Who is going skiing and where 2014?
Discussion
Burrow01 said:
torqueofthedevil said:
looking for a trip to vail from manchester
This may be the problem - have you tried looking for trips flying from London first and then narrowing it down?torqueofthedevil said:
why is it that none of the ski companies online seem to do trips to USA, most have drop down menus to select usa but then come back with no results.
looking for a trip to vail from manchester
I'd give Ski Safari a call. One of the few package holidays I've been on in years and not a single problem.looking for a trip to vail from manchester
F1sh
Bumper year for me this year.. 12 days in chamonix over xmas, then another week in cham in feb and then another 2 weeks back in cham at easter all with the family. And hopefully also managing to sneak a boys weekend somewhere within the season.
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow ...
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow ...
I've just been badly let down, which is a first in six years, so may end up having an apartment in La Tania for the whole season.
Current thoughts are 3 weeks after Christmas, the a week at the end of Jan "wiv de lads", a couple of weeks used as an office and then another couple late season..."....... Life's a b
h when you get let down by a customer.
Current thoughts are 3 weeks after Christmas, the a week at the end of Jan "wiv de lads", a couple of weeks used as an office and then another couple late season..."....... Life's a b
h when you get let down by a customer.Burrow01 said:
Looking to book a week at the end of Feb / start of March - thinking of Cervinia - anyone been there and can comment on the skiing and maybe recommend a good chalet / self catering apartment?
I can't recommend any digs as the places I stayed at in were owned block rented by the company I was working for. Cervinia is a great resort-for the right level of skier. It's an intermediate/those who like long crusing runs paradise, Italian resorts piste grooming is generally immaculate, but there are lack of challenges for experienced skiers. The town itself is a bit fugly by Italian standards, but still nicer than the maority of French resorts I can think of. As the price of the Swiss franc has been strong over the last 5 years or so, well more like most others have tanked it's a good way to experience Zematt without paying the price to stay there. It's is pretty time consuming getting over (and back) but a ride on the Klein Matterhorn (highest cable car in Europe at nearly 4000m) on a clear day is spectacular. It's also prone to closing in high winds-a taxi ride back would be rather expensive if you got stuck.......Choose accomadation near the village centre, the walk to the main gondola is a bit of a pig (it's a steep climb) but from the village you can use the chairs used for the nursery slope. It can be very sunny too, but it's so high it's snow sure despite not actually getting as uch snow as other resorts in the area. You could also consider hitting Pila, Courmeyeur, Le Thuile and even Chamonix if you have a car.
All in all a good choice if you're an intermediate and the weathers good.
a311 said:
All in all a good choice if you're an intermediate and the weathers good.
Thanks for all that feedback - been to Zermatt before and was hoping Cervinia might be a cheaper way to ski the area 
Agree that its all pretty intermediate, thats one thing that disappointed about Zermatt, but going with a couple of "cruiser" skiers, so that sets the pace really
Like the idea of going somewhere else for a a day in a car - what sort of journey times are you looking at for the resorts you mentioned?
Burrow01 said:
Thanks for all that feedback - been to Zermatt before and was hoping Cervinia might be a cheaper way to ski the area
Agree that its all pretty intermediate, thats one thing that disappointed about Zermatt, but going with a couple of "cruiser" skiers, so that sets the pace really
Like the idea of going somewhere else for a a day in a car - what sort of journey times are you looking at for the resorts you mentioned?
Cervinia is at the far end of the Aosta Valley, to La Thuile I'd say aprox an hour +. Chamonix about 1hrs 45 mins to 2 hours. You then have Pila, Courmeyeur, Gressoney, and Champoluc.Agree that its all pretty intermediate, thats one thing that disappointed about Zermatt, but going with a couple of "cruiser" skiers, so that sets the pace really
Like the idea of going somewhere else for a a day in a car - what sort of journey times are you looking at for the resorts you mentioned?
To be honest between Zermatt and Cervinia you're got far more skiing in a week than you'll need. Each of the resorts I've mentioned are smaller but have their own charms. If you're after more of a challenge get a guide in Cervinia, a trip to Chamonix may appeal, but it's all about the off piste- bit disjointed.
You could all do the Vallee Blanche, really nothing a red run skier can't handle but you need a guide to make sure you don't fall down any crevasses
Dolomites might be worth a look too, stunning place to ski but lack of on piste challenging stuff. If you found Zermatt tame Cervinia is tamer still. When I'm skiing with people of that level I'll tend to just nip off if I fancy it and pick a piste marker etc to meet them at.
