I am looking to book my third trip skiing around 26th of Feb 2011.

From the previous 2 weeks I’ve been skiing I’ve self taught myself and had the courage to try a few black runs on my last visit.

First holiday was Soll, Austria. Last time it was La Plagne, France.

Looking for another place to visit. Bearing in mind I’m an intermediate (lower I guess) but not afraid of any reds and would like to try more blacks. I love the long challenging red runs and thought of being able to ski around a whole area. We’d also like some nightlife available in the resort. Plus short or efficient queues / fast lifts to maximise our time on the slopes. And somewhere with plenty of runs too.

Any suggestions?

So far I’ve been looking at St.Anton, Val d’Isere, Wengen & Zermatt.

It is probably worth mentioning that a friend or two may join us whom have never skiied before (but then again they may not) so might be worth bearing in mind with any resort suggestions.

Andy

The lift queues in St Anton are now very small, thanks to the new gondolas - Galzigbahn and Rendlbahn. The only bottleneck is at Zammermoos (?) but is no worse than the queues I experienced in La Plagne (Plagne Belle Cote maybe????).  If you’re going 26th Feb it MIGHT clash with Fasching week, which is a big holiday for the Germans, Austrians and Swiss (couple more countries I think). As a result St Anton can get very busy at Fasching. I’m usually there 1st week in March and never have an issue with queues. As far as the terrain goes, it will suit you if you’re looking for a challenge, and there’s loads of it. The main run back through ‘happy valley’ does get very busy after 2.30 and this can put a lot of timid skiers off - by the sounds of it though you shouldn’t be concerned (there is an alternative route down from Gampen anyway which I only discovered this year after 8 visits ). The apres ski is legendary and for me a huge attraction of going there. Here’s a flavour from The Mooserwirt http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPgHHFcKycU
In terms of skiing, I would put Val d’Isere in the same bracket as St Anton. Have not been to neither Zermatt or Wengen but are on my radar

Reply was GREATLY appreciate boabski. Unfortunately the week from 26/27 Feb is only one we can all get time off. Week after UK half term holiday so was hoping it would be quiet.

Didn’t know about this Fasching week. Would France be quieter that week then maybe?

Any other suggestions appreciated that I can research.

Heard Ischgl is simular to St.Anton with skiing and nightlife but quieter slopes so some reviewers even prefer it from what I’ve read.

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additional:

can’t find much on specific dates for this Fasching week. But the dates for 2011 that I am getting are March 7th - 9th. So hopefully I will be ok if so other than the last weekend possiblly.

this gives you all the European school holidays http://www.snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=64301 Looks like you might be OK, or have hit the jackpot as it’s Sweedish school holidays French schools look to be off that week?
There are a lot of similarites with Ischgl and St Anton - it’s only one valley away. I’ve only been to Ischgl for the day when I was in Kappl this year. The skiing is probably easier in Ischgl, but in my experience the queues for the gondola up the hill were bigger than those of St Anton and I didn’t warm the village as much - felt it was a bit Disneyesque. Think the apres ski is more clubby in Ischgl. St Anton tends to be more oompa oompa, cheesy Germanic musak, and a lot of live bands etc

Cheers again for the help!

Been up all night trying to find somewhere that will do single occupancy with ensuite. 3 of us going now and need a twin with ensuite also. ARGH!

We don’t want to be all cramped into the same room and need esuite for both rooms.

If you go through Tour Op you will indoubtedly pay single supplement.  http://www.st-antonamarlberg.co.uk/ is run by a Brit called Sidney Reilly. He has a few apartments in great central locations. I’ve never used them but he gets good feedback on other forums. He’s based in St Anton and his website is full of good tips and for accomodation. This post is of course completely useless if you don’t want to DIY or go to St Anton

cheers again. will def have a look.

After 14 hrs solid researching and no sleep last night…. yes still at it & looking at St.Anton still (and Morzine/les gets area also).

Italy wise I have looked into, mainly Sauze de ouze (spelling).
No not seen Alpe d’huez tbh.
Resort wise it is looking at moment like Morzine and the resort Portes du soleil.
Otherwise if my beginner friend drops out I’ll push my other friend to St.Anton.
He’s a catious early intermediate who needs pushing more.
While I’d say I’m an improve inter whos very very agressive and love challenging long reds all day long with some blacks to further improvement.

Thanks for the Holiday link Wendy.

Andy.

