skiing for a week

Andr3w · 23 Jan 2008 at 11:19

Thinking of going on a skiing holiday for a week in febuary (near the start of feb) never been skiing before but its something ive always wanted to do.

I guess a lot of you have been, where's good? Been looking around and most places seem to be france and austria.

Dinomania · 23 Jan 2008 at 11:23

Serre Chevalier (southern alps, near the Italian end) last week was excellent, lots of fresh snow, good runs, had a great time.

If you're after somewhere to stay with a vibrant apres-ski atmosphere down there, check our La Grotte (we didn't stay there but were nearby)

fuzzy · 23 Jan 2008 at 11:41

St Anton in Austria has some excellent skiing and awesome night life. Might be a bit hard for a beginner though. (One valley over there is a resort called Lech which you can get to by bus which is excellent for beginners). Verbier in Switzerland is equally good and has a lot more easier runs but is a bit more expensive. Those are my two favourites but I think you will probably find most places more than adequate.
Wherever you go, make sure you get a handful of lessons on a dry ski slope before you go so that you can at least parallel turn. Then you don't have to waste half your holiday on the nursery slopes and will get some proper skiing in from the word go. I can't stress enough how worthwhile that is.

semi-pro waster · 23 Jan 2008 at 12:47

It will probably depend on what your budget is and what is left available for when you want to book but I'd be considering Les Trois Vallee, good range of runs and plenty of accomodation. From a lot of the hotels you could just ski straight down to a lift which I have always found a lot nicer than having to get on a ski bus, for a starter it wakes me up a lot better.

There are loads of suitable resorts in Europe though, if you are just beginning then I'd be looking for somewhere with quite a lot of green/blue runs and hopefully a fair few reds just in case you advance well. Are you going skiing or snowboarding?

skiba · 23 Jan 2008 at 13:04

I would say Alpe D'Huez, if it's your first time you don't want to go somewhere like St Anton/Tignes/Meribel or any of the more expensive resorts. Alpe D'huez has lots of snow and more importantly lots of sun (no one likes skiing in a white out), loads of decent bars and is not too far from Grenoble airport.

The Dread Pirate · 23 Jan 2008 at 13:40

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miracleboy · 23 Jan 2008 at 20:11

We went to Val Cenis last Feb and we were complete beginners, we had a great time. We went with Snowcoach and the hotel was nice, all food included. There were lots of green and blue runs and a great ski school. There was one green run called L'escargot (the snail) because it is an 8km long road that winds down the mountain but makes a nice run to learn on. The scenery is nice and you can see down into Italy from the top of the mountain.