Who's going skiing and where 2020

[NumBMW]

Just got back from Chamonix been over since 29th Dec.
Blue sky all week and excellent conditions especially Grands Montets. Although no decent off-piste as there has been no new snow since xmas eve I think.

Stayed at Foile Douche that had a great NYE party. Upstairs in the bar was far better than the kids dance in the apres bar downstairs.

Had the best pizza I ever had (twice) at JOIA Pizzaria des Moulins. Little place with no booking, so go early to try and grab a spot, or later on.
The atmosphere is great, the staff are friendly and its just the right side of bedlam when its full, which is all the time !!

[Ranger 6]

craig1912 said:

What’s Borovets like now.
Went about 30 years ago and whilst the skiing was ok and the beer was 10p a large bottle I vowed never to go back. Food was st if you could get any, prostitutes in the hotel, waiters wanting to change money or sell you black market caviar.
I can honestly say I’ve never been to a worse place - skiing or otherwise!

Well, I've skied in France, Austria and Germany before, but this was my first visit to Bulgaria.

The honest answer is that I can't compare to modern European resorts, unless you want to go back to the German towns I experienced in the late 70s. Lots of button lifts, queues at the main lifts and they couldn't cope with the volume of people at peak times (new year week). The slopes were well groomed and there was snow decent cover.

The hotel wasn't the best, cracked tiles in the bathroom and towels that were more like sandpaper. Beds that gave you back ache after 5 minutes etc. The breakfast was awful - on one day we had fresh scrambled eggs and they had cooked ham, similar to bacon. Otherwise it was pasta spirals with feta cheese, broad beans in a tomato sauce or croissants 3" long that you'd feed to a child. The coffee was dreadful and the tea bags were either green or purple.

Having said that - for what we paid, it was still good value in comparison to the other European resorts - the bars and restaurants were good prices - 1/2 litre of beer in a mountain bar was £1.75 and a litre bottle in a small shop 75p. Meals for the two of us in the town didn't exceed £35 and the quality was better than you'd expect for the price.

I'd certainly go back in low season, my comments may appear harsh, but the people were great and the cost of eating out meant you could enjoy a few days quite reasonably. I'd choose a different hotel as there's much better in the town - the Rila being the obvious choice.

[flight147z]

Ranger 6 said:

craig1912 said:

What’s Borovets like now.
Went about 30 years ago and whilst the skiing was ok and the beer was 10p a large bottle I vowed never to go back. Food was st if you could get any, prostitutes in the hotel, waiters wanting to change money or sell you black market caviar.
I can honestly say I’ve never been to a worse place - skiing or otherwise!

Well, I've skied in France, Austria and Germany before, but this was my first visit to Bulgaria.

The honest answer is that I can't compare to modern European resorts, unless you want to go back to the German towns I experienced in the late 70s. Lots of button lifts, queues at the main lifts and they couldn't cope with the volume of people at peak times (new year week). The slopes were well groomed and there was snow decent cover.

The hotel wasn't the best, cracked tiles in the bathroom and towels that were more like sandpaper. Beds that gave you back ache after 5 minutes etc. The breakfast was awful - on one day we had fresh scrambled eggs and they had cooked ham, similar to bacon. Otherwise it was pasta spirals with feta cheese, broad beans in a tomato sauce or croissants 3" long that you'd feed to a child. The coffee was dreadful and the tea bags were either green or purple.

Having said that - for what we paid, it was still good value in comparison to the other European resorts - the bars and restaurants were good prices - 1/2 litre of beer in a mountain bar was £1.75 and a litre bottle in a small shop 75p. Meals for the two of us in the town didn't exceed £35 and the quality was better than you'd expect for the price.

I'd certainly go back in low season, my comments may appear harsh, but the people were great and the cost of eating out meant you could enjoy a few days quite reasonably. I'd choose a different hotel as there's much better in the town - the Rila being the obvious choice.

I'm going to Borovets in February, booked it last night.

I've done Andorra, Austria, Switzerland and Italy in the past so I am expecting this to be a bit different. Unfortunately given I am going in half term week options were very limited!

