Snowheads run several trips through the season and while you can pay extra for a single room, you'll be allocated a room share with someone suitable and there will always be someone to ski with - instruction and / or guiding is usually available.
Sort of a PSA for anyone who hasn't done it before, I booked via travelski this year to use the train, just two of us so you'd anticipate seating on trains to be next to each other, seems we are in the same carriage, but not next to each other on 2 of the 4 legs now that the tickets are through. Doesn't matter hugely, but it's a bit odd.
Off to Verbier in the morning for 6 days.
Flying to Geneva then getting the train up like last year.
Ive seen the horror stories from Dec about the EES system delays at Geneva. They mostly looked like a combination of weekend/teething problems.
Anyone been through mid week recently that can shed a light on what its running like now?
I've just spent the last week in Saalbach - we've mostly had wonderful skiing conditions and not too cold. Area ski pass is great. Slopes above Zell are in fine form as are Leogang.
Salzburg airport arrival process for UK passport holders was very efficient. First time I've travelled since it was introduced
Does anyone know what is going on with the new Biometrics scanning that is supposed to be coming in?
We were expecting to have to do it at the Chunnel in January but didn't need to and we're going again in March.
We were wondering the same Sprootlet.
I'm back from a different week in Les arcs.
LGW with sleazy jet to Lyon then coach transfer to Bourg . The funicular up to 1600 is very quick and efficient. The bus to 1800 frequent and free .
Eventually found the gite we rented for the week. Bit of a hike but massively refreshing and different to the shoe box high rise flats that are everywhere.
Other guys were very late as a train broke down in front of their train causing big delays. Should be easy enough to get to the Alps from London with 1 change at Lille then Bourg .
Skiing with newbies is so tricky, the level of faffing around is painful. Ie bring yellow goggles as the weather forecast is snowy, flat light. So they ignore me and wear sunglasses. Costume change almost every lift. More layers , less layers , lippy , boot adjustment,
I was very patient and encouraging but picking up skis for the 10th time after explaining that throwing the shoulders is causing the spin outs becomes tiresome
Monday much of the same. Turns out their idea of a holiday is drinking copies amount of alcohol till gone midnight and then being unable to move before 0900. I'm out grabbing baguette and pains at 0800 then hanging around boiling in ski gear while they slowly get up and dressed ( not in ski gear, just normal clothes so they need to change again in 20 mins )
Nice tour over to la plagne, but nowhere near enough time to explore as we didn't get over till 1100.
Also it's impossible to hustle along when you turn every 5 seconds and traverse on a flat blue run rather than let the skis run and relax the legs.
Wed fresh snow so got out and about with the least experience but most enthusiastic member of our group. Got him carving down wide open slopes and did some decent runs. Got ill with manflu at this point which meant less energy and balance as ears full of gunge which refused to equalise on lifts and was painful at times
Thursday. More powder so took all the drugs and off I went solo. Had enough faffing about coupled with the awful cooking ( we agreed to cook an evening meal each night , ) I did spaghetti Bolognese , but got inedible vegetarian chilli one night and inedible vegetarian stew another . I blamed my sore throat but food that one mouthful makes you start sweating and lose all sensations in your mouth apart from burning isn't funny at all when you are really hungry
I went up high and just skied the black runs which were hard but in great condition. Did some off piste under chair lift stuff but knackered myself out due to illness and not eating, french bread with a sore throat is a test. Then I ate a load of soreen and the blood diverted to the stomach and my hands and feet went really cold . Had to stop and get gloves off and put them in my armpits to warm up. Took ages to get going again.
Friday . More snow with fog . Gave my persimmon gogs to the enthusiastic newbie and skied in a dark grey iridium lense which helped him immensely but I had to use the force to get down. Got him off piste and in the trees but he's only a 3 week skier and it all gets a bit fast and furious with the need to make many adjustments to lines and technique of not going too slow, not getting lost and not getting into a bowl that requires a hike out is intense
I missed my friend Richard, I got quite emotional at times as I know how much he would have loved the conditions
Getting home very simple, navette to funicular , alti bus to Lyon then sleazy jet home. I allocated a spare 4 hours as I know how busy sat morning can be out of the tarantaisse and we were about an hour late. Lots of people on the coach really worried about missing planes . Roads in gridlocked as well by 0900 . The other guys had a midday train to London arriving at 9pm
I don't mean to laugh stm, but I'm an experinced intermediate skier and faffing has become the norm now I'm older. I have to get up earlier to put on the 7 (yes 7) layers of clothing needed, as I really feel the cold now. Glad you had someone to ski with in the end.
