Who is going skiing and where in 2016

[popeyewhite]

JEA1K said:

jamiebae said:

Zürich is ace, mainly because it's a major international hub and business destination so can actually cope with the additional volume of ski traffic easily. The longest I've ever waited at passport control is 10 minutes and the railway station is actually in the airport.

The downside is that it takes a couple of hours by train to get to most places, but I'd take a two hour train trip to Klosters Platz over a bus transfer to Courcheval any day!

Another fan of Zurich airport, the place just works. There's limited budget airline flights but the main operators don't actually charge much more for flights anyhow. I've been using Swiss for years and coupled with the airport, its such a relaxing way to travel. We take the Manchester flight at 8:40am, arrive around 11:45am, catch up with others arriving from Heathrow and Aberdoom, head into town for some lunch and a beer, catch the 14:40 train to St Anton which arrives at 5pm and get ourselves organised ... same every year, 19 seasons on the bounce.

Swiss are very good. Although the apple strudel on board two weeks ago looked more like a sausage roll. Free skis as well. I took the 1.30 pm flight from MAN, arriving in Wengen at a relaxed 7.00 pm.

[Dave2P]

Dave2P said:

Snow to lower levels expected late this afternoon and overnight tonight, however.

Snow Forecast for Transfer Day (J2Ski)

Snow's come in earlier than expected and snowing heavily across the North/French Alps already; snow ploughs out on the autoroutes and Geneva airport now reporting "excessive" delays... it has begun.

Safe journey to anyone heading out today or tomorrow; but you'll have fab conditions when you get there...

[SilverSixer]

Dave2P said:

Dave2P said:

Snow to lower levels expected late this afternoon and overnight tonight, however.

Snow Forecast for Transfer Day (J2Ski)

Snow's come in earlier than expected and snowing heavily across the North/French Alps already; snow ploughs out on the autoroutes and Geneva airport now reporting "excessive" delays... it has begun.

Safe journey to anyone heading out today or tomorrow; but you'll have fab conditions when you get there...

Send a bit to the south east, it's looking thin in Bosnia and I'm going there tomorrow...........packing a few board games. :-(

[deckster]

Dave2P said:

Snow's come in earlier than expected and snowing heavily across the North/French Alps already; snow ploughs out on the autoroutes and Geneva airport now reporting "excessive" delays... it has begun.

Safe journey to anyone heading out today or tomorrow; but you'll have fab conditions when you get there...

Here's hoping...

4:20am tunnel reservation...check
4WD ready to rock...check
New all-season tyres...check
Snow chains...check
Tablets and chargers for mini-decksters...check
50cm of powder in the last couple of days...double check

It's gonna be a blast, one way or another.

[timlongs]

Dave2P said:

timlongs said:

Anyone driving to the Northern Alps this weekend? I hope you have your snowchains at the ready. 70cm forecast on Saturday in the Tarentaise (Val, Tignes, Les Arcs etc) on the busiest Saturday of the year. It'll be chaos!

Latest forecasts have the snow line going as high as 2000m on Saturday, so hopefully main roads will be clear... of snow; although they certainly won't be clear of traffic! Snow to lower levels expected late this afternoon and overnight tonight, however.

Snow Forecast for Transfer Day (J2Ski)

The roads are already fked. All stations in Northern French Alps are requiring snow chains up and down. GVA has been closed on/off today due to snow clearance on the runway.

http://savoie-route.fr/

Edited by timlongs on Friday 12th February 17:17

[jamiebae]

Jarcy said:

jamiebae said:

Jarcy said:

I came home from Wengen on Monday via Zurich and used the train. Even at over 3 hours transfer, it was still relaxed and took me door to door (the hotel even collected my luggage from Wengen rail station to save me lugging the last 200yds).
I'll be using Zurich again next month for Engelberg.

Getting to Engelberg is really easy from ZRH, one change in Luzern, grab a pretzel and coffee while you walk over to the other platform and you're away.

I was there last week, it's a really nice place, will be going again next time I have a free day, it's much nicer than Flumserberg and a bit less busy too.

Yes, I went to Engelberg by train from Zurich last March. Love the place.

