 Poster: A snowHead
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Hello all you Snowheads,
Need some help!! I am late booking a skiing trip for myself and my new wife . What I would like is a total ski experience which combines the following:
Good Snow (reliable)
Nice looking Village, relatively good apres ski.
Beginner (Wife) and intermediate skiing (Me)
Nearby ski lifts, Ski in / Ski out would be a "bonus" (Dont want to put her off skiing by too much walking in Ski boots!)
Snowboard friendly lifts, if I decide to board instead of ski! ;o|
Any help would be absolutely humongously appreciated !!
Thank you very much for your time.
Mobsta
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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mobsta007, when do you plan to go on this trip ? If you plan to go early or late in the season somewhere high is called for, if however you are more free to choose when you go almost anywhere is open to you as you will be able to go when the snow is much more reliable
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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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Sorry , silly mistake , thought I missed something :
Departing 24th December , or basically over christmas, so departing whenever as long as it includes christmas.
Thanks D G Orf.
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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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mobsta007, congratulations! 
Like wot DG Orf says - when are you going?
Of my extensive repertoire of 5 ski resorts - Saas Fee would fit most of those - although you'd need to pick your hotel to get ski in/ski out. It wins hands down on the 'nice looking village' front, but most of the mountain restaurants are crap. What are snowboard friendly lifts?
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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mobsta007, Ok if you want to do Christmas you will probably need to depart earlier, many places will want you to check out by the 27th so they can get their new years guests in so that will probably mean going out on the 20th or 21st unless you also plan to stay for New Year (which tends to be more exciting in Europe but also more expensive).
I'm going to be in Wengen over Christmas and New Year, but to be honest whilst the area checks most of your requirements I wouldn't say that its early season snow record is the best out there, sometimes you need to trust to luck, even resorts with normally good snow reliability can get bad seasons or high resorts can get bad weather giving you poor skiing despite having plenty of snow.
Consider somewhere like Wengen, it's a pretty village which you can ski back to and has plenty of beginner and intermediate slopes plus plenty of things to do when not skiing a great place for a holiday even if the snow is bad.
Have a look at my website here to get an idea of the location
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mobsta007,
Personally I would tend to go for an Austrian resort which tend to be friendly towards beginner skiers and have a pretty good atmosphere. Most Austrian resorts that I have been to willhave hire shops near the lifts so that beginners can leave their skis and boots there and not have to walk about in them.
I am not to good on snow reliabilty at xmas but Obergurgl is said to be very good. Galtur was great the year I went but it was pretty cold being north facing, I am sure others will have appropriate suggestions.
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Thank you both very much for your help, D G Orf, fantastic photos on your site and Wengen sounds and looks great! The geocities said something about allocated data tranfer and that I must try again in an hour so will do so .
Thank you VERY much once again.
Mobsta
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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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For a beginner who you don't want to be put off skiing, I would say choice of ski school is as equally important as your other criteria. Ski schools such as New Generation or Ski Supreme in Courchevel have a very good reputation, and that resort would meet all your criteria except for a pretty alpine village.
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mobsta007, the normally considered generally snow sure at Christmas resorts IMHO tend not to have the sort of ambience that I think you're looking for.
You might want to consider somewhere like Champoluc which is great for intermediates and give good scope for beginners. It's a lovely village, albeit small and there's a handful of bars. Most importantly it's Italian which I think tends to favour the romantics amongst us.
It's not quite ski in and out but it's small so nowhere ought to be difficult to get to. Apres ski is fine as long as you aren't wanting Ibiza class clubbing. We find we end up eating late anyway and so a few nightcaps around 01h00 is about as wild as we get. There are quite a few restaurants and I am still invariably surprised at the value for money.
If you're looking for a seriously nice hotel try the Briethorn, less outrageously classy but very nice and wonderfully welcoming are Herman and Beatrice at the Castor.
The snow sureness is greatly enhanced by almost complete snow cannon cover and "reasonable" height. All else being equal we intend to be there 24.12.05-7.01-06. (And, yes I have a small bias in that better 1/2's father came from the village).
Noting other posts, the ski school I think is as good and variable as any. I can PM you some recommendations if you decide to go there. Good luck!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I would have a look at Ischgl in Austria, it will not be cheap but a better introduction I can't think of.
You might have to scarifice ski-in ski-out for the general ambience...
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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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mobsta007, my situation is very similar to yours. I'm an intermediate skier, girlfriend is a beginner and we're heading to Obertauern in Austria on 24/12 for one week.
It's high (for Austria), has a very good snow record and nearly all the hotels are ski/in out. The village is probably not the prettiest in Austria but certainly not ugly and there is a good range of skiing for intermediates and plenty of beginner slopes.
Oh, and out of 27 lifts I think only 7 are drags, so it should be pretty snowboard-friendly.
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mobsta007, Get your new wife some lessons on plastric before you go !
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You know it makes sense.
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If you are not adverse to a long plane flight I would recommend Breckenridge in Colorado. Snow sure, sunny as you like, oodles of ski (board?) to door accommodation, nice gold rush town with a good atmosphere, hundreds (literally) of places to eat, drink and be merry, hardly any drags at all, no queues, beautifully groomed pistes, short transfer from Denver and (by reputation) a good beginners ski and board school with loads of nice easy greens and blues as well as some challenging stuff for intermediates.
Downsides are that it's at high altitude (my brother suffered badly from altitude sickness), it's not great for experts (so I've been told, but that shouldn't be a problem for you anyway  ), the lifts close too early (15:30), no bar or restaurant anywhere seems to acknowledge the existance of vegetarians and (because it's Colorado) the locals have a worrying obsession with country music.
I'd still recommend it strongly though and as an added bonus you get access to the resorts of Vail, Beaver Creek and Keystone on your ski pass if you fancy something different.
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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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mobsta007,
We have availability for Christmas in our luxury chalet and we are currently offering 10% off (plus your snow heads discount!). We are based in Alpe D'Huez (resort at 1850m plus glacier skiing and great beginers area) and our prices include flights and transfers as well as fully catered chalet accommodation. Have a look at our website www.skialacarte.co.uk or PM me for more information. Our dates over Christmas are from the 20th-27th. Can promise to make it a really special christmas! We also have another first time skier booked in already so might work out well for your wife to have some company when learning?
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