We're booked in for 3 months in Canada. Both taking time off work and not working while we're over there. We've booked a house in Nelson BC which is known for it's enormous quantities of snow and lovely town.
I sold the Evo last week so we can buy a truck when we get to Canada - current winner is a Nissan Titan. 0-60 in 6.7 seconds for something that weighs 2.3 tons.
Life.
Doesn't.
Suck.
I sold the Evo last week so we can buy a truck when we get to Canada - current winner is a Nissan Titan. 0-60 in 6.7 seconds for something that weighs 2.3 tons.
Life.
Doesn't.
Suck.
And as long as I'm here I may as well post photos from last year, since I neglected to put up a trip report.
We went to Japan 3 years ago and loved it. I did 3 weeks in total and put up a mini trip report here:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Last year we went to three resorts in the same area as last time - Nozawa Onsen, Madarao Kogen and Myoko Kogen again.
We rocked into Nozawa Onsen late and had to meet our host. This invloved me trudging up the steep roads whilst it puked snow on us and I attempted to drag a suitcase. I wasn't a happy bunny by the end but they met us with beer so everything was OK. We stayed up on the mountain, literally on the slopes:
This meant first tracks every morning because everyone else was staying down the bottom, but we had to get lifts up and down the mountain after hours in the insane tracked Toyota pictured. It snowed most days we were there - this was a typical scene in the morning:
The resort has been "discovered" by Australians and others so don't go expecting an authentic experience. It does have reasonable apres (not a feature of most resorts in Japan). The snow was plentiful and the resort has some powder zones where off-piste is permitted / encouraged. These got tracked out by lunch time on most powder days. There is also a massive valley from the side of the resort that you can drop into from the top lift. This is completely un-patrolled and unmanaged but has wonderful powder through the trees. It's a massive terrain trap and they get vast quantities of snow so could be very dangerous.
After that, we were off to Madarao Kogen which is exactly the opposite to Nozawa in terms of the town. There are only two restaurants open at night, one a jazz cafe from when they used to have a sister festival to the Montreux one - hundreds of signed photos from all the jazz and blues greats on the wall, great music and a lovely host. We ended up with a sake cup as a gift from him when I praised the beauty of one. We stayed in a lovely hotel but we were the only Westerners in town. One day we saw another group on the ski fields but they appeared to be getting guided by a Japanese dude. Again, amazing amounts of snow and they had a few dedicated powder areas within bounds that they do avy patrols on.
We finished our trip staying in Myoko Kogen, which is where we were based for our first trip. We stayed in the same hotel because the owner had asked us to return and again I spent a few nights drinking with him at his bar. We had great snow here too (seeing a pattern forming?). Myoko is in my eyes the best mid-point for snow report in Japan - not to Westernised and still lot's of Japanese culture but enough English speakers and Western-sized boots around to cater to us.
Gratuitous snow pics:
We went to Japan 3 years ago and loved it. I did 3 weeks in total and put up a mini trip report here:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Last year we went to three resorts in the same area as last time - Nozawa Onsen, Madarao Kogen and Myoko Kogen again.
We rocked into Nozawa Onsen late and had to meet our host. This invloved me trudging up the steep roads whilst it puked snow on us and I attempted to drag a suitcase. I wasn't a happy bunny by the end but they met us with beer so everything was OK. We stayed up on the mountain, literally on the slopes:
This meant first tracks every morning because everyone else was staying down the bottom, but we had to get lifts up and down the mountain after hours in the insane tracked Toyota pictured. It snowed most days we were there - this was a typical scene in the morning:
The resort has been "discovered" by Australians and others so don't go expecting an authentic experience. It does have reasonable apres (not a feature of most resorts in Japan). The snow was plentiful and the resort has some powder zones where off-piste is permitted / encouraged. These got tracked out by lunch time on most powder days. There is also a massive valley from the side of the resort that you can drop into from the top lift. This is completely un-patrolled and unmanaged but has wonderful powder through the trees. It's a massive terrain trap and they get vast quantities of snow so could be very dangerous.
After that, we were off to Madarao Kogen which is exactly the opposite to Nozawa in terms of the town. There are only two restaurants open at night, one a jazz cafe from when they used to have a sister festival to the Montreux one - hundreds of signed photos from all the jazz and blues greats on the wall, great music and a lovely host. We ended up with a sake cup as a gift from him when I praised the beauty of one. We stayed in a lovely hotel but we were the only Westerners in town. One day we saw another group on the ski fields but they appeared to be getting guided by a Japanese dude. Again, amazing amounts of snow and they had a few dedicated powder areas within bounds that they do avy patrols on.
