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best ski in ski out

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
In all the years I've been skiing I've never been to a ski in / ski out place.
Stupid question really but where are the bets places for this or is it all about going to a higher resort with better snow cover?
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
GordonFreeman, The best ski in -ski out places, IMHO are the mountain hotels in Austria that double as piste side restaurants. Personally I prefer to stay in a village/town. The only true one I have been to was the Oxalys in Val Thorensw, closely followed by a Silver Ski chalet in Reberty Villages which was a 40 m walk to a piste where one could genuinely ski both in and out. Most places so placed are just ski-in.
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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?
Club Med Val d'Isere or Tignes or La Plagne.
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GordonFreeman, you don't say you're limited to Europe so in case you're not we have been a couple of times to Big White in Canada, where pretty much everything is ski-in ski out.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
The French purpose built resorts are, well, built for skiing. Most have extensive ski in/out accommodation or walks to the skiing of less than 100m.

We ski Arc 1600 a lot, but other most of the others, espace Killy, 3Vs etc are equally as good.

Personally I hate getting ski buses, or long treks to the lifts and wouldn't consider anything else. This is especially important when you have children with you.
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GordonFreeman, obviously you need a snow-sure base but if you want real ski in/ski out it's as much about the individual hotel/apartment/chalet as the resort.

On that basis -

Ski Olympic's Chalethotel Graciosa in La Plagne. About 10 paces from ski locker to snow. And you sit in the nice warm bar to put your boots on.

Their Chalethotel La Foret over in Vallandry is much less convenient. A whopping 30 paces to the piste.

I'm sure there are many such places - and not just in the French mega-resorts.
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Quote:

and not just in the French mega-resorts

yep, there are loads in Austria/Switzerland/Italy but, in a recent survey of about 5 people, 80% of snowHeads had only heard of France.

Here's a nice new one: http://www.chetzeron.ch/
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
agw wrote:
GordonFreeman, obviously you need a snow-sure base but if you want real ski in/ski out it's as much about the individual hotel/apartment/chalet as the resort.

On that basis -

Ski Olympic's Chalethotel Graciosa in La Plagne. About 10 paces from ski locker to snow. And you sit in the nice warm bar to put your boots on.

Their Chalethotel La Foret over in Vallandry is much less convenient. A whopping 30 paces to the piste.

I'm sure there are many such places - and not just in the French mega-resorts.


Trumped.... The esprit chalet hotel crystal 2000 in Courchevel - you can ski into and out of the boot room (nee corridoor) if you choose, straight down on the the pralong chair or altiport and pralong drags.
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I'd love to stay in one of those places on the mountain in Oberlech.
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also the hotel alpin in obergurgl is ski in and out' probably going back their next year.
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Getting on a bus doesn't bother me, even with kids. It is generally a trade off and I would much rather stay in a nice place with a slight faff at the start and end of each day.
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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.

Quote:

in a recent survey of about 5 people, 80% of snowHeads had only heard of France.

rolling eyes in a recent survey of a different 5 people none of them could say anything positive about Austria without saying something negative about France. wink

There are any number of "as near as dammit" ski in/ski out places, other than in the high purpose built resorts. We are renting all 6 apartments in this building at Easter for a big family party. Apart from being 2 metres from the long blue cruisy piste through the trees (steep black alternative for the lads) it is a very near a perfect little nursery slope with a free rope-tow, a couple of restaurants, a small supermarket and an excellent ski hire shop.


It's in France; sorry about that. Purpose-built, high-rise, moonscape horror. wink I wouldn't bother.

If we used every bed, which we won't, it would cost £56 per person for the week at Easter; private car park, communal area with table tennis, a children's play area and a big refectory table for adults to sit around with a glass of plonk.
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So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
For it to be ski out, presumably you have to be up the mountain so you can actually ski down something, rather than just being next to a lift. Surely this compromises evening activities somewhat? Getting back up from restaurants and bars must be a bit of a ball ache?

If you just mean within a few metres of a lift, you can get that everywhere.

Quote:

in a recent survey of about 5 people, 80% of snowHeads had only heard of France.


ROFLCOPTER
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
GordonFreeman, should have mentioned the Milk Hotel in les Carroz, too. Ski out along a green lane to the gondola in the morning, and back down the easy red right to the terrace at close of play.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
There are some really cheap[1] ski in/out hotels in the Jardin Alpin of Courchevel 1850.

[1] if you are a Russian Oligarch
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
clarky999 wrote:
For it to be ski out, presumably you have to be up the mountain so you can actually ski down something, rather than just being next to a lift. Surely this compromises evening activities somewhat? Getting back up from restaurants and bars must be a bit of a ball ache?
...


