Reply With QuoteBoth Pila and Courmeyer are nice and Ive never tired of them even with 30 years skiing under my belt
Hi all,
I was pretty late to skiing but for the past eight years have managed to make up on lost time and squeezed in 2 or 3 ski trips per year, generally in Austria or France, but have touched upon Switzerland, Italy and even once to Bulgaria too.
I was watching the Skiing at the weekend on TV and the Ski Cross was being held at Idre Fjall in Sweden, it looked pretty nice and the commentator said how good a resort it is. This got me thinking that I should spread my wings to maybe a Scandinavian Country. I don't really want to travel as far afield as USA/Canada/Japan/Chile/New Zealand - or rather I do but time and budget probably won't permit such grandeur; especially since Mrs Yumma got made redundant late last year.
So any ideas for 20-17/18 season will be very welcome, preferably outside the typical European Alpine resort, bonus points will be awarded for good value resorts/skiing.
Thanks in advance
Yumma
Both Pila and Courmeyer are nice and Ive never tired of them even with 30 years skiing under my belt
RIAC
Sälen in Sweden.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Zermatt
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Never been but quite fancy Jasna in Slovakia. Supposed to be a good value freeride place.
Might be worth stating where you have been and what you liked/didn't like about them and then forum knowledge can hopefully recommend some with more accuracy!
Try the Pyrenees incl. Andorra, wonderful skiing
Thanks. Yep, so far I have been to:Originally Posted by mmgg1988
France:-
Three Valleys x 3 - Vast ski Area
Avoriaz, morzine & Les Gets (PDS) - Vast good free ride & tree skiing
St Jean d'Aulps - quaint small resort
Alpe d'Heuz x 2 - lovely big ski area
Val d'Isere & Tignes - vast
Austria:-
St Anton x 3 - big, varried, off piste and ski routes
Zell am See x 4 - nice varried small resort linked to Kaprun
Mayrhofen - nice beginner resort but carried
Italy:-
Passo Tonale & Temu - good beginner resort
Bulgaria:-
Borovets - cheap 1st ski holiday, great nightlife
So now I am reasonable off piste, pretty good on any posted run or ski trail or moguls, resorts needs easier options for Mrs Yumma, want somewhere pretty snow sure, reasonable vfm. Character and charm adds to the enjoyment. Above all great carried skiing and scenic runs.
Perfect, gives me a better idea!
I would suggest:
Zermatt-great for all abilities, snow sure and lots of more advanced/off piste stuff. Expensive though so maybe save for a special occasion!
Dolomites-best scenery, goof VFM, not that snow sure though so would probably have to be a late booking. Not the best for advanced skiing but can be found. Good to rack up the miles
Flaine-good off piste which is lift served, lots of nice runs through trees in linked resorts and at least some parts are pretty snow sure. Good value. Resort wouldn't class as scenic though
Verbier-cost issues but great off piste and a nice beginner/intermediate area off the main mountain side. Not that scenic however
Chamonix-some great runs and not too expensive but beginner area and more advanced areas are quite split in terms of distance
Courmeyeur also probably a good shout-can do Vallee Blanche from there and other off piste routes. Went there many years ago when I didn't ski off piste so no direct experience of that. Nice plateau at the top of the cable car with good beginner/intermediate runs
This year I will be back to Obergurgl in Austria (26th visit in 18 years)
very high,Up to 3000m and the village is at 2050m very snow sure with some N facing slopes, gives it a very long season.
lots of variety from Scary off piste with guides to cruisey wide blues for the other half some nice tree line areas despite the height.
very high quality accomodation too.Fairly quiet and more upmarket, not the place to dance until dawn though.
Have also been to Val, St Anton, 3 valleys many times, Tignes, Saalbach Grindelwald,Zermatt etc etc
It's about an hour and a half transfer from Innsbruck airport
Goat
Tatra Mountains Poland/Slovakia?
Once went skiing near to Leningrad, but that's cross-country. It was fun going through the snow on the sand dunes and on to the frozen Baltic where blokes wrapped in fur were fishing through ice holes.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks all; as always such a helpful bunch on TZ, what a great forum.
Sälen looks promising, but I will definitely look into the Tatras and Dolomites too. At the end of the day snow is snow but it's always nice to try something different. Please feel free to keep the suggestions rolling in.
Has anyone done Slovenia or Czech Republic? Plus still looking for some further Scandinavian recommendations.
Thanks again
Yumma
Thanks very much, I have often considered Obergurgl; also Ishgl, which I have heard are great snow sure Austrian resorts, but I kept finding myself booking St Anton or Zell instead. I will definitely give them a try, plus Saalbach as its only a short drive from Zell and I heard they are looking to link resorts in coming years. I must confess of the places I have been to, I think Austria is my favourite due to the marked ski routes (unpisted run), infrastructure, expanse of slopes, off piste and mountain hutte's and general charm.