We had a week in Andorra visiting our daughter who is working in resort with Crystal Ski. Was brilliant seeing her little community, meeting her friends and trying to keep up with her on the slopes. We were staying in Arinsal and you can connect (via a unreliable gondola) to Pal. Different vibes in each area. Not the range and options available in big Alpine resorts but plenty to keep you entertained, especially as we had some newbie skiers with us. Lots of snow and only one day where weather, dumping snow and visibility defeated us so we bailed out early to the cafe. Luckily this was the last day but we had, by then, already had several days of 10k - 12k vertical so feel like we did enough.
Andorra is a bit of trek, long transfer but really, really good value. For the week it worked out under £1k per person for flights / transfers, dinner, bed and breakfast, lift passes, equipment hire, lunch passes and ski school for x2.
However for a combination of big birthdays I've had my arm twisted for a trip to Georgia, cat skiing. Its costing that same arm plus a leg but my word if it delivers on the promise I'd say it'll be worth it.
Well, that was quite the trip of a lifetime.
Well, that was quite the trip of a lifetime
Go on you big tease, let's have some more details...
On the train on the way home from La Rosiere, was mostly a great week, a couple of cloudy mornings that cleared, one due to a savage cold wind that had me wearing an extra layer for once, then snow all day Friday leaving very low visibility and not much fun for those that like to see where they are going. An enjoyable week at a smaller resort with my wife rather than my run-hungry snowboarder mate. Still managed to pick up my now traditional snow holiday cold by Wednesday, streaming today. Some pistes really needed the new snow on the LaRos side where the wind and people slowing before a dip had left the grass showing.
Looks like there are some storms and heavy snow coming for next week and beyond though.
Not got anything booked for half term (14-21 February) as I thought work was going to trash it for me.
The work thing might be falling through.
So the question is where’s good to find last minute deals?
Obviously checking the big tour operators but are there any last minute specialists any more?
Needs to be relatively cheap as I just paid off a car. Three of us, intermediate snowboarder, intermediate skier and a 25 year old who puts us to shame on skis.
All booked for last week in march when both boys (one 6th form one uni) are on hols. Driving to Maurienne valley to re-run the aosta go to a different area each day depending on conditions style trip at a different location. Orelle into Val thorens for some snow surity and then 4 or five other resorts if good snow. 6 days skiing for about £800 pp all inclusive of ski hire and lift passes. Gite in valley, self catering and driving keep a lid on costs.
What you're doing is what I'd suggest to igm, pedlad. Driving is less CO2 than flying with three in the car and means you're mobile and can ski different resorts. I quite like being in a valley town and heading up early enough to get a parking space. Accomodation is going to be tight as it's peak holiday time but a call to the tourist office might get something.
@Pedlad I assume you know that if you buy a 6 day pass at any of Val Cenis, Bonneval, La Norma, Aussois & Valfrejus you will get the whole week at the resort-of-purchase, and 1 day at each of the others. Actually, La Norma and Valfrejus are twinned so you get unlimited skiing at each when the 6 day pass is purchased, plus the chance to visit the others. You can buy in advance to save up to 40% too. I don't know what the discount is when you pitch up at Orelle.
Les Karellis is worth a visit.
@Edukator - not daft. We normally drive out, and will be doing so at Easter, stopping in an Ibis on the autoroute the night before will give us 8 days on the slopes for 7 nights in the resort. Simply staying the a hotel / apartment in the valley might work.
Got the skiogrande passes sorted so already discounted inc extra discount for 4 (got a mate along too).
yes Les karellis on the list along with valloire and val cenis
Ferry to Caen and EV with 4 up to slightly offset climate guilt of the sport as an energy consumer.