Thanks for the validation, I think I'll jump in the car and head over there on Sunday for a family skiing and sledging day

[CAPP0]

Dave2P said:

but you'll have fab conditions when you get there...

You will - if you're comfortable skiing in completely flat light. Today's the last day of my week in VT. In the past 7 days we have had literally one sunny spell of 2-3 hours and that's it. The majority of the time the light has been completely flat with absolutely zero definition. Definitely makes you ski properly, you can't be lazy and get away with it! I've never seen so many wheelchairs, casts and slings in use. Be careful! The forecast for next week doesn't look much brighter in terms of the light.

The snow however is utterly amazing. It has fallen almost constantly all week. It's lovely light powder too, when you get amongst it, it's like bouncing on pillows. I was off piste yesterday and couldn't touch anything solid with my poles, which are 135s.

Wind has also been very high a lot of the time, resulting in the x-valley links closing. Most days there have been warnings at strategic lifts to get back to your own valley ASAP.

I've been out this morning, back for coffee now and waiting to see whether the wind and/or snow drops away. I'm in Club Med. Some of the roofs outside have metres, not cm, of snow on them.

Oh and the traffic reports above? Yes, it's bedlam out there. Chains compulsory from Les Menuires up, even for locals, and the gendarmes are apparently enforcing it. We're out by coach tomorrow afternoon, hoping it will be a little calmer by then, but if you're travelling today, I hope you haven't got any deadlines to make!

[Leithen]

Crans Montana women's Downhill postponed until tomorrow - too much snow.....

[CAPP0]

Well I take it all back! Just after my last post, and contra to all forecasts, the cloud b*ggered off out of it and we have just had a few hours of perfect bluebird powder Fantastic end to the week. Dropped over into Orelle and virtually had the place to ourselves. #titsdeep

Edited by CAPP0 on Saturday 13th February 15:23

[GT03ROB]

CAPP0 said:

I've been out this morning, back for coffee now and waiting to see whether the wind and/or snow drops away. I'm in Club Med. Some of the roofs outside have metres, not cm, of snow on them.

How have you found Club Med? We're off to where you are in 2 weeks,

[CAPP0]

GT03ROB said:

CAPP0 said:

I've been out this morning, back for coffee now and waiting to see whether the wind and/or snow drops away. I'm in Club Med. Some of the roofs outside have metres, not cm, of snow on them.

How have you found Club Med? We're off to where you are in 2 weeks,

Really good. They do seem to have everything covered off. When you break the price down, it's pretty good value for the standard/quality of accommodation. You can have an instructor for 5 days if you want, up to and including expert level and off-piste guiding - all included. Plus it's genuine ski in/out. If you come back at lunchtime, they will often be standing outside to welcome you with vin chaud. Alongside the price, I have spent all of €30 this week - one lunch out and a couple of choc chauds. That's partly because of the weather, meaning we haven't put in as many long routes as we would normally have done, but we've had a very good time. Staff ratio is about 1:3 and almost every one of them seems really happy in their job and nothing's too much trouble. They give the impression of actively enjoying your company. There's entertainment every night if you want it - it's properly cheesy but somehow works! About the only thing I can fault is the wifi, it's slow and clunky, but that depends whether you need it much or not.

Watch out for Gigi. You WILL know who he is!

[GT03ROB]

CAPP0 said:

Really good. They do seem to have everything covered off. When you break the price down, it's pretty good value for the standard/quality of accommodation. You can have an instructor for 5 days if you want, up to and including expert level and off-piste guiding - all included. Plus it's genuine ski in/out. If you come back at lunchtime, they will often be standing outside to welcome you with vin chaud. Alongside the price, I have spent all of €30 this week - one lunch out and a couple of choc chauds. That's partly because of the weather, meaning we haven't put in as many long routes as we would normally have done, but we've had a very good time. Staff ratio is about 1:3 and almost every one of them seems really happy in their job and nothing's too much trouble. They give the impression of actively enjoying your company. There's entertainment every night if you want it - it's properly cheesy but somehow works! About the only thing I can fault is the wifi, it's slow and clunky, but that depends whether you need it much or not.

Watch out for Gigi. You WILL know who he is!

Cheers sounds good.

[RVVUNM]

Might I suggest if you don't like Apre ski and love parading around in your Bentley wearing a fur coat then go to Kitzbuhel.

