jan) without the kids along!
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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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My best deal was last year. £600.30 for everything - even a packed lunch.
Crystal late deal to Claviere.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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April 14-21 last year, 4* Skiworld chalet in Val d'Isere; £950 for the four of us. Booked 20 hours before departure-not planned, just fancied our first family ski trip and went for it.
Doing SC to Belle Plagne same week next Easter-£1000 for flights, apartment and car hire. £2000 all in.
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I had an email from Inghams the other day with their latest offers. One that caught my eye was Zermatt SC for £324 PP. Interesting I thought, I'll price up the holiday to see what it comes to. I Enter our ages, choose flights with no extra cost and the apartments are displayed, still with a cost of £324 shown against them. I select the twin room max occupancy 4 room to fully fill it and click the update booking button. I was then slightly surprised to see the cost was not £1296, but £1738 @ £424 PP now?????
How does that work 
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| Quote: |
Booked 20 hours before departure-not planned, just fancied our first family ski trip and went for it.
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way to go! And how was the holiday? Sometimes you can spend too long planning and agonising over every small detail.
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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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| DrLawn wrote: |
Total cost was £115 for both of us.
PS:
I was on very good money at the time .. nearly £30 per week with lots of overtime. |
I've never spent as much as twice a weeks income in a ski holiday for one!
In fact it has usually worked out at round about a weeks gross income in total cost.
The best deal I have had was Neiderau in 2007, when the package cost me £271 (flights including ski carriage, transfers, half board accommodation), then lift passes, driving to & parking at the UK airport, plus what I spent on lunches and drinks took the total cost to a little over £600.
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pam w, about a month earlier, we had given them a couple of mornings at Hemel and they enjoyed it so it gave us the confidence to go for it. The Missus and I were due to go on our own but parents fell ill on the Thursday evening, so no babysitters for the girls whilst we were away. Picked up the phone to Iglu Friday morning, half an hour later, job done, new holiday booked-fortunately got our trip back on the insurance.
VdI not the best place for beginners and we had snow/cloud/winds most days so they spent pretty much all the time on the Solaise nursery slopes-but they both loved it. The elder one managed the greens off the back of Bellevarde a few times and was stoked. "I'm skiing in the mountains daddy!"
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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£1,750 for 3 of us, flights, transfers, HB hotel, lift passes, equipment and lessons. Pas de la Casa in Andorra for the first week of Easter school hols with Neilson.
£1,600 for 3 of us catered chalet (when ski world host could be bothered to turn up) inc unlimited wine, flights, transfers, lift passes (les arcs with one day in LP). Les Arcs 1800. Again first week of the Easter school hols.
We only go at Easter if we can get something low cost.
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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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| DrLawn wrote: |
| To kick off I went to Pertisau by the Achensee in about 1963 for £50 with the school. |
Well, according to the FT, the average annual salary in 1963 was about £1000 per annum. Today it is at least 26 times higher so that £50 probably equates to about £1300 in terms of salaries! Retail price inflation is a bit behind wage inflation and I reckon that £50 would equate to about £1k purely due to inflation. So, not so cheap after all was it? Mind you there was much less to spend your disposable income on in 1963. Jumpers for goalposts... ahhh...
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to Scampi Dellahanti:
going to your ski resort with a superyacht? That sounds pretty neat. Maybe I would have problem to just get going from relaxing deck once I would arrive. Or the yacht is something like this and I would have a hard time to get out of the bottom of the sea. Who knows 
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You know it makes sense.
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Three years teaching in the 80's and I just about broke even. Since then it's got a lot more expensive but worth every penny!😎
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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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1. 1982 (and again in 1983) Mayrhofen with "Ski Plan" run by entrepreneur Cliff Hards. It cost the princely sum of £79 for overnight coach travel there and back and half board. We stayed in the Hotel Berghof. Dinner was taken in the Hotel Neue Post, which had a special set meal for Hards' customers, consisting of smaller portions, and I recall doing an Oliver Twist and asking for more. If you were clever or lucky you could bag the back seats on the coach and lie down - and sleep (luxury!).
In 1983 the service had been upgraded, so that instead of a ferry crossing, you were taken to Lydd Airport, where an old, rickety, turboprop plane (shades of "Broadsword to Danny Boy") would fly you over the channel to France, where a coach would collect you and take you the rest of the way. (https://princeofwales.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/sir-richard-branson-sir-freddie-laker-sir-cliff-hards/)
2. 1986 Leogang with "Ski-Tal", run by entrepreneur Steve Pearson, who, in partnership with a local farmer, had renovated a farmhouse in the hamlet of Huetten, converting it into a catered chalet sleeping 24 people (the "Thurnhaus" - still available from Wens Chalets NL). Having just got launched the venture, Steve put an ad in the Times, saying "A very special welcome awaits you in our Austrian farmhouse". He snared me, and the deal he offered was a remarkable £150 to cover flight, transfer and the usual catered chalet arrangement. The transfer from Salzburg consisted of Steve driving the Ski-Tal minibus through the snowy wastes, and handing out plastic beakers of gluhwein from a thermos flask, whilst listening to Stevie Nicks's 1985 solo album, "Rock A Little" (funny how these things stick in your mind). In subsequent years we returned three more times to the Thurnhaus (and were inspired to find 24 people amongst our circle of family and friends to fill it), as well as numerous group holidays in the mid-1990s to "Brewskis", another excellent value chalet in St Martin de Belleville, which Ski-Tal added to their burgeoning portfolio. Ski-Tal eventually over-extended themselves and went bust, and the last I heard of Steve Pearson he was operating as "Ski Leogang", with only the Thurnhaus on offer. I've always wondered what became of him - I have him to thank for introducing me to the Saalbach area and giving me the inspiration to start organising annual skiing trips for large groups.
