Who's going skiing and where 2020
Discussion
Tuna said:
Rich_AR said:
Vail - if you like massive queues on powder days:-
In fairness that was a pretty one-off event that has been very widely reported. Where there are lift lines in the US, they are largely very well managed, properly policed and polite places to be.
plus many have a separate singles line that can run quicker, and chairs usually go up full and not with just one or two folks on them. I’ve seen the Grand Montets queue for the gondola go right out the building and filling the maze inside the building on a powder day. I gather the gondola queue up from St Gervais was 40 minutes the other week, and that was on a crap snow day.
If I had to choose a lift line to wait in, it’d be a US line.
PSA
If anyone is in one of the resorts below on 13 March, snowboarder’s lift passes are free for the day in honour of Jake Burton
Pre-register on https://www.adayforjake.com/en/ before 8th March
If anyone is in one of the resorts below on 13 March, snowboarder’s lift passes are free for the day in honour of Jake Burton
Pre-register on https://www.adayforjake.com/en/ before 8th March
Edited by NumBMW on Thursday 27th February 16:52
MSBravo said:
Visited Chamonix recently. Thought it was too big, with too few slopes, at a too low altitude, and all rather miserable.
Shall stick to Austria in the future.
Am I alone in my sentiments?
Nope, haven't been to France since 1999 ... although not for those reasons. Shall stick to Austria in the future.
Am I alone in my sentiments?
Generally found it to be sub standard compared to Austria in all departments. Poor infrastructure, overpriced food and accommodation, too many posh brits and of course, the delightful French
.The West/German side of Switzerland + Austria is so different in terms of people, culture, food and the infrastructure far is better ... cleaner, more efficient. I've been going to St Anton for the past 24 years, 2/3 weeks a season so I compare it to every other town ... to me, there's not many that come close. We go to somewhere new every other year but starting to back to the same places now as we've enjoyed them so much.
Wingo said:
S3, no probs. We were up the Mont Chery side around new year, nothing set up at all then so pleased they was something to have a go on when you were there.
A mate has a place not too far away, but in all the years he's been skiing in the area he'd never been up Mont Chery, dragged him up there at new year and he was pleasantly surprised with the decent empty runs, one on the better kept secrets in the area................but don't tell everyone.
Many get put off by the trudge across town or the ride in the petit train if you are on the slopes on the opposite side of town. I break the trudge with lunch so no big deal
It was nice over there but a bit odd that you couldn't ski back down to the bottom of the gondola. We did have a very nice lunch in the town too.A mate has a place not too far away, but in all the years he's been skiing in the area he'd never been up Mont Chery, dragged him up there at new year and he was pleasantly surprised with the decent empty runs, one on the better kept secrets in the area................but don't tell everyone.
Many get put off by the trudge across town or the ride in the petit train if you are on the slopes on the opposite side of town. I break the trudge with lunch so no big deal
Speed 3 said:
CAPP0 said:
Someone I know has just binned their paid-for ski trip to northern Italy, not through fear of coronavirus itself but because of concerns around being banged up for quarantine whilst there and/or another 2 weeks upon return. Lost all the money on it.
Same with a mate of mine. In his case his other half has a start-up business launching the week after they were due to get back so the quarantine risk is also their driver.There are quite a few factors to consider for us and we're discussing and weighing them up at the moment, we have however decided to delay our decision to the last moment while we consider the following.
My wife and I are retired so the possibility of quarantine doesn't really bother us but the fact that Coronavirus has a worse effect on older people does to a degree.
Our son in law is self employed so does have concerns about quarantine, he also has a low immune system so that is something else we have to consider.
Our daughter is a flight attendant on Virgin Atlantic and she has yet to find out what their policy for employees is in this situation as she is booked to go to Antigua two days after we get back.
Our grandaughter's are aged 8 and 4 and we really don't want them to miss their first skiing holiday which they are super exited about but their safety is of course the most important thing for all of us.