We have 4.5 days of skiing so despite the limited amount of runs (compared to the Dolomites and Skiwelt) I think it will be OK for that amount of time. Cheap beer is right up my street too

[PATTERNPART]

Off to St Martin de Belleville by train tomorrow afternoon. Been there before and loved it. I will try not to overshoot the station at Moutiers this year. I ended up in Bourg St Maurice and a pal had to go on a long winding drive late at night to collect me. What a plum! Thanks to same pal I've got accommodation and can ski this weekend starting Saturday morning all the way through to next Saturday afternoon and depart Sunday AM. Saturdays can be good days to ski. I don't expect to encounter many queues at this time of year. Accommodation is spartan but never mind. Self catering.

[Bill]

Anyone got any off piste courses/instructor/lesson recommendations?

I've had some friends recommend Snow Tracks in Tignes but their courses are mon-weds or all week which is a pita to organise due to my wife's work and childcare. Ideally I need a long weekend, and want a course to keep the price down Vs private instruction.

[brickwall]

Bill said:

Anyone got any off piste courses/instructor/lesson recommendations?

I've had some friends recommend Snow Tracks in Tignes but their courses are mon-weds or all week which is a pita to organise due to my wife's work and childcare. Ideally I need a long weekend, and want a course to keep the price down Vs private instruction.

You could try Snoworks. Some really great instructors (Ex Olympians, founding members of BASI, etc.). Think they’re mostly based Courchevel.

[Bill]

brickwall said:

Ex Olympians

I'll fit right in!

I meant snoworks btw. Just had a brain/thumb/autocorrect mismatch. I'll have a bit more of a rummage round their website. Cheers.

[flight147z]

ElectricSoup said:

Krvavec, Slovenia. Purported to be the closest ski slope to London in terms of travel time, you look down on the local runaway (Ljubljana) from the top of the gondola. It's about a 10 minute drive from the airport.

I'll be there in February, it's a regular destination for me.

Any idea what Krvavec is like in March?

[CAPP0]

Bill said:

Anyone got any off piste courses/instructor/lesson recommendations?

I've had some friends recommend Snow Tracks in Tignes but their courses are mon-weds or all week which is a pita to organise due to my wife's work and childcare. Ideally I need a long weekend, and want a course to keep the price down Vs private instruction.

I know you said you didn't want private but if you're stuck I can put you in touch with a guy in Tignes, not used him myself but he's said to be very good. Probably flexible on days. My link to him is that his wife runs a chalet-hotel in Les Boisses which I stay at regularly.

[poo at Paul's]

Steviesam said:

Pooh at pauls-there are very, VERY good reasons for closing the roads. They do not close a road lightly, only when they are seriously concerned about avalanche. This link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjWqjxZKSk4 shows you what happens when they close the road for preventative avalanche control. That video is taken half way up the road between Boisses and Le Lac, and was set off on purpose last year during one of your irritating road closures. As you can imagine, clearing that away and getting the road open takes time. In any case, these closures are announced hours, if not days in advance so you should know when they are happening. Cars getting stuck is an issue I agree. But its usually people who think they dont need snow tyres or chains who cause the issue-they should be fined.

Closed pistes during your time here (2 days ish) was mainly due to high winds, nothing to do with not getting pistes ready.

The moguls at the Folie and elsewhere were not because they cant be arsed to piste bash. As a rule they do all the greens/blues every night, but the weather has been very warm, and with fresh snow when warmish, the soft snow pushes around in an hour or 2 due to the huge number of people on the slopes and creates the lumps and bumps. Unless you bash them during the day, in those conditions it only takes an hour or 2 to create what you call moguls.

I have been here since the 3rd December, and it is the greatest start to a season in years. The skiing conditions are amazing, and the skies have been blue every day since the Christmas storms.

Edited by Steviesam on Sunday 5th January 19:42

Again, you were not where we were they were closing from 1800 up to Le Lac purely because cars and busses were stuck on it. At night they may have done some Avalache stuff, but during the day, at the start of the week, it just wasn't been gritted and cleared as it was later in the week.

I've driven to skiing in the Alps since the mid 90's and never had so many road's blocked as on this trip. The snow management in Tignes area in the few days to Xmas was very poor. They sorted it for New Years it seems, but for those there at Xmas, too late.
One rather nice thing though, as we rented our kit in le Lac, and there'd been such trouble travelling about and so many pistes and lifts shut, even though I protested, the ski shop insisted on knocking out bill down from €280 to €170. They didn't need to, but I think they felt a bit embarrassed that it had all been such a fk up over the week. So that was really nice of them, despite my protestations that I was happy paying the full sum, they insisted. Good guys!

