The STW Ski & Snowboard thread. The 2016-2017 season

Time of year ?

La Tania below Courcheval or one of the lower Meribel villages – “mega ski area” but staying outside the main towns ?
Champagny-en-V below La Plagne
La Rossiere (White Room not operating there this year or that would have been my Chalet recomendation)
La Clusaz / Grand Bornand (only an hour from Geneva)
Peisey Vallandry – in the centre of mega ski area but smaller village feel

Last full week of January. Forgot to mention, preference for apartments for no particular good reason.

Was in Paradiski last season.

Cervinia via Milan Malpensa with the option of skiing Zermatt too.

Free skiing in Courchevel tomorrow…it’s been dumping there for days now and they’ve been grooming the pistes since Monday. Oh for a private helicopter!

As per Jambas recommendations, la Clusaz was one of my trips last year and so easy to get to and from. Combine with Le Grand Bornand( which was surprisingly good) for a big ski area. Lower than stuff further afield, so time of year key.

Grand Massif ski area, 1 hr from Geneva and choice of Samoens, Les Carroz or Flaine.
We’ll be there, did I mention for the whole season 🙂

Chilled out, reliable snow, not fussed about the apres scene at all, just a couple of nice bars for an evening beer, no mega resorts but at least 130km of pistes. We’re both knackered and are mainly looking to cruise around, so lots of blues and reds with the odd cheeky black run.

If you have to ask…….

La Rossiere ticks those boxes.
serre che does as well
Praz Sur Arly . But I doubt you will find a package deal there.
Flaine
Andorra would also work if you can find a flight to a nearby airport

Any thoughts on Austria or Switzerland?

If you have to ask…….

I’d already been looking at THAT resort 😀

Ischgl , If you can fly into Innsbruck
Bit of a mission getting out of town but once you are up and away the skiing is ace

Switzerland – given you want lots of blues / reds I am struggling a bit

Lenzerhiede links to Arosa now – Arosa I like a lot, resort is a 2hr drive from Zurich or a great 3hr train ride esp last hour on cog railway (some bag porterage between trains – 2 changes). Arosa doesn’t have the km of postes but together they do. Not been since the linking lift opened. Arosa is at 2000m and sunny but in Jan could be a challenge, horse drawn sledges (best looked at rather than ridden unless you’ve won lottery)

Crans Montana ?

Villars if snow is good (low and sunny but you are going in Jan)

Verbier and Zermatt imo are not what you are after.

Austria – it’s donkeys years since I have been anywhere except St Anton, the linked resort of St Christoph could work if you want quiet-ish, hotels only I recall.

I’d already been looking at THAT resort

Why are you still looking, then? 😉

Seriously, however, it fits your brief perfectly. Big, cruising fun times, lots of variety, cheeky blacks and some great in bounds unpisted fun, as well as lovely tree runs. Short transfers (1hr to 1.5hr from Turin). Nice bars, good food. Not a big party town, just a nice place to ski.

Ischgl brings up this

Bold, busy, and yes, a bit brash, is Ischgl, catering largely for testosterone-fuelled males aged 30-50. If that’s your thing, you’ll find more pole-dancing and lap-dancing here than anywhere else in the Alps.

We may have different ideas of chilled out 😀

Austria, only seeing direct flights to Salzburg, not Innsbruck which is a shame. Unless we go with Cattle Ski which is fine.

Serre Che and Obergurgl are on the shortlist. The latter mainly for the name. La Crusaz and Big Bernard as well.

Serre Che and Obergurgl are on the shortlist.

Haven’t been to the latter, but have heard good things. A quick glance at the piste map shows a nice area, but divided/linked by a cable car. Call me picky, but…

Serre Che is end to end stuff along a valley. You can ski up/down/across all day, the whole area is linked by pistes and/or lifts, without any connecting cable cars. Also, get it all wrong, and there are free buses running along the valley floor. Tidy.

The problem with Serre Che is flights. I would love to go for a cheeky short trip there in Jan but the flight options for us in the south west are rubbish. No flights to Turin from HR or Bristol. I’ll check Cardiff but fairly sure ethers a no go too.