I spoke to Crystal on Monday and asked them if we could change our destination to France or Austria, while they were very helpful and obviously concerned about the situation they were quite clear about the financial implications and told me that if we changed or cancelled right now I would lose 90% of the cost which goes up to 100% seven days prior to travel.
I'm not too concerned about being in the ski resort but we're flying into Verona so that does concern me as in my view airports and planes are probably the most dangerous places to be.
I'm doing a lot of research and getting a lot of useful information on here, on the Snowheads forum, the BBC and the Government websites to help us decide. At the moment my inclination is to cancel but leave it to the last moment in the hope that the Government up their travel warning level to Northern Italy to allow us to change destination at no cost or make an insurance claim.
Who knows where we'll be in 2 weeks. Cancelling now will mean you get nothing back, but if you sit tight your insurance will sort you out. Or you get to go.
FWIW I'm sorting a weekend touring in Switzerland in a few weeks. Staying at a friend's and will book fully flexible tickets so the financial risk is minimal thankfully.
FWIW I'm sorting a weekend touring in Switzerland in a few weeks. Staying at a friend's and will book fully flexible tickets so the financial risk is minimal thankfully.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8043281/H...
Now thats what I call lucky. Its hard enough to located someone with a transceiver when you can see where they went in, but to get a lift back up and figure it out like this is unheard of.
Now thats what I call lucky. Its hard enough to located someone with a transceiver when you can see where they went in, but to get a lift back up and figure it out like this is unheard of.
Speed 3 said:
It was nice over there but a bit odd that you couldn't ski back down to the bottom of the gondola. We did have a very nice lunch in the town too.
I think it's because the mountain is South facing the snow lower down melts, y and you can't ski all the way to the bottom. When Icve come al the way down unlike the other side of the valley The piste I've taken crosses several roads which if not snowbound is a bit tricky to negotiate (perhaps not on rented skis though eh?! 
)On a separate note, I saw this today on the Daily Mail website - amazingly lucky for this kid who was rescued by his dad after he fell into a snow hole and the snow covered him up, It goes to show having the right off piste kit (including GPS and shovel) can really be a life saver, even so close to the piste like this was.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8043281/H...
Off for my second trip to the Alps this year on Sunday - a 4 day trip to Kitzbuhel with two old friends. Weather looks nice and cold and snowy. Should be great as long as we keep away from any Italians with the sniffles!
Edited by prand on Friday 28th February 11:31
Bill said:
Who knows where we'll be in 2 weeks. Cancelling now will mean you get nothing back, but if you sit tight your insurance will sort you out. Or you get to go.
FWIW I'm sorting a weekend touring in Switzerland in a few weeks. Staying at a friend's and will book fully flexible tickets so the financial risk is minimal thankfully.
It’s not a package deal so recovery wouldn’t workFWIW I'm sorting a weekend touring in Switzerland in a few weeks. Staying at a friend's and will book fully flexible tickets so the financial risk is minimal thankfully.
cashmax said:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8043281/H...
Now thats what I call lucky. Its hard enough to located someone with a transceiver when you can see where they went in, but to get a lift back up and figure it out like this is unheard of.
Further down it said he had a transceiver that he switched to receive, but still exceptionally lucky he thought to switch it over (rather than assume the boy had moved in) and was in range. Now thats what I call lucky. Its hard enough to located someone with a transceiver when you can see where they went in, but to get a lift back up and figure it out like this is unheard of.
Welshbeef said:
Bill said:
Who knows where we'll be in 2 weeks. Cancelling now will mean you get nothing back, but if you sit tight your insurance will sort you out. Or you get to go.
FWIW I'm sorting a weekend touring in Switzerland in a few weeks. Staying at a friend's and will book fully flexible tickets so the financial risk is minimal thankfully.
It’s not a package deal so recovery wouldn’t workFWIW I'm sorting a weekend touring in Switzerland in a few weeks. Staying at a friend's and will book fully flexible tickets so the financial risk is minimal thankfully.
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