Sort of a PSA for anyone who hasn't done it before, I booked via travelski this year to use the train, just two of us so you'd anticipate seating on trains to be next to each other, seems we are in the same carriage, but not next to each other on 2 of the 4 legs now that the tickets are through. Doesn't matter hugely, but it's a bit odd.
Correction - based on the numbering and 4 seats one side of the carriage and 2 the other we were in fact together for the whole trip. Would recommend the train as a slow but relaxing trip. Point of note though, breakfast served on the train on the way out and thought there was a lunch too, but there wasn't. The GF options are limited from the cafe on board!
Went out on rando skis and looking the west there's a wall of bad weather coming in. Our mates are leaving the resort for a few days in Salou the forecast is so grim here. We've given up on the idea of driving over to the Tarentaise and will just ski locally between storms. Sorry to be a bringer of bad news but the Alps are going to be a whiteout and the Pyrenees a washout for the next week or so.
I'm not one for Facebork vids, but having been a snowboard learner in the past, I found this most amusing. Poor sod 😆
(Oh, it's Youtube. Came up linked on my FB)
Poor sods, plural.
There's only one tire fesse left here that's opened up for the race club to use a black run, you dangle in the air at one point if there's not much snow.
We were out in the Jungfrau ski region last week. Everything was open, but the pistes were very hard and scraped, so having to work hard on the edges the whole time. I fell more last week than I have in years of skiing and acquired some very interesting bruises. We're heading back to Saas Fee at the end of March, so keeping fingers crossed.
That's all 5 of the Scottish resorts now open and all offering good cover on the terrain they have managed to open. Glenshee in particular has had a massive dump of snow over these last three weeks, all on an easterly wind, leading to excellent/epic cover on the west facing slopes and pretty decent everywhere else. The operators are working to get Glas Maol open in time for the coming weekend, when from Friday we are due a break in the weather, some sunshine and lighter winds from the north. Plus half-term crowds. Might be a good time to break out the climbing skins but with a keen eye on the avalanche danger; two folk having been hurt that way this week already. Drifts on the Caenlochan drag uptrack have been measured at around 40' deep, so if anything, there's almost too much snow on that side of the hill.
Cairngorm has superb cover over most of the hill, despite a slight thaw yesterday at lower levels and lots more new snow forecast today and tomorrow. Touring conditions are about as good as we have seen at any time in the last 5 years. The new management structure do seem to have made a really big difference to the culture at Cairngorm and now it's Nevis who are a bit in the doldrums... Although even there, there's near full cover from just above the gondola station and just enough lifts running to reap the benefits.
Glencoe has some decent cover too, despite having the greatest need for depth to make the most of the rocky terrain. The Lecht has been plastered, has lost a little, plastered, lost a little... I've almost lost track! Lots of lifts running, anyway.
Happy days...
Cousin has lived in Bourg St Maurice for near on 30 years and works down in Albertville. He’s going to stay in Albertville after work Thursday as he says there is no chance the road back home will be open!
Dumping at the moment there but a break in the weather on Friday and Saturday. I”m hoping the report is accurate as we’re driving out Saturday.
Good luck/bon chance @Cobrakai Snow forecast have some big numbers for the next few days and into next week (LaRos is just above Bourg).
Yeh, we're off to La Tania with 2 families. Kids are decent wee skiers so we'll see how they cope with loads of fresh!
Go on you big tease, let's have some more details...
Arrived - it was snowing. 3 days of being guided around the local mountains skiing fresh lines every time. Then it dumped for 24 hours - chest deep powder skiing day (see the POW beard). Then 2 more days of skiing fresh tree lines - not tightly packed pines, nicely spaced leafless trees. Just astounding, absolutely got what we paid for.
Throw in the right level of "WTF is going off?" because there was no holiday rep to explain things, an angry shouty (but sound) guide, a language and alphabet completely alien to English, post-soviet standards of driving, decor, general life...
catskiinggeorgia.com - Recommended!