Slovenia- Kranjaska Gora yes a few times many years ago. Probably too limited for you although I'd go there for a weekend or short stay as it's cheap and very friendly
Last edited by craig1912; 14th February 2017 at 13:43.
Skied / boarded extensively in Austria and Sweden - Are (far better than Salen, although Salen is nice) is where the world cup is for Sweden, and Ishgl for Austria - I love Austria to bits and have been to most of the main and smaller resorts but if I could only go to one place for however long I have left.......Ishgl :)
^^^^anything to do with all the gorgeous Scandinavian girls who seem to be drawn there?😀
Well I will be with the 'better half', but as an aside, don't ladies asses look amazing in salopets!
Skied Krvavec in Slovenia a few years ago for 2 days. Was bored after the first morning. They might be the obvious choice but the mega ski areas you've already been to will be hard to beat for terrain and enjoyment.
Yes, starting to agree, I will try one of the others for a ski weekend, but considering I have not done Les Arc, Chamonix or Aosta yet, maybe I have a few more mega mileage resorts to ski while I still have the legs for it.
Thanks again for the ideas, it's all good advice.
Val d'Isere & Tignes can't be beaten from my experience
I'd give somewhere different a go at least once. We've been to Ruka in Finland a few times and it's refreshingly different to boarding in France, Austria, Switzerland etc. The resort is much smaller and you could do it all in a day or two but I remember the whole experience more than the usual Alpine holidays which tend to blend in to one. Huskey sledding and snowmobiling across vast, deserted lakes is just fantastic. Cross-country skiing in peace and quiet is a superb contrast to the bustle of a resort and is enormous fun, especially if you haven't done it before. The short days introduce floodlit boarding too, which makes a change. Different people, food and culture to the Alpine resorts.
Ifrane, Morocco
another vote for Pas de la Casa in Andorra... been 4 or 5 times now and have had excellent conditions each time.
If you take the lifts over the ridge behind me in the video there are another 3 peaks and miles and miles of piste and off-piste runs of all grades, all in the same lift pass.
Daniel.
Some, but then so does mine! I'm told!
M
Big shout for Salbaach & Hinterglem . Just coming to the end of our third year hear. Incredible weather this week which has caused some issues with skiing, but with 270 km of really well linked pistes and high quality infrastructure just 90 mins from Salzburg it's well worth a look.
Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using TZ-UK mobile app
Niseko Hokkaido Japan :)
If I was a better skier I'd like to try touring (from refuge/hotel to the next)
E.g. In the Dolomites as described here
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/sk...the-dolomites/
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
My barber recommended palandoken in erzurum in eastern turkey .He said its better than france and switzerland at a 1/3 of the cost.
Sent from my Moto G (4) using TZ-UK mobile app
I'd often wondered why more people don't go ski holidays to Scandinavian countries...until I saw a program on telly reviewing a trip to Norway. -25c at the top of the chairlifts wasn't uncommon, so I decided against it :D
Was there a few weeks ago for four days as its only a few hours drive. As mentioned it is a bit limited, but is cheap and friendly. Also it is not that high which impacts snow potential. One on one lessons are relatively cheap though (€20 an hour) so worked well for boosting up the ability of my small kids and wife very quickly as learning in groups is actually a very slow process.
So we are likely to go next year and the saving on hotel etc will be ploughed into more one on one lessons. Investing for future holidays !
Last edited by JP28; 19th February 2017 at 19:20.
Yeah. We did Geilo in Norway 2 years ago. Very cold, poorly connected infrastructure, very expensive on the slopes, short 90 mins kids ski lessons and very tricky to buy booze if you get timing wrong. But holiday itself was much better value.
Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using TZ-UK mobile app
I guess we all have our favourites.
I prefer Cervinia, snow sure and easy access into Zermatt on a full ski pass
Or alternatively Selva in the Italian Dolomites is outstanding
When (like recently) I am fortunate to go more than once in a season, I try to go to a "favourite" but also to somewhere new like the OP otherwise you won't ever find any new favourites. This year it is Andermatt (new), Wengen (neither new or favourite but related to extraneous circumstances and last minute availability!) and 3 valleys (favourite).
Looks like you enjoy big ski areas? If you could live with a smaller piste map but a vast and amazing off piste area I would highly recommend Sainte Foy Tarentaise in France. Very scenic, rarely busy as no package holidays go there and great beginners areas. We have an apartment there and while we do venture off to Tignes, Val d'Isere and Les Arcs for day trips (as all are 20 minutes drive) we always wonder why we bothered. Sainte Foy is truly exceptional.
We were in Zermatt last year.
We went over to Cervinia for a day, it took a long time, but we found the skiing even duller than Zermatt's Motorways.
Lunch was nice and cheap though!
My daughter and I are going to Garmisch-Partenkirchen in a couple of weeks. A bit low, so the snow can be unreliable, but great skiing for a few days if it's decent.
M
Posting Permissions