Not necessarily, it's quite possible for a place to be "ski out" and still have roads or paths to nearby restaurants and bars.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
clarky999 wrote:
For it to be ski out, presumably you have to be up the mountain so you can actually ski down something, rather than just being next to a lift. Surely this compromises evening activities somewhat?


Have stayed in a chalet just below club med in Val d'Isere... there's a very gently sloped piste than ran past the back door down to the cluster of lifts in the town, and you can get onto it easily enough from the slopes above. Few minutes walk into the town centre.

Place I stayed in Sestriere a few years back was ski-in, shuffle out, if that's good enough wink
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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?
Hello GordonFreeman,
Chalet hotel La Foret is directly on the blue piste (also called la foret i think) that leads down to the village of Vallandry
And i do mean directly. you can have a beer on the terrace, then clip on skis and leave terrace on skis
and toddle off down to chairlift. Circle round the lift system and get on la foret piste and ski down to chalet and
either ski up to 1 metre from boot room door or carry on for 20 yards or so up ramp back onto terrace.
Proper ski in and out. I'm sure there are loads more like this in France.
Also in Gastein valley and Westendorf and various other Austrian resorts there are small hotels/restaurants directly on the piste.
They are all a bit remote from the village though.

Hello agw,
I've just noticed your post mentioned chalet la foret. Do you take very small strides, cos i'm sure that if i took 30 paces from either the boot room or terrace
then i would have walked all the way across the piste and been rolling down the hill!! wink
Or maybe pistes "shift" around like sand dunes and we obviously went at different times!! (I'm half serious with that question actually, are pistes ever "moved" at all) Puzzled

Cheers Geoff
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ClubMed Avoriaz. Fab value and great skiing if you have ankle biters. True ski in/ski out. Fortunately I don't so avoid family friendly and school holidays like the plague,

Try hard to go for a ski/outer. If not I hire skis from the shop by the lift so do not need to lug stuff on/off coaches. It's a compromise. So was twice selling my out of date skis because sick of lugging them around/ paying service and carriage.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
geoffkay wrote:
Hello GordonFreeman,
Chalet hotel La Foret is directly on the blue piste (also called la foret i think) that leads down to the village of Vallandry
And i do mean directly. you can have a beer on the terrace, then clip on skis and leave terrace on skis
and toddle off down to chairlift. Circle round the lift system and get on la foret piste and ski down to chalet and
either ski up to 1 metre from boot room door or carry on for 20 yards or so up ramp back onto terrace.
Proper ski in and out. I'm sure there are loads more like this in France.
Also in Gastein valley and Westendorf and various other Austrian resorts there are small hotels/restaurants directly on the piste.
They are all a bit remote from the village though.

Hello agw,
I've just noticed your post mentioned chalet la foret. Do you take very small strides, cos i'm sure that if i took 30 paces from either the boot room or terrace
then i would have walked all the way across the piste and been rolling down the hill!! wink
Or maybe pistes "shift" around like sand dunes and we obviously went at different times!! (I'm half serious with that question actually, are pistes ever "moved" at all) Puzzled

Cheers Geoff


He he - not that one - it's a track rather than a piste. I'm talking about those small steps you have to take in ski boots. Maybe 30 is too many but as I recall we walked from the door along the wooden terrace and then either walked down a ramp of snow, or clicked in and skied down it if the piste was quiet (the ramp faced up the narrow piste and some people did tend to bomb down it).

Got a picture somewhere -



the ramp goes down behind the balcony and the piste/track is behind it. Was it like that when you were there?
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Quote:

For it to be ski out, presumably you have to be up the mountain so you can actually ski down something, rather than just being next to a lift. Surely this compromises evening activities somewhat? Getting back up from restaurants and bars must be a bit of a ball ache?

My apartment is in the complex in the middle of the picture, taken from the chairlift. There is a bar and restaurant up there, but nothing else. Just 180 degree uninterrupted view of the mountains, which suits me, but wouldn't suit someone wanting to go to a different bar every night. wink That's just a bit further up the piste from the building in my earlier post. With small kids wanting to use the free rope tow and have a safe toboganning place just out the back door, the lower building is preferable, within very short walk of more facilities.

I don't really like the idea of a big hotel stuck way up a mountain but that's because I don't much like hotels. A small chalet, or refuge, up a mountain would be fine.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
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Orso Bianco Sauze D'Oulz
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
As the others have said purpose built resorts tend to offer the most ski in ski out options. Le Rosiere and Pila are places I've been to in the last few years had good ski in ski out without compromising being away from bars/restaurants-they're very quiet resorts to begin with. There's usually a compromise somewhere though, I find you can be limiting your skiing somewhat skiing from the same lift each morning and having to end up on a particular piste to get home, this can be a bit of a carry on in some resorts. I really don't mind using buses.
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GordonFreeman wrote:
In all the years I've been skiing I've never been to a ski in / ski out place.
Stupid question really but where are the bets places for this or is it all about going to a higher resort with better snow cover?