Hey I've come to pick the brains of the Singletrack mind. I love skiing. Haven't been for a few years as we've had a rough few years. I wanna get back on the snowhorse next winter. I was in the fortunate position of having access to accommodation in the PdS so have skied very few places elsewhere. I always used to drive out. That is no longer an option...
So Freester Jr is on his school trip this year. And I thought to myself last night bollox let's get something booked for half term 2027. I think Italy is ticking my boxes. Maybe Sestriere. Crystal looks nice and easy and convenient flights. Any reason why not?! Anyone ever taken their teenagers in Feb Half Term of GCSE year?
I'm sure I'll have loads more questions. Apologies in advance.
Junior spent much of the Winter skiing at 16 and 18, taking weeks out for ski training as well as the holidays. I'd say it was good for his morale and improved his exam results.
Can't think of a reason why not, though if he's doing a language GCSE I'd go to the country of that laguage if possible.
Just back from a week in Les Carroz/Flaine - booked at late notice when we saw the forecast. Got 1.5 days of clear sky & plenty fresh snow, 2.5 days of great condition pistes and quite well-skied side-piste (didn't have any guiding; stayed away from the bits that were harder to navigate) under bright but cloudy and 2 days of difficult conditions - either total whiteout (for my old eyes) or else rain falling on newish snow making it really heavy (shame as there was still some largely untracked snow above LC). Snowed like **** Thursday morning as we were leaving, even down to low levels.
Also had a week in early Jan in Ischgl. Booked well in advance as a black Friday special. Bloody cold temps and no recent snow but bright blue skies and pistes were in pretty good nick. Snowed overninght at the end of our week and left one great day of powder skiing on quite empty slopes, so even some pistes kept a foot of untracked snow for half the day
Overall, very happy with that
Just thought at f*** it and booked a week at Easter in Sestriere.
Foam on my years old Smiths is failing a bit and lenses pretty scratched. Made the mistake of clicking on a couple of goggles ads on Fb/Insta. Predictably, I’m bombarded with ads for every bloody goggles manufacturer in the world now. 🙄 😂
in the market for a set of photochromic ones - I get that in super bright/low, they might not do much, but fancy trying a pair. Anybody manage to grab a bargain? Budget £100ish.
Absolute Snow have some Scott photochromics at a reasonable price
https://www.absolute-snow.com/scott-faze-ii-ls-ski-snowboard-goggles?v=374285
https://www.absolute-snow.com/scott-factor-pro-ls-ski-snowboard-goggles?v=374556
SportPursuit have some Oakley's on sale, but I don't think any Photochromics
https://www.sportpursuit.com/shop/oakley?sp_nav=ct-4.pb-133.&type=Goggles&order=special_price&dir=desc&p=2
I picked up a set of Target Line L Ski & Snowboarding Goggles (Black) with spare low light lens included for £65
@Freester we did Sestriere wth Crystal at New Year a few years ago. It was a solid lowish cost option and there's a decent amount of terrain. Some of the old olympic accommodation was showing its age though.
Transfer from Turin IIRC was fine.
@Freester we did Sestriere wth Crystal at New Year a few years ago. It was a solid lowish cost option and there's a decent amount of terrain. Some of the old olympic accommodation was showing its age though.
Transfer from Turin IIRC was fine.
That's good to know. I had some friends who came back from there who said it was good and reasonably priced.
Decathlon do own brand (Wed'ze) photochromics for about £95.
Not taken kids at feb pre gcse but I am taking youngest pre a levels end of march. Feel a bit guilty but he’s doing v well on track for oredicted grades and 6 weeks before first exams so I think a weeks r&r will actually set him up nicely rather than continuous stress from Jan to June.
Anyone been out this week in the Cairngorms/East highlands? Considering a solo tour at the weekend. I imagine things are setting up pretty hard overnight with the current weather but looks like there's still good cover on the right aspects higher up. Id be interested if anyone had current info to share?
We were in Puy Saint Vincent last week. Small resort but lots of snow and sunshine.
Very good conditions, snow was excellent.
Finally. Found some good snow with good vid.,
Edit. I meant to say vis, but since it's a still from a vid we'll let it pass.