Edited by poo at Paul's on Sunday 12th January 15:36

[Steviesam]

poo at Paul's said:

Again, you were not where we were they were closing from 1800 up to Le Lac purely because cars and busses were stuck on it. At night they may have done some Avalache stuff, but during the day, at the start of the week, it just wasn't been gritted and cleared as it was later in the week.

I've driven to skiing in the Alps since the mid 90's and never had so many road's blocked as on this trip. The snow management in Tignes area in the few days to Xmas was very poor. They sorted it for New Years it seems, but for those there at Xmas, too late.
One rather nice thing though, as we rented our kit in le Lac, and there'd been such trouble travelling about and so many pistes and lifts shut, even though I protested, the ski shop insisted on knocking out bill down from €280 to €170. They didn't need to, but I think they felt a bit embarrassed that it had all been such a fk up over the week. So that was really nice of them, despite my protestations that I was happy paying the full sum, they insisted. Good guys!

Edited by poo at Paul's on Sunday 12th January 15:36

Just seems odd thats all.

Not much they can do about idiots who are not prepared! I followed up 2 British cars one day, a BMW 5 series and an Audi A4, during a storm. Slower and slower they went until finally they skewed sideways and ground to a hold. Neither has snow tyres or chains. I just drove round them and carried on, as did everyone else.. Descending the mountain 3 hours later, it was slow going as we were behind a snow plough, and half way down, there was Mr A4, still trying to get up the hill, but this time he was turned around by the police. 1 mile away was a garage (At Les Boisses) who sell chains and had a display of hundreds of winter tyres, but oh no, Mr A4 thought he would just waste all day holding everyone up and keep trying!

You just cant blame the town for people like that!

[BaldOldMan]

Police at the bottom of the mountain is the only answer in those conditions - check every car and turn around the idiots.

[Welshbeef]

BaldOldMan said:

Police at the bottom of the mountain is the only answer in those conditions - check every car and turn around the idiots.

Isn’t it illegal not to have chains in the boot or them on the car in winter conditions in Europe?

[ElectricSoup]

flight147z said:

ElectricSoup said:

Krvavec, Slovenia. Purported to be the closest ski slope to London in terms of travel time, you look down on the local runaway (Ljubljana) from the top of the gondola. It's about a 10 minute drive from the airport.

I'll be there in February, it's a regular destination for me.

Any idea what Krvavec is like in March?

Don't know I'm afraid, I only ever go mid February. Always been decent conditions at that time, my guess would be that March would be fine. But it's only a guess.

[BaldOldMan]

Welshbeef said:

BaldOldMan said:

Police at the bottom of the mountain is the only answer in those conditions - check every car and turn around the idiots.

Isn’t it illegal not to have chains in the boot or them on the car in winter conditions in Europe?

It varies by country.

Even then, there’s a big difference between requirement and enforcement.

There’s an unfortunate minority who think they have good judgement and can get away with it, with no real penalty for the hours of inconvenience they can cause for hundreds of others.

The best thing for keeping the roads open is when the local police set up a checkpoint at a lay-by and won’t let people past until their chains are fitted.

[Bill]

CAPP0 said:

I know you said you didn't want private but if you're stuck I can put you in touch with a guy in Tignes, not used him myself but he's said to be very good. Probably flexible on days. My link to him is that his wife runs a chalet-hotel in Les Boisses which I stay at regularly.

Thanks, could you PM me his details? I've found some weekends with BASS in Chamonix who have good reviews but could do with options. Added bonus with Cham though is the accomodation is more reasonable too.

[Abbott]

There is a risk that your French Ski holiday may be at risk from strikes
https://www.connexionfrance.com/French-news/french...

[CAPP0]

Bill said:

Thanks, could you PM me his details? I've found some weekends with BASS in Chamonix who have good reviews but could do with options. Added bonus with Cham though is the accomodation is more reasonable too.

Will do, I'll message his missus and got those.

[Bill]

Cheers.

[Steviesam]

BaldOldMan said:

Police at the bottom of the mountain is the only answer in those conditions - check every car and turn around the idiots.

That's what they try to do.

But X mas week and New Year week transfer days see 27000 and 30000 cars going up the Tarantaise valley respectively, so its almost impossible to check everyone!