[Petrol Only]

RVVUNM said:

Might I suggest if you don't like Apre ski and love parading around in your Bentley wearing a fur coat then go to Kitzbuhel.

Quite the experience my first visit to kitz. Shop after shop of very expensive clothing that nobody goes in.

Stunning place though.

[ukaskew]

A few random questions from me as I'm in the Three Valleys area in France for a few days next week on a photography job. I've never been to a ski resort in my life...

- What's the minimum amount of skiing gear I can arrive with if I have a free day for skiing? i.e. how much stuff can I actually rent? I have base layers, jacket and trousers that are suitable, but no googles, boots, skis, gloves etc. Happy to pick things like gloves up online this week though.

- What sort of footwear is recommended for just getting about? Are walking shoes/boots ok?

[jamiebae]

ukaskew said:

A few random questions from me as I'm in the Three Valleys area in France for a few days next week on a photography job. I've never been to a ski resort in my life...

- What's the minimum amount of skiing gear I can arrive with if I have a free day for skiing? i.e. how much stuff can I actually rent? I have base layers, jacket and trousers that are suitable, but no googles, boots, skis, gloves etc. Happy to pick things like gloves up online this week though.

- What sort of footwear is recommended for just getting about? Are walking shoes/boots ok?

I just wear ski boots the whole time if skiing, and if you're just walking about then something waterproof.

In terms of kit I'd take your own helmet and goggles if you've got room and just rent the skis, poles and boots. You can hire helmets and goggles in some places but personally I'd much rather have my own.

[//j17]

ukaskew said:

A few random questions from me as I'm in the Three Valleys area in France for a few days next week on a photography job. I've never been to a ski resort in my life...

I take it that means you're a beginner as the other option is king of the dry/indoor slope who's never been tempted to try a real mountain.

ukaskew said:

- What's the minimum amount of skiing gear I can arrive with if I have a free day for skiing? i.e. how much stuff can I actually rent? I have base layers, jacket and trousers that are suitable, but no googles, boots, skis, gloves etc. Happy to pick things like gloves up online this week though.

Where there are a few places you can hire everything they aren't that common and there's every chance your resort won't have anything like that. What's easy to hire anywhere are skis/poles/boots/helmets.

You can pick up goggles and gloves cheaply, either online or at somewhere like Decathlon.

ukaskew said:

- What sort of footwear is recommended for just getting about? Are walking shoes/boots ok?

Any waterproof boots/shoes will be fine for snow/wet but you might want to get a set of ice grips (http://www.snowandrock.com/ice-grips/ski/fcp-category/list) to minimuse the risk of slipping while working and dropping/landing on you camera kit!

[Marcellus]

ukaskew said:

- What sort of footwear is recommended for just getting about? Are walking shoes/boots ok?

If work involves standing around ont eh snow then I'd recommend a pair of Sorrells!

[jonny996]

First ski trip tomorrow, off to St Gervais with my 2 boys (12 & 8). We have done hours on dry slope and a few snow days up in aviemore but tomorrow it the real deal.

[PurpleTurtle]

ukaskew said:

A few random questions from me as I'm in the Three Valleys area in France for a few days next week on a photography job. I've never been to a ski resort in my life...

- What's the minimum amount of skiing gear I can arrive with if I have a free day for skiing? i.e. how much stuff can I actually rent? I have base layers, jacket and trousers that are suitable, but no googles, boots, skis, gloves etc. Happy to pick things like gloves up online this week though.

- What sort of footwear is recommended for just getting about? Are walking shoes/boots ok?

Funny you should say that - my first ski trip in '98 I went with a group of mates, borrowed all the kit but didn't give a second thought about non-skiing footwear. Went to Gatwick on an early train having been in a Reading nightclub until 4am in some 'clubbing' shoes - completely smooth, grip free sole. How my group laughed as I went arse over tit on immediately departing the transfer coach, and about three times a night for the following week!

'Stout, sturdy soles' would be my advice. Never seens anyone hiring goggles or gloves (rental shops are normally ski shops, so they would prefer you to buy at premium in-resort prices) - best off borrowing these if you can, or buying some cheap in the UK - Decathlon very good value as suggested up the thread.