Good point! Hadn’t checked Turin flights on that one. 🙁

@pie you can get to St Anton from Zurich, might be worth a look at other Austrian resorts accessible from there.

Not looking good for a solid base in Montana right now!
Mid mountain, Bridger Bowl.

I went to Ischgl for a day from St Anton, and went back to St Anton that afternoon, hence I didnt get to experience the 50yr old germans enjoying the pole dancers.

Fiss – Landis might be betterer.

Again , I went for a day from St Anton. Its really quiet and its a huge easily linked area easily acccessable from Innsbruck that no big UK tour operators go to.

Actually , Kizbhul is ok. quick transfer big party town during race weekend but not so much at other times .

Haven’t been to the latter, but have heard good things. A quick glance at the piste map shows a nice area, but divided/linked by a cable car. Call me picky, but…

Ive found an apartment block called Haus Gurgl in Obergurgl…

Whats not to like!

@pie you can get to St Anton from Zurich, might be worth a look at other Austrian resorts accessible from there.

Could be a good shout, just found the Arlberg Express which gives options

Good point! Hadn’t checked Turin flights on that one.

Direct flights from Edinburgh which is less than 30 minutes away this end.

If it ain’t cold and windy there’s lot’s of skiing at obergurgl but if it is you’ll want to keep lower down.

We went at the end of the season last year and low down it was slushy in the PM and up high visibility was poor. We’re going three weeks earlier this year to avoid the slushy stuff

Direct flights from Edinburgh which is less than 30 minutes away this end.

Well then…..

Piemonster,

Check out the Hochkoenig region.
1hr from Salzburg airport, 150km of intermediate skiing, pretty villages with nice bars.

http://www.hochkoenig.at/en/vacation.html

Serre Che is defo worth a visit. We stayed in Chantmerle which is brilliantly located. No flights from Bristol so went from Birmingham instead, which really isn’t far away (you can even get the train to the airport if you like!).

We stayed in Chanetmerle which is brilliantly located

*Highfive!*

Wallop, were you on charter or schedule? looking to do a long weekend so that knocks off the option of charter flights.
haven’t seen any options from anywhere other than Gatwick to Turin and nothing to Grenoble, Lyon is too far at the other end to make any sense. And also the tunnel is stIll not repaired so the drive in over the Col de Lautaret will be a pita. If I were the Serre Che tourist board I would be having a word to the budget airlines…
Keeps it all quiet for the rest of you though I suppose.

If I were the Serre Che tourist board I would be having a word to the budget airlines…

Ah right yes. We went for a week so it was probably charter.

What days are you going? Thursday to Monday is under £50 on Ryanair from Stansted! Does sound like a pita though.

I wouldn’t worry Flashy, most will get stuck trying to find the bus transfer info on SADEM

Both St Moritz and Gstaad are good for intermediates and beginners and they can be done at less than the stratospheric prices their reputations suggest – still not cheap it is Switzerland – Obergurgl is quite smart too.

I’ll second colp’s suggestion of the Hochkoenig area (Maria Alm). Most of the Ski Amade resorts are great. Check out Flachau, Wagrain and Schladming too. Flachau can be reached in about 45 mins from Salzburg airport, the other 10-15 mins more.

Austria is a pain for a mini break from Bristol. My mate has a place about an hour from Salzburg, but there aren’t daily flights so we always end up having to fly back into London, and somehow getting back from there. Which is why we more often end up in Morzine for our annual lads trip rather than Austria. (I am an honorary boy when it comes to the annual lads trip).

Managed to get out on the new splitboard last night up the Lecht. Mint!

Good point! Hadn’t checked Turin flights on that one.

It gets worse, there used to be a flight from LGW or LHR early so you could get there for lunchtime Friday and get a late flight back on Monday, thus maxing out the long weekend trip. We’ve had to book the Thursday pm flight out and stay an extra night on our March trip. Doesn’t actually bother me mind, as the Friday was always a mad panic to get to the slopes, hoping we had no delays.

This is my first return to Serre Chev since 1986…..31 years! Where TF did they go! 😕

Lovely, Swavis! 😀

Great photo Swavis … very moody! 🙂

Ace Swavis