TBH I think it would spoil the holiday of my best mate if I left him too much as he’s never skiied before. so was looking for a good mix of blues and red together for long runs. Or something where a number of runs easy and more difficult converged back to the same place for the lifts again. IE plagne centre being a good example. But your right about one resorts blue being another resorts red in difficulty. Which is why I actually got put off Val d’Isere. Doesn’t sound the best of places to ski or even ski back to the resort for a beginner. So yes we need to be able to stick close together for meeting up regular occasions. I’ve taken walkie talkies on both my previous skiing trips which have been a life saver for this.

Agreed. I had to get out the snow plough early on as hit a brick wall and suddenly struggle to turn using it. Despite doing it from the off. Soon as you get the courage to put 2 skis parallel it was so much easier. Then I was off fairly quickly in the learning process. Warned my friend he’d be falling over a lot first day though. I fell a hundred times with my balance the first day and had serious hemorrhages on my hips lol. My other friend will disagree but still is very cautious and often looks like he’s trying to turn in a snow plough on a red LOL. He’ll vigorously deny this though. But pushed he’ll keep up and will do the reds no problem if mixed with blues for a rest. He puts far too much stress on his knees with cautious turns and tires because of it. It’s a confidence thing I am sure he’ll get out of. I’ve picked it up fairly quickly and just attack things aggressively if steep. I’ll fall if worried about my speed by over turning and will aim to get out of this with more experience this time and some black runs to improve the different technique to turning along with the red/blues for mastering smooth carving techniques while with my friends. I will be teaching my best friend to ski myself the first day and from my own experience’ss and after he’s mastered his balance I’ve confidence he’ll pick it up good enough for some blue long runs the second day. What got me when beginning was controlling the speed on any slope and having confidence to go faster against the gradient of the slope to progress.

I learned to fall first for confidence to ski around others as always worried I’d crash into someone. Any experiencedd skiers happy ski around you though. He’ll pick up falling the first day LOL.

Agreed with Wengen and Zermatt it seems to much time travelling to the ski areas that suit. Cervinia I looked at yes on other side of the valley but discounted it for some reason I can’t remember now.

Thanks for advice on Sauze d’Oulx.

Single hotel rooms have been hard to find esp ensuite and self catered. Cheapest ones were in Soll where i went year before last. Most are stuck with half board wit reviews not favouring the food offered at all. Chalets are like looking for a needle in a hay stack. Spent most of the past few days going over them looking for somewhere that is not ridiculously priced with a single supplement and ensuite facilities for both rooms. Managed to get one last year without a supplement charge at Plagne 1800 with skibug.co.uk and was chuffed with it. If just for the experience to be honest. Price doesnt bother me. But other two it will and prefer to get a place together at same hotel or chalet. But then pref is self catering and enjoying to freedom of eating out in restaurants and the choices that come with it. Part of the holiday for me. I’m a very fussy eater and didn’t eat much at the chalet last year. I’m a meat and potato man. Simple. Chalet food they over complicate for me.

So"lden… will give that a look.

Portes du Soleil - staying Morzine is looking very likely at present. Haven’t looked at losing time getting to Avoriaz for the main circuit as you stated. Ski map if not very good for better detail either. Will have to look at that and possible taxi in morning to start maybe other areas to speed up ski time. Did this in Soll for Scheffau.

Place I’ve found in Morzine overlooks the Pleney slopes right in centre. Ideal location it seems. It’s an apartment with kitchen two bedrooms, a sep shower room with WC and a bathroom. Ideal. Cost around 1500 - 1750 Euros just for the apartment. I’d pay double for room myself to help others with costs. Pushing for that option at moment.

If beginner friend backs out will look at a Chalet in St.Anton that is catered and £800 each with free lift passes, flights and transfers.

Researching the holiday is def part of the fun and the help of other more experienced skiers and their advice goes a long way in helping. Especially with info on Resorts I’ve never been too. APPRECIATED GREATLY

Wendy King - 12 September 2010 03:26 PM

Hi flashpanther

So what made you decide to teach yourself to ski, rather than have some lessons?  Saving cash, or not liking the idea of ski school etc?  Good achievement!  Well done for being confident enough to have a go that way, and succeeding.

Is your friend planning to do the same, with your help too? 

