Spec me a ski resort

Trojan

Trojan

Trojan

Soldato
Joined
19 Sep 2003
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Location
Adelaide, Australia
I'll be back in the UK for Christmas and have arranged with some mates to head over to Europe after New Years to have a weeks skiing/boarding. What I'm looking for are some suggestions for where to go.

There will be 2 skiers and 2 boarders, all of an intermediate to advanced ability. We're looking for somewhere with a good variety of reds and blacks, the longer the better, and preferably with some great views along the way. A bit of off-piste never goes amiss either.

The last resort we stayed at was Val Thorens, and purchased the 3 valleys pass so also hit up Meribel and Courcheval. Amazing place, with a huge variety of runs. The previous year to that, we had a week in Livigno, which whilst a fair bit smaller, we also really enjoyed.

A couple of places we've looked at are St Anton and Portes du Soleil. Does anyone have any experience of these 2 resorts? Any other places we should be considering? Whilst cost isn't a major factor, we don't want to go crazy. A couple of the Swiss resorts have already been ruled out due to the ski-pass and accomodation costs.

Cheers :)
 
St Anton is a lot of fun, great night life and skiing. But there are plenty of cheaper places.
PDS is fun and huge, but snow is variable.

You should say what you want to prioritize in terms of skiing and in particular off-piste or on, nightlife, price, food, scenery, country...

I used to be a big fan of the large resorts and just cruising around r trying all the black runs, been to all major french resorts and a few swiss and austrian. But over the last 5 years have much preferred smaller quiter places with less tourists. These small places often have only 2-3 lifts but offer huge amounsts of terrain and much better skiing than the mega resort. Hotel and restaurants are cheaper, slopes are quite, powder last 2-3 weeks after a storm. Night life is limited, but since I live in the alps didn't need much more than a bar.

Some where like Arrola Switzerland as great skiing, and is half price in January. Some good restaurants and places to get good beers. Lifts tickets around 10 quid in jan a day. I know a great place that has an amazing belgium beer collection. Evolene is similar.
I could list more place like that than I have Fingers and toes. Let me know if you are intereted in quiter cheap alternatives in Switzerland.


FYi, I am expert skier, rarely ski on piste and happily cross crevasse ridden glacier or repel off sheer rock faces to enter secret couloirs to ski untouched powder. I climbed 10400ft South sister, Oregon Saturday to ski a 3000ft 45 degree couloir and hacked myself through another 2000ft of dense forest. I don't get bored in these small resorts, there is plenty of terrain for me. If you want 200km of blue cruisers then the bigger resorts have more to offer. For chilled out ski holiday with fun terrain, quaint village, good food, only locals, these are the places t be
 
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That early in the season you need to go to a high resort in my opinion, they seem to get snow earlier. Christmas is only a few weeks into the ski season for most resorts they may not have had any snow at that point and be relying on canons to try to start them off.

So a high French or Swiss would be my recommendation. I must admit I am not very up on the further Eastern type places though.
 
Just go back to the Three Valleys to be honest, you won't find a better all-round on-piste (or off for that matter) in Europe, especially that early in the ski season.

Sure, you might find nicer towns and villages (although beating Courchevel is going to take some doing, perhaps Verbier and the 4 valleys but don't be fooled into thinking 4 is better than 3 ;)).

Other than that, maybe Avoriaz, that's nice.
 
I've never been but there is sierra nevada in spain, didn't even know about it till a few weeks ago and not even sure the season dates. Anyone ever been?
 
I have experience of St.Anton, last year was my 5th time to the resort. There is such a varied amount of runs to do and the whole atmosphere is very good. The ski area is huge and you can spend all day touring around and still find new things. The snow cover can be amazing with fresh powder overnight which will bring a smile to your face when you are one of the first to ride the powder in the mornings but be sure to get to the lifts early as you can get into a massive queue with everyone desperate to do the same thing.

The restaurants are another one of my Favourites, if you end up going to St.Anton you wont be disappointed and b sure to check out the KK (Krazy Kanguruh) for some proper English food. They will spoil you for choice.

I stayed outside the resort (About a 20 minute journey by bus) in a town called Landeck, I found this worked quite well as the stay was a little cheaper.

In conclusion I really do recommend St.Anton and it will be my first choice when I choose to go again in the future.
 
For the sort of resort skiing you're after, you really can't beat the Three Valleys. St Anton would be my choice of the other two you offer (potentially purely due to the Austrian apres).

However, as D.P. says, I highly recommend getting into the backcountry. I've skied my fair share of resort piste, slamming down blacks and feeling as if I was the best skier in teh world. A few years back I moved to Norway and went touring for the first time, and I finally began to learn to actually ski. The rewards are incredible: couple of weekends ago I spent three days skiing the glacier up at Stryn in boardies and got some epic tan lines. There's nothing like it!
 
St Anton and Port du Soleil are great but with PdeS in early season you may be better off in Avoriaz for a bit more height. St A is certainly a good bet and you can ride a lot of other nearby areas there too. I had absolutely epic powder days there a few years ago and followed the snow to Lech, Zurs and Sonnenkoft (not sure on spelling, had a bit of an avalanche mishap there but all's well that ends well).