3. 1990 Champery with Ski Scott Dunn. In those days SSD had a bargain basement chalet, the "Dents Du Midi" - an old, creaky but oozing with character, former 2 star hotel. It held getting on for 40 people, and we filled it several years running. The price was rock bottom, but we still got all the SSD frills - scheduled Heathrow flights, tea/coffee in bed, kedgeree and champagne breakfast, cordon bleu cooking, picnic on the slopes, foot spas in the bedrooms, feather and down duvets, etc.
4. 2006 Saalbach - the Hotel Panther with Crystal. Christmas week for flights, transfers and half board was reduced from £987 to £379, including a gala dinner. (Apparently the snow had been a tad delayed, but we weren't even aware of that, thanks to the fabled Ski Circus snow-making and some timely snowfalls.)
5. 2007 Saalbach. Probably cheating to add this, but we discovered that keeping all our gear in resort, buying a season pass (surprisingly inexpensive), combining meals at home with pub grub and take-aways, and bagging Ryanair flights for as little as £1 each way, made for maximum skiing at minimum prices.
I hope I haven't bored anyone - nice to reminisce
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Poster: A snowHead
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my first ski trip was back in jan 1990. A proper last minute thing booked on the spur of the moment.
My mum wont fly, so it was the bus & boat. I will never forget the boat crossing.
It was really rough. At one point the ferry went up & crashed down. All the glasses, etc. in the lounge went flying from behind the bar. The fridges opened & drinks fell out. People falling of thier chairs, etc.
The Trip itselfwas one of them allocation on arrival. So had no idea of the resort allocated, let alone the accommodation!
We got our name called in Soll & thrown of the bus at a small pension.
It was actually a really good pension (& still going today)
£99 per adult, £49 per child.
No idea how much lift pass & hire was though! or food.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| DrLawn wrote: |
We have had threads on ....
Places to Go
Places not to Go
Places to go back to.
I wonder if anybody has had a ski holiday that was really inexpensive?
To kick off I went to Pertisau by the Achensee in about 1963 for £50 with the school.
Great time I learnt .... to ski, drink beer & smoke.
There wasn't a lift in the village then that took you up any higher than Hemmel Fridge beginners slope.
So we didn't have lift passes.
We spent all our pocket money on flick knifes on the day trip to Innsbruck.
The skis were about 7 foot long and the laces in the ski boots were about the same.
Anyway who's next? |
haha.. .actually laughed out loud at this story
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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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| lynseyf wrote: |
2006 1 week in Rogla in Slovenia, accommodation was £60, lift pass for the week was about the same, flights about £100, spent about another £100. lessons very cheap
2007 2 weeks in Jasna Slovakia, accommodation £120/ week, lift pass £70 for 10 days, flights about £120, food and drink dirt cheap and lessons pretty cheap as well |
was it good?
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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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£105 for ywo pf us by coach from London to Tignes, self catering in 1987
£175 for 9 days over NY, flight, transfer & half board in Pas De La Casa early 90s
With the market going from packages to DIY, the ladt minute deals are harder to find, diy is cheaper when planned ahead but rarely much cheaper last minute.
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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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Avoriaz by coach with Nielsen's mid Dec for 10 days in the early 80s. Something like 90 quid INCLUDING ski and boot hire. I made it a college ski trip! This was full brochure price.
SkiWest by sleeper coach to Courmayeur for 10 days late 80s 64 quid.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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- Mid to late 90s: Late booking for a week in Colorado; allocated on arrival - £199. Ended up in Breckenridge.
- Similar sort of time period: £85 for a 7 night B&B bus trip (with Timescape) to Mayrhofen in October. 2 nights on the bus; 5 nights in resort; 4 days on the glacier - great! (Despite outbound trip picking up everywhere in the country and it taking about 24 hrs door to door...)
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Last year, four nights in Borovets. Flights, transfers, hotel (B&B), ski hire and lift pass = £300pp.
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For me the best value for s the EOSB. About 600 including flights acommodation transfers and lift pass.
Roll in the ultra-cheap lessons and guiding days and I don’t think it can be beaten.
Same for the BBash. Flights booked at £80, waiting for buttons but when you get there it is 2.5 euros for a decent glass of wine and the price includes a 4 course meal every night.
Amazing value.
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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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Anyway off for a wee day off in Tiananmen Sq and the palace. SYL
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French exchange in the mid 80s. Staying with a French family in the Jura for 2 weeks in February. I was taken to some nearby slopes on a few days, they paid for the equipment hire and passes!
I think it cost around £100 to go on the trip.
It was obviously quite humiliating as they’d asked me if I could Ski to which I’d said yes, but I could only actually manage snowplough at the time.
They took me to the top of a red ... I must have fallen 20 times on that run! After that they took turns babysitting me on the nursery slopes.
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FAQ