We finished our trip staying in Myoko Kogen, which is where we were based for our first trip. We stayed in the same hotel because the owner had asked us to return and again I spent a few nights drinking with him at his bar. We had great snow here too (seeing a pattern forming?). Myoko is in my eyes the best mid-point for snow report in Japan - not to Westernised and still lot's of Japanese culture but enough English speakers and Western-sized boots around to cater to us.
Gratuitous snow pics:
aussieal said:
Not been skiing for 10 years, but am thinking of taking Mrs aussieal in 2014 - she hasn't skied before.
Due to work, we won't be able to go until March at the earliest. I was thinking of maybe going to the USA, had a good trip toe Crested Butte at Uni and really enjoyed it.
Any recommendations for resorts across the pond, that won't cost the earth?
I've ski'd Winter Park (Colorado) and Kimberley (Canada) in my younger days, both were (relatively) cheap for across the pond. Due to work, we won't be able to go until March at the earliest. I was thinking of maybe going to the USA, had a good trip toe Crested Butte at Uni and really enjoyed it.
Any recommendations for resorts across the pond, that won't cost the earth?
Same as what other posters have said though, the costly element these days is flights across the pond, gone are the days when Jet Blue did £299 return to Vancouver, funny how they never made money on that!
My advice would be to go high in Europe. Val D'Isere is my favourite resort, very snow sure, but I wouldn't recommend it if your wife is a beginner, as there is no easy way to ski down into the village. My wife (3 weeks on skis) didn't like it for that reason this year. Tignes, its neighbouring resort and on same lift pass is much easier for beginners, but has lots of intermediate/expert skiing too. It's more purpose built and not as easy on the eye as Val D'Isere as a place to stay, but I actually prefer the ski area in Tignes.
That should be pretty snow covered still by March.
I've been to the Three Valleys (Meribel/Courcheval/Val Thorens) a couple of times in March, but found that it got very slushy in the afternoons. Some say get up early, make the most of the morning and finish early if it goes like that, but I like a night out on holiday so the early start never happens! Ergo I found my skiing time squeezed because of the slush. Just my observation, I think if I'd gone there earlier in the season I'd have enjoyed it a lot more. In fact .... <fires up Iglu> :-)
Just booked a ski trip to Morzine in March next year. First Snowboarding holiday in many years and certainly the first since two ACL knee ops over the last few years so hopefully get up to the hills during the winter beforehand to test the knee to see if I need to buy a brace/support.
Cannot wait.
Cannot wait.
seefarr said:
We're booked in for 3 months in Canada. Both taking time off work and not working while we're over there. We've booked a house in Nelson BC which is known for it's enormous quantities of snow and lovely town.
I sold the Evo last week so we can buy a truck when we get to Canada - current winner is a Nissan Titan. 0-60 in 6.7 seconds for something that weighs 2.3 tons.
Life.
Doesn't.
Suck.
Jealous. We went on a ski tour of Canada last year cobbled with visiting some family I thought we did well to get 4 weeks in-how do you manage to get 3 months in?! We were in the Okanagan Valley first up, skiing places like Silver Star and Big White, then onto Vancouver, took in the local hills-Cypress, Grouse etc, Onto Whistler, then Vancouver Island and Mt Washington. I sold the Evo last week so we can buy a truck when we get to Canada - current winner is a Nissan Titan. 0-60 in 6.7 seconds for something that weighs 2.3 tons.
Life.
Doesn't.
Suck.
Fantastic trip, would love to live in Vancouver with doorstep skiing easy access to Whistler if/when required. Mt Washington was a bonus, have family living in the Comox Valley and it was about 20 mins away. Great hill and worth consideration. Vancouver Island itself is beautiful too.
Did you make it to Rusutsu in Japan? Got a mate who’s instructed for a few years out there, went out a couple of years ago-very much off the radar to most including the Aussies……
Hello, looking for a bit of advice on France over Christmas / New Year for a family. Up to know we've only skied in Colorado with the kids - this year we need to look at Europe and I was focusing on Les Gets or surrounds.
Any top tips? Accommodation recs etc? Kids are 5 and 7 and quite happy on intermediate runs but we will be getting them more tuition and so ideally would like some familiar voices for that...
Any top tips? Accommodation recs etc? Kids are 5 and 7 and quite happy on intermediate runs but we will be getting them more tuition and so ideally would like some familiar voices for that...
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