La Tania, Grand Bois. 1350M ASL. I've never not been able to to ski to the door of the ski room and from the door. (altough they've built some chalets next door now, so you have to walk..... 10 feet.... before putting your skis on).

Also Les Arcs, La Plagne, Montchavin, Les Menuires (several times), VT, Mottaret, Serre chevalier, all ski to and from the door of the Ski room. I'm sure you can go to all of the above and have to walk to/from the skiing, but its all a matter of the 6 Ps....
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Frosty the Snowman wrote:
Getting on a bus doesn't bother me, even with kids. It is generally a trade off and I would much rather stay in a nice place with a slight faff at the start and end of each day.

This.
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Quote:

There are some really cheap[1] ski in/out hotels in the Jardin Alpin of Courchevel 1850.

[1] if you are a Russian Oligarch


But you do get to keep the hotel after you leave......
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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.
For us, ski in/out is pretty essential because of all the comings and goings involved with mixed family groups. Parents can go out for a 2 or 3 hour ski whilst someone else looks after their kids, or take children out for a little local easy ski, then come back, have a quick lunch, and go back out for a faster adult ski. If I go out for a short ski I don't want to spend half the time on a bus.

being able to lunch cheaply in the apartment also makes a big difference to costs.

I don't mind driving to another resort, occasionally, but I do find ski busses a pain though they are useful here for beginners who can't ski the blue in/out piste. I can ski down to the chair lift, go up it (quite a slow lift) and ski down the mountain in less time than it takes the bus to trundle round. And getting small kids on and off crowded busses and ensuring they neither injure themselves nor poke anybody's eyes out with their sticks is a hassle I can do without on holiday.

After a day skiing, all I ask is a good dinner and a quiet drink. And it's not just a sign of my advanced age. "Going out to bars" never figured in my ski holiday plans.

Just depends what you like, I suppose, and what your options are. Walking in ski boots, like waiting in lift queues, is something I just don't do anymore. wink
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Hello again agw,
Yes that photo looks spot on!! The piste is narrow but is on the map as a piste i'm sure. We went in jan 06 if i remember.
Had a great time other than there being 4 of us and 50 of some sort of social club members!!! They took over after dinner
doing awards and whatnot, but to be fair we got on really well with some of their gang.
Just had a quick root around google and i think they were called Spice uk. adventurous holidays as a sort of knocking shop thing.

Cheers, Geoff
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
The fairmont hotel in mont tremblant is the best ski in ski out hotel , or the niseko Hilton snowHead
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
pam w, you forgot about the little ones leaving gloves/poles/hats etc on the bus or the fact that they can be remarkably unreliable at times.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
The buses I mean not the little ones
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
There are heaps in Europe (France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland) depending on snow conditions of course, but normally we stay within a kilometre of a lift which I shall call "walk in". This gives me more money to blow of call-girls, blow, food and drink etc. Anyway, the walk is a good way to warm up and a death march test when knackered at the end of the day.

I can give you the worst I have stayed at;
Perisher Manor at, you guessed it, Perisher (in Australia in case you didn't know). It has Swiss prices, Bulgarian food, Scottish snow, English heat and noise insulation (deafening roar of snow cannons all night), with Albanian plumbing and heating. An absolute stinking shocker of a place but it does have ski in/ski out.


Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Fri 18-01-13 20:15; edited 1 time in total
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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?
Oberlech is amazing. Even your luggage leaves you in lech at the cable car and gets taken to your hotel room for you.
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Re my earlier. "Perisher Manor" is the place I am talking about; NOT Perisher Hotel which I am sure it a great establishment. My bad.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Chalet D'Or, Le Grand Bornand. I am currently writing this from the master bedroom overlooking the red run, which i could throw a tennis ball onto its that close. To get to the chalet, you have to use the gondola up to it, then walk the last 30 metres to the chalet. Had an amazing time here, with the best family in the world who own/run it. Google the place for images. Proper ski in/out.
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Arc1950 - high enough to be snow-sure. Ski into the village square. Park skis, have a coffee/go to apt. Ski out other side of square to lifts below. Modern, but built with stone and wood so as pretty as a purpose-built place can be at that altitude!
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
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Avoriaz. Its in France sorry about that.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
GordonFreeman,
Quote:
In all the years I've been skiing I've never been to a ski in / ski out place.

Out of curiousity... how many years and where have you been skiing?
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I stayed at a lovely mountain gasthof right on the slopes next to the mid station chair lift and only 00m metres from one of the best apres ski huts in the area - but I'm not saying where it was as there were no other brits there and I will go back one day Very Happy
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I stayed in Les Balcons complex in Belle Plagne, they had a back door which opened onto a shelf above a blue run straight in Plagne Centre, never stayed in anywhere quite so ski in / ski out
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