What about Chamonix? I love it some of the most amazing terrain and views anywhere. You can ride courmayeur as well. You get les houches (small and low but some good trees when it's snowed and can be fun), brevent / flegere (great intermediate terrain and some brilliant lift serves off piste), le tour (motorways and great off piste), grand montets (epic) and courmayeur within the main pass. The downside is that the mountains are not linked so you bus but the upsides are great town with loads of options for food, drink and partying at different price points, accommodation from €20 a night to sky's the limit. Some of the best off piste anywhere (get yourself a guide and don't just think valley blanche, let them take you off the beaten path) and some great lift accessible off piste (which form your description sounds more what you are after than touring). Also only an hour from geneva with €25 transfers.

May be one to think about
 
St Anton is good. However, I would recommend Ischgl - the night life and resort are so much better and it's a short transfer from the airport (similar to St Anton).
 
The Portes Du Soleil makes up a ridiculous amount of terrain, there is so much to see and it also covers Switzerland as well.

Morzine and Avoriaz are probably the best places to stay.

Morzine is a village and is quite picturesque, also popular with Brits because it has a good number of bars and clubs that cater to them. The only downside to Morzine is that it doesn't get snow all the way to the village that often anymore, so it's not going to be snowy all the time and towards the end of the season, you might have to take a lift to get you down to the lift you would usually take to get off the mountain.

Avoriaz is only a few lift rides up from Morzine, but much higher and covered in snow so its ski-in/out. It looks quite striking when you see the huge buildings on the edge of a cliff, but the buildings themselves are quite tired looking 60s constructions up close.
 
Out of everywhere ive been nothing can touch the 3 valleys! By far the best place in Europe imo. So much so ill hopefully be spending 3 weeks there this christmas
 
Val d'isere is up there for me for great skiing, ski in and out, and a great nightlife. It is expensive mind.

I ski the PdS every year as we have a place near Chatel and there is an abundance of awesome skiing, but the nightlife isn't as mental as in VdI.
 
Repta said:
Out of everywhere ive been nothing can touch the 3 valleys! By far the best place in Europe imo. So much so ill hopefully be spending 3 weeks there this christmas
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It is great, both this season and last I went to the three valleys once but Chamonix at least three times each. I guess that shows where my vote goes for best in Europe! very different though
 
Skidder said:
It is great, both this season and last I went to the three valleys once but Chamonix at least three times each. I guess that shows where my vote goes for best in Europe! very different though
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I did chamonix a couple years ago, was great but didn't like busing between places and found everything too spread out. I can fully understand the appeal though a load of great runs
 
Hmmmm, lots to ponder. Thanks for the responses and suggestions so far, been having a good read on them all.

A part of me is tempted to just say to hell with it and head back to Val Thorens, as it was just so damn good. The trouble is, I also love heading to new places and trying new things. Going the same place twice when there are so many other places I've not yet been seems a bit of a waste. Really, a resort that can rival Les Trois Vallees would be perfect.

In terms of priorities, I'd say:

  1. Guaranteed snow in early January
  2. Piste - Length, variety and number of reds and blacks
  3. Scenery
  4. Food/Nightlife
  5. Off-piste
  6. Price
  7. Snow in the town

On the possible list so far then are Avoriaz (PdS), Chamonix, Ischgl, St Anton, Val D'Isere, and of course, Val Thorens. I think what I'll do tomorrow is go through and try and work out the rough overall price for each resort - skipass, equip hire, hotel, airfare, transfers etc. Hopefully that will make the decision easier.

Cheers all :)
 
If you haven't been to Val d'Isere it is right up your alley. Great relatively hard piste skiing, great off piste and a lovely village. The height in Tignes (and throughout the area to a lesser degree) comes in hand early season and the ski area is very large. I did it to death a bit going regularly for about 5 or 6 years but it is fantastic.

If you want 3 valleys like (ski into a single base from anywhere, villagey etc.) then Chamonix might not be for you, as much as I love it.
 
Repta said:
I did chamonix a couple years ago, was great but didn't like busing between places and found everything too spread out. I can fully understand the appeal though a load of great runs
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I understand that, my wife feels the same way re the buses (but she is mainly into piste riding, glass of wine with lunch, bit of gentle off piste rather than the big mountain riding)
 
Skidder said:
If you haven't been to Val d'Isere it is right up your alley. Great relatively hard piste skiing, great off piste and a lovely village. The height in Tignes (and throughout the area to a lesser degree) comes in hand early season and the ski area is very large. I did it to death a bit going regularly for about 5 or 6 years but it is fantastic.
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That does sound good, pretty much exactly what we're after. Thanks for the info.

If you want 3 valleys like (ski into a single base from anywhere, villagey etc.) then Chamonix might not be for you, as much as I love it.
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Noted, ta. If buses can be avoided that's a big plus. Not necessarily a deal breaker, but skiing all the way over to courchevel from Val thorens then back to the hotel without leaving the snow was awesome.
 
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