One small snippet of advice though: do consider an initial hour or two, say private lesson. A friend of mine tried to learn in Australia with his mate - he lost control of his snowplough on one of the nursery runs, and without knowing how to stop in a controlled way he fell - at low speed - but it was enough to tear his knee ligaments. He had to have surgery and will always have problems with it. It has, unfortunately, put him off skiing for life.

I realise that it can happen to anyone, and even if you have lessons - but learning a few basics with an instructor will certainly limit the possible damage, and give an understanding of how you ought to progress. Good plan to progress from snowplough quickly; it’s useful, but far better to get into parallel skiing early on.

I’m sure you’‘ll have a great time wherever you go - P du S is a good area choice too.

Wendy
W

Lessons appeared too expensive and too time constrictive. Seemed quicker picking it up yourself. If I ever hit a brick wall the option was always there still there to book at the time. Still is if I stop improving. Friend will do the same and hopefully I’ll be a good teacher and him a good listener ha ha. From the instructors I saw working with people in Soll while I learned myself it certainly didn’t appeal to me paying for the tuition. But thats how I felt. Each to their own. Sure it would have helped but doubt I would have learned any quicker. First lesson I learned was how to fall. I’m sure its the first lesson any tuition would give. Made sense. If you can’t brake with confidence you learn to fall on your side in the least painful manner. And I mastered that one over a 100 times the first day lol. Snow plough was a confidence builder to get down the slope a few times. But I do agree with lessons. Just not prepared to pay for them at present and neither will my friend who is starting.  Biggest lesson I got for free last year was following an old couple down a red run at La Plagne and mimicing their carving technique. I felt like a true pro. Same as having a lesson. I feel quilty admitting it. But it’s all lessons would be. If I do have any in the future it would be correcting any poor techniques I’ve self taught to improve. Just plenty I can learn myself at moment I feel. A lot with learning to ski in my opinion at least was feeling and balance. I also had the videos (don’t attack for for that one ha ha) plus a few videos of myself skiing my friend recorded for me to see what I was actually doing to improve on next ski trip.

Last year our Chalet host taken us down plenty of La Plagne’s red slopes during the afternoon. He was on a snowboard but it helped immensely following him. Never been on so many slopes in such a short space of time. Ski hosting is a great idea if your all the same standard or confident enough for the reds IMO.

Resort wise I just want to get the perfect resort for us all so we all fully enjoy the skiing.

Well, I believe that the self-teaching method has a limit. You’ll reach a level and you won’t get better. Then you’ll need a teacher to take you to the next level. Anyway, if you finally go to Val d’Isere and decide to have a lesson, I suggest to look for Bernard Chesneau. I haven’t had a lesson with him but I read his book and I believe he worths the money…

The ‘bail out to stop’ was just for the first couple days skiing while I was learning. Helped to feel more confident with good skiers around on the blue slope to learn. Otherwise I was always worried of crashing into the back of someone stupidly stood in the middle of the slopes (which I’ve seen plenty of).

That write up on skiing was immense Richard. Seriously the ‘lesson’ will be printed out to read over again and again for myself before I go skiing lol. Quality. My first ski lesson I think and free!!! (I think? - checks for PM’s with paypal request pmsl). I tend to be far too aggresive. I kamikaze down the red and really attack into the turns skiding from side to side… with confidence but zero finesse. kamikaze and hari kari being two slopes I really enjoyed at La Plagne in Feb this year. How do they come up with these slope names lol.

Your write up will def help me. But yes… thinking too much whilst doing… one to def avoid IMO. Skiing from my little experiance is more about feel. Feel like the sensation of walking as you descrube… you do it without little thought in the process. Baby steps comes to mind too ha ha ha.

Greatly appreciated (Ctrl + P - for my friend and myself)

Andy

Wendy King - 12 September 2010 08:39 PM

Agree with you re videos / dvds ... I have a stack that I watch a lot before a trip.

Warren Smith, of course, is pretty good; but I also recommend ‘Breakthrough on Skis’  - a private lesson to get out of the intermediate rut - by Lito Tejada-Flores (a US former instructor / pro skier).  My video is a bit old now, but you might be able to get hold of it on dvd. He also did one on ‘Bumps n Powder’ :-0  

Anyway, I found some really good tips in that one.

Yes, great if you can get your mates to video you - then playback and view your technique etc - only problem is my mates promise to do it, then somehow never quite find the time. Something about far too much fun darting off around the pistes [smile]

Enjoy!

Wendy

Wendy thanks for the recommendations. Will look into them on Amazon. Andy