We're off on Thursday to Les Deux Alpes - gong to trundle down in the van stopping overnight somewhere. Weather looks good in a warm and sunny kind of way but snow conditions report as good. Really can't wait.
Our first time without the kids in lessons so it's going to be big days out.
If anyone else is there I'm in a redish jacket on a Lib Tech blue girl - say hi.
Can anything ne recommend me some skis....
Previously I had Line Prophet 98s, which I think were 178cm. I loved them.I've always been a punter, but a reasonably competent one and would always search out the relatively steep stuff, especially if it was narrow too. I happy got down the easier stuff on Schindlergratt, Easy Gully at Aonach Mor and other occasional Scottish snow plods. Those skis felt easy to use and turn.
Currently got Armada Declivity 102s in 180cm and just cannot get them to turn. Fine on piste ( if a little wide [ ok very wide for piste]) but as soon as it gets steep off piste I end up doing a sequence of pathetic J Turns down the mountain.
I've totally lost my ability to commit to a sequence of steep turns.
Clearly the main problem is me, and some lessons might be in order. As would strengthening up my legs*, but I also feel I should look to get something a tad narrower, perhaps 177/178 cm with a shorter radius....
Want a ski for linking shortish turns off piste.
Not interested in going fast
Whaddawethink?
* Context. My legs aren't that useless. We did just under 14km descent today. It's just that I couldn't get the power out of them on the steep.
Or maybe I just need to find a few short safe pitches and actually just fall over if it doesn't work rather than aborting the sequence. Commit more.......
But I don't want to break....
Snow out in the Alps is very good at the moment. Of course Spring conditions with the hard pack in the morning, becoming slightly porridge-like around lunch time. However the temperatures aren't too warm and pistes are lasting.
Just had a very good lesson with Edukator Junior.
thegeneralist - I can't help with ski purchases.
I'm
Can anything ne recommend me some skis.
In usual STW fashion i shall recommend what i use, Patrol 95 from Wed'ze aka decathlon. I paid €300 in 2023 but the new version with a Ti layer is now £500. Alternatively consider the Elan Ripstick which gets very good reviews
Goggle wise (from your comments on Strava) Mrs NBT and i both use Wed'ze G900i goggles over our specs, it comes with a removable sunny weather lens that clips over the poor weather lens using magnetic tags, comes with an elasticated case that protects the lens when not in just
Sooo I'm flying out on Sunday. Excited.
I'm hearing the horror stories about the queues at Geneva airport and got an email from my operator about possible delays at Turin where I'm flying to. Any real world experience?
Arrived in GVA on the Saturday morning as half term crowd were heading home in late February ie near peak, and steeled myself for a wait. In the end I was stood for no more than 15 minutes. Seems to be very hit and miss.
Proper excited now - nice bit of a refresh going on at the moment so should be top end of season conditions when we start skiing from Sunday.
Some excellent snow to be found on the lee slopes in Tignes/VD
And the horrendous Thursday wind at least created some lovely cornices to jump off:
possible delays at Turin where I'm flying to. Any real world experience?
I flew into turin in January, queues no longer than usual
Lyon is an utter shambles. I generally love pissy little airports but LYS sucks.
50 minutes wait in the passport queue until they finally decided to let us use one of the five EU only passport machines. 50 ****ing minutes and one out of five machines.
It's the same on the way out, one solitary border officer and a humongous queue. Five unused EU machines lying idle.
They've now changed the gate for the fourth time.
And because it's not in a mountainous municipality you need to pay through the nose to get snow socks on the car, no winter tyres. No snowchains
Anyway
Lyon is an utter shambles. I generally love pissy little airports but LYS sucks.
50 minutes wait in the passport queue until they finally decided to let us use one of the five EU only passport machines. 50 ****ing minutes and one out of five machines.
It's the same on the way out, one solitary border officer and a humongous queue. Five unused EU machines lying idle.
They've now changed the gate for the fourth time.
And because it's not in a mountainous municipality you need to pay through the nose to get snow socks on the car, no winter tyres. No snowchains
Anyway
Apologies for posting such a pointless ramble twice!