My 16 yr old son wants to go skiing/snowboarding in feb with a friend and either me or my wife. We’d like to take him somewhere which is ‘cool’ for young people. Not being that into snow sports, where should we take him??

Mayrhofen in Austria has a big park where a lot of UK pro’s spend the winter. That may be considered “cool” by him.
I also really rate it as a resort.

Morzine in France also very good and has a pretty good vibe, lots of young brits there.

anywhere with good snow is cool in my book.

go high to be sure of snow, nothing worse than a ski holiday without snow.

If I was taking my son skiing as a treat he’d go where he was told 🙂

Which side of the Atlantic?

ahhh yes, prob europe! as much as I’d like a trip to canada etc, thats prob out for next year!

Don’t go to USA as it’s a nightmare. Went with 16 year old daughter who was mortified at not being allowed into places selling alcohol/music etc. Made it pretty crappy for us too.

Big and high resorts will keep him occupied and usually the ones which are most popular with boarders will give him the nightlife he’s after.

Edit: too slow. Was going to suggest Avoriaz, La Plagne, Tignes, Val Thorens, Val D’Isere. Depends on your budget and what the snow is like this year.

Woody – yep 🙂 which are the resorts popular with boarders?

ahh just seen youre edit – cheers

Laax in Switzerland is popular for boarding – however are you all beginners? If so you might want to consider places in terms of availability of instruction etc… as opposed to the “in” place if all you’re going to do for the first couple of days is fall over.

http://www.snowheads.com might also be able to offer more advice ….

Verbier is always cool…

sweaman2 – def novice, will need somewhere with tuition.

At age 16 he is not really going to be out till 2 am partying is he?

Choose according to ski/board facilities he needs and where you would like to be.

meribel?

Val Gardena where they have the table-top gogo dancers – a 16 year old boy will think that is pretty cool 😆

Choose according to ski/board facilities he needs and where you would like to be.

Agreed.

Also, if he’s a beginner or even intermediate, I assume he’s going to be in lessons. If that’s the case, pick the company you book with as well. Neilson come highly recommended as they are always used by decent people (Nil chavvage! 😉 )

My pick – Serre Chevalier and use http://www.ski-school-connections.co.uk/ . Davina and her team are simply awesome. Petit Paul is an absolute legend in my book. Great instructor, and a great guy too!

Serre Che has a massive skiing area, and enough bars etc for fun, without being a bangin’ choonz nite spot type place.

Whistler? Bloody expensive but there’s a great atmosphere in the village.

edit – never mind just saw you’re looking at Europe.

Cool – we’re off to Serre Chevalier next year.

wallop (not named after the villages are you?), do you want a few pointers? Which village are you staying in first of all?

I say again – 16 yr old boy – gogo dancers:

Most ski resorts have a half or at least a quarter pipe nowadays, so there will always be a cool part for them to hang out.

Les Arcs is cool.

May recommend Alp Dhuez?

Just above the “village” is a ginormous 6 motorway wide, very moderate slope accessed by the huge DMC bubble/car. It’s ideal for lessons and just spending time getting your technique down before exploring other trails. On either side they build jump parks – a pro park, and a learners park which they will love. There’s plenty of more challenging runs for Dad too.

There are surprisingly nice mountain huts (for France). And there is municipal sports facility incl pool where the boys can meet mademoiselles.

A really cool thing is to get a heli flight across the valley to a mountain-side of Le Duez Alpes. To ski that resort, and then back late in the afternoon. This is surprisingly not too expensive and makes a very memorable day. Helicopters are deeply cool.

Alpe Dhuez Linky

Bunnyhop, you assume the lad’s going to be in to pinning it in the park, but yet the OP seems to indicate that the family aren’t in to snowsports. Apologies if I got any of that wrong, but I would say that it would be better to find somewhere with really good, fun lessons with people of a similar age where the son can learn and advance, combined with a lovely place to ski/eat/drink.

Hence my recommendation for Serre Che and Ski Connections! 🙂

Oh, and the park at Serre Che is all of the massive radnezz, innit?
http://www.zapiks.fr/a-day-at-serre-chevalier.html

*Disclaimer – Video is not of me. I can manage the kiddy rails and the smaller jumps. I don’t have the gonads for the big stuff!

wallop (not named after the villages are you?), do you want a few pointers? Which village are you staying in first of all?

Named after the villages? Ha ha, sadly not. It’s just one of my favourite exclamations.

We haven’t actually booked our chalet yet (one of our friends is sorting it), but I will post back here for tips if that’s OK! Would be good to get the nod on bars, particular runs etc…

Both Alpe Dhuez and Serre Che are looking good…

Les Arcs +1

My favourite european resort.

With a distinct lack of buttons and t-bars. 🙂

Well there is some, but being a ‘gay on a tray’ these things are important to me.

Wallop, get back on here when you book and I’ll impart my wisdom, such as it is!

Le Bercail for lunch…nomnomnomnom!
Rocking the slack country around Isolee and Cucumelle…nice
Cruising Celvan/Briance back down to the bar at the end of the day…lovely!

Oh, and another plug for Ski Connections! No connection to them (geddit?) other than they are lovely people running a lovely school that really balances fun and learning for every level (as far as I have heard and experienced!)

At age 16 he is not really going to be out till 2 am partying is he?

Oh – is that not normal?

I feel like a bad Dad now 😳

At age 16 he is not really going to be out till 2 am partying is he?

I was keeping quiet there – was also thinking I was a bad dad…

French Zone A school hols start 11/2 (that’s people local to Serre Ché). Us Zone C types are on holiday from 18/2 which is when things get manic everywhere. If you want quiet you need to go the first week in February. If your son wants a maximum of 15+ frogettes around (sexual age of consent is 15 here) then book from the 18th. Check that’s he’s got at least 3 condoms before you let him out for the night, the locals are likely to be fitter and more demanding than the girls back home.

French Zone A school hols start 11/2 (that’s people local to Serre Ché). Us Zone C types are on holiday from 18/2 which is when things get manic everywhere. If you want quiet you need to go the first week in February

Guess where I am currently planning on being in the first week of Feb? 😉

Serre Ché? Have fun.

Alpe d’huez is excellent for learning

crikey!

I went to Les Deux Alps when i was about 16 with the family and bloody loved it!

Cool town, met some cool people in the hotel we were in.

Bunnyhop, you assume the lad’s going to be in to pinning it in the park, but yet the OP seems to indicate that the family aren’t in to snowsports.

You are indeed correct.

In my experience if the lad is a fit, sporty type he’ll be hanging out at the boarders park by the end of the week, showing up us experienced skiers.
Sigh – Oh to be young again.

Bunny, da yoof is ripping it on skis, not boards, which has to be a good thing. Think about it, now we are at a stage where their parents (and possibly even grandparents!) are all boarders. Therefore boarding is less cool as the old fogies are doing it.

Skiing is cool again! Yay! Hurray for those of use who stuck at it! 🙂

Yep, it’s skiing all the way.

Hubby tried boarding once and soon came back to the 2 planks. He was black and blue for 2 weeks, barely able to sit down 🙂

He was black and blue for 2 weeks, barely able to sit down

Sounds like quite the holiday! 😈 😉

Mmmmm not as bad as our honeymoon – a skiing road trip around Canada, me, hubby and 6 other chaps. Whoops